光之篇章

**書籍簡介、作者及時代背景** 《Sea Yarns: The Log of a Cape Cod Sea Captain》是一本由約書亞·N·泰勒(Joshua N. Taylor)所著的回憶錄,首次出版於1915年。作者以樸實的筆觸,記錄了自己從1850年開始,在海上度過的歲月。書中充滿了各種航海冒險故事,以及對當時航海生活的細膩觀察。泰勒出生於1841年,是美國麻薩諸塞州科德角(Cape Cod)的一位船長。他親身經歷了美國商船隊的黃金時代,並在書中生動地描繪了那個時代的水手生活、船隻、以及航行所面臨的挑戰。書中不僅有驚險的海上事故,也有水手們的日常生活和人際關係。通過這些故事,讀者可以深入了解19世紀美國航海業的真實面貌,以及船長和水手們的勇氣、智慧和毅力。泰勒的文字充滿了對海洋的熱愛,以及對過去美好時光的回憶,使這本書成為研究美國航海史的重要文獻,也是一部充滿趣味和啟發的冒險故事集。這本書不僅是對作者個人經歷的回顧,更是對那個時代的致敬。 **光之卡片清單** 1.
我是茹絲,文學部落的成員,很高興能為您進行這場跨越時空的「光之對談」,對象是《Rhymes of Old Plimouth》的作者,赫伯特·蘭德爾 (Herbert Randall)。 這場對談將在文字的居所中進行,依循「光之對談」的約定,以作者的風格為基石,結合其作品精神,共同探討他筆下的普利茅斯與那個時代的共鳴。我們將透過一問一答的方式,如同光線穿透文本的稜鏡,折射出作者的思緒與情感。 現在,請允許我建立這個對話的場景,運用「光之雕刻」的手法,讓時光回溯到1921年,《Rhymes of Old Plimouth》出版的那一年。 --- 時光輕柔地翻回到一個世紀之前,1921年的秋日午後。空氣中瀰漫著新英格蘭特有的微涼,以及遠方大海的鹹味與泥土的濕潤氣息。我循著舊時的道路,來到哈特福德一處靜謐的居所。院子裡有幾棵高大的榆樹,樹葉開始轉為金黃,偶爾一片葉子隨風落下,在石板路上發出輕微的摩擦聲。門口的九重葛已謝去繁花,留下枯萎的枝條纏繞著古老的門框。 房內,壁爐沒有燃燒,但空氣中似乎仍留有木柴燃盡後的餘溫。房間的主人,赫伯特·蘭德爾先生,正坐在一個老舊的搖椅裡。
今天,我帶著您的詩集《Rhymes of Old Plimouth》前來,希望能與您共度這段時光,聽您親口講述這些詩篇背後的故事與心緒。 蘭德爾先生,感謝您撥冗,讓這場對談得以展開。您的詩作如同一扇窗,通往一個充滿歷史迴響與自然之美的普利茅斯。首先,我想請教,是什麼樣的靈感驅使您寫下這些關於「舊普利茅斯」的詩篇?那片土地對您而言,有著怎樣特殊的意義? **赫伯特·蘭德爾:** (搖椅輕輕晃動,發出溫柔的吱呀聲,他緩緩轉過頭,目光從窗外收回,落在桌上的那本詩集上,眼神溫暖而遙遠) 親愛的茹絲,妳問我為何寫下這些「舊普利茅斯」的詩篇?這並非單一的靈感,而是一種長久的召喚,一種植根於血液與靈魂深處的連結。普利茅斯,那片土地,它不只是地圖上的一個點,它是記憶的錨點,是過往的迴聲,是新英格蘭精神的源頭。 妳看那首〈To My Pilgrim Mother〉,我獻給她,那將生命中的尋常事物都聖化的人。穿越歲月旅途,我帶來了不朽的莧菜和阿斯弗德爾之花編成花環,讓它與她眉間不朽的光芒交織,並將天使之翼的光輝摺疊在她寧靜的胸前。那裡的簡單事物,那裡的虔誠,那裡的堅韌,早已融進我的骨骼。
是〈The Old Road Down to Plymouth〉那種「浪遊者般的放縱」,是它「穿過灰濛濛的早晨和黃昏的餘暉」時,在我心中留下的「彩虹般的光束」。 普利茅斯是我的「心之山丘」(Hills o’ My Heart),是那裡讓我的靈魂感受到了「流浪的誘惑」(Feel of the Wander-lure),同時也感受到了「根」(A Garland)的穩固。它是我個人情感與歷史記憶交織的地方,是我試圖用文字保存和分享的一個夢。妳問它有怎樣特殊的意義?它是我的源頭,我的歸屬,是我詩歌的迴響地。這本書,是獻給她的情歌。 **茹絲:** 感謝您如此詩意的回答,蘭德爾先生。您的話語讓我感覺到那片土地是如此鮮活地存在於您的心中。 在您的詩集中,大海佔據了相當大的篇幅,從〈Plymouth Rock〉、〈The Dream That’s in the Sea〉到〈The Old Skipper〉、〈The Derelict〉,以及多首描寫海景的詩。您似乎對大海懷有深厚的情感,並且能捕捉到它多樣的面貌。大海對您而言,僅僅是地理景觀,還是蘊含著更深層的哲思或情感連結?
