Annie Proulx的《斷背山》與梭羅的《湖濱散記》 - 李安

原文
http://www.newyorkblade.com/2006/4-17/viewpoint/opinion/authentic.cfm

有人替兩部作品做了一個連結的分析~~
以下為嘗試翻譯,有錯請強者們多多指教或請再深入介紹一下,thx~!

The Authentic Life
It thrived at Walden Pond, not ‘Brokeback Mountain’
真正的生活 在瓦爾登湖而非斷背山滋長

By PAULINE PARK
Monday, April 17, 2006

Henry David Thoreau might well have been thinking of Ennis Del Mar
and Jack Twist when he wrote that "the mass of men lead lives of
quiet desperation." While Thoreau’s "Walden" long predates Annie
Proulx’s "Brokeback Mountain" short story and the Ang Lee film based
on it, the transcendentalist philosopher’s magnum opus remains as
relevant today as was published in 1854.

當梭羅寫出"多數人一生中都隱忍著絕望的折磨"這句子時，他很可能正在想著
Ennis Del Mar和Jack Twist。即使梭羅的《湖濱散記》問世時比李安根據
Annie Proulx的《斷背山》小說拍的電影早得多，這位超越/超驗主義哲學家思
考的法則，從1854年到現在，仍然行得通。

Much of the comment about the film, just released on DVD, has focused
on its transgressive love story. But if "Brokeback" speaks powerfully
to gay and non-gay audiences alike, it is because the film not only
articulates the tragedy of true love constrained and ultimately
defeated by homophobia, but also speaks to the tragedy of life not
truly lived.

這部電影剛出DVD。大部份評論都著重在 — 這是個踰越禮教的愛情故事。但《
斷》片對同志或非同志觀眾一樣有吸引力，這是因為本片不僅細膩表現出真愛在
恐同心態下的壓抑、最終的挫敗，同時也反映了何謂活在悲劇中。

Thoreau could have been describing the "Brokeback" Wyoming of the
1960s when he wrote, "The surface of the earth is soft and
impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind
travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world,
how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!"

當梭羅寫下這個句子時，可能就是在寫1960年代懷俄明州的斷背山︰"思緒蜿蜒
，如飛鴻踏雪泥。而公路上卻風塵僕僕，深刻著傳統、如出一轍！"

Jack attempts to persuade Ennis to climb out of the rut of
heteronormative expectations in rural Wyoming, but Ennis is
traumatized by a childhood episode in which his father took him and
his brother to see a dead gay man who was tortured and beaten to
death for having the temerity to live openly with another man.

Jack試圖勸Ennis爬出懷俄明州異性關係的常規，但是Ennis兒時的創傷還在 —
他父親帶他和哥哥去看一個死同性戀 — 膽敢公開跟另一個男人住在一起 — 是
被折磨痛打到死的。

So Ennis’ fear of violence is a realistic one. But in choosing to
live his life from a script written by someone else, Ennis is false
to himself and to everyone else—and above all, to the one person who
loves him for who he truly is. In their final encounter, Jack
confronts Ennis with the desperately sad truth that they have wasted
their lives in outward conformity and secret transgression. Ennis has
settled for mere existence, wasting years in a loveless marriage,
unable to overcome his fears. The price of outward conformity to a
rigid code of heteronormativity is a slow inward death for both of
them.

所以Ennis自然會對暴力恐懼。但選擇照別人的劇本過自己的生活，Ennis對自己
和所有人都不誠實 — 連對那愛真正的他的人都是。在他們最後一次見面，Jack
對Ennis挑明了悲慘絕望的事實 — 他們浪費生命在看似妥協實而表裡不一的生
活。Ennis只是活著，虛度年復一年無愛的婚姻，卻不敢克服恐懼。對異性關係
嚴厲規範的讓步，代價是兩人心蝕，慢慢死去。

CANONICAL PHILOSOPHY may have little appeal to most people, whether
LGBT or otherwise. But at its most practical, philosophy poses basic
questions that we all face as human beings: What is life and how
shall we live it? In "Walden," Thoreau offers this answer: "I did not
wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on
the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid
the mountains. I do not wish to go below now."

經典哲學對多數人可能有些吸引力，不論是不是LGBT(應翻成？@@)。但最現實地
來說，哲學丟出我們身為人該面對的基本問題:何謂生活？該怎麼活？在《湖濱
散記》中，梭羅給了這樣的答案︰"我從來就不想留在船艙裡，只希望到桅桿前；
因為這樣我才能看到山裡的月光。我不想走到甲板下的世界。"

What is that "moonlight amid the mountains" of which Thoreau speaks?
It is the sheer exhilaration of the authentic life lived fully in the
integrity of one’s own truest self. Ennis and Jack glimpse the
literal moonlight amid the mountains when they live on Brokeback and
later return to it on their periodic "fishing trips." But only Jack
can see the metaphorical moonlight of the authentic life that offers
itself to them before they descend from the mountain into the dreary
desperation of straight conformity and loveless marriage. Thoreau
could well have been describing Jack in the passage in "Walden" in
which he famously declared: "If a man does not keep pace with his
companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."

梭羅"山裡的月光"是指什麼呢？那是活在最完整真實的自我下純粹的快活。
Ennis和Jack住在斷背山上時，或照慣例的釣魚行中，都可以瞥見赤裸裸的月光
。但在下山前，就要回到令人沮喪至快要發瘋的直系妥協和無愛婚姻了，只有
Jack可以看出真實生活中的月光帶給他們慰藉。《湖濱散記》中的名句可能就是
在描寫Jack︰"若一個人跟不上同伴的拍子，也許是因為他聽到了別的鼓點。"

The authentic life is there for the living, and the deepest tragedy
of "Brokeback Mountain" is Ennis’s refusal to accept Jack’s
invitation to live it. Regardless of sexual orientation or gender
identity, anyone seeking to live an authentic life need look no
further than the conclusion from "Walden" for guidance:

《斷背山》最悲哀的，莫過於Ennis拒絕Jack邀約去活出真正的生活。撇開性取
向或性別認同，任何想要活出真正生活的，不必看太遠，《湖濱散記》裡有寫︰

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances
confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the
life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in
common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible
boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to
establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be
expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and
he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In
proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will
appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty
poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air,
your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the
foundations under them."

"至少我從經驗裡學到了︰一個人若自信滿滿向夢想前進，努力去活出理想生活
，成功將不期而遇。他會將瑣事拋在腦後，穿越無形障礙；嶄新、萬能、更自由
的規則將依他而設；否則舊規則將恣意地擴張，而他只會更加困活著。當他將生
活簡化，宇宙法則變得不複雜，孤寂不再是孤寂，貧困不再是貧困，而脆弱亦然
。如果你只是做白日夢蓋空中樓閣，別擔心失去的問題；本來就該失去的。替它
們打個樁吧。"

Pauline Park is a member of the Philosophy Forum, a discussion group
that meets the second and fourth Sat of each month at The LGBT
Center, 208 W 13th St. She can be reached at
[email protected].

感想︰煙火戲裡面"團結就是力量"的樂隊演奏，現在聽了更有感覺~~~


《湖濱散記》某個電子書版本及照片
http://staff.whsh.tc.edu.tw/~huanyin/mofa_Thoreau.php
《認識美國》網站的梭羅介紹
http://usinfo.org/chinese_cd/literature/BIG5/chapter4.htm


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順便廣告一下新做的bbm mv ~The Point Of No Return :p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMFGnHcBJNg
mpg檔下載處︰
http://rapidshare.de/users/X2M48L

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