評論
打印
Yes?
“是嗎？”
He doesn't like The Ever-Rolling Stream. He wants to call it The Chelsea Set.
“他不喜歡《潺潺的小溪》這個書名。他想改成《切爾西的名流》。”
What did you say?
“你怎么說的？”
I agreed. I do think that with a first novel one should try to keep one's publisher happy. Especially when, really, he's going to pay for our marriage, isn't he?
“我同意了。而且我也認為出版處女作的時候千萬要迎合出版商。更何況咱倆結婚的錢還得要靠他呢，是吧？”
I see what you mean. Absent-mindedly he stirred his Chablis with a fork—perhaps before the engagement he had always bought champagne. The Japanese gentlemen had finished their fish and with very little English but with elaborate courtesy they were ordering from the middle-aged waitress a fresh fruit salad. The girl looked at them, and then she looked at me, but I think she saw only the future. I wanted very much to warn her against any future based on a first novel called The Chelsea Set. I was on the side of his mother. It was a humiliating thought, but I was probably about her mother's age.
“我明白你的意思了。”男孩漫不經心地用叉子攪動著沙布利酒——也許訂婚前他都是買香檳的吧。日本男士們已經用完魚肉餐，他們正向那位中年女服務員點一道鮮果沙拉，他們的英語很不流利，但他們卻很有禮貌。女孩看了看他們，又向我這邊看了看。但我想，她看見的只有未來。我很想去告誡她不要把未來全部寄托在叫《切爾西的名流》的處女作小說上。我同意男孩母親的說法，這是個令人羞愧的想法，但我可能跟她母親的年齡差不多。
I wanted to say to her: Are you certain your publisher is telling you the truth? Publishers are human. They may sometimes exaggerate the virtues of the young and the pretty. Will The Chelsea Set be read in five years? Are you prepared for the years of effort, "the long defeat of doing nothing well"? As the years pass writing will not become any easier, the daily effort will grow harder to endure, those "powers of observation" will become enfeebled; you will be judged, when you reach your forties, by performance and not by promise.
我想對她說：你能確定出版商跟你說的是實話嗎？出版商是普通人，他們有時候會夸大年輕人以及相貌好的人的優點。《切爾西的名流》能流行五年嗎？你準備好進行多年的努力和接受長期一事無成的打擊了嗎？隨著時間的推移，寫作并不會越來越容易，每日的努力越來越難以忍受，“觀察力”也會變弱，你到四十歲時，別人會拿你的成就來評判你而不是拿你的承諾評判你。
My next novel is going to be about St Tropez.
“我的下一部小說將是關于圣特羅佩的。”
I didn't know you'd ever been there.
“我不知道你去過那里。”
I haven't. A fresh eye's terribly important. I thought we might settle down there for six months.
“我并沒有去過。但我有對事物充滿新鮮感的眼睛，這也很重要，我想我們應該去那里居住六個月。”