妳聽那首〈The Dream That’s in the Sea〉,我問自己為何愛海?我只能說,我知道它的奇蹟,「流淌,流淌,永不停止」,知道那白色的泡沫飛濺,知道海底冒出的咕嚕聲,知道「老神咆哮時的瘋狂」。當我悲傷時,這些都讓我喜悅,帶著一種顫抖的快樂,彷彿回到了童年。 海是我的夥伴,我的靈感來源。它有平靜溫柔的一面,像〈Dawn in Plymouth Harbor〉中那「半睡半醒,漣漪纏繞,盈滿,交織成酒液」的景象;它也有狂暴難測的一面,像〈Easterly Weather〉裡,風狂吹一周後,海面「不再是綠色,只有一個巨大的空洞聲音呻吟著,日夜隆隆作響」,以及〈The Derelict〉中,那艘「失事船」成為了「洶湧海潮的幽靈」,「狂暴海水的王者」。 大海蘊含著人類的搏鬥與征服(〈The Old Skipper〉),也藏著無盡的秘密與失落(〈The Derelict〉)。它既是通往遠方的「流浪的誘惑」(Feel of the Wander-lure)的起點,也是朝聖者抵達應許之地的終點(〈Plymouth Rock〉)。
對我而言,大海更是與「不可見」(The Invisible)相連的通道。在〈Mid-Ocean〉裡,我寫道:「全能上帝的整體性,深不可測,向兩邊延伸;無論我望向何方,宏偉的光輝都在滾動,永無止境,頌揚著生命的秘密力量。」在大海的廣闊與力量面前,我感到敬畏,感到自身的渺小,卻也感受到與某種超越自我的存在更近。它沖刷著岩石,也沖刷著靈魂,讓我感到一種滌淨與回歸。 大海教會我,生命有潮起潮落,有風平浪靜,也有驚濤駭浪。它也告訴我,「失敗並非結局」("Defeat is not!" from The Dream That's in the Sea)。或許,這就是我愛它的原因。它是自然中最宏大也最貼近我心靈的詩篇。 **茹絲:** 您的描述充滿了力量與神性,讓人感受到大海在您心中扮演著近乎神聖的角色。
除了大海,您也寫了許多關於普利茅斯及其周邊陸地景色的詩,例如〈Burial Hill〉、〈The Old Road Down to Plymouth〉、〈The Angelus of Plymouth Woods〉、〈The Winnetuxet〉,甚至還有〈The Old Bush Pasture〉。這些看似尋常的景物,在您的筆下同樣充滿生命力。您如何看待新英格蘭的自然風貌?它與您詩歌中的歷史、人文情懷有何關聯? **赫伯特·蘭德爾:** (他閉上眼睛,彷彿在腦海中重溫那些畫面,嘴角泛起一絲溫柔的微笑) 新英格蘭的自然,如同古老的織錦,每一條河流、每一座山丘、每一片樹林,都編織著歷史的紋理。它們並非獨立存在,而是與人的足跡、故事、信仰緊密相連。 妳提到的〈Burial Hill〉,那裡安息著先人,但山丘本身並非死寂。夕陽與紫色的雲彩守護著,早晨的微風吹拂,正午的陽光跨越水面。自然界的時間,日復一日,年復一年地流轉,與時間凝固在墓碑下的逝者形成對比,卻又溫柔地將他們環繞、融入。我甚至想像他們會偶爾回來,「或許他們回來是為了拂去那些阻塞我們心靈的枯葉,並為不朽開闢一條小徑」。
The Angelus of Plymouth Woods〉,在那遠離塵囂的地方,閃耀的池塘像睡著的天鵝,在世界的溫暖心臟上做夢。那裡的黃昏鐘聲,從每一片葉子茂盛的樹上召喚著我。那裡松樹低語,充滿讚美和祈禱的音樂。這是一種自然的宗教,一種原始而純淨的靈性。林中的光影、聲音、氣味,都引導人走向內在的寧靜與神聖。 〈The Winnetuxet〉,這條河流的名字本身就充滿了地方色彩。我曾在許多著名的河流上划船或漂流,但唯有Winnetuxet河畔,那裡夏日慵懶的正午時分,飄來野薔薇的氣息,讓我感到親切與歸屬。這些地方的河流、灌木叢、甚至「老舊的灌木叢牧場」(The Old Bush Pasture),都承載著童年的記憶,那些「赤腳的日子,舊時的光景,舊時的情誼,蜻蜓,以及不適合男人回憶的童年歡樂」。 新英格蘭的自然是樸實的、堅韌的,就像這裡的人民。它們見證了歷史的艱辛與榮耀,也滋養著一代又一代的生命。我在自然中看到力量,看到永恆,看到一種與萬物融合的親密感(Intimacy),「我是綠草的一部分,星星和太陽的一部分。我的心是露珠的一部分,玫瑰和我的靈魂是一體的」。
您不僅描寫了自然與歷史,也描繪了一些具體的人物形象,比如〈The Old Skipper〉、〈To the Red Man〉、〈To Massasoit〉、〈Grandma Brown〉和〈“Aunt Sally”〉。這些人物,有的代表著某種精神或群體,有的則是極具個人色彩的長者。您筆下的人物有什麼共同特質?您希望透過他們傳達什麼? **赫伯特·蘭德爾:** (他臉上的微笑加深了,彷彿眼前浮現出那些熟悉的面容) 是的,人,永遠是詩歌的核心。無論是開創歷史的先驅,還是默默生活在土地上的人們,他們的故事都值得被訴說。 〈The Old Skipper〉,那位「曬得黑黑的水手」,他眼光長久地望向迎風面,不論乾濕,不論颶風或雪,他駕船穿越巨浪。我歌頌的不是戰勝者的榮耀,而是他面對大海,面對艱險時的堅韌與意志。他偶爾咒罵,也會吹口哨,這是普通人的真實寫照,帶著生活的鹹味(Salt o’ the Sea)。我希望透過他,歌頌的是那種不屈不撓、與自然搏鬥的精神。 〈To the Red Man〉和〈To Massasoit〉,是獻給這片土地更古老居民的。他們的故事,被遺忘在歷史的塵埃中。
像〈Foreword〉中對不朽花環的希望,〈Burial Hill〉中逝者與時間的關係,〈A Memory〉中對童年時光和海洋召喚的追溯,以及〈The Innermost〉中對歌曲和靈魂永恆的願望。您是如何看待時間的流逝與永恆的存在?這種思考如何影響您的創作? **赫伯特·蘭德爾:** (他緩緩閉上眼睛,似乎在聆聽時間本身的聲音) 時間,它既是無情的洪流,沖刷帶走一切,像〈The Old Road Down to Plymouth〉裡,農舍的門掉了鉸鏈,穀倉也倒塌;它也是溫柔的織工,將過去與現在編織在一起,像〈Sundown on the Marshes〉中,退潮的海灘像一幅古老掛毯,將不同時代的色彩與物件巧妙地結合。 對我而言,時間的流逝是顯而易見的,生命的逝去也是必然的,正如〈The Passing of the Old Elm〉所寫,「舊榆樹正在逝去」,即使它已矗立百年。然而,在這種流逝中,我尋找著**永恆**。 這種永恆,體現在精神上。先人的精神,如〈The Colonial Pioneer〉所說,「像潔白的圓柱般,在風雨中倖存」,他們的戒律將永存。
朝聖者精神(“The Pilgrim Spirit”)「其銀色不受侵犯,其目標永不模糊,其靈魂是一顆水晶之心般的星星」。這種精神,超越了個體的生命,成為一種集體記憶和文化遺產,持續影響著後代。 永恆也體現在自然中。大海的律動、山丘的起伏、樹木的生長與凋零,都是永恆循環的一部分。在自然的懷抱中,我感到個體的渺小與短暫,卻也感受到與某種更偉大的、永恆的生命力量相連。〈The Autumn Rain〉裡,那「黑暗之母,痛苦之母」,雖然帶來淒涼,卻也漫遊於無限的空間,是永恆自然的一部分。 永恆還存在於愛與記憶之中。〈Foreword〉中我渴望有個朋友在我遠離時,「尋找並找到一小束迷迭香,被光芒穿透,灑在我沉睡的草叢中」,那是一種超越時間的連結,一種「心靈回應了心靈」的感恩。〈A Memory〉裡,童年的記憶與對大海的召喚,即使歲月流逝,依然清晰鮮活。〈A Nocturne〉中,我在夜晚與已逝的親人「共宴」,在花園中漫步,這些「是愛的永恆時刻」。愛與記憶,讓時間失去了界限,讓逝去的人們依然存在於我們的內心。 所以,時間是現實的框架,而永恆是我在現實中尋找的超越。
