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Chapter 41
第四十一章
We arrived at the house in which I lived. I would not ask him to come in with me, but walked up the stairs without a word. He followed me, and entered the apartment on my heels. He had not been in it before, but he never gave a glance at the room I had been at pains to make pleasing to the eye. There was a tin of tobacco on the table, and, taking out his pipe, he filled it. He sat down on the only chair that had no arms and tilted himself on the back legs.
我們走到我住的房子。我不想對他說什么“請進來坐”這類的客氣話，而是一言不發地自己走上了樓梯。他跟在后面，踩著我的腳后跟走進我的住房。他過去從來沒到我這地方來過，但對我精心布置的屋子連看也不看一眼。桌子上擺著一鐵罐煙草，他拿出煙斗來，裝了一斗煙。接著，他坐在一把沒有扶手的椅子上，身體往后一靠，蹺起椅子的前腿。
"If you're going to make yourself at home, why don't you sit in an arm-chair?" I asked irritably.
“要是你想舒服一下，為什么不坐在安樂椅上？”我忿忿地問道。
"Why are you concerned about my comfort?"
“你為什么對我的舒適這么關心？”
"I'm not," I retorted, "but only about my own. It makes me uncomfortable to see someone sit on an uncomfortable chair."
“我并不關心，”我反駁說，“我關心的是自己。我看見別人坐在一把不舒服的椅子上自己就覺得不舒服。”
He chuckled, but did not move. He smoked on in silence, taking no further notice of me, and apparently was absorbed in thought. I wondered why he had come.
他咯咯地笑了笑，但是沒有換地方。他默默地抽著煙斗，不再理睬我；看來他正在沉思自己的事。我很奇怪他為什么到我這地方來。
Until long habit has blunted the sensibility, there is something disconcerting to the writer in the instinct which causes him to take an interest in the singularities of human nature so absorbing that his moral sense is powerless against it. He recognises in himself an artistic satisfaction in the contemplation of evil which a little startles him; but sincerity forces him to confess that the disapproval he feels for certain actions is not nearly so strong as his curiosity in their reasons. The character of a scoundrel, logical and complete, has a fascination for his creator which is an outrage to law and order. I expect that Shakespeare devised Iago with a gusto which he never knew when, weaving moonbeams with his fancy, he imagined Desdemona. It may be that in his rogues the writer gratifies instincts deep-rooted in him, which the manners and customs of a civilised world have forced back to the mysterious recesses of the subconscious. In giving to the character of his invention flesh and bones he is giving life to that part of himself which finds no other means of expression. His satisfaction is a sense of liberation.
作家對那些吸引著他的怪異的性格本能地感到興趣，盡管他的道德觀不以為然，對此卻無能為力；直到習慣已成自然，他的感覺變得遲鈍以后，這種本能常常使他非常狼狽。他喜歡觀察這種多少使他感到驚異的邪惡的人性，自認這種觀察是為了滿足藝術的要求；但是他的真摯卻迫使他承認：他對于某些行為的反感遠不如對這些行為產生原因的好奇心那樣強烈。一個惡棍的性格如果刻劃得完美而又合乎邏輯，對于創作者是具有一種魅惑的力量的，盡管從法律和秩序的角度看，他決不該對惡棍有任何欣賞的態度。我猜想莎士比亞在創作埃古（莎士比亞戲劇《奧瑟羅》中的反面人物）時可能比他借助月光和幻想構思苔絲德夢娜（《奧瑟羅》主人公奧瑟羅的妻子）懷著更大的興味。說不定作家在創作惡棍時實際上是在滿足他內心深處的一種天性，因為在文明社會中，風俗禮儀迫使這種天性隱匿到潛意識的最隱秘的底層下；給予他虛構的人物以血肉之軀，也就是使他那一部分無法表露的自我有了生命。他得到的滿足是一種自由解放的快感。
