The Importance of Being Earnest

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings."

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注册时间: 2017-05-04 22:47:07, 周四

The Importance of Being Earnest

帖子 Asrgfb » 2017-05-12 03:34:10, 周五

这是十年前 Narcissus 问我的。红色是原文,蓝色是问题,绿色答案。

Act One

王尔德的妙语,大多数是向观众的思路突袭。周济《介存斋论词杂著》说吴文英“梦窗每于空际转身,非具大神力不能”。这句话用在王尔德身上,最是贴切不过。他很喜欢把成语说成相反,但却有一点的歪理,因而引起观众大笑。

JACK: Eating as usual, I see, Algy!
ALGERNON (stiffly): I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o’clock.

这里 Jack 取笑 Algernon 口不停吃,Algernon 被击中要害,于是辩称只是在吃下午茶。但吃下午茶是那么普通的事,说出来不够冠冕堂皇,于是用很 formal 的口吻,说是上层社会的惯例。观众明知下午茶不是什么大不了的事,是英国人都做的事(不一定是在下午五点钟),却听到 Algernon 说成礼仪指南的样子,不免引起会心微笑。

ALGERNON: My dear fellow, the way you flirt(玩弄)with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you.
JACK: I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.
ALGERNON: I thought you had come up for pleasure (寻欢作乐)? . . . I call that business(戏剧中的动作及表情).
JACK: How utterly unromantic you are!
ALGERNON: I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.
JACK: I have no doubt about that, dear Algy. The Divorce Court was specially in-vented for people whose memories are so curiously onstituted.
ALGERNON: Oh! there is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces are made in Heaven.


译成“阿尔格农:我真的没有任何浪漫的求婚经历。求婚是恋爱中非常浪漫的事,但是一旦求婚,浪漫也将不再 存在。为什么呢,一个人的求婚可能被接受,我认为通常是如此。然后恋爱的兴奋感也就结束了。浪漫的本质就在于它的不确定性。无论何时,要是我结婚,我当然 将竭力忘记这一事实。”但仍觉得和上下文两人互相讥刺的格调不符,可能是我对这整段的理解、特别是关键词语的把握有偏差吧。

Flirt 不是玩弄,是打情骂俏。Jack 就说,他不是在和 Gwendolyn 打情骂俏,他爱上 Gwendolyn 了。
Come up for pleasure 翻译为“寻欢作乐”很对。但是 business 不是戏剧中的动作及表情。Algernon 是说:“我以为你来伦敦玩,谁知你是来履行任务的。”(Business 这个词在这里找不到好的中文对应。“工作”好像太松散一点,职务又太书面。英文的意思,最常指的是去找人谈生意这类工作。)
I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. 不是“我真的没有任何浪漫的求婚经历。”而是“我不觉得求婚有什么浪漫可说。”
因为 Algernon 说求婚是履行任务,所以 Jack 说他毫不浪漫。于是就引起 Algernon 这一段翻案文章了。
他们两个也不是互相讥刺。Algernon 主要是在说 witty 的话语。这种对话并不是为了打击对方的,而只是为了搞笑。


ALGERNON: I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.

这是 Algernon对 Jack嘲笑他完全不懂浪漫的回答。从上下文看,他应该是反唇相讥才对,因为他认为Jack跟他表妹是调情,是寻欢作乐。但从字面上我只看得出他在老老实实承认自己没有经验。然而他又大谈特谈对浪漫的看法,特别是最后一句,好像和我们的认识差距太大。浪漫的求婚是甜蜜的事,怎么他要刻意去忘记呢?
王尔德很多妙语是把一般人接受的“真理”颠倒了。十九世纪英国是浪漫主义笼罩的时代,一般人看小说看得多了,都认为爱情至上。王尔德在这里就开观众的玩笑。
一般人觉得,恋爱就要有才子佳人的大团圆。于是 Algernon 就颠倒了,说一求婚就大煞风景。因为求婚可能对方会答应(这是爱情小说的高峰),答应了就后果不堪设想了。所以他如果和人结婚,他会竭力忘记这点!


ALGERNON: Oh, it is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn’t. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read.

这里 Jack 骂 Algernon 找到香烟盒就擅自打开,偷看里面刻字。他把香烟盒里面的刻字当成私人日记,说不应偷看,已经够好笑了。谁知 Algernon 竟然不说他无理取闹,却顺着他的歪理大做文章,说出这两句话。第一句的背景是维多利亚女王时代,那时有很多东西都不能见诸文字。尤其是黄色小说,更是严禁。Algernon 却说有这些规例是荒谬的。观众至此,便以为 Algernon 会继续说出一些反传统的大逆不道之言。(萧伯纳的人物就是这样的。)谁知 Algernon 竟然凭空大转身,说现代文化的基础一半是看禁书。这突如其来的一击,顿使台下大笑,因为王尔德这一招,正是嘲笑维多利亚时代的人虚伪。口头说不看不道德的东西,其实大部份的人,都在看“禁书”。

JACK: My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression.