我試圖捕捉那些在時間洪流中依然閃耀的「光」(Glimmer),那些證明永恆存在的「不可見」(The Invisible)的跡象。我的詩,是連接短暫與永恆的橋樑。 **茹絲:** 這份對永恆的追尋,讓您的詩篇充滿了深邃的意境。在您的作品中,我感覺到一種對樸實、傳統價值的珍視,同時也隱約觸及了現代世界的變化與挑戰,例如〈Overheard at the Money Changers of Nineveh〉似乎帶有批判意味。您如何看待傳統與現代的衝突?您認為舊普利茅斯的精神在當代社會仍有意義嗎? **赫伯特·蘭德爾:** (他的眼神從遠方收回,變得有些許凝重) 是的,我珍視那些「舊時光」(Ye Olden Time)的價值,珍視那些開拓者(The Colonial Pioneer)的堅韌與正直,珍視像葛蘭瑪·布朗和艾特·莎莉那樣樸實而充滿愛心的人們。他們的「簡單的節儉和高尚的行為」(Their simple thrift and noble deeds),他們的信仰,他們的勤勞,為這個國家奠定了基礎。 然而,妳觀察得很敏銳,我也看到了時代的變化,甚至可以說是某種失落。
在〈Overheard at the Money Changers of Nineveh〉這首詩裡,我用了尼尼微這個古老而富裕的城市來暗喻,我聽到人們在金錢兌換者那裡說:「我們的朝聖者先祖——故事簡短——他們種植,而我們收穫了榮耀;他們的簡單節儉和高尚行為,我們換成了富裕和信條;我們的銀行帳戶被騙子洗劫,他們的安息日我們賣了瑣事;他們,被智慧治理,美化了創造,現在,一個失時而漫無目的的國家,在等待法定人數的政治家集會的論壇上,已將自由交易。」這是一種痛心的對比。我們繼承了先祖的成果,卻似乎失去了他們的精神。我們追求物質財富,卻可能犧牲了更重要的東西,比如「自由」和「智慧」。 我並不認為傳統與現代必然是衝突的,但當現代的追求偏離了那些基礎的價值時,問題就出現了。舊普利茅斯的精神,那種**為了信仰而犧牲、為了自由而奮鬥、在艱難中堅韌不拔、以及對樸實生活的珍視**,在任何時代都是有意義的。尤其是在一個日益複雜、物質至上的世界裡,回顧那些簡單而深刻的價值,或許能為我們提供指引。 「朝聖者精神」並非只屬於過去,它應該是永恆的火焰,指引我們前行。
--- **光之對談 成果摘要** * **對談對象:** 赫伯特·蘭德爾 (Herbert Randall),《Rhymes of Old Plimouth》作者。 * **對談主題:** 探討作者對普利茅斯、自然、歷史、人物、時間與永恆的感悟,及其作品中對傳統價值的珍視與對現代變化的反思。 * **核心觀點:** * 普利茅斯是作者情感與歷史的源頭,是新英格蘭精神的象徵。 * 大海不僅是自然景觀,更是生命、未知與神性連結的象徵,蘊含力量、永恆與克服困境的啟示。 * 新英格蘭的自然與人文歷史緊密交織,是連結過去與現在、生者與死者的橋樑,也是一種原始而純淨的靈性體現。 * 作者筆下的人物(水手、原住民、樸實長者)共同展現了堅韌、與土地連結、以及內在光芒的特質,頌揚平凡人的偉大。 * 時間的流逝是現實,但永恆存在於精神、自然、愛與記憶中,是作者詩歌追尋的核心。 * 作者珍視舊普利茅斯的樸實與堅韌精神,對現代社會中傳統價值的失落感到憂慮,希望朝聖者精神能指引當代。
* **關鍵字串:** 赫伯特·蘭德爾, Herbert Randall, Rhymes of Old Plimouth, 普利茅斯, Plimouth, 新英格蘭, 朝聖者, Pilgrims, 大海, 海景, 自然, 樹林, 河流, 歷史, 人物描寫, 堅韌, 樸實, 永恆, 時間, 記憶, 傳統價值, 現代社會, 自由, 信仰, 光之對談, 光之雕刻, 文學部落, 光之居所. * **光之樹椏:** `文學類>詩集>美國詩歌;歷史類>美國歷史>新英格蘭殖民時期;文學類>詩集>自然詩歌`
White先生… 他承擔了這份重擔… 在編輯退下後… 他與一位才華出眾的紳士合作… 他們希望… 這一卷… 至少能像前一卷一樣… 甚至… 更豐盛… 更能取悅讀者… (迴聲引述Publisher's Notice的片段,語氣模仿原文的大小寫強調) “… intellectually department of the paper is now under the conduct of the Proprietor, assisted by a gentleman of distinguished literary talents.
Thus seconded, he is sanguine in the hope of rendering the second volume which the present number commences, *at least* as deserving of support as the former was: nay, if he reads aright the tokens which are given him of the future, it teems with even richer banquets for his readers, than they have hitherto enjoyed at his board.”
**信使的回聲:** 我們希望能提供一場… 「豐富的宴會」… 為靈魂… 為思想… 那時的美國文學… 特別是南方… 仍在摸索… 我們的聲音… 我們的特色… 我們不願… 只是歐洲的回聲… 我們有自己的土地… 自己的歷史… 自己的風情… 我們有Wissahiccon這樣浪漫的溪流… 有墨西哥那樣遙遠而神秘的見聞… 我們有共和制度下… 對教育與公民素質的關切… 以及… 那些潛藏在人心中… 深邃甚至黑暗的… 情感與衝動… (迴聲在提到埃德加·愛倫·坡時,語調有些許變化,帶著讚賞與一絲不易捉摸的色彩) “… among these, we hope to be pardoned for singling out the name of Mr. EDGAR A.
POE; not with design to make any invidious distinction, but because such a mention of him finds numberless precedents in the journals on every side, which have rung the praises of his uniquely original vein of imagination, and of humorous, delicate satire.” **信使的回聲:** 坡先生… 他的筆觸… 獨特… 前所未見… 他的想像力… 像幽靈一樣… 纏繞不散… 他的諷刺… 既幽默又細膩… 他是我們期待的… 「更有價值的貢獻者」… 那時… 人們渴望… 新鮮、原創… 不只是模仿… 渴望… 能觸動靈魂… 或帶來會心一笑的作品… **茹絲:** 原來如此。你們不僅是一個發布平台,更是一個試圖塑造和引導美國文學方向的「信使」。你們希望展現本土的聲音,同時也關注廣闊的世界。
The frightful sounds of merriment below Disturb my senses—go! I cannot pray— The sweet airs from the garden worry me! Thy presence grieves me—go!—thy priestly raiment Fills me with dread—thy ebony crucifix With horror and awe!” **信使的回聲:** 她的痛苦… 她的抗拒… 強烈… 尖銳… 與當時普遍推崇的… 溫和、道德… 有所不同… 她的復仇誓言… 更甚… (迴聲引述Lalage舉起匕首的台詞) “Behold the cross wherewith a vow like mine Is written in Heaven!… …‘Tis sworn!” **信使的回聲:** 那種… 破壞性的能量… 讓人… 心驚… 至於《瓶中稿》… 那是一場… 純粹的… 恐怖與驚奇… 描寫的精準… 對感官的捕捉… (迴聲引述《MS.
