10 Famous Writers’ Houses Worth Visiting 推開作家的門：值得探訪的十大文學故居

文瑋

作家，又稱“坐家”。不論是執筆手寫，還是敲鍵盤碼字，都需要坐在房子里寫作品。作家的房子猶如一部自傳，暴露出游離在他們文字之外的另一面，平淡現實可觸及，卻不流于淺俗。跟隨本文的腳步，一起來探訪十大著名作家的故居，看看這些創作靈魂的所在，究竟是怎樣的地方，講述了怎樣的故事呢？

A writers home is a kind of autobiography1， and visiting the place where a great work of literature was written gives you a deeper understanding of both the book and the person who wrote it. Here are some notable writers houses to check out.

1. Jack London （杰克·倫敦，美國現實主義作家，代表作《野性的呼喚》）

Besides being one of the most successful writers of his day， Jack London was also a dedicated rancher.2 London bought 1，400 acres3 near Sonoma， California and set up an experimental farm. He planted spineless cacti to feed his livestock， put in grain silos， and built a piggery so grand he called it the “pig palace.”4 You can visit the house where London lived and died， as well as the ruins of the three-story mansion5 that burned down just before he was set to move in. （The rock walls still stand in a redwood grove， not far from Londons grave.） 6

2. John Steinbeck（約翰·斯坦貝克，20世紀美國重要作家之一，代表作《憤怒的葡萄》）

Steinbeck grew up in this Victorian home and lived here as an adult in 1934 to care for his ailing mother.7 During that time， his successful novella The Red Pony was published.8 A restless child， Steinbeck never seemed comfortable with his middle-class upbringing and empathized with the migrant workers he saw in the vegetable fields around Salinas， California.9 The town appeared as the setting in many of his works， most notably East of Eden.10 Today， in addition to taking a tour， you can eat lunch in a restaurant located in what used to be Steinbecks parlor11.

3. Mark Twain（馬克·吐溫，美國著名作家，代表作《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》）

Twain spent the happiest years of his life in his house in Hartford， Connecticut， with his wife and three daughters. He wrote seven major works here， including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The house， which feels reminiscent of a Mississippi steamboat，12 cost a great deal of money and contributed to Twains financial problems late in life. The interior was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and has more than 10，000 objects from the Victorian era.13 Theres even a pool table14 in the study， right by Twains writing desk.

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson（拉爾夫·沃爾多· 愛默生，美國思想家、作家，代表作《論自然》）

Emerson lived in this house in Concord， Massachusetts for 46 years until his death in 1882， and it acted as a transcendentalist headquarters.15 Visitors like Henry David Thoreau went in and out， sometimes staying in the guest room nicknamed the “Pilgrims Chamber.”16 Emerson wrote his essays “Nature and Self-Reliance” in a study on the first floor， although his son later said that Emersons “real study” was nearby Walden Woods.17

5. Emily Dickinson（艾米莉·狄金森，美國女詩人，代表作《艾米莉·狄金森詩集》）

Emily Dickinson was known as a recluse18 whose poetry was largely discovered after her death. But the house where she spent her life in Amherst， Massachusetts is a pleasant and bright one， with big windows and high ceilings19. While most of the poets activities remain a mystery even today， you can see her bedroom where she wrote many of her nearly 2，000 poems.

6. Edith Wharton （伊迪絲·華頓，美國女作家，代表作《純真年代》）

Edith Wharton was rich. Very rich. The Mount， her palatial home in Lenox， Massachusetts， has 35 rooms， four floors， and acres of lush gardens.20 Wharton designed the house herself according to the principles she laid out in her best-selling book The Decoration of Houses. Her good friend Henry James21 was a frequent guest. Wharton wrote The House of Mirth22 at The Mount， usually working in the morning while lying in bed.

7. Margaret Mitchell（瑪格麗特·米切爾，美國女作家，代表作《飄》）

The ultimate pilgrimage for Gone with the Wind fans has to be Margaret Mitchells house in Atlanta， Georgia.23 Mitchell moved into Apartment Number 1 of this building—which she called “The Dump”—as a newlywed in 1926 and lived there for six years.24 She worked on her epic novel on a table in the living room alcove that overlooks Crescent Avenue.25 Few people knew she was writing a book， which she considered a personal project. She worked on it sporadically26 until it was accepted for publication in 1935， forcing her to finish it up. The novel was a runaway hit27.

8. Flannery OConnor（弗蘭納里· 奧康納，美國作家、評論家，代表作《好人難尋》）

Flannery OConnor wanted to move away from the South， but when she was diagnosed with lupus， she moved to her mothers dairy farm in Milledgeville，28 Georgia in 1951 and lived there until her death in 1964 at age 39. Since it was difficult for her to climb stairs， she slept in the downstairs living room， where she also wrote most of her published work. You can still see her manual typewriter and her crutches in the house.29 The 544 acres， with their ever-present peacocks，30 served as the setting for many of her short stories.

