My Library1我的書房

艾倫·亞歷山大·米爾恩/文　沈潔/譯

When I moved into a new house a few weeks ago， my books， as was natural， moved with me. Strong， perspiring men shovelled them into packing-cases， and staggered with them to the van， cursing Caxton2 as they went. On arrival at this end， they staggered with them into the room selected for my library， heaved off the lids of the cases， and awaited orders. The immediate need was for an emptier room. Together we hurried the books into the new white shelves which awaited them， the order in which they stood being of no matter so long as they were off the floor. Armful after armful was hastily stacked， the only pause being when （in the curious way in which these things happen） my own name suddenly caught the eye of the foreman. “Did you write this one， sir？” he asked. I admitted it. “Hm，” he said noncommittally. He glanced along the names of every armful after that， and appeared a little surprised at the number of books， which I hadnt written. An easy-going profession， evidently.

幾個星期前我遷居新房，我的書自然也隨我一起搬走。幾個壯漢大汗淋漓地忙活著，他們把書胡亂塞進包裝箱，踉踉蹌蹌地將箱子搬上貨車，一邊走一邊詛咒卡克斯頓。到達這邊的新居后，他們又踉踉蹌蹌地把書搬入我選定的書房，掀開箱蓋，等候我的指令。眼下急需在屋里騰出一些地方。我們一起匆匆把書放入待用的白色新書架，無所謂擺成什么順序，只要將它們搬離地板即可。一摞摞的書迅速堆積起來，其間唯一的停頓（這種事不知怎的就發生了），是在我的名字驀然攫住工頭的目光之際。“這書是你寫的嗎，先生？”他問道。我承認了。“哼嗯……”他含糊地應了一聲，但之后每搬一摞書都要掃一眼署名，發現那么多書都不是我寫的，顯得有些驚訝。這顯然是一個做事不慌不忙的職業。

So we got the books up at last， and there they are still. I told myself that when a wet afternoon came along I would arrange them properly. When the wet afternoon came， I told myself that I would arrange them one of these fine mornings. As they are now， I have to look along every shelf in the search for the book which I want. To come to Keats is no guarantee that we are on the road to Shelley. Shelley， if he did not drop out on the way， is probably next to How to be a Golfer though Middle-aged.

于是我們終于把所有的書都放上了書架，它們一直原樣兒擺放在那里。我告訴自己，等到哪個午后陰雨天，我再將它們收拾整齊。可是那個午后陰雨天到來時，我卻對自個兒說，還是等到哪個晴朗的早晨再整理它們吧。按照它們如今的樣子，我得逐排掃視所有的書架，才能尋找到所需之書。找到濟慈不能確保我隨即看見雪萊。雪萊，如果沒有走失的話，大概挨著那本《中年高爾夫進階》。

Having written as far as this， I had to get up and see where Shelley really was. It is worse than I thought. He is between Geometrical Optics and Studies in New Zealand Scenery. Ella Wheeler Wilcox3， whom I find myself to be entertaining unawares， sits beside Anarchy or Order， which was apparently “sent in the hope that you will become a member of the Duty and Discipline Movement”—a vain hope， it would seem， for I have not yet paid my subscription. What I Found Out， by an English Governess， shares a corner with The Recreations of a Country Parson; they are followed by Villette and Baedekers Switzerland4. Something will have to be done about it.

走筆至此，我得起身去看看雪萊到底在哪兒。比我想象的還糟，他置身于《幾何光學》和《新西蘭風景繪畫習作》之間。艾拉·惠勒·威爾科克斯，我無意中用以消遣的讀物，眼下位于《無政府或秩序》旁邊，顯然，他們“寄贈此書，希望您能成為責任與紀律運動這一組織的成員”——這一希望似乎落空了，因為我迄今尚未支付會費。英格蘭家庭女教師所寫的《親眼所見》，與《鄉村牧師自娛有方》共據一個角落，緊隨其后的是《維萊特》和《瑞士旅行指南》。我確實得為此做點什么了。

But I am wondering what is to be done. If I gave you the impression that my books were precisely arranged in their old shelves， I misled you. They were arranged in the order known as “all anyhow.” Possibly they were a little less “anyhow” than they are now， in that the volumes of any particular work were at least together， but that is all that can be claimed for them. For years I put off the business of tidying them up， just as I am putting it off now. It is not laziness; it is simply that I dont know how to begin.

