王尔德与思想的乐趣
爱尔兰/英国作家奥斯卡·王尔德（1851 - 1900）
奥斯卡·王尔德可谓不世出的天才。
小说《道连·格雷的画像》是他最优秀的作品之一。王尔德作为一个作家的主要特色（即以妙语取胜）在这部作品中有充分的展示。
实际上，这部小说也是他的自画像。他说，这小说中的三个主要人物展示了他的三个面，一个是他自以为是的自己，一个是他在世人心目的自己，再一个是他理想中的自己（what I would like to be）。对最后这个“自己”他补充添加了一句：“或许，在别的什么时代，in other ages, perhaps。”
《道连·格雷的画像》中的王尔德的三个面相互映照，相互发明，相互冲突，最后是理想中的自己杀死了自以为是的自己。
这部不长的小说是他的自画像，也是他的夫子自道。读者可以看到王尔德很是享受他的思想的乐趣。其乐趣来自其思想的危险性和颠腹性。这里的危险性和甸覆性也是相互映照，相互发明，相辅相成。
他的思想（如他享乐观、同性恋观）是对社会大众认为是理所应当的观念或价值观的颠复，令人感觉耳目一新，别开生面，但也难免会让大众尤其是卫道士感到被冒犯，被侮辱，被挑战，于是忍不住要制服乃至摧毁他。
这部小说先是在杂志上分期连载，1891年出版单行本。如今130年过去，这小说当中的许多思想或说法还是那么新锐，尖锐，锋芒锐利。
在一个理想的国家，青少年应当读王尔德。在其他国家，王尔德则是危险的，直到今天依然危险，十分危险。
以下是小说中的一个人物（王尔德的代言人）谈年青人以及该如何善用年青时代的言说，这种言说应当相对是安全的。
青春美貌有多么美好，多么短暂，因此多么珍贵，古往今来的文人说了很多。但恐怕没有一个人说得跟奥斯卡·王尔德说得一样精辟，锐利，优美，深刻，令人惊心动魄：
不，你现在是对年青没感觉。哪天你老了，满是皱纹，相貌丑陋，思想在你的额头上灼上了纹路，激情用难看的火在你嘴唇上烙上了印记，你就会感觉到，就会感觉很坏。现在无论走到哪里，你都让世人感受到你的魅力。你会永远这样吗？...
No, you don't feel it now. Some day, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines, and passion branded your lips with its hideous fires, you will feel it, you will feel it terribly. Now, wherever you go, you charm the world. Will it always be so? ...
你现在有一张非常美的面孔，格雷先生。不要皱眉。你是有。美貌是一种天才，而且比天才更高级，因为美貌不需要解释。美貌属于这世界上的伟大事实，就像是阳光或春季，或给黑暗的水面反射的皎洁月光。美貌是不容置疑的，它具有神授的王权，让拥有它的人一个个都是王子。
You have a wonderfully beautiful face, Mr. Gray. Don't frown. You have. And beauty is a form of genius—is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.
你咧嘴笑呐？哎，你失去青春时就不会笑了。...人们有时说，美貌只是浅薄的表面文章。或许是，但美貌至少不跟思想一样浅薄。对我来说，美貌就是奇妙中的奇妙。只有肤浅的人才不以外表判断人。世上真正的奥秘是可见的东西，不是不可见的。...
You smile? Ah! when you have lost it you won't smile.... People say sometimes that beauty is only superficial. That may be so, but at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible....
是的，格雷先生，诸神一直对你很好。但诸神赐予，诸神也迅速拿走。你只有短短的几年可以活得实在，美满，圆满。一旦你不再年青，你也就美貌不再，然后你就会突然发现你没有什么胜利可言，或者，你必须用那些下三滥的胜利聊以自慰，你的回忆将使你感觉那些胜利比失败还窝囊。
Yes, Mr. Gray, the gods have been good to you. But what the gods give they quickly take away. You have only a few years in which to live really, perfectly, and fully. When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you, or have to content yourself with those mean triumphs that the memory of your past will make more bitter than defeats.
美貌消退的每一个月都使你更接近于某种可怕的东西。时间嫉妒你，跟你美如百合花和玫瑰花的年青为敌。你将变得面带菜色，双颊塌陷，目光呆滞。你将感到非常难受。...哎！趁你拥有年青的时候实现你的年青吧。不要虚掷你黄金般的时日，去听无聊乏味的话语，去补救那不可救药的失败，或把你的生命奉献给无知、俗套，粗鄙。那都是我们这个时代令人恶心的目标，虚假的理想。
Every month as it wanes brings you nearer to something dreadful. Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses. You will become sallow, and hollow-cheeked, and dull-eyed. You will suffer horribly.... Ah! realize your youth while you have it. Don't squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals, of our age.
要生活！要活出美好的人生，活出你自己！不要错过任何事情。要永远寻求新的感觉。不要害怕任何事情。...一种新的享乐主义，这就是我们这个世纪所需要的东西。你可能就是它的可视的象征。以你的个性，你没有什么做不到的事情。这世界属于你，但只有一季。...
Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.... A new Hedonism—that is what our century wants. You might be its visible symbol. With your personality there is nothing you could not do. The world belongs to you for a season....
我遇到你的那一刻，我就看出你对你自己究竟是个什么人、究竟会成为什么样的人相当无意识。你身上有如此之多的东西令我着迷，我觉得我必须告诉你一些关于你的事情。我想，假如你给浪费了，那该是怎样的悲剧。你的年青会只是在一段不长的时间里持续，真是一段不长的时间。
The moment I met you I saw that you were quite unconscious of what you really are, of what you really might be. There was so much in you that charmed me that I felt I must tell you something about yourself. I thought how tragic it would be if you were wasted. For there is such a little time that your youth will last—such a little time.
山坡上常见的花会枯萎，但还会再盛开。金莲花到了明年六月会跟现在一样金黄。过一个月，铁线莲会开出明星一样的紫花，年复一年它暗夜般的绿叶会托出明星般的紫花。但我们永远拿不回我们的年青。我们20岁时的快乐脉动会变得迟缓。我们的四肢会失去灵便，我们的感官会糟烂。我们会蜕变为丑陋的木偶，回想我们当初害怕的激情，想到我们没有勇气去顺服的美妙诱惑，我们会后悔不迭心情烦乱。年青！年青！这世界上除了年青别的一切都一钱不值！”
The common hill-flowers wither, but they blossom again. The laburnum will be as yellow next June as it is now. In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars. But we never get back our youth. The pulse of joy that beats in us at twenty becomes sluggish. Our limbs fail, our senses rot. We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memory of the passions of which we were too much afraid, and the exquisite temptations that we had not the courage to yield to. Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!"