这又是要从前一句看起。Algernon 再三追问 Jack,香烟盒是谁给他的,要他从实招来:“Come, old boy, you had much better have the thing out at once.” Jack 招架不住了,于是“不按牌理出牌”,故意把 “have the thing out at once” 理解成“还不快把牙齿拔掉?”所以便说出这三句话来。

ALGERNON: The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public.

这是王尔德颠倒成语的典型。首先,flirt 是在两个不太熟悉的人之间进行的。现在 Al-gernon 用来形容夫妻,说他们打情骂俏,那当然大出观众的意外。然后他把成语颠倒了。成语是 “washing one’s dirty linen in public”,意即“家丑外扬”。现在他竟然说是 “washing one’s clean linen in public”,还说成贬义,那就更加好笑了。

JACK: That is nonsense. If I marry a charming girl like Gwendolen, and she is the only girl I ever saw in my life that I would marry. I certainly won’t want to know Bunbury.
ALGERNON: Then your wife will. You don’t seem to realize, that in married life three is company and two is none.


Bunbury 是 Algernon 的虚构朋友,说是病得很重。若是有些什么长辈安排的聚会他不想去,就说 Bunbury 病了,要去看他。Algernon 对 Jack 说,Bunbury 是丈夫必须有的朋友。于是就引出 Jack 那几句话。“如果我娶了 Gwendolen,我为什么还要在外面沾花惹草?”Algernon 第一句说:如果你一天到晚守候在老婆旁边,那就会把她憋得要红杏出墙了。然后他就把 “Two is company, three is none.” 颠倒了。

GWENDOLEN: Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations. . . . I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude.

写了这么多,问题就在于Besides之后的语句。是什么意思?John是指什么?这一段很搞笑,男的鼓足勇气向女的求爱,结果女的比男的还奔放!

这里全是搞笑的东西。Jack 是 John 的呢称,正如 Tom 是 Thomas 的呢称一样。John 是最普遍的英文名字,所以不够格。Gwendolen 最后一句只是一派胡言,说叫做 John 的人一定会一天到晚粘着老婆。

LADY BRACKNELL: I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?

这段我译为:“布莱克奈尔太太:我一直认为,一个人想要结婚,要么知道对方的一切,要么什么都不知道。你明白吗?”
但我跟杰克一样不明白,一头雾水,是我理解错了吧?


这句话是无理取闹的。意思就是说:“我的原则是这样的:男人要结婚,一就是什么都懂,一就是什么都不懂!你是哪一种?”
看王尔德要看字面意义,不要加言外之意。这里没有言外之意的,就是这样说来搞笑。


LADY BRACKNELL: The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

这段我译为:“整个现代教育理论是根本站不住脚的。所幸在英国, 无论如何,教育不是在任何方面都产生影响。如果是那样,对上层社会将是一个严重的威胁,并可能导致在格罗夫纳广场的暴力行为。”
不知我理解得对不对?再则,“acts of violence in Grosvenor Square”内涵是什么?


这段翻译得对。
If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. 这又是搞笑的一段。一般常识是认为一个人受教育后,就会有文化。但是 Lady Bracknell 却说,受了教育就会对上流人士有危险,甚至可能导致在 Grosvenor Square 那么时髦的地点暴动!
王尔德这些搞笑话一定要从字面意义去理解才好笑的。


JACK: In the cloak-room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own.

Cloak-room在本文中是否译为“寄存处”好一点?

“寄存处”很对,但是有点欧化。Cloak room 之所以好笑是因为那是很普通的公众地方。观众万万想不到 Jack 的来源是在伦敦最大的火车站里面的一个寄存东西的地方。

LADY BRACKNELL: The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution.

关键是后半句是说的什么?发现王尔德经常都是上半句说正常的,后半句超级大转弯。

这又是王尔德的搞笑句。本来一般人听见了一个人的出处是火车站候车室的一个手袋,一定会诧异非常。Lady Bracknell 却若无事焉,所担心的只是抽象的阶级意识。她的意思是:生在手袋里,就是蔑视正常的家庭,类似法国大革命的过激行动!(这当然是荒谬的言论,但是 Lady Bracknell 却出口成章,言之成理,好笑就好笑在这一点。)

LADY BRACKNELL: . . . a cloak-room at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion—has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now—but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognized position in good society.

这段我译为“至于那个手袋,在一个火车站寄存处的特殊的位置被发现,可能隐藏着社会的一个轻率之举—有可能,甚至以前就为这一目的而使用过。但在上流社会中,它绝不能被认作确定的标准而获得公认的地位。”
我知道自己理解得不透,特别是最后几句译得很勉强,请大家指教!


