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Salinger Detested Technology. Now His Books Will Be Digital.
塞林格厭惡技術 然其作品即將發行電子版。
By Alexandra Alter
文/亞歷山德拉·奧爾特
In the five decades since J. D. Salinger published his final short story, “Hapworth 16, 1924,”
J·D·塞林格最后一部短篇小說《哈普沃茲16,1924》付梓出版距今已有50年之久，
his small, revered body of work has stayed static, practically suspended in amber.
他那袖珍但備受尊敬的作品庫卻一直沒有動靜，也一直懸于琥珀般的迷霧之中。
Even as publishers and consumers adopted e-books and digital audio,
出版商和消費者都已陸陸續續轉向電子書和數字音頻，
Salinger’s books remained defiantly offline,
塞林格的作品卻依然倔強地守在線下，
a consequence of the writer’s distaste for computers and technology.
而這一切都要歸因于作者對計算機和技術的厭惡。
And while Salinger kept writing until his death nearly 10 years ago, not a word has been published since 1965.
塞林格離世距今已近十年，盡管離世前他從未停止寫作，但自1965年以來，塞林格未曾發表過一個字。
That is partly because of his son, Matt Salinger,
而這部分得益于其子，J·D·塞林格文學信托基金負責人馬特·塞林格
who helps run the J. D. Salinger Literary Trust and is a vigilant guardian of his father’s legacy and privacy.
在保護父親的遺產和隱私上頗為謹慎。
But now, in an effort to keep his father’s books in front of a new generation of readers,
但現在，為了讓父親的作品在新一代讀者中間繼續流傳，
the younger Mr. Salinger is beginning to ease up,
年輕的塞林格的立場已經有所松動，
gradually lifting a cloud of secrecy that has obscured the life and work of one of America’s most influential and enigmatic writers.
籠罩在這位堪稱美國最具影響力也最神秘的作家的生平及作品之上的神秘面紗亦被慢慢揭開。
This week, in the first step of a broader revival that could reshape the world’s understanding of Salinger and his writing,
本周，小塞林格就邁出了或將重塑外界對塞林格及其作品的理解，使其作品重新煥發出活力的第一步：
Little, Brown is publishing digital editions of his four books,
利特爾&布朗出版社即將出版四部塞林格作品的電子書，
making him perhaps the last 20th-century literary icon to surrender to the digital revolution.
這樣一來，塞林格或將成為最后一位屈服于數字革命的20世紀文學泰斗。
Then this fall, with Mr. Salinger’s help, the New York Public Library will host the first public exhibition from Salinger’s personal archives,
在小塞林格的幫助下，今年秋天，紐約公共圖書館也將首次公開展出塞林格的個人檔案，
which will feature letters, family photographs and the typescript for “The Catcher in the Rye”
其中包括信件、家庭照片，《麥田里的守望者》的打字稿，
with the author’s handwritten edits, along with about 160 other items.
還有作者的手跡連同其他大約160個物品。
And before long, decades worth of Salinger’s unpublished writing will be released,
不久之后，塞林格積累數十年未曾發表的作品都將陸續出版，
a project Mr. Salinger estimated will take another five to seven years to complete.
小塞林格估計，這一項目還需五到七年才能完成。
Combing through his father’s manuscripts and letters has been both enlightening and emotionally taxing,
塞林格在推廣電子版作品時接受記者采訪表示，梳理父親的手稿和信件讓他深受啟發，
Mr. Salinger said in an interview to promote the digital editions.
也給他帶來了感情上的負擔。
“It’s kept him very much alive for me,” he said during an interview at the New York Public Library.
“會讓我覺得他還在我身邊一樣，”他在紐約公共圖書館接受采訪時說道。
“It’s been fascinating and joyful and moving and sad.”
“我既著迷，又開心，又感動，又難過。”
It’s also put him in the awkward position of becoming a de facto public face for an author
這一工作也將他推入了頗為尷尬的處境，因為他要充當這位作家的代言人，
who detested publicity and once told an interviewer that “publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy.”
而作家本人十分厭惡宣傳，還曾在采訪中表示，“出版嚴重侵犯了我的隱私。”
“It’s weird, because I’ve spent my whole life protecting him and not talking about him,” Mr. Salinger said.
“感覺很不可思議，因為我一輩子都在保護他的隱私，避免談論他，”小塞林格說。
The question of what Salinger left behind when he died in 2010 at the age of 91
老塞林格已于2010年離開了人世，享年91歲，有關他留下的文學遺產的問題
remains one of the most tantalizing mysteries in American literature.
至今仍是美國文學中最引人入勝的謎團之一。
His son has the answers but is not revealing much for now,
小塞林格知道答案，但目前并沒有透露太多，
apart from the fact that there is more writing — a lot of it — and that he is preparing to release it.
只表示作者還有更多作品——為數不少的作品——沒有面世，他準備將它們都發表出來。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
