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Culture
文藝版塊
Revisiting history
重訪歷史
Was Abraham Lincoln gay?
亞伯拉罕·林肯是同性戀嗎？
A documentary re-examines the president’s relationships with men.
一部紀錄片重新審視了林肯總統(tǒng)與男性的關系。
During America's civil war, in 1862, Abraham Lincoln reportedly began sharing a bed with his bodyguard, a soldier named David Derickson.
在美國南北戰(zhàn)爭期間，據(jù)說在1862年，亞伯拉罕·林肯開始與他的保鏢——一個名叫大衛(wèi)·德里克森的士兵——同床共枕。
The tittle-tattle was recorded in the diary of Virginia Woodbury Fox, the wife of Lincoln’s naval aide, who wrote about “a soldier here devoted to the president, drives with him, and when Mrs. L. is not home, sleeps with him”.
這條流言蜚語被記錄在弗吉尼亞·伍德伯里·?？怂沟娜沼浿?，她是林肯的海軍助手的妻子，她寫道：“這里有一個士兵對總統(tǒng)十分忠誠，他與總統(tǒng)一起開車，而且當林肯夫人不在家時，還與總統(tǒng)同床共枕。”
She added: “What stuff!”
福克斯又加了一句：“真是荒唐！”
Mere gossip, you might argue—or simply a sensible idea, given the target on Lincoln’s back.
你可能會說，這只是謠言，或者說，考慮到當時經(jīng)常有槍瞄準林肯的后背，有一個貼身保鏢是明智的做法。
But a new film, “Lover of Men”, examines four of Lincoln’s relationships, conducted from his 20s to his 50s, to claim that he had sex with men.
但是一部新紀錄片電影《林肯總統(tǒng)不為人知的往事》審視了林肯從20多歲到50多歲的四段關系，并聲稱他與男性發(fā)生過性關系。
A popular comedy play, “Oh, Mary!”, presents Lincoln’s wife as his beard; its run on Broadway was recently extended until January.
一部頗受歡迎的喜劇《哦，瑪麗！》將林肯的妻子描繪為他的胡須，最近該劇在百老匯的演出時間延長至明年1月。（注：胡須在劇中比喻林肯對妻子的漠視。）
In the early 1830s, while working at a general store in Illinois, Lincoln shared a cot with William Greene, his co-worker, for 18 months.
在19世紀30年代初，林肯在伊利諾伊州的一家雜貨店工作時，他和同事威廉·格林共睡一張折疊床，長達18個月。
In 1837 Lincoln moved to Springfield to practise law and met Joshua Speed.
在1837年，林肯搬到斯普林菲爾德從事法律工作，并結識了約書亞·斯皮德。
They shared a bed for four years.
他們同床共枕了四年。
“No two men were ever more intimate,” is how Speed summarised their relationship.
斯皮德總結他倆的關系時說：“沒有哪兩個男人能（比我們）更親密。”
Just how intimate is a touchy subject among scholars.
究竟有多么親密，這是學者們之間的一個敏感話題。
“Such sleeping arrangements were not uncommon on the Illinois frontier,” asserts Michael Burlingame, a historian at the University of Illinois, who does not see any “proof of a homosexual relationship” in Lincoln’s bedsharing.
“這種睡覺安排在伊利諾伊州的邊遠地區(qū)并不罕見?！币晾Z伊大學的歷史學家邁克爾·伯林蓋姆斷言，他在林肯的同床共枕中沒有看到任何“同性戀關系的證據(jù)”。
Mattresses, after all, were expensive at the time.
畢竟，在當時床墊是很貴的。
But once he was a lawyer Lincoln “could have afforded not only a bed but a house”, Thomas Balcerski of Eastern Connecticut State University says in the film; Lincoln was offered housing elsewhere but chose to stay with Speed.
但東康涅狄格州立大學的托馬斯·巴爾切斯基在影片中說，林肯成了律師之后，“不僅買得起床，還買得起房子”，有人給林肯提供了其他住處，但他選擇繼續(xù)和斯皮德住在一起。
When Speed returned to Kentucky in 1841, Lincoln became depressed.
當斯皮德于1841年回到肯塔基州時，林肯變得郁郁寡歡。
He wrote: “I am now the most miserable man living.
他寫道：“我現(xiàn)在是世界上最痛苦的人。
If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth.”
如果把我的感受平均分配到全人類身上，那么地球上連一張歡樂的臉都不會出現(xiàn)?！?/p>
The two men continued to exchange letters sharing their fears of marriage and women.
兩個人繼續(xù)交換信件，互相傾訴他們對婚姻和女人的恐懼。
Lincoln’s aversion to women was remarked on.