这里要注意的是委婉语的运用。直到六十年代以前,无论在英国还是在美国,与婚外情和与性有关的言语都不会直接说出来 的。Lady Bracknell 就更是如此了。
A social indiscretion 就是生了私生子的意思。Lady Bracknell 的意思就是:你是在车站里面一个手袋里发现的,分明就是私生子,是弃婴。
Has probably been used for this purpose before 就是说火车站的存放室很有可能就是以前也有人用来弃婴的了。
But it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognized position in good society 就是说,你的家世不明不白,自然没有资格进入上流社会。Lady Brack-nell 这句话虽然刻薄,但是她的用语却是非常典雅。这正是王尔德的喜剧、闹剧那么好笑的原因。


JACK: Oh, Gwendolen is as right as a trivet.

这只是一个惯用语,好像 as hard as a nail 等等。Trivet 是三脚的矮托架,放在热盘子的下面,免得损坏桌面。因为只有三只脚,所以不会东歪西倒,摇来摇去。Right as a trivet 就是 firm, stable, solid, in good order 的意思。在这里的意义,是循着上面 Algernon 所说而来。Algernon 说 Gwendolen “is always refusing people. I think it is most ill-natured of her.” Jack 便说求婚不遂不是 Gwendolen 之错。“Gwendolen 可真是信人呢!”


Act Two

CECILY: Yes, but it usually chronicles the things that have never happened, and couldn’t possibly have happened. I believe that memory is responsible for nearly all the three-volume novels that Mudie sends us.

紫色的突然冒出来的部分是什么意思?

这是间接嘲笑小说通通都是假的。她在前面说过记忆都是假的,现在又说三册小说定是记忆的产品,那就当然是假的。在维多利亚年代,小说通常都是三册厚的。当时的文学观,要求小说要逼真。所以王尔德作此一击。

CECILY: I don’t think you will require neckties. Uncle Jack is sending you to Aus-tralia.
ALGERNON: Australia! I’d sooner die.
CECILY: Well, he said at dinner on Wednesday night, that you would have to choose between this world, the next world, and Australia.


为什么这么不愿意?Australia就这么不好吗?还有,the next world是指什么?

在十八、十九世纪,澳洲是囚犯充军的地方。后来虽然不再充军到那里,但是好人都不愿意与囚犯和他们的后人同住,所以只有是走投无路的人,才会自愿跑到那里。上层人家若有不肖子,也会把他送去澳洲养牛养羊的。
The next world 就是死后去的地方。Jack 要弄走 Ernest 这个不肖弟,所以要把他放逐到澳洲。前面的 this world、next world,只不过是要加强语气。(他也说过要把 Ernest 弄死,但是想不到好病,所以作罢。)


ALGERNON: Thank you. Might I have a buttonhole first? I never have any appe-tite unless I have a buttonhole first.

什么是buttonhole?是不是放在上衣口袋里面的纸巾之类的东西?这样做法是不是很绅士的象征?是不是想要表明他是上层社会的人?

传统的男人西装外套,左领有个纽孔,可以插一朵花。这朵花在英国叫做 button-hole,在美国叫做 boutonnierre(法语借词)。通常是在大场面才插花的。这里只是说明 Algernon 是个 dandy。

MISS PRISM: You are too much alone, dear Chasuble. You should get married. A misanthrope I can understand—a womanthrope, never!

Misanthrope 就是憎恨世人的人。这个词来自希腊文 misanthropos—misein 是恨,anthropos 是人。(参考 anthropology。)Miss Prism 在这里乱分析 misanthrope,把 thrope 解做“憎恨 X 的人”,然后冠以一个不是希腊文的词素 woman。这当然是搞笑。正经词是 misogynist。这里倒有一点歪理。Miss Prism 的意思大约是:misan-thrope 只是抽象地憎恨世人,或只是孤僻。这些人还是有性欲的,所以不应该不喜欢女人吧。
Importance of Being Earnest 是 high comedy,所以结局当然是大团圆。但是连结局也有搞笑的地方,就是 Miss Prism 与 Canon Chasuble 男非才子女非佳人,却也来个有情人终成眷属!


JACK: Well, at any rate, that is better than being always over-dressed as you are.
ALGERNON: If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.


怎么突然转到over-educated上面来了啊?

这只是 word play。Jack 说他 over-dressed,Algernon 就顺水推舟,沿用 over 这个前缀,自赞是 over-educated。

ALGERNON: I hope, Cecily, I shall not offend you if I state quite frankly and openly that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection.

