Prophetic Sonnets
今天读了《洛丽塔》最后一段:
And do not pity C.Q. One had to choose between him and H.H., and one wanted H.H. to exist at least a couple of months longer, so as to have him make you live in the minds of later generations. I am thinking of aurochs and angels,the secret of durable pigments,prophetic sonnets,the fefuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share,my Lolita.
于晓丹译:不要可怜克·奎。上帝必须在他和亨·亨之间做出选择,上帝让亨·亨至少多活上两三个月,好让他使你活在后代人的心里。我正在想欧洲野牛和天使,在想持久的颜料的秘密,预言家的十四行诗,艺术的避难所。而这是你与我能共享的唯一的永恒,我的洛丽塔 。
亨伯特·亨伯特在想的prophetic sonnets(于晓丹译为“预言家的十四行诗”,主万译为“预言性的十四行诗”)是什么。以前认为是泛称十四行诗,刚才摸手发呆的时候忽然觉得这不就是莎翁的 Sonnet No . 18吗?
Sonnet No. 18 屠岸译 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 能不能让我来把你比作夏日? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. 你可是更加可爱,更加温婉; Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 狂风会吹落五月里开的好花儿。 And summer's lease hath all too short a date. 夏季租出的日子又未免太短暂: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 有时候苍天的巨眼照得太灼热, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; 他那金彩的脸色也会被遮暗; And every fair from fair sometime declines, 每一种美呀,总会离开美而凋落, By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed. 被时机或者自然的代谢所摧残。 But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 但是你永久的夏天决不会凋枯, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, 你永远不会失去你美的形相; Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, 死神夸不着你在他影子里踯躅, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. 你将在不朽的诗中与时间同长; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, 只要人类在呼吸,眼睛看得见, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 我这诗就活着,使你生命绵延。
“我”写下了这部“白人鳏夫的自白”,“使你活在后代人的心里”,这就是“你与我能共享的唯一的永恒”,很微妙地应和上了 Sonnet No. 18 的最后几句:“你将在不朽的诗中与时间同长;只要人类在呼吸,眼睛看得见,我这诗就活着,使你生命绵延。”
感觉像两声部互相呼应的合唱,琳琳琅琅,很动听的。