但我不知道到底該做點什么。如果我讓你覺得，搬家之前我的書擺放得井然有序，那是受了我的誤導。當初放置它們，是按照一種名曰“混亂不堪”的順序，其混亂程度相較如今大概稍有不及，畢竟當時每一部作品是成套擺放的，但也就這一點可取之處。這些書多少年我始終拖著不加整理，現如今依舊如此。并非懶惰所致，只是我不知道該如何著手。

Let us suppose that we decide to have all the poetry together. It sounds reasonable. But then Byron is eleven inches high （my tallest poet）， And Beattie5 （my shortest） is just over four inches. How foolish they will look standing side by side. Perhaps you dont know Beattie， but I assure you that he was a poet. He wrote those majestic lines：

不妨假設我們決定把所有的詩集放在一起。此言聽似有理，但是拜倫足足高達11英寸（我最高的詩人），而貝蒂（我最矮的詩人）只有4英寸出頭，讓他倆并排而立是何等荒唐。也許你不認識貝蒂，但我向你擔保他是詩人無疑。他曾寫下那些雄渾的詩句：

“The shepherd-swain of whom I mention made

“我先前提到的那位牧羊郎，

On Scotias mountains fed his little flock;

在斯科舍群山間喂養他的一小群羊；

The sickle， scythe or plough he never swayed——

既不揮鐮也不扶犁——

An honest heart was almost all his stock.”

一顆真心幾乎是他的全部寶藏。”

Of course， one would hardly expect a shepherd to sway a plough in the ordinary way， but Beattie was quite right to remind us that Edwin didnt either. Edwin was the name of the shepherd-swain. “And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy，” we are told a little further on in a line that should live. Well， having satisfied you that Beattie was really a poet， I can now return to my argument that an eleven-inch Byron cannot stand next to a four-inch Beattie， and be followed by an eight-inch Cowper6， without making the shelf look silly. Yet how can I discard Beattie—Beattie who wrote：

當然，人們一般不會指望一個牧羊人扶犁耕地，好在貝蒂相當明智，他提醒我們埃德溫也不會這么做。埃德溫是牧羊郎的名字。“然而可憐的埃德溫絕非粗笨小伙”，詩人在稍后本應永久流傳的一行詩里這樣告訴我們。好了，已經向你們證明貝蒂果真是詩人，且容我回歸剛才的話題：如果將11英寸高的拜倫放在4英寸高的貝蒂旁，隨后再擺上8英寸高的柯珀，整個書架勢必顯得不倫不類。可我豈能拋棄貝蒂——貝蒂還曾寫下——

“And now the downy cheek and deepened voice

“如今毛茸茸的臉頰和渾厚的嗓音

Gave dignity to Edwins blooming prime.”

給風華正茂的埃德溫平添了尊嚴。”

You see the difficulty. If you arrange your books according to their contents you are sure to get an untidy shelf. If you arrange your books according to their size and colour you get an effective wall， but the poetically inclined visitor may lose sight of Beattie altogether. Before， then， we decide what to do about it， we must ask ourselves that very awkward question， “Why do we have books on our shelves at all？” It is a most embarrassing question to answer.

這下你知道困難所在了吧。假如按照書的內容分類整理，書架注定雜亂無章；假如按照書的顏色和大小擺放，書架的陳設當然整齊醒目。但是，喜歡讀詩的客人可能遍尋貝蒂而不見。如此說來，在決定就此做點什么之前，我們必須向自己提出那個特別尷尬的問題：“我們到底為什么要把書放在書架上呢？”回答這個問題，會讓你無比難堪。

Of course， you think that the proper answer （in your own case） is an indignant protest that you bought them in order to read them， and that you put them on your shelves in order that you could refer to them when necessary. A little reflection will show you what a stupid answer that is. If you only want to read them， why are some of them bound in morocco and half-calf and other expensive coverings？ Why did you buy a first edition when a hundredth edition was so much cheaper？ Why have you got half a dozen copies of The Rubáiyát7？ What is the particular value of this other book that you treasure it so carefully？ Why， the fact that its pages are uncut. If you cut the pages and read it， the value would go.