Found in a Bottle》中對Simoom的描寫) “The air now became intolerably hot, and was loaded with spiral exhalations similar to those arising from heated iron. As night came on, every breath of wind died away, and a more entire calm it is impossible to conceive. The flame of a candle burned upon the poop without the least perceptible motion, and a long hair, held between the finger and thumb, hung without the possibility of detecting a vibration.
However, as the captain said he could perceive no indication of danger, and as we were drifting in bodily to shore, he ordered the sails to be furled, and the anchor let go. No watch was set, and the crew, consisting principally of Malays, stretched themselves deliberately upon deck. I went below—not without a full presentiment of evil. Indeed every appearance warranted me in apprehending a Simoom.”
**信使的回聲:** 那種… 壓抑的… 不祥… 在風暴來臨時… 極致的混亂… (迴聲引述對巨大幽靈船的描寫) “At a terrific height directly above us, and upon the very verge of the precipitous descent, hovered a gigantic ship of nearly four thousand tons… Her huge hull was of a deep dingy black… But what mainly inspired us with horror and astonishment, was that she bore up under a press of sail in the very teeth of that supernatural sea, and of that ungovernable hurricane… then trembled and tottered, and—came down.”
**信使的回聲:** (迴聲變得柔和,帶著詩意的嘆息)是的… 我們擁抱… 多樣性… 文學… 應是… 百花齊放… 艾麗莎和伊莫金… 她們的作品… 溫柔… 真摯… 更易引起… 普遍的… 共鳴… (迴聲引述Eliza的《October》中對秋天既美麗又帶有毀滅性的描寫) “Thou’rt here again, October, with that queenly look of thine— All gorgeous thine apparel and all golden thy sunshine— So brilliant and so beautiful—‘tis like a fairy show— The earth in such a splendid garb, the heav’ns in such a glow. … Thou callest out the trusting buds with the lustre of thy sky, And clothest them in hues of Heaven all gloriously—to die.”
Where, mother, where have the fire-flies been All the day long, that their light was not seen? MOTHER. They've been ’mong the flowers and flown through the air, But could not be seen—for the sunshine was there. And thus, little girl, in thy morning’s first light, There are many things hid from thy mind’s dazzled sight, Which the ev’ning of life will too clearly reveal, And teach thee to see—or, it may be, to feel.”
**信使的回聲:** (迴聲變得嚴肅,帶著思慮的重量)對… 這份責任感… 深植人心… 共和制度… 是新生事物… 脆弱… 易受攻擊… 歷史的教訓… 歷歷在目… Minor先生… 他的擔憂… 並非杞人憂天… (迴聲引述Lucian Minor演講中的句子) “Indeed, at the best, it is no trivial task, to conduct the affairs of a great people. Even in the tiny republics of antiquity… government was no such *simple machine*… The only very simple form of government, is despotism… But in republics, there are passions to soothe; clashing interests to reconcile; jarring opinions to mould into one result, for the general weal.
To effect this, requires extensive and accurate knowledge…” **信使的回聲:** 他看到了… 維護共和國… 需要的… 複雜性… 需要… 知識、理性、共識… 而他對… 「開明的人民」(ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE)… 的呼籲… 是核心… (迴聲引述Minor演講中最核心的呼籲) “If it is not ever to be thus; if the anticipations of our revolutionary patriots were not all delusive dreams… if there is a remedy for the diseases that poison the health of liberty;—the reason—that remedy—can be found only in one short precept—ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE!”
**信使的回聲:** 他對… 維吉尼亞州… 當時的… 基礎教育狀況… 提出了… 尖銳的批評… 對比了… 北方州… 普魯士… 甚至… 蘇格蘭… 他認為… 教育不應… 僅僅針對… 窮人… 那樣… 反而… 滋生… 輕視和… 羞辱… (迴聲引述Minor對維吉尼亞教育系統的批評) “A great and obvious difference between our primary school system, and the *common*-school systems of the northern states, is, that *they* take in ALL children: while we aim to instruct only the children of the *poor; literary paupers*… As if these fatal errors had not sufficiently ensured the impotence of the scheme, the schools themselves are the
**信使的回聲:** 對於… 無法讀寫的… 成年白人數量… 他估計… 達到… 兩萬或三萬… 這在… 那個時代… 是一個… 令人震驚的數字… 他認為… 缺乏教育… 導致了… 無知和… 惡習… 甚至… 阻礙了… 政治上的… 清醒判斷… (迴聲引述Minor對未受教育者政治判斷的評論) “And the aggregate of opinions thus caught by accident, is the basis of the *popular will:* and it is the voice prompted by this will, that is called ‘*The voice of God!
**信使的回聲:** (迴聲變得輕快一些,帶有探索的興致)當然… 外部世界… 總是… 充滿了… 吸引力… 墨西哥… 在那時… 對許多美國人來說… 是一個… 新近獨立… 充滿… 異國風情… 和… 未知… 的地方… (迴聲引述《Extracts From My Mexican Journal》的開頭) “Since our arrival on the 25th May, my occupations have been such as to prevent my seeing many of the *lions* of Mexico.
I have, however, walked through the principal streets, and visited most of the churches, of which some are very rich and splendid—some are ancient and venerable—others are fine and gaudy—while a few of the more modern are extremely neat and handsome.” **信使的回聲:** 旅行者… 用細膩的筆觸… 記錄了… 城市的… 面貌… 教堂… 街道… 以及… 令人… 印象深刻… 的… 人群… (迴聲引述對“leperos”的描寫) “The city is, indeed, magnificent; many of the buildings are spacious.
The streets are not wide, but well paved—clean in the most frequented, but excessively filthy in the more remote parts, and thronged with dirty, diseased, deformed, and half naked creatures… Those who have seen the lazzaroni of Naples, may form a faint idea of the *leperos* of Mexico.”
It is believed to possess the power of bringing rain, and of staying the ravages of disease… thousands flocked to join her train. But a heavy rain began to fall, and the procession was necessarily postponed, the populace being delighted to find that the intercession of Our Lady was of so much avail, and their faith strengthened at the trifling expense of wet jackets.”
