弹奏古钢琴 （1963）

一部即将出版的译著的作者会发现，去批评一部刚出版的同一作品的译本是令人难堪的，但眼下我可能，也应该面对这种尴尬；因为有的事必须去做，某种孤独、嘶哑的声音必须发出，以捍卫无助的已故诗人和轻信的大学生，使他们免于那种无情、不负责任的注释家的伤害。我下面就来谈谈这个注释家的译本。(1)

要把差不多五千行俄国抑扬格四音步诗句，以一种阴阳韵律的僵硬模式，扭曲变形成长短相仿的英国抑扬格四音步诗，是一件可怕的工作。我有选择地将《叶甫盖尼·奥涅金》译成无韵的散文体，因而，我对阿恩特先生锲而不舍的努力深表敬意。一个有同情心的读者，尤其是没有查看原著的读者，可能在阿恩特先生的译本中发现多少有一点打油诗人的味道和似是而非的感觉，但任何一个不太仁慈但更有知识的读者，会明白这部译著真是不堪卒读。

首先让我将两节诗（第6章36节、37节）的直译与阿恩特先生的翻译并列在一起。这是他译本中没有犯明显错误的段落，被动的读者（激进教育家的宠儿）可以勉强接受这样一种翻译。

1．My friends, you're sorry for the poet

My friends, you will lament the poet

2．in the bloom of glad hopes,

Who, flowering with a happy gift,

3．not having yet fulfilled them for the world,

Must wilt before he could bestow it

4．scarce out of infant clothes,

Upon the world, yet scarce adrift

5．withered! Where is the ardent stir,

From boyhood' s shore. Now he will never

6．the noble aspiration,

Seethe with that generous endeavor,

7．of young emotions and young thoughts,

Those storms of mind and heart again,

8．exalted, tender, bold?

Audacious, tender or humane!

9．Where are love's turbulent desires,

Stilled now are love's unruly urges,

10．the thirst for knowledges and work,

The thirst for knowledge and for deeds,

11．the dread of vice and shame,

Contempt for vice and what it breeds,

12．and you, fond musings,

And stilled you too, ethereal surges

13．you, token of unearthly life,

Breath of a transcendental clime,

14．you, dreams of sacred poetry!

Dreams from the sacred realm of rhyme.

1．Perhaps, for the world's good

Perchance the world would have saluted

2．or, at least, for glory he was born;

In him a savior or a sage;

3．his silenced lyre might have aroused

His ly-eye, now forever muted,

4．a resonant, uninterrupted ringing

Might have resounded down the age

5．throughout the ages. There awaited

In ceaseless thunder, and have fated

6．the poet, on the stairway of the world

Its bearer to be elevated

7．perhaps, a lofty stair.

To high rank on the worldly grade;

8．His martyred shade has carried

Or haply with his martyred shade

9．away with him, perhaps,

Some holy insight will they bury,

10．a sacred mystery, and for us

A gem, perchance, of wisdom choice,

11．dead is a life-creating voice,

Now perished with his vital voice.

12．and to his shade beyond the tomb's confines

The hymn of ages will not carry

13．will not rush up the hymn of races,

Deep into his sepulchral den

14．the blessing of the ages.

The benedictions of all men.(2)

我把那些在普希金文本中找不到，或形式不同的用词以斜体表现。至于译本中的疏漏不胜枚举。被动的读者无疑会从阿恩特的36节第2行实际上没有意义的诗句中得到一种错觉。他们几乎注意不到第4—5行中有关下疳的隐喻，被强加的俗丽的韵脚不是普希金的错，也不奇怪，一个注释家无知的鲁莽会体现在他自己的比喻中，他应该知道，修辞是一个诗人才华的主要、至上的本质和亮点，应是最后触碰的东西。在列举的第2节诗中，被动的读者会忽略这样一些隐喻，如“buried insight”、“gem of wisdom”，还有“sepulchral den”（暗示一头死去的狮子而不是死去的诗人）。他们也会相信“high rank”（意指从沙皇那儿领受恩惠的温顺的诗人，如茹科夫斯基，而根本不是普希金想到的“lofty stair”）；但也许第5—6行中的“thunder-bearer”会绊住他们的脚。

我再说一下，这些还只是阿恩特先生译本中最轻微的问题。如果仔细检查，就会发现以下各种误译。

1．自然物改变了它们的属性或种类：“跳蚤”成了“蟑螂”、“白杨”成了“梣树”、“桦树”和“酸橙树”成了“山毛榉”、“松树”多次成了“杉树”，还有“蔓状野樱桃”成了“桤木”（辛苦的编撰者在编撰俄英词典时至少在“cheryomuha”条目下注明“黑桤木”，即“桤木沙棘”，这是错的，但并没错成阿恩特先生那样）。