level 8
Always on the side of the egg 总是站在鸡蛋一边
作者:村上春树. 翻译：menavy
这是他在以色列接受耶路撒冷文学奖时的致谢辞.
关于这个作家,见仁见智的说法不少.
有兴趣的朋友可以自己动手找他的书来看,然后再下定论.
Good evening. I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional spinner of lies.
晚上好.今天我以小说家的身份站在这里(耶路撒冷),(众所周知),所谓的小说家其实就是专业的谎言制造者.
Of course, novelists are not the only ones who tell lies. Politicians do it, too, as we all know. Diplomats and generals tell their own kinds of lies on occasion, as do used car salesmen, butchers and builders. The lies of novelists differ from others, however, in that no one criticizes the novelist as immoral for telling lies. Indeed, the bigger and better his lies and the more ingeniously he creates them, the more he is likely to be praised by the public and the critics. Why should that be?
当然了,小说家并不是唯一擅长制造谎言的职业.我们都知道,政客也精于此道.外交家和绅士们偶尔也如此这般,只不过他们用他们自己的方式.另外,汽车推销员,肉贩,地产商也不例外.但是小说家的谎言和其他人谎言之间有着天壤之别.无论如何,没有人用不道德这个词语来批评小说家的谎言.事实上,小说家的谎言愈精巧,愈多,愈不可思异,公众和批评家对谎言的始作俑者的赞誉愈多.这究竟是为什么?
My answer would be this: namely, that by telling skilful lies--which is to say, by making up fictions that appear to be true--the novelist can bring a truth out to a new place and shine a new light on it. In most cases, it is virtually impossible to grasp a truth in its original form and depict it accurately. This is why we try to grab its tail by luring the truth from its hiding place, transferring it to a fictional location, and replacing it with a fictional form. In order to accomplish this, however, we first have to clarify where the truth-lies within us, within ourselves. This is an important qualification for making up good lies.
2009年02月22日 22点02分
1
作者:村上春树. 翻译：menavy
这是他在以色列接受耶路撒冷文学奖时的致谢辞.
关于这个作家,见仁见智的说法不少.
有兴趣的朋友可以自己动手找他的书来看,然后再下定论.
Good evening. I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional spinner of lies.
晚上好.今天我以小说家的身份站在这里(耶路撒冷),(众所周知),所谓的小说家其实就是专业的谎言制造者.
Of course, novelists are not the only ones who tell lies. Politicians do it, too, as we all know. Diplomats and generals tell their own kinds of lies on occasion, as do used car salesmen, butchers and builders. The lies of novelists differ from others, however, in that no one criticizes the novelist as immoral for telling lies. Indeed, the bigger and better his lies and the more ingeniously he creates them, the more he is likely to be praised by the public and the critics. Why should that be?
当然了,小说家并不是唯一擅长制造谎言的职业.我们都知道,政客也精于此道.外交家和绅士们偶尔也如此这般,只不过他们用他们自己的方式.另外,汽车推销员,肉贩,地产商也不例外.但是小说家的谎言和其他人谎言之间有着天壤之别.无论如何,没有人用不道德这个词语来批评小说家的谎言.事实上,小说家的谎言愈精巧,愈多,愈不可思异,公众和批评家对谎言的始作俑者的赞誉愈多.这究竟是为什么?
My answer would be this: namely, that by telling skilful lies--which is to say, by making up fictions that appear to be true--the novelist can bring a truth out to a new place and shine a new light on it. In most cases, it is virtually impossible to grasp a truth in its original form and depict it accurately. This is why we try to grab its tail by luring the truth from its hiding place, transferring it to a fictional location, and replacing it with a fictional form. In order to accomplish this, however, we first have to clarify where the truth-lies within us, within ourselves. This is an important qualification for making up good lies.
