当爱已成往事|读《都柏林人》之《一桩惨案》
当爱已成往事|读《都柏林人》之《一桩惨案》
乔伊斯的《都柏林人》第十一篇题为A Painful Case（《一桩惨案》），是正文里晚报上一则新闻的副标题：
当爱已成往事|读《都柏林人》之《一桩惨案》
这是一个关于外遇的故事。
最后的结局是外遇的女人死了，而且死得比较惨。但是，故事的主人公并不是这个死去的西尼科太太。文章的主角是杜菲先生。
詹姆士·杜菲先生是个什么样的人，看看乔伊斯怎么写：
＊he wished to liveas far as possible from the city of which he was a citizen andbecause he found all the other suburbs of Dublin mean, modern andpretentious.
译：他希望住的离都柏林越远越好，即便自己是都柏林市民。他也觉得都柏林的其他郊区都很难看，现代而造作。
＊Mr. Duffy abhorred anything which betokened physical or mentaldisorder. A medival doctor would have called him saturnine.
译：杜菲先生厌恶一切物质或精神错乱的表现。中世纪的医生一定会说他有精神抑郁症。
＊He had neither companions nor friends, church nor creed...He performed these two social duties for old dignity's sakebut conceded nothing further to the conventions which regulate thecivic life. He allowed himself to think that in certain circumstanceshe would rob his hank but, as these circumstances never arose, hislife rolled out evenly--an adventureless tale.
译：他没有伴侣也没有朋友，没有信仰也没有信条...看在过去交情上他履行这两项社会义务（圣诞节拜访亲戚和亲戚过世去送葬），除此之外其他人情世故一概不理。他大胆的想象在特殊情况下他也可能会打劫自己任职的银行，不过特殊情况从未发生过，他的生活波澜不惊——毫无惊险可言。
杜菲先生其实还是渴望生活中有一点刺激的，后来在歌剧院与西尼科太太相遇，继而又在音乐会上偶然碰到后，大胆邀约她见面，因不喜欢偷偷摸摸，他拜访了她家。西尼科太太的丈夫是商船船长，常年往来于都柏林和荷兰，对自己的太太早已失去了兴趣，也没觉得有人会对自己的太太感兴趣，所以欢迎杜菲先生常到家玩。杜菲先生与西尼科太太的这种见面似乎给他的生活增添了一分刺激：
＊Neither he nor she had had any such adventurebefore and neither was conscious of any incongruity. Little by littlehe entangled his thoughts with hers. He lent her books, provided herwith ideas, shared his intellectual life with her. She listened to all.
译：他和她以前都从未有过这样的冒险，也没有意识到这有什么不妥。慢慢的，他和她思想交融。他借书给她，给她讲自己的想法。她都听进去了。
后来两人的相会越来越频繁，她鼓励他敞开心扉，听他告解，鼓励他写下自己的想法。他常去她在都柏林外的小木屋。他们的想法越来越相投，话题也越来越亲密，他感觉这很好：
＊Her companionshipwas like a warm soil about an exotic.
......
This union exalted him, wore away the roughedges of his character, emotionalised his mental life.
......
He thoughtthat in her eyes he would ascend to an angelical stature
译：有了她的陪伴如同置身于异国的热土之中。
……
这种融合使他得以升华，磨掉了他性格中坚硬的棱角，使他的精神生活充满了感情。
……
他觉得在她眼里他就像从天而降的天使。
但面对西尼科太太愈来愈炙热的感情，他谨慎了：
＊he heard the strange impersonal voice which he recognisedas his own, insisting on the soul's incurable loneliness. We cannotgive ourselves, it said: we are our own.
译：他听到一个很奇怪的声音，不带任何感情，后来他辨认出这是自己的声音，坚持说灵魂的孤独没有解药，我们不能把自己交出去。这个声音说道：“我们是属于我们自己的。”
爱上别人是不是真的会失去自己？难道不是找到了灵魂伴侣后我们变得更完整了？在一个晚上当西尼科太太表现出与平常不一样的兴奋，激动地抓住他的手放到她自己的脸颊上之后，他们之间的这种交流就停止了。杜菲先生有一周都没有见西尼科太太。后来他约她出来见面，最后都同意中止这段关系。
但分手对西尼科太太来说并没有像杜菲先生那么淡定：
＊but here she began to tremble so violently that, fearing anothercollapse on her part, he bade her good-bye quickly and left her. Afew days later he received a parcel containing his books and music.