不消說，你認為合適的答復（根據你自己的情況），是憤憤不平地反駁道，你買書是為了讀書，把它們放上書架是為了不時查閱之需。但只要稍加思索，你就會發現這個回答何其荒謬。你若是僅僅為了閱讀，那為什么其中一些書是用摩洛哥革、牛犢皮或其他昂貴的皮面裝幀呢？你為什么要高價購置首版，而第100版明明便宜得多？為什么你有半打各種版本的《魯拜集》？你視若珍寶的那本書又有什么特殊的價值呢？唉，為何實際上你連書頁都沒切邊。你一旦切邊讀起來，其價值也將隨之失去。

So， then， your library is not just for reference. You know as well as I do that it furnishes your room; that it furnishes it more effectively than does paint or mahogany or china. Of course， it is nice to have the books there， so that one can refer to them when one wishes. One may be writing an article on sea-bathing， for instance， and have come to the sentence which begins： “In the well-remembered words of Coleridge8， perhaps almost too familiar to be quoted” and then one may have to look them up. On these occasions a library is not only ornamental but useful. But do not let us be ashamed that we find it ornamental.

所以，你的書房不只是為了查閱資料。你我都知道，書籍裝飾了你的房間，書籍的裝飾效果勝過油漆、桃花心木和瓷器。當然，把書放在那里，便于隨時查閱，這本身是件好事。比如，某人在寫一篇關于海水浴的文章時，碰到一句話開頭寫到：“柯勒律治的這段名言我們耳熟能詳，因其幾乎盡人皆知，以致無需引用”——他大概只得查尋原話啰。此類情形下的書房不僅是裝飾，而且實用。但我們不必因為發現它的裝飾功能而羞愧。

Indeed， the more I survey it， the more I feel that my library is sufficiently ornamental as it stands. Any reassembling of the books might spoil the colour-scheme. Baedekers Switzerland and Villette are both in red， a colour which is neatly caught up again， after an interlude in blue， by a volume of Browning and Jevons Elementary Logic. We had a woman here only yesterday who said， “How pretty your books look，” and I am inclined to think that that is good enough. There is a careless rapture about them which I should lose if I started to arrange them methodically.

確實，我愈加端詳我的書房，便愈覺其裝飾氣派十足。任何形式的書籍整理，都會破壞現有的色彩搭配。《瑞士旅行指南》和《維萊特》都是紅色封皮，中間夾了一本藍色的書，緊接著又是紅色，是布朗寧和杰文斯的《初級邏輯學》。昨天來訪的一位女士說：“你的書擺放得好美觀呀。”我也情愿認為如此甚好。其中自有一種悠然自得的樂趣。一旦我中規中矩地整理，這種樂趣便不復存在。

But perhaps I might risk this to the extent of getting all their heads the same way up. Yes， on one of these fine days （or wet nights） I shall take my library seriously in hand. There are still one or two books which are the wrong way round. I shall put them the right way round.

不過，我仍有可能冒險行事，至多是將所有的書頭尾擺正置于架上。沒錯，等到哪個晴天（或者某個雨夜），我會認真擺弄自己的書房。眼下仍有一兩本書放得不對頭。我得把它們放好。

1選自英國作家艾倫·亞歷山大·米爾恩（1882—1956）的散文集《無關緊要》（Not That It Matters）? 2威廉·卡克斯頓（William Caxton，1422—1491），英國印刷商，翻譯家，1476年創辦第一家印刷所。

3 （1850—1919），19世紀美國著名作家和詩人。

4 Baedeker源自19世紀德國出版商卡爾·貝德克爾（Karl Baedeker）的姓。他所出版的“貝德克爾旅行指南叢書”囊括歐洲各國，內容豐富，攜帶方便，不斷再版。Baedeker后來變成了“旅行指南”的代名詞，并且還擴展到其他領域，表示“入門手冊”。? 5詹姆斯·貝蒂（James Beattie，1735—1803），蘇格蘭早期浪漫主義詩人。

6威廉·柯珀（William Cowper，1731—1800），英國詩人。

7《魯拜集》是波斯著名詩人歐瑪爾·海亞姆（Omar Khayyam）的四行詩詩集，在世界范圍內享有極其崇高的聲譽。? 8塞繆爾·泰勒·柯勒律治（Samuel Taylor Coleridge，1772—1834），英國詩人、文評家，英國浪漫主義文學的奠基人之一。