基本原则就这么多。但是,当我宣布我打算把英国文学类书籍按年代摆放,而美国文学类书籍按作者姓氏的字母顺序摆放时,我们遇到了麻烦。我的理由如下:我们收藏的英国文学书籍时间跨度有六个世纪,把它们按照年代顺序摆放在书架上,我们就可以将英国文学的浩然长卷尽收眼底。维多利亚时代的作品就像一个整体,若把它们分开感觉就像拆散一个家庭一样。而我们收藏的美国文学类书籍大部分都是20世纪的作品,其中许多都是非常近期的作品,要是按年代顺序来排列这些书,我们就得像犹太法典那样对之进行细密无比的区分。因此,只能按作者姓氏的字母顺序排列。乔治最后妥协了,但与其说他是对我的理由心悦诚服,倒不如说他是为了我们婚姻的融洽作出让步。而当他正在将我收藏的那些莎士比亚作品从一个书架挪到另一个书架上时,我们又遭遇了一个糟糕至极的时刻,我冲他大叫:“那些剧本一定要按时间顺序来摆!”
“You mean we’re going to be chronological within each author?” he gasped. “But no one even knows for sure when Shakespeare wrote his plays!”
“你是说同一个作者的作品也得按时间顺序摆吗?”他喘着气说,“但压根就没人确切地知道莎士比亚到底是什么时候写的这些剧本啊!”
“Well,” I blustered, “we know he wrote Romeo and Juliet before The Tempest. I’d like to see that reflected on our shelves.”
“谁说的,”我冲他吆喝,“我们就知道他写《罗密欧与朱丽叶》是在写《暴风雨》之前!我希望能在咱们的书架上看到这一点。”
George says that was one of the few times he has seriously contemplated divorce.
乔治后来告诉我,他曾有那么几次很严肃地考虑过和我离婚,而这就是其中之一。
Our transfer of books across the Mason-Dixon Line23) that separated my northern shelves from his southern ones took about a week. Every night we lined up books on the floor, interlarding24) mine with his before putting them on the shelves, which meant that for a week we had to hopscotch25) over hundreds of volumes in order to get from bathroom to kitchen to bedroom. We physically handled—fondled, really—every book we owned. Some had inscriptions26) from old lovers. Some had inscriptions from each other. Some were like time capsules27).
我们花了大约一个星期的时间把家里那条南北分界线两侧(分界线以北是我的书架,以南是他的)的书乾坤大挪移了一番。每天晚上,我们都在地板上把书码成几排,将我的书和他的书混在一起,然后再把它们摆放在书架上。也就是说,整整一个星期,我们要是想从浴室到厨房再到卧室,就必须在好几百卷书之间跳来跳去。我们用手摸弄——实际上是爱抚——我们拥有的每一本书。有的书上写着昔日恋人的寄语;有的书上是我们给对方的留言;还有些书像时代文物密藏器,让我们回忆起那个时代的点点滴滴。
By far the hardest task came toward the end of the week, when we sorted through our duplicates and decided whose to keep. I realized that we had both been hoarding redundant copies of our favorite books “just in case” we ever split up. If George got rid of his beat-up copy of To the Lighthouse28) and I said goodbye to my paperback of Couples29)—well, then we would clearly have to stick together for good. Our bridges would be burned. We each owned copies of about fifty books in common. We decided that hardbacks would prevail over paperbacks unless the paperbacks contained marginalia30).
在那一周快结束时,我们开始对我俩重复的藏书进行整理,并决定要保留谁的那本,这是我们整理藏书以来遇到的最艰难的任务。这时我才意识到,对于我们喜欢的那些书,我们俩都会偷偷地各自收藏一本,“以防”将来分手。这也就是说,如果乔治放弃他那本已经翻烂了的《到灯塔去》,或是我扔掉我那本平装本的《夫妻们》——唉,那我们无疑就得永远拴在一起了。我们就都没有退路了。我俩重复的书大概有五十本。我们决定有硬皮精装本的就不留平装本的,但平装本上有批注的则另当别论。
After a final, post-midnight push, we were done. Our duplicates, plus another hundred or so painful culls31), were neatly stacked, ready to be carted off to Goodwill32). Sweating and panting beneath our triumphantly united Melvilles, we kissed.