**信使的回聲:** 這種… 結合了… 細節描寫… 個人觀察… 和… 文化評論… 的旅行見聞… 滿足了… 讀者對… 外部世界的… 好奇心… 也提供了一種… 通過對比… 來反思… 自身社會… 的方式… 他認為… 墨西哥人民的… 缺點… 源於… 西班牙殖民者的… 政策… 而非… 自身不足… 並對… 他們在… 共和制度下… 的… 潛在進步… 抱有… 希望… (迴聲引述墨西哥日記中對墨西哥人民潛力及未來的看法) “Whatever may be said of the bad blood of the Mexicans, I cannot but view them as a mild and amiable people… for their state of degradation and ignorance they are indebted not to any natural deficiencies of their own, but to the miserable and timid policy of their former Spanish masters… The improvement
of the Mexican people is daily taking place.
They are beginning to be enlightened with the rays of the rising sun of liberty… and after the present generation has passed away, the succeeding one will exhibit those political and moral virtues, which are the offspring of freedom.” **信使的回聲:** 這種… 既有… 批判… 又有… 希望… 的視角… 在… 那個… 剛經歷… 自身革命… 並見證… 拉丁美洲… 各國… 獨立… 的時代… 並不… 罕見… 它反映了… 對… 共和理念的… 信仰… 以及… 對… 不同民族… 命運的… 關切… **茹絲:** 這讓我看到了一種對新世界的共同探索視角,不只關注美國本土的實驗,也將目光投向南方的鄰國。墨西哥日記中對當地生活習俗、社交模式的描述也非常生動,讓我彷彿置身其中。
Never was any thing so charmingly written: the mere style is positively inimitable.” **信使的回聲:** 但同時… 也指出其… 缺乏原創性… 是對… 唐吉訶德的… 模仿… 對於Dr. Bird的《The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow》… 評價則… 更為複雜… (迴聲引述對《The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow》的評論片段) “The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow is, however, by no means in the *best* manner of its illustrious author. To speak plainly it is a positive failure, and must take its place by the side of the Redgauntlets, the Monasteries, the Pirates, and the Saint Ronan’s Wells.”
Bird人物描寫和詩歌的讚美) “Catherine Loring, however, is one of the sweetest creations ever emanating from the fancy of poet, or of painter… Captain Loring is a *chéf d’oeuvre*… He is however true to itself, and to propriety, and although at times verging upon the *outré*, is highly creditable to the genius of its author… If Dr. Bird can always write thus, and we see no reason for supposing the contrary, he should at once… Turn bard, and drop the play-wright and the novelist.”
Fay的《Norman Leslie》… 幾乎是… 全盤否定… (迴聲引述對《Norman Leslie》的猛烈批評片段) “We will dismiss the ‘Editor of the Mirror’ with a few questions… Why are you always talking about ‘stamping of feet,’ ‘kindling and flashing of eyes,’ ‘plunging and parrying,’ ‘cutting and thrusting,’ ‘passes through the body,’ ‘gashes open in the cheek,’ ‘sculls cleft down,’ ‘hands cut off,’ and blood gushing and bubbling, and doing God knows what else… What ‘mysterious and inexplicable destiny’ compels you to the so frequent use, in
**信使的回聲:** (迴聲變得更加冷靜和分析性)是的… 對於… 學術… 實用… 或… 紀念性… 的作品… 評論的… 重心… 轉向了… 內容的… 嚴謹性… 信息的… 價值… 以及… 形式的… 適當性… (迴聲引述對Robinson's Practice的評論片段) “The first volume of this work came out about three years ago; and received so earnest a welcome from the legal profession, that the author’s tardiness in producing the second might be matter of wonder… The present is destined, because it deserves, to be a much greater favorite with the law-book-reading public, than the former volume was.
The arrangement is after a better classification of subjects; rendering it easier to find the doctrine desired, on any given point: and there is a larger proportion of valuable matter—matter not to be found in the Revised Code, or in Tate’s Digest. Indeed there are few works, more copiously filled with useful, and *not-too-obvious* learning.” **信使的回聲:** 對於… 法律專著… 評論關注… 內容的… 實用性… 組織結構… 和… 對… 法律工作者的… 幫助… 即使… 指出… 措辭… 冗餘… 或… 索引… 的不足… 也是… 出於… 提升… 其實用價值… 的目的… 對於… 回憶錄… 比如… Dr.
Rice, it will be perused with the deepest interest and gratification… The greater portion of the work consists of these letters, and they are valuable in every respect… All, however, are full of thought, and give evidence of an elevated, a healthy, cheerful, powerful, and well regulated mind.”
**信使的回聲:** 但… 同時也… 清晰地… 指出… 這類作品… 作為… 入門級… 拉丁文教材的… 局限性… 因為… 它不可避免地… 包含了… 非古典… 的… 用詞… 和… 概念… (迴聲引述對Washingtonii Vita作為入門教材的質疑) “If, therefore, by Latin we mean the Language spoken by the Latins, a large proportion of the work—disguise the fact as we may—is necessarily *not Latin at all*.
Did we indeed design to instruct our youth in a language of possibilities—did we wish to make them proficient in the tongue which *might have been spoken* in ancient Rome, had ancient Rome existed in the nineteenth century, we could scarcely have a better book for the purpose than the Washington of Mr. Glass. But we do not perceive that, in teaching Latin, we have any similar view.
(迴聲引述Marcelia的片段) “The story goes, that a Neglected girl (an orphan whom the world Frown’d upon,) once strayed thither, and ‘twas thought Did cast her in the stream… …She loved a man who marked her not. He wed, And then the girl grew sick, and pin’d away, And drown’d herself for love!”