译：走到这儿时她身子抖得厉害起来，害怕她会崩溃，他很快说了再见就离开了。几天后他收到了一个包裹，里面装着他的书和唱片。
杜菲先生又过回了以前的平淡无奇的生活。四年后，在餐馆吃晚饭时读晚报，他看到了她的死讯。报上说西尼科太太是酗酒过度，自己撞上电车死的。报纸写得十分详细。回到家里，杜菲先生又读了一遍。
＊What an end! The whole narrative ofher death revolted him and it revolted him to think that he had everspoken to her of what he held sacred.
......
Not merely had she degraded herself; she had degraded
him. He saw the squalid tract of her vice, miserable and malodorous.His soul's companion!
译：这样的结局！对她死亡的通篇描述让他觉得恶心，想到给她讲过自认为神圣的事，他也觉得恶心。
......
她不只是贬低了她自己的身份；她还贬低了他的身份。他看到了她那肮脏的罪恶，可悲可恨。他灵魂的伴侣啊！
这就是杜菲先生静静的一个人读着昔日情人死去消息时的反应，没有悲痛，没有怜悯，而是嫌弃。
＊Evidently she had been unfit to live, without anystrength of purpose, an easy prey to habits, one of the wrecks onwhich civilisation has been reared. But that she could have sunk solow! Was it possible he had deceived himself so utterly about her?He remembered her outburst of that night and interpreted it in aharsher sense than he had ever done. He had no difficulty now inapproving of the course he had taken.
译：显然她不适合再活下去了，没有坚定的目标，轻易染上恶习，人类文明繁衍的次等品。她竟然堕落到如此不堪！也许他完全看错了她？想起那天晚上她迸发而出的热情，他感受到了从未有过的不快。现在他可以轻易地接受当初自己的选择了。
但是当夜色越来越暗，回忆开始恣意蔓延，他到酒馆里喝酒，心理也变得复杂起来：
＊...evokingalternately the two images in which he now conceived her...
He asked himselfwhat else could he have done. ..
How was he toblame?
译：他对她的两种看法交替出现...他问自己又可能做什么...他又怎么会受到谴责？
西尼科太太的死又让杜菲先生有点理解她的孤独，同时联想到了自己的孤独。后来他去了他们曾经散步的公园，感受到昔日的温情，心理又有了变化：
＊Why had he withheld lifefrom her? Why had he sentenced her to death? He felt his moralnature falling to pieces.
译：为什么要从她身边退缩？为什么让她走上了不归路？他感到自己道德性的那部分正一片一片地碎掉。
站在公园小山坡顶，杜菲先生看到公园墙角亲热的人，他的悲愤终于爆发了：
＊He gnawed the rectitude of his life; he felt that he had beenoutcast from life's feast. One human being had seemed to love himand he had denied her life and happiness: he had sentenced her toignominy, a death of shame.
译：他反复叩问着自己正直的生活，感到自己已被逐出了生活的盛筵。有一个人看来曾经爱他，而他却断送了她的生命和幸福。他让她蒙羞，死得不体面。
离开公园后，他再也感受不到她在身旁，耳边也不再响起她的声音，在一片孤寂中，文章结束了：
＊He waited for some minutes listening. He could hearnothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectlysilent. He felt that he was alone.
译：他又停下来听了一会儿，什么都没有听见：夜静得出奇。他又仔细听听：静得出奇。他感到自己只有一个人。
爱情它是个难题，乔伊斯似乎也没有兴趣来解题，关于爱这个词通篇也就出现过一次，在他的笔下全是现实，是人性，是都柏林人的困境。但这样的故事，这样的人心，也许每天都在我们的周遭甚至我们自己身上演绎。爱或不爱，怎么爱，都是个人的选择，但乔伊斯的这个故事或许是想告诉我们至少可以不像杜菲先生那样做？