经过最后的努力,我们终于在后半夜完成了这项大工程。我们重复的藏书,另外还有百来本经过痛苦抉择挑出来不要的书,整齐地堆成一堆,准备用车送到国际亲善行业的连锁店去。看着头顶上终于放到一起的梅尔维尔的书,满头大汗、气喘吁吁的我们忍不住拥抱亲吻。
Our library was in impeccable order, but it was a little airless, much as my own life had been before George entered it. And so, by subtle degrees, as the weeks passed, George’s style began to retake the upper hand in a not entirely unwelcome fashion.
我们的书房现在井然有序、无可挑剔,不过就是显得有点沉闷乏味,很像乔治走进我的生命之前我的生活状态。就这样,潜移默化地,几个星期后,乔治的风格又重新占了上风,不过这次的方式倒不是完全不受欢迎。
A couple of weeks ago when George was out of town, I decided to reread Travels with Charley33). I got into bed with the copy I had first read the summer I turned seventeen. I was settling into the familiar feel of my crumbly old paperback, the one with Steinbeck sitting cross-legged next to his poodle on the cover, when I reached page 192. There, next to a passage about the dwindling redwood forests of California, in a younger version of my husband’s handwriting—I’d recognise it anywhere—was the plaintive comment: “Why do we destroy the environment?” We must have had identical copies, and we’d kept George’s. My books and his books had become our books. We were really married.
几个星期前乔治去外地时,我决定把《查理与我》拿出来重读一遍。我拿着书钻进被窝,书正是我17岁那年夏天第一次读到的那本。在书的封面上,作者斯坦贝克盘腿而坐,旁边是他的髦毛狮子狗。我渐渐沉浸在这本已然陈旧不堪的平装书带给我的那种熟悉的感觉中,这时我读到了第192页。就在那一页,在叙述加利福尼亚的红杉树林越来越少的那段文字旁边,我发现了一句悲痛的旁注:“我们为什么要破坏环境?”正是我丈夫年轻时候的字迹——他的笔迹在哪儿我都能认出来。我们肯定是曾经拥有过两本一模一样版本的书,而留下的是乔治这本。我的书和他的书已经融为一体,成了我们的书。现在的我们才真正是一对夫妻了。
1. Anne Fadiman:安妮·法迪曼,1953年生于美国纽约市,美国作家,曾任《文明》杂志编辑和《美国学者》主编。
2. in a pinch:在紧要关头,必要时
3. Billy Budd:《比利·巴德》,19世纪美国小说家赫尔曼·梅尔维尔(Herman Melville, 1819～1891)的作品。
4. languish [5lAN^wIF] vi. 受苦,受折磨
5. Moby-Dick:《白鲸》,赫尔曼·梅尔维尔于1851年发表的一部海洋题材的小说
6. lift a finger:尽举手之劳;出一丁点儿力气
7. in full view of:把……尽收眼底
8. quarantine [5kwCrEnti:n] vt. 使孤立,隔离
9. The Book of Common Prayer:《公祷书》,圣公会的祈祷用书,是圣公会信仰的一个重要特征,也是保存圣公会信仰的重要途径。
10. grind to a halt:(渐渐地)停下,停止
11. child’s play:易事
12. lumper [5lQmpE] n. 把东西堆在一起的人
13. splitter [5splItE] n. 作不必要的过细区分者
14. balkanize [5bC:lkEnaIz] vt. (使)分成若干小单位
15. clutter [5klQtE] n. 混乱
16. vagrant [5veI^rEnt] n. 游民,流浪者
17. regiment [5redVImEnt] vt. 把……编组
18. sweep [swi:p] n. 范围;视野;(一)系列
19. Talmudic [tAl5mQdIk] adj. [宗] 犹太教法典的,《塔木德经》的。Talmud [5tAlmud] n. [宗]《塔木德经》,关于犹太人生活、宗教、道德的口传律法集。
20. hairsplitting [5heE7splItIN] n.〈贬〉无谓的过细区分;钻牛角尖
21. ergo [5E:^Eu] adv. 因此,由是
22. cave in:投降,屈服
23. Mason-Dixon Line:美国南北分界线(美国马里兰州与宾夕法尼亚州之间的分界线,为过去蓄奴州的最北边界线)
24. interlard [7IntE