評論
打印
I mean he was a leading exponent of the sensation novel that
我想說他是奇情小說的代表人物
gave the readers lots and lots of very wild and lured adventures.
這類小說讓讀者體驗很多狂野與誘惑的冒險
He saw the potential of the who done it genre.
他預(yù)見到了尋兇流派的前景
But he didn't push it towards
但他并沒有去推動
what became its ultimatum almost platonically ideal form,
而尋兇最終成熟，幾乎成為柏拉圖式的
the murder mystery.
理想形式
The writer who nearly did this was Charles Dickens.
差點做成此事的人是查爾斯.狄更斯
His last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood,
他最后一部小說，埃德溫·德魯?shù)轮i
which was published in 1870,
于1870年出版
did actually put what seems to be a murder,
寫得很像是謀殺題材
the disappearance in murky circumstances
在黑暗的環(huán)境里
of a young men Edwin Drood.
年輕人埃德溫·德魯?shù)码x奇失蹤
It puts that right to the center.
這正是小說的中心內(nèi)容
And again when you read Edwin Drood,
我想當(dāng)你讀這本小說時
I think you feel that you are in the role of detective fiction.
你會感覺這像是一本偵探小說
That's a small circle of suspects again.
嫌疑人的范圍很小
There are clues, evidence of disguise, plenty of suspicious behavior.
有證據(jù)，偽裝，眾多可疑的行為
Especially from Edwin's opium addicted uncle Jasper.
埃德溫的叔叔，癮君子賈斯伯尤為可疑
Jasper is normally a name that rings warning bells
賈斯伯這個名字在19世紀(jì)的小說和戲劇中
in 19th century fiction and plays.
通常是敲響警鐘的角色
And anyway Jasper living out to his name really seems to
不管怎樣，這次賈斯伯真的是人如其名
have dark designs on the girl that Edwin is in love with.
他看上去對埃德溫喜歡的女孩居心叵測
There's even something that later
書中甚至包含一些
plays a very prominent role
之后在黃金時代偵探小說中
in detective fiction during the Golden Age.
有突出作用的設(shè)定
And that's an ulterior respectable very genteel setting.
看上去溫文爾雅的上流人士背后卻藏有不可告人的秘密
Detective writers love to, especially in the 20s and 30s,
19世紀(jì)20 30年代的偵探小說作家
they love to juxtapose the deadly and the decorous to
尤其喜歡讓彬彬有禮卻內(nèi)心歹毒的角色
make terrible things happen in places like Tolkeer and Cheltenham.
在類似于切爾滕納姆的地方制造恐怖事端
And very very vicarages and so.
特別是發(fā)生在教區(qū)
So what Dickens does in Edwin Drood
狄更斯在，埃德溫·德魯?shù)轮i，中
is to place the mystery inside a cathedral close.
將事發(fā)地點選擇大教堂內(nèi)
It is all sounds promisingly as though
聽起來都像是在證明
he come up with the first murder mystery.
狄更斯寫出了第一部神秘謀殺小說
But of course he didn't,
但是他并沒有做到
because he died before he could complete the mystery of Edwin Drood.
因為他沒有完成此書便去世了
We don't in fact know, we don't know who the murderer was,
事實上我們并不知道誰是兇手
and in fact we can't even be 100% certain that was a murder,
我們甚至不能百分之百確定這是個謀殺案
and that Edwin Drood isn't going to reappear alive
說不定在小說的最后
before the end of the novel.
發(fā)現(xiàn)埃德溫仍然活著
And it's although frustrating and tantalizing.
這讓人覺得沮喪和惋惜
Especially Dickens told a close associate of his
特別是狄更斯曾對他的親密助手談到
that he changed his mind about the plot of Edwin Drood.
他在小說的情節(jié)上改變了主意
As he was writing it
因為在創(chuàng)作的過程中
and he thought of something incredibly ingenuous
他想實現(xiàn)更為直白的表達
rather hard to pull off in the plot.
情節(jié)上卻比較難以實現(xiàn)
But he was sure he could do it
但他相信自己能做到
Annoyingly, you know, he didn't lived to do it.
可惜的是，他沒能活到那一天
I would say it's a pity that Dickens didn't finish it,
我想說，狄更斯沒能完成這部小說很讓人惋惜
because given his lifelong fascination with murder and its affects,
因為考慮到他對謀殺題材的畢生迷戀和鐘愛
it would have been nicely appropriate
他非常適合
if he'd pioneered the murder mystery story.
做神秘謀殺小說的先驅(qū)