我不明白这句的意义。后面的一段好夸张的说,女的简直就是天马行空,而且跟前面的Gwendolen一样,比男的还奔放,这两个女角色有好多相似之处呢。两个男的也是,甚至他们两对的语言有时候都一样。有意思。那个时候的女的难道真的是说engage就马上engaged了吗?怎么会这么奔放呀?Ernest这名字怎么就这么受欢迎?是王尔德故意营造的吗?

这句是说:Cecily,我希望我这样坦坦白白地对你说,你不会介意:你任何一方面都绝对完美,简直就是完美的化身。
Gwendolin 和 Cecily 那么奔放,其实在当年是不可能的。肖伯纳的新女人,是在十多年后才出现的。两女的奔放,也是这剧好笑的地方。Jack 和 Algernon 也有分别的,等你再看后看能不能发现是什么。Gwendolen 与 Cecily 也是这样。


Christen是指什么意思?在 Act Two 快结束的时候 Jack 和 Algernon 一直讨论这个问题。

Christen 就是洗礼时起名。天主教、圣公会、和一些没有和天主教界线划得那么清的基督教宗派,都有婴儿洗礼的仪式,认为这样就算归入教会。传统的习惯,是在洗礼时才 把婴儿正式取名字。神父、牧师把水滴在婴儿的头上,然后宣告 “I christen you XXX.”(成年人也有这样做的,特别是在古代。他们洗礼是表示归信基督,取新名是表示与过去一刀两断,因为那个时代的人名,很多与偶像有关。) Jack 和 Algernon 因为急于要改名,所以抢着去 Canon Chasuble 处受洗取新名字。这又是王尔德搞笑之处:改名就改名,那用跑去洗礼!


Act Three

LADY BRACKNELL: That sounds not unsatisfactory. Three addresses always in-spire confidence, even in tradesmen. But what proof have I of their authenticity?
JAC K:
I have carefully preserved the Court Guides of the period. They are open to your inspection, Lady Bracknell.

紫色的部分是什么意思? Court Guides 是什么?

Court Guides 通常是法庭的纪录,这里显然不是。Don 说 Court 在这里指的是“朝廷”,Court Guides 就是维多利亚女王的朝觐纪录。
有没有注意到 even in tradesmen?这是“阴湿”的一招。(“阴湿”是广州话,意思和“阴险”差不多,但不全是。)


ALGERNON: Cecily is the sweetest, dearest, prettiest girl in the whole world. And I don’t care twopence about social possibilities.

这里紫色的部分有特殊含义吗?如果平时要表达“不介意”的意思的时候可不可以套用上面的句子?

注意:twopence 的发音是 tuppence。这只是惯用语,用来加强语气。这里等于“我才不管 . . .”平常是可以用,但是自从英国改币制后,再没有 twopence 这个称呼了。现在是叫做 two p’s。

JACK: I fear there can be no possible doubt about the manner. This afternoon during my temporary absence in London on an important question of romance, he obtained admission to my house by means of the false of being my brother. Under an assumed name he drank . . .

Drank 在这里为什么可以这样用?除了这样用还能怎么用?这句话是什么意思?

这里要看全句:Under an assumed name he drank, I’ve just been informed by my butler, an entire pint bottle of my Perrier-Jouet Brut ’89; wine I was specially re-serving for myself.
I’ve just been informed by my butler 是插进的分句。删去后意思就明显了:. . . he drank an entire pint bottle of my Perrier-Jouet Brut ’89; . . .


MISS PRISM: I was told you expected me in the vestry, dear canon.

这里紫色的部分是怎么冒出来的?不懂。

Dear canon 就是 dear Canon Chasuble。Canon 是圣公会牧师的一种。

GWENDOLEN (to Jack): My own! But what own are you? What is your Christian name, now that you have become someone else?

紫色的部分是什么意思?

这其实是不通的。这是 Don 的解释:Gwendolen 是说“我的心肝宝贝啊!”这句话其实是 My own Ernest!的缩简,于是她立刻想起了 Jack 的名字还没有解决,便说 But what own are you? 就是问他:“我说 My own 时,后面省略了的名字到底是什么?”

剧中有一段是关于女性的年龄。他们那个时候的女性通常隐瞒年龄?或者是他们那个时候的女性关于年龄有什么看法。流行怎么样的说法?
她们也是怕提年龄的,就是因为“老女不嫁,蹋地唤天”。你可以从 Lady Bracknell 所说的一句话看得出:
Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years. Lady Dumbleton is an instance in point. To my own knowledge she has been thirty-five ever since she arrived at the age of forty, which was many years ago now.

剧里面的人经常engage,他们的engage是真的指订婚还是指确定男女朋友关系?

这是实实在在的订婚。Gwendolen 与 Cecily 的虚拟订婚,正是她们好笑的地方。

五十年代那部电影,竟然把全剧最出名的一句删了:In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing. 这是王尔德的艺术宣言,是唯美主义的金科玉律,怎么可以删!

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