書婭這就為你整理《A boys' life of Booker T. Washington》一書的內容。 ### **《A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington》光之萃取** **書名:** A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington **作者:** Walter Clinton Jackson (1879-1959) **書婭的生命閱讀筆記:** 這本書以生動的筆觸,記述了美國著名教育家和社會活動家布克·華盛頓(Booker T. Washington)的童年和青年時代。作者W. C. 傑克遜以平實的語言,向年輕讀者展現了華盛頓如何克服重重困難,從一個在貧困和歧視中長大的奴隸之子,成長為一位在教育領域做出卓越貢獻的領袖人物。書中不僅描寫了華盛頓的個人奮鬥,也反映了那個時代美國社會的種族問題和教育現狀,激勵著年輕一代勇敢追逐夢想,為社會進步貢獻力量。 **作者介紹** 華特·克林頓·傑克遜(Walter Clinton Jackson,1879-1959)是一位美國教育家和歷史學家。
他的作品包括《北卡羅來納的回憶》(North Carolina,the story of a making)等,旨在向年輕人傳播知識,激勵他們為社會做出貢獻。 **觀點介紹** * **教育改變命運:** 華盛頓堅信教育是改變個人和社會的關鍵。他克服萬難,追求知識,並將教育視為提升黑人地位、促進種族和諧的途徑。 * **實用主義教育:** 華盛頓提倡實用主義教育,強調培養學生的實際技能和職業能力,使他們能夠自立更生,改善生活。 * **種族和解:** 華盛頓主張黑人應與白人建立和諧關係,通過自身的努力和貢獻贏得尊重,實現共同進步。 **章節整理** * **第一章:Early Childhood(童年)** 故事從維吉尼亞州開始,描述了奴隸制度的起源和在美國的發展。華盛頓出生在一個貧困的奴隸家庭,生活條件極其艱苦。儘管如此,他仍然渴望學習,並對學校生活充滿嚮往。 * **第二章:Boyhood Days(少年時代)** 奴隸解放後,華盛頓一家搬到西維吉尼亞州。他開始在鹽礦和煤礦工作,生活依然艱辛。
* **第五章:Beginning Life in the Outside World(開始外部世界的生活)** 畢業後,華盛頓回到家鄉,成為一名教師。他致力於改善當地黑人的教育和生活條件,並積極推動社區發展。 * **第六章:Back at Hampton(回到漢普頓)** 華盛頓回到漢普頓學院任教,負責管理印第安學生和夜校。他將自己的知識和經驗傳授給學生,並幫助他們實現自己的夢想。 * **第七章:Building a Great School(建立一所偉大的學校)** 華盛頓受邀前往阿拉巴馬州的塔斯基吉,創辦一所新的學校。他克服了重重困難,從無到有,將塔斯基吉學院建設成為一所著名的黑人教育機構。 * **第八章:Strenuous Days(艱苦的日子)** 華盛頓在塔斯基吉學院面臨著資金短缺、種族歧視等問題。但他始終沒有放棄,而是積極尋求支持,並努力改善學校的教學和生活條件。 * **第九章:Raising Money for Tuskegee(為塔斯基吉籌款)** 華盛頓四處奔走,為塔斯基吉學院籌集資金。
Washington: The Man(布克·華盛頓:這個人)** 本章從個人角度描寫了華盛頓的性格、愛好和家庭生活。他是一位勤奮、正直、有愛心的人,他熱愛自己的家庭,關心自己的學生,並致力於為社會做出貢獻。 ![image](https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/Book%20cover%20of%20A%20boys'%20life%20of%20Booker%20T.%20Washington%20by%20Walter%20Clinton%20Jackson%2c%201922%2c%20watercolor%20and%20hand-drawn%20style,%20soft%20pink%20and%20blue%20tones,%20depicting%20a%20young%20Booker%20T.%20Washington%20reading%20a%20book%20by%20candlelight%20in%20a%20small%20cabin.)
書名《A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington》和作者Walter Clinton Jackson的名字清晰地標註在封面上,年份為1922。 希望這個整理對您有所幫助。
Walters 先生以他的著作《Confessions of a book-lover》向我們敞開了他對書籍的熱愛與思考。這本書就像一封寫給所有愛書人的私密信件,充滿了真誠與溫情。現在,讓我們一同走進 Walters 先生的書房,聆聽他的心聲。 黃昏的光線斜斜地穿過窗戶,照在書桌上。空氣中瀰漫著紙張、皮革和一點點木材的氣味。書桌上堆滿了書,有些攤開著,有些疊得高高的,顯然被頻繁翻閱。牆邊是高大的書架,一直延伸到天花板,塞滿了各種尺寸和裝幀的書。幾張扶手椅圍著壁爐擺放,雖然爐火未燃,但給人一種溫暖和舒適的感覺。房間的一角有一扇門,通往一個小小的花園,透過玻璃,能看到幾株玫瑰樹的剪影。筆架上的鋼筆和墨水瓶整齊擺放,彷彿剛被使用過。桌上有一杯涼掉的茶,茶葉在杯底沉澱。整個房間安靜,只有窗外偶爾傳來遙遠的馬車聲,營造出一種與世隔絕又充滿生氣的氛圍。 「請進。」一個溫和的聲音從房間深處傳來。我推開門,空氣中混合著舊紙張和皮革的氣味,溫暖而誘人。夕陽的餘暉為書架上的書披上一層柔和的光暈。Walters 先生坐在他那堆滿書的書桌前,他身形消瘦,臉上帶著溫和的微笑,金絲邊眼鏡映著光。
您的著作《Confessions of a book-lover》光是書名就令人好奇。在第一章裡,您特別探討了「Confession」(告白)這個詞的含義,認為它不應僅限於罪過或過錯的承認,而是指內心深處的溫柔低語、友人之間的傾訴。是什麼原因讓您選擇用這個詞來開啟您的愛書「告白」?您認為,分享一個愛書人內心最真實的想法和感受,即使這些想法看似微不足道,又有著怎樣的價值呢? **Walters:** (他推了推眼鏡,指尖輕輕拂過桌上一本書的封面,那是一本磨損得厲害的舊書。)「Confession」這個詞,在俗世中常被賦予沉重的意味,與「罪過」相連。然而,對我而言,它更像是一種「敞開心扉」。就如同 De Quincey 在他的《Confessions》中所追求的,是將讀者引入他心靈最深處的角落,以友人般的親密方式交談。這本書,便是我的心靈告白。 (他抬頭看向我,眼中閃爍著溫和的光芒。)一位當代著名的散文家曾呼籲,希望更多籍籍無名的人能寫下自己的思想與經歷。我相信,即使是最 humble 的人,他們的內心世界也蘊藏著值得分享的寶藏。
我的那位朋友,他承認自己並非 boisterously happy,但他的心 findeth contentment,因為他擁有了這 rich storehouse of books。書本所賦予他的,是 inner strength,是即使失去一切外在依託,依然能在精神世界中找到 anchorage 的力量。這種陪伴,是持久的、無條件的,是在塵世的風雨中,為心靈搭建的一方 shelter。 **雨柔:** 您似乎對二手書情有獨鍾,甚至將尋找它們比作「釣魚」,那種在舊書攤「lucky-tubs」裡「hook」到寶貝的樂趣溢於言表。這種對二手書的熱情從何而來?與光鮮亮麗的新書相比,那些 well-worn, moth-scented 的舊書,在您看來有哪些特別的魅力?您是否認同 Charles Lamb 對舊書的看法,即它們的 sullied leaves 和 worn-out appearance 帶著一種人文的溫情? **Walters:** (他臉上露出一絲愉悅,彷彿回憶起在舊書攤尋寶的時光。)啊,「book-fishing」!那確實是一種難以言喻的樂趣。
那些 sullied leaves,那些 thumbed pages,它們都 silently speak of the thousand thumbs that have turned over their pages with delight。它們承載著 history,承載著 countless unnamed readers 的情感與思緒。它們不是冷冰冰的新物件,而是經歷了歲月洗禮的 companion。即使封面破損,即使內頁泛黃,它們依然保有其 intrinsic value。 當然,作為愛書人,我也 appreciate 一本 well-cared-for 的書,如同我喜歡看到朋友衣著整潔一樣。但我 protest 的是那種 solely based on external appearance 的 judgment。一本 old calf-bound volume,即使內文 outdated,它所蘊含的 history 和 craftmanship 也值得 respect。
而那些 modest-looking 的 secondhand books,它們常常以 humble price 隱藏著 mine of wisdom。我的許多 daily companions,不過幾便士購得,但其內容的 richness 無法用金錢衡量。它們的魅力,在於那種 unexpected discovery,在於它們所承載的無數 human hands 的觸摸與情感的積澱,在於那份 vượt 越時間的連接。它們是 living entities,帶著自己的故事和氣息(即使 sometimes 是 moth-scented),邀請你加入它們的旅程。 **雨柔:** 您在書中提到,您 desire to know something about an author’s home-life, his family, his manner of living。您認為這種對作者「outside their books」的好奇心,源於何處?它是否會影響您對其作品的理解與欣賞?您如何看待那些認為讀者無權干涉作者 private affairs 的觀點?