9. William Faulkner（威廉·福克納，美國著名作家，代表作《喧嘩與騷動》）

Few authors are as known for evoking place as Faulkner is for writing about Oxford， Mississippi.31 Rowan Oak， his home for over 30 years， is where he wrote many of his major works， including Light in August.32 When Faulkner bought the house， it didnt have running water or electricity. He spent many afternoons on home improvement projects， wiring the house himself and building the brick terrace outside.33 In his study， he sometimes wrote his complicated plot structures on the wall， then painted over them when he finished the book. In fact， you can still see the plot for his novel A Fable 34 penciled on the wall right where he left it.

10. Ernest Hemingway（歐內斯特·海明威，著名美國作家和記者，代表作《老人與海》）

Ernest Hemingway lived in the house in Key West， Florida from the time he married his second wife， Pauline， to when he ran off to Cuba35 with his third wife， Martha. It was the most productive eight years of his life. He wrote most of his major works in his office， which you could only get to by walking across a bridge that extended from the upstairs bedroom. Almost everything in the house had a story， from the urinal garden fountain to the monastery gate he used as a headboard to the six-toed cats he collected because he thought they were good luck.36 Today， over 40 cats still live on the estate， all descendants of Hemingways original pets.37

1. autobiography： 自傳。

2. dedicated： 滿腔熱忱的，有奉獻精神的；rancher： 牧場主。

3. acre： 英畝。

4. spineless： 無脊柱的； cacti： cactus的復數形式，仙人掌；livestock： 牲畜，家畜；grain silo： 谷糧倉；piggery： 豬舍，豬圈。

5. three-story mansion： 三層小樓。

6. redwood： 紅杉木；grove： 小樹林；grave： 墓地。

7. Victorian： 維多利亞時代的；ailing： 生病的，身患痼疾的。

8. novella： 短篇小說；The Red Pony： 《小紅馬》（1933）。

9. 斯坦貝克從小就是個不安分的孩子，對自己中產階級的出身總是感到不自在，反倒對他在加利福尼亞州薩利納斯菜地上看到的外來工人感同身受。restless： 不安定的，不滿足現狀的；upbringing： 撫養，養育； empathize with： 對……有同感；migrant： 移居的。

10. setting： 背景；most notably： 特別是，尤其是；East of Eden： 《伊甸之東》（1952）。

11. parlor： 起居室，客廳。

12. reminiscent of： 使人想起某種事物； steamboat： 汽船。

13. interior： 室內；Louis Comfort Tiffany： 路易斯·康福特·蒂芙尼（1848—1933），美國藝術家，以制造裝飾性彩繪玻璃而聞名。他是蒂芙尼珠寶公司創辦者查爾斯·蒂芙尼的兒子。

14. pool table： 臺球桌。

15. transcendentalist： 先驗論者的，簡單來說，先驗論者認為無需通過實踐經驗，只憑研究思想即可獲得知識；headquarter： 總部。

16. 像亨利·戴維·梭羅這樣的訪客進進出出，有時會在名為“朝圣者之室”的客房里過夜。Henry David Thoreau： 亨利·戴維·梭羅（1817—1862），美國作家、哲學家、先驗主義代表人物，代表作為《瓦爾登湖》；pilgrim： 朝圣者，香客。

17. self-reliance： 自主，自立；study： 書房； Walden Woods： 指瓦爾登湖畔的林地。

18. recluse： 隱居者，遁世者。

19. ceiling： 天花板。

20. palatial： 富麗堂皇的，宮殿似的；lush： 郁郁蔥蔥的，植物繁茂的。

21. Henry James： 亨利·詹姆斯（1843—1916），著名美國小說家、文學批評家，被認為是20世紀小說意識流寫作技巧的先驅，代表作為《一位女士的畫像》和《鴿翼》等。

22. The House of Mirth： 《歡樂之家》（1905），是伊迪絲·華頓的成名作。

23. ultimate： （同類中）最出色的，最大的；pilgrimage： （去與名人或有名之物有關的地方）旅行，朝圣。

24. dump： 臟亂的地方，垃圾堆； newly-wed： 新婚夫婦。

25. epic：（作品）史詩般的；alcove： 凹室，壁龕；overlook： 俯視，俯瞰； Crescent Avenue： 新月步行街。

26. sporadically： 不時發生地，零星地。

27. runaway hit： 一炮而紅。

28. lupus： 狼瘡；dairy farm： 奶牛場。

29. manual typewriter： 手動打字機； crutch： 拐杖。

30. ever-present： 始終存在的；peacock： （雄）孔雀。

31. 福克納的作品大多以密西西比州的牛津為背景，很少有作家像他這樣擅長描寫某個地方并因此聞名的。evoke： 使再現，描繪出。

32. Light in August：《八月之光》，福克的代表作之一。

33. home improvement： 家居裝修，家庭改建；wire： 給……接上電線； terrace：（供人在室外吃喝、休息等的）露天平臺。

34. A Fable：《寓言》（1954），曾獲普利策小說獎。

35. Cuba： 古巴。

36. 在這座屋子里，從男用小便器模樣的花園噴泉、被用作床頭板的修道院院門到海明威認為是好運象征的六趾貓收藏，幾乎每一件器物的背后都有一個故事。urinal：（通常指固定在墻上的）男用小便器；monastery： 寺院，修道院；headboard： 床頭板。

37. estate： 莊園，住宅區；descendant： 后代。