英譯漢

What is a novel? I say: an invented story. At the same time a story which, though invented, has the power to ring true. True to what? True to life as the reader knows life to be or, it may be, feels life to be. And I mean the adult, the grown-up reader. Such a reader has outgrown fairy tales, and we do not want the fantastic and the impossible. So I say to you that a novel must stand up to the adult tests of reality.

You may say:”If one wants truth, why not go to the literally true book? Biography or documentary, these amazing accounts of amazing experiences which people have.” Yes, but I am suggesting to you that there is a distinction between truth and so-called reality. The novel does not simply recount experience. And here comes in what is the actual livening spark of the novel: the novelist’s imagination has a power of its own. It does not merely invent, it perceives. It intensifies, therefore it gives power, extra importance, and greater truth to what may well be ordinary and everyday things.

小說是什么？我認為是人們創造出來的故事。同時盡管是創造出來的故事，但是小說仍然有一種力量能夠讓人聽上去感覺像真的一樣。真的像什么呢？就像讀者所知道的那種生活或者可能的生活樣子，像他們所感覺的那種生活。當然我指的是對于成熟的成年讀者而言。像我們這樣的成年讀者已經足夠長大，不再相信童話故事，不再需要奇異幻想和那些不可能發生的事情。所以我對你說，小說必須要成熟起來，能夠讓成年人將之放在生活中試驗。

你或許會說：“如果一個人需要事實，他為什么不去看完完全全真實的書呢？自傳或者紀錄片里都是些令人驚異的真人真事的描述。這當然正確，但是我對你的建議是事實和所謂的現實之間有著本質的區別。小說并不僅僅只是敘述人們的經歷，小說會添加人們的經歷。而這一點正是小說所具有的活力火花：小說家的想象力有其自己強大的力量。借助這種想象力小說家并不僅僅創造，他們去感知。這種想象力不斷增強，給原本普普通通的日常生活注入一股力量，使它們變得額外地重要，變得更加地真實。