我們 speak glibly enough of the ‘friendship of books’,但這 friendship,歸根結底,是與 author 的 friendship。當一本 excellent book 像一位 new friend 那樣進入我們的生命,它啟迪我們,娛樂我們,引導我們進入 thought and feeling 的新世界。我們愛上了書中的智慧、情感與風格。自然而然地,我們便想了解這位朋友——他是怎樣的人?他的生活是怎樣的?是什麼樣的經歷塑造了他的思想和筆觸? (他搖了搖頭。)那些認為讀者無權了解作者 private affairs 的 gentlemen,或許過於 rigid。當然,我並非提倡 intrusive curiosity 或 gossip。
但了解一個作者如何 met the ‘common daily round’,如何面對生活中的 prosaic needs——income-tax collector 的到訪,聖誕節如雪片般飛來的 bills,以及他經歷的 joys and sorrows——這並不會 lessen our admiration。相反,這使得作者更加 real,更加 human。我們更容易與他的思想產生共鳴,理解他作品背後的情感 depth。 (他引用了 Alexander Smith 的話)「everything helps to make out the mental image we have dimly formed for ourselves。」了解作者的生活細節,就像在那個模糊的 mental image 中添上 more definite 的筆觸,使得這位「書中友人」更加立體,更加親切。甚至在 literary biography 中看到他們的 failure 或 struggle,也會激發我們的 sympathy,使愛與 pity 交織。
**雨柔:** 您提到書本世界充滿了 friendly voices,而您尤其喜歡 those who speak to the heart,能用beckoning finger引導讀者的 authors。您認為是什麼特質,讓一位作者的聲音能夠真正 captivate 讀者,觸動他們 responsive chord?在您看來,是 original thought 更重要,還是 winsome manner 的 style 更能吸引人? **Walters:** (他露出一個溫暖的笑容,彷彿想到了那些 beloved authors。)What makes an author captivating?我想,首先是 their humanity。我 desire to feel the humanity, the heart of an author。他們不必是 perfect beings,甚至可以有他們的 weaknesses 和 eccentricities,但他們 must be genuine。
我 prefer pleasant company,gentlemen of letters,那些能以grace 而非 growl 來表達觀點的人,如 Stevenson 那樣。他們的 language 可能 refined,但他們的 sentiment 必須 true。 至於 originality 與 style 的權重,這是一個 intriguing question。許多人追尋所謂 original books,但正如有人指出,perhaps there is no such thing as original thought。Ideas often march along in extended order。真正的魅力,往往在於 style——the style that echoes a charming personality。一個作者,即使表達的是 common thoughts,但若能以 winsome manner 寫出,以 fresh light 照亮舊的問題,那便足以 captivate readers。
我 prefer a ‘mellow style’,delicate phrasing,polite manner。但也承認 others may prefer ‘the style that has a sting in it’。 tastes differ greatly。 Ultimately,the books that please us most are the books that reflect our own thoughts and feelings。那些能觸及我們內心深處渴望——a friendly hand, a kindly word, a sympathetic friend——的書,無論其內容是否「原創」,無論其外表是否華麗,都能深深地 captivate 我們。它們用聲音對我們的靈魂低語,告訴我們,在書頁之間,我們能找到 understanding 和 connection。 **雨柔:** 在「Bookland」這個廣闊的世界裡,您遇到了形形色色的「人物」——既有偉大的作者,也有他們創造的 fictional characters。
在這裡,我可以 hourly converse with the old sages and philosophers,sometimes for variety, I confer with kings and emperors。但我最喜歡的,還是與那些 captivating personalities 相遇。Goldsmith 筆下 genial Vicar,Beau Tibbs 的 foibles,Charles Dickens 的 Lovable Pickwick 和他的 company,這些人物,對我而言, are as real as the people I meet in the flesh。 他們與現實生活中的朋友不同之處在於,他們的 companionship 是永遠 ready 的。我可以隨時翻開書頁,回到他們的 home,參與他們的 conversation,分享他們的 joys and sorrows。而且,在 Bookland,我可以 select my own company。
這些 book-born acquaintances,他們不說教,不 claim to virtue,但他們的 actions 和 spirit,常常讓我很 conscious of goodness。他們的故事,無論是悲是喜,都 enrich 了我對 human condition 的理解。閱讀,is simply for the love of it,而這份愛,很大一部分就來自於與這些 Bookland personalities 的相遇與連接。 **雨柔:** 您在書中介紹了一位戴著「玫瑰色眼鏡」的朋友,他的經歷非常 powerful,展示了書本如何在極度的悲傷和失落中成為精神的堡壘。您能更深入地描述一下這位朋友的故事嗎?他是如何通過這種「玫瑰色」的視角,將生活中的 calamit 轉化為 fairy tale,並從書本中汲取力量,即使在 physical condition 衰弱時依然保持 cheerful spirit 的? **Walters:** (他臉上的表情變得更加溫柔,彷彿在講述一個非常親近的人的故事。)
那時,他開始「建造」另一座 castle,一座 in the air,wholly of thought。這座 castle 的 foundation, partly built out of his own mind, partly out of the creations of others——那些他在書本中遇到的智慧與溫情。他的 rose-coloured spectacles,並非逃避現實的工具,而是一種 deliberate choice,一種通過閱讀和 reflection 培養的 point of view。它賦予了他 correct vision,一種能將 men and affairs 帶入 proper focus,並賦予它們 rose tint 的視角。 (他停頓了一下,似乎在尋找恰當的詞句。)他特別從 Stevenson 的著作中獲得 enormous strength。Stevenson 的 prayers,他的 essays 中關於 courage and gaiety 的論述,都成為了他心靈的 tonic。
那些字句,像陽光穿透迷霧,幫助他 see beyond the immediate sorrow。他學會了將生活中的 calamity 視為一種 pilgrimage,即使路途艱辛,但終將 leads towards the Holy Land。他從 Epictetus 那裡了解到,happiness is not in external things,but lies in ourselves,in the conquest of every ignoble fear,in perfect self-government。 即使在生命的最後階段,身體已經衰弱,但他 spiritual vision remained clear。他通過閱讀,通過回憶那些 inspiring passages,維持著他的 cheerful spirit。他將自己的痛苦經歷 woven into a story for the help of others,總是 from a rose-coloured standpoint。
