評論
打印
I am arriving by degrees at my point, which is that the great issue facing writers both of journalism and of novels is that of determining, and then publishing, the truth. For the ultimate goal of both factual and fictional writing is the truth, however paradoxical that may sound. And truth is slippery, hard to establish. Mistakes, as in the Lloyd Webber case, can be made. And if truth can set you free, it can also land you in hot water. Fine as the word sounds, truth is all too often unpalatable, awkward, unorthodox. The armies of received ideas are marshaled against it. The legions of all those who stand to profit by useful untruths will march against it. Yet it must, if at all possible, be told.
我正逐漸地得出我的論點(diǎn)，也就是說，不論是新聞報(bào)道記者還是小說作家都面臨著確定事實(shí)真相并將其公之于眾的大事。因?yàn)閷τ诩o(jì)實(shí)性和虛構(gòu)性的寫作來說，兩者的最終目的都是揭露事實(shí)真相，不管真相聽起來有多么的荒謬。然而真相并非唾手可得，而是難以確定的。像勞埃德·韋伯事件中那樣的錯誤就可能會出現(xiàn)。而且如果真相能夠令你免除痛苦，它也能令你陷入困境。盡管真相這個詞聽著順耳，但總是時(shí)常令人感到不快和窘迫，或是離經(jīng)叛道。傳統(tǒng)觀念會集結(jié)為大軍討伐它。能夠從可利用的謊言中獲益的人會成群結(jié)伙地向它發(fā)起攻擊。但是只要有丁點(diǎn)兒的可能，真相就必須被講出來。
But, it may be objected, can there really be any connection between the truth of the news and that of the world of the imagination? In the world of facts, a man is either an ostrich farmer or he is not. In fiction's universe, he may be fifteen contradictory things at once.
但是，真相可能會遭到拒絕，在新聞報(bào)道的事實(shí)與虛構(gòu)世界的事實(shí)之間真的會有任何聯(lián)系嗎？在現(xiàn)實(shí)的世界里，某人要么是養(yǎng)殖鴕鳥的農(nóng)場主，要么不是。在虛構(gòu)世界里，他可能同時(shí)具有15種自相矛盾的身份。
Let me attempt an answer.
讓我試著來回答一下吧。
The word "novel" derives from the Latin word for new; in French, nouvelles are both stories and news reports. A hundred years ago, people read novels, among other things, for information. From Dickens; Nicholas Nickleby, British readers got shocking information about poor schools like Dotheboys Hall, and such schools were subsequently abolished. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Huckleberry Finn and Moby-Dick are all, in this newsy sense, information-heavy.
“novel”一詞源自拉丁語，意思是“新的”；在法語里，“nouvelles”一詞既指故事又指新聞報(bào)道。100年前，人們通過閱讀獲取信息，小說就是各種讀物之一。從狄更斯的《少爺返鄉(xiāng)》中，英國讀者了解到有關(guān)多希男童學(xué)堂的情況，像那樣的窮人學(xué)校的狀況是令人震驚的，后來這樣的學(xué)校就被廢止了。《湯姆叔叔的小屋》《哈克貝利·費(fèi)恩歷險(xiǎn)記》《白鯨》從這種新聞意識而言都包含了大量的信息。
