評論
打印
"How strange that you should say that!" I answered. "For long ago I had the idea that he was possessed of a devil."
“真奇怪，你怎么會也這么說？”我回答道。“很久以前，我正是也有這種想法。我覺得他這個人是被魔鬼抓住了。”
"And the passion that held Strickland was a passion to create beauty. It gave him no peace. It urged him hither and thither. He was eternally a pilgrim, haunted by a divine nostalgia, and the demon within him was ruthless. There are men whose desire for truth is so great that to attain it they will shatter the very foundation of their world. Of such was Strickland, only beauty with him took the place of truth. I could only feel for him a profound compassion."
“使思特里克蘭德著了迷的是一種創作欲，他熱切地想創造出美來。這種激情叫他一刻也不能寧靜。逼著他東奔西走。他好象是一個終生跋涉的朝香者，永遠思慕著一塊圣地。盤踞在他心頭的魔鬼對他毫無憐憫之情。世上有些人渴望尋獲真理，他們的要求非常強烈，為了達到這個目的，就是叫他們把生活的基礎完全打翻，也在所不惜。思特里克蘭德就是這樣一個人；只不過他追求的是美，而不是真理。對于象他這樣的人，我從心眼里感到憐憫。”
"That is strange also. A man whom he had deeply wronged told me that he felt a great pity for him." I was silent for a moment. "I wonder if there you have found the explanation of a character which has always seemed to me inexplicable. How did you hit on it?"
“你說的這一點也很奇怪。有一個他曾經傷害過的人也這樣對我說，說他非常可憐思特里克蘭德。”我沉默了一會兒。“我很想知道，對于一種我一直感到迷惑不解的性格，你是不是已經找到了答案。你怎么會想到這個道理的？”
He turned to me with a smile.
他對我笑了笑。
"Did I not tell you that I, too, in my way was an artist? I realised in myself the same desire as animated him. But whereas his medium was paint, mine has been life."
“我不是告訴你了，從某一個角度講，我也是個藝術家嗎？我在自己身上也深深感到激勵著他的那種熱望。但是他的手段是繪畫，我的卻是生活。”
Then Captain Brunot told me a story which I must repeat, since, if only by way of contrast, it adds something to my impression of Strickland. It has also to my mind a beauty of its own.
布呂諾船長這時給我講了一個故事，我想我應該在這里說一說。因為即使作為對比，這個故事對我記敘思特里克蘭德的生平也能說明一些問題。再說，我認為這個故事本身就是非常美的。