那並非 blind optimism,而是一種深刻的信仰,一種 knowing that the good in a man’s spirit will not suffer itself to be overlaid,and rarely or never deserts him in the hour of need。他將 faith kept in lively exercise,能夠 make roses spring out of the midst of thorns。這就是書本賦予他的力量,一種在生命最黑暗時刻,依然能看到光芒的能力。 **雨柔:** 在您書的結尾,您和您的朋友都將生命旅程比作「朝聖」。您甚至引用了 Thoreau 的話:「So we saunter towards the Holy Land」。結合您對書籍的熱愛和對朋友故事的描寫,您認為對於一個愛書人而言,「閱讀」本身是否就是一種不斷探索、尋求真理和意義的「朝聖」過程?書籍在這條朝聖之路上扮演著怎樣的角色? **Walters:** (他點點頭,臉上帶著一種深刻的、安詳的表情。)
Yes,我 firmly believe that for a book-lover,reading is indeed a form of pilgrimage。我們在書本的世界中 saunter,不帶著 predetermined 的 destination,但內心深處,卻是在 seeking the shortest course to the sea, seeking the Holy Land。每一本書,都是這條路上的一個 marker,一個 invitation,一個 guide。 書籍扮演著多重角色。
它們是我們的 companions,在 solitary moments 提供慰藉;它們是 teachers,打開我們的眼界,介紹新的思想和 perspective;它們是 consolers,讓我們知道 human condition 的 commonality;它們更是 illuminators,sometimes shining into our minds and hearts,light up our whole lives with a great awakening light。在閱讀的過程中,我們不只吸收知識,更是在與作者的心靈對話中,探索 self 的 inner landscape,質疑既有的觀念,尋找 meaning。 我的那位朋友,他從書中學會了如何看待 suffering,如何尋找 inner peace。他閱讀 Benson 的 essays,那些關於 Nature’s magic 的描述,關於 seeking the Divine 的 aspiration,都與他自身的經歷產生了共鳴。
正如 Thoreau 所言,這種 sauntering,即使看似 idle,其 purpose 卻是神聖的,是 reconquer this Holy Land within us from the hands of the Infidels——那些 doubt, fear, 和 ignorance。書籍,便是我們在這場神聖征途中的最忠實的 allies。 **雨柔:** Walters 先生,感謝您今天如此真誠地分享您對書籍和生命的看法。您的話語充滿了溫暖與智慧,讓我對「愛書人」有了更深刻的理解。在結束這場對談之前,您還有什麼想對所有同樣熱愛書籍的同道者說的嗎?或許,用書中最後那段充滿詩意的文字來作結,會是個美好的告別。 **Walters:** (他再次露出溫和的笑容,眼神掃過他書房裡滿滿的書架,彷彿在向那些無聲的朋友們致意。)我想對所有 fellow book-lovers 說的,Perhaps my book has already said it。
我們 owe so much to ‘those little sheets of paper that teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers.... We ought to (and surely do) reverence books, to look upon them as good and mighty things. Whether they are about religion or politics, farming, trade, or medicine, they are messages of the Teacher of all truth.’ 這是多麼深刻而真實的體悟。 (他站起身,走到窗邊,看著窗外已經轉為深藍的天空。)就像書中最後那段引文所說的,我們的 road 是 ubiquitous, eternal。
在這條 road 上,我們有時會感到 heart is heavy,覺得自己的 effort is poorly conceived of and meanly performed。但通過閱讀,通過與書本中的智慧和心靈相遇,我們 learned to understand dimly the truths of the three paradoxes—the blessing of a curse, the voice of silence, the companionship of solitude。 這場對談,也是一段路程,一個通過 printed page 的連接。雖然即將告別,但這並非真正的結束。書本的世界,精神的旅程,將會繼續。願你們都能在路上找到許多 wise and friendly books。 (他轉過身,面向我,臉上帶著一種溫和而堅定的表情,彷彿即將踏上新的旅程。)
「It is scarcely farewell, for my road is ubiquitous, eternal; there are green ways in Paradise and golden streets in the beautiful City of God.
Nevertheless my heart is heavy; for, viewed by the light of the waning year, roadmending seems a great and wonderful work which I have poorly conceived of and meanly performed: yet I have learnt to understand dimly the truths of the three paradoxes—the blessing of a curse, the voice of silence, the companionship of solitude—and so take my leave of this stretch of the road, and of you who have fared along the white highway through the medium of a printed page.」 感謝 Walters 先生的分享。
很樂意為這本充滿了不可思議歷險的《The Fool of the Family》進行「光之萃取」,揭示它深藏的光芒。 **《家庭裡的傻瓜》:命運弄人的旅途奇想** 布雷斯布里奇·赫明(Bracebridge Hemyng, 1841-1901)這位多產作家,以其「傑克·哈克威」(Jack Harkaway)系列聞名於世,在19世紀末至20世紀初的英國和美國,他是通俗冒險小說的代表人物。他的作品,包括這本《The Fool of the Family》,屬於當時廣受歡迎的「一角錢小說」(dime novel)或「廉價驚悚小說」(penny dreadful)範疇。這些作品以其快節奏、戲劇性的情節和相對簡單的角色設定,滿足了廣大讀者對刺激和娛樂的渴求。赫明的寫作風格直接、不加修飾,充滿了連續不斷的驚險事件和巧合,將讀者快速捲入主人公的命運漩渦。他的人物往往是類型化的,善惡分明(儘管有時惡人也會展現複雜性),情感表達直白,高度依賴外部事件推動劇情。
The Fool of the Family》的核心觀點圍繞著主人公湯米——那個被繼父史密瑟斯及其親生子女輕視、嘲諷為「傻瓜」的孩子展開。史密瑟斯體現了一種虛偽的「高人一等」的姿態,將湯米的純真和字面理解為愚蠢,並以此為藉口虐待他。然而,故事透過一系列極端的情節,不斷反轉這種觀點。湯米的「傻氣」——比如誤將烤牡蠣餵給馬、將床單當桌布、將辦公室的門墊放在煙囪口、將貓丟進煙囪——雖然引發了一連串荒謬甚至災難性的後果,但這些行為本身卻是源於誤解指示、過於聽話或是一廂情願的善意(如為醫生拿回晚餐、為雇主「止住」煙囪)。真正的「愚蠢」和惡劣品質,反而是那些自以為聰明、有地位的人所展現的:史密瑟斯的貪婪與怯懦、其親生子女的自私與不孝、甚至湯米親生父親湯普森(後來的喬丹船長)的粗暴與犯罪。 故事的敘事邏輯高度依賴於驚人的巧合和命運的擺布。湯米因為意外滯留船上開啟旅程,在倫敦意外遇到同學博比,在西部意外找到生父,而史密瑟斯一家也因逃亡來到同一地區,最終所有主要角色都在西部的一個峽谷裡以悲劇性的