有人評論過林肯對女人的厭惡。
He “never took much interest in the girls,” Sarah Bush Lincoln, his stepmother, said.
他的繼母薩拉·布什·林肯說，他“對女孩從來沒有多大興趣”。
Marriage was helpful for public office, though, and Lincoln married Mary Todd in 1842.
盡管如此，婚姻對公職有幫助，所以林肯還是在1842年與瑪麗·托德結婚了。
Lincoln had often signed his letters to Speed “yours forever”, but never missives to his wife.
林肯在寫給斯皮德的信中常常落款“永遠屬于你”，但在寫給妻子的信中卻從未這樣落款過。
To some, speculation about Lincoln’s sexuality is inevitable in an era obsessed with identity politics.
對一些人來說，在如今這個癡迷于身份政治的時代，對林肯性取向的猜測是不可避免的。
But such surmising is not new.
但這種猜測并不是新鮮事。
In a biography from 1926, Carl Sandburg, a Pulitzer-prizewinning biographer, wrote that the president had “a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets” (a euphemism for homosexuality).
在1926年的一本傳記中，曾獲普利策獎的傳記作家卡爾·桑德堡寫道，總統(tǒng)“有一些斷袖氣質，某些癖好如五月的紫羅蘭”（這是對同性戀的委婉說法）。（注：薰衣草和紫羅蘭表示同性戀或男性身上的女性氣質。）
The passage was later removed.
這個段落后來被刪除了。
It is only as same-sex relationships have gained legal and social acceptance that historians have reopened this line of inquiry.
直到同性關系獲得了法律和社會的認可，歷史學家才重新開啟了這方面的探究。
“Lover of Men” is part of a larger trend in revisionist history—the challenging of orthodox views and narratives.
《林肯總統(tǒng)不為人知的往事》是修正主義歷史這一更大趨勢的一部分，這種趨勢是對正統(tǒng)觀點和正統(tǒng)敘事的挑戰(zhàn)。
“Revisionism” can carry a pejorative connotation, and histories that dissent from conventional interpretation can be deemed heretical.
“修正主義”可能帶有貶義，與傳統(tǒng)闡釋有分歧的歷史可能會被視為異端邪說。
Yet historians often update their understanding of the past.
然而，歷史學家經(jīng)常更新他們對過去的理解。
New methods of analysis and perspectives introduced by fresh generations of scholars alter received wisdom.
由新一代學者所引入的新的分析方法和視角會改變已被接受的智慧。
For years scholars denied that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by his slave, Sally Hemings, as it was a proposition too unsavoury to stomach.
多年來，學者們一直否認托馬斯·杰斐遜與他的奴隸薩莉·海明斯育有子女，因為這一說法過于丑惡，令人無法接受。（注：托馬斯·杰斐遜是美國的國父之一，參與起草《獨立宣言》，但當時黑奴的子女不是自由人，奴隸主可以對奴隸進行性剝削。）
Today most historians accept that he did.
如今，大多數(shù)歷史學家都承認了這一事實。
Interpretations of Lincoln’s relationships have “shifted considerably”, says John Stauffer, a historian at Harvard University.
哈佛大學歷史學家約翰·斯托弗表示，對林肯與他人關系的解讀已經(jīng)“發(fā)生了很大的變化”。
Still, many scholars maintain that Lincoln’s relationships with men were platonic.
盡管如此，許多學者仍然堅稱林肯與男性的關系是柏拉圖式的。
One reason, according to Mr Stauffer, is that they treat Lincoln “as an almost godlike figure” and do not want to contemplate hidden sexual tastes.
據(jù)斯托弗的說法，一個原因是他們把林肯視為“近乎神一樣的人物”，不想去細想隱藏的性取向問題。
“Lover of Men” is unlikely to precipitate a wholesale re-evaluation of Lincoln’s legacy.
《林肯總統(tǒng)不為人知的往事》大概率不會引發(fā)對林肯遺產(chǎn)的大規(guī)模重新評估。
Some Americans will continue to see the great patriot in much the same light as before; others will lambast the documentary’s findings as woke nonsense.
一些美國人將繼續(xù)以大致相同的眼光看待這位偉大的愛國者，其他人則會抨擊該紀錄片的調查結果是覺醒文化的胡說八道。（注：覺醒文化指美國人對有色人種、同性戀社群和女性身份認同的左翼政治運動。）
In the 21st century, America remains a house divided.
直到如今的21世紀，美國仍然是一幢裂開的房子。（注：“裂開的房子”來自林肯參加競選時的演講，指美國南北不同的制度使國家分裂，一半自由，一半奴隸。）
