库切在诺贝尔晚宴上的致辞（2003年12月10日）

库切在诺贝尔晚宴上的致辞（2003年12月10日）

陛下，各位殿下，女士们，先生们，尊敬的各位来宾，朋友们：

前几天，当我们在聊着完全无关的事情时，突然之间，我的伴侣桃乐茜（Dorothy）猛地对我说：“不过，”她说，“话说回来，你妈妈该会有多骄傲啊！真可惜啊，她现在已不在人世了。还有你爸爸。她们两个会为你感到多骄傲啊！”

“甚至比儿子当了医生还更骄傲吗？”我说。“甚至比儿子当教授还骄傲吗？”

“更骄傲。”

“如果我妈妈还活着”，我说，“她现在都九十九岁半了。她大概已经老年痴呆了。她不会知道身边发生了什么事的。”

但我显然没抓住点。桃乐茜说得对。我妈妈一定会满怀骄傲的。我的儿子可是诺贝尔文学奖得主。而且，说到底，如果不是为了我们的妈妈，我们所做的让我们获得诺奖的这一切，又是为了谁呢？

“妈咪，妈咪，我得奖了！”

“太棒了，亲爱的。趁胡萝卜还没凉，赶紧吃了吧。”

为什么非得等到我们的妈妈已经九十九岁高龄乃至早已入土为安，我们才能拿着奖跑回家，去弥补我们曾带给她们的所有麻烦呢？

向已逝世107年的阿尔弗雷德・诺贝尔（Alfred Nobel），以及忠实地执行他的遗嘱，并为我们营造了如此美妙夜晚的基金会，致以我衷心的感谢。致我的父母，我为你们不能在此而感到无比遗憾。

谢谢大家。

J. M. Coetzee’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2003.

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen; Distinguished Guests, Friends：

The other day, suddenly, out of the blue, while we were talking about something completely different, my partner Dorothy burst out as follows: “On the other hand,” she said, “on the other hand, how proud your mother would have been! What a pity she isn’t still alive! And your father too! How proud they would have been of you!”

“Even prouder than of my son the doctor?” I said. “Even prouder than of my son the professor?”

“Even prouder.”

“If my mother were still alive,” I said, “she would be ninety-nine and a half. She would probably have senile dementia. She would not know what was going on around her.”

But of course I missed the point. Dorothy was right. My mother would have been bursting with pride. My son the Nobel Prize winner. And for whom, anyway, do we do the things that lead to Nobel Prizes if not for our mothers?

“Mommy, Mommy, I won a prize!“

“That’s wonderful, my dear. Now eat your carrots before they get cold.“

Why must our mothers be ninety-nine and long in the grave before we can come running home with the prize that will make up for all the trouble we have been to them?

To Alfred Nobel, 107 years in the grave, and to the Foundation that so faithfully administers his will and that has created this magnificent evening for us, my heartfelt gratitude. To my parents, how sorry I am that you cannot be here.

Thank you.