評論
打印
Dr. Coutras shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
庫特拉斯醫生聳了一下肩膀，臉上露出笑容。
"You will laugh at me. I am a materialist, and I am a gross, fat man—Falstaff, eh?—the lyrical mode does not become me. I make myself ridiculous. But I have never seen painting which made so deep an impression upon me. Tenez, I had just the same feeling as when I went to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. There too I was awed by the greatness of the man who had painted that ceiling. It was genius, and it was stupendous and overwhelming. I felt small and insignificant. But you are prepared for the greatness of Michael Angelo. Nothing had prepared me for the immense surprise of these pictures in a native hut, far away from civilisation, in a fold of the mountain above Taravao. And Michael Angelo is sane and healthy. Those great works of his have the calm of the sublime; but here, notwithstanding beauty, was something troubling. I do not know what it was. It made me uneasy. It gave me the impression you get when you are sitting next door to a room that you know is empty, but in which, you know not why, you have a dreadful consciousness that notwithstanding there is someone. You scold yourself; you know it is only your nerves—and yet, and yet... In a little while it is impossible to resist the terror that seizes you, and you are helpless in the clutch of an unseen horror. Yes; I confess I was not altogether sorry when I heard that those strange masterpieces had been destroyed."
“你會笑我的。我是個實利主義者，我生得又蠢又胖——有點兒象福斯塔夫（莎士比亞戲劇《亨利四世》中人物，身體肥胖，喜愛吹牛），對不對？——抒情詩的感情對我是很不合適的。我在惹人發笑。但是我真的還從來沒有看過哪幅畫給我留下這么深的印象。說老實話，我看這幅畫時的心情，就象我進了羅馬塞斯廷小教堂一樣。在那里我也是感到在天花板上繪畫的那個畫家非常偉大，又敬佩又畏服。那真是天才的畫，氣勢磅礴，叫人感到頭暈目眩。在這樣偉大的壁畫前面，我感到自己非常渺小，微不足道。但是人們對米開朗基羅的偉大還是有心理準備的，而在這樣一個土人住的小木房子里，遠離文明世界，在俯瞰塔拉窩村莊的群山懷抱里，我卻根本沒想到會看到這樣令人吃驚的藝術作品。另外，米開朗基羅神智健全，身體健康。他的那些偉大作品給人以崇高、肅穆的感覺。但是在這里，雖然我看到的也是美，卻叫我覺得心神不安。我不知道那究竟是什么，但它確實叫我不能平靜。它給我一種印象，仿佛我正坐在一間空蕩蕩的屋子隔壁，我知道那間屋子是空的，但不知為什么，我又覺得里面有一個人，叫我驚恐萬狀。你責罵你自己吧；你知道這只不過是你的神經在作祟——但是，但是……過一小會兒，你就再也不能抗拒那緊緊捕捉住你的恐懼了。你被握在一種無形的恐怖的掌心里，無法逃脫。是的，我承認當我聽到這些奇異的杰作被毀掉的時候，我并不是只覺得遺憾的。”
"Destroyed?" I cried.
“怎么，毀掉了？”我喊起來。
"Mais oui; did you not know?"
“是啊。你不知道嗎？”
"How should I know? It is true I had never heard of this work; but I thought perhaps it had fallen into the hands of a private owner. Even now there is no certain list of Strickland's paintings."
“我怎么會知道？我沒聽說過這些作品倒是事實，但是我還以為它們落到某個私人收藏家手里去了呢。思特里克蘭德究竟畫了多少畫兒，直到今天始終沒有人編制出目錄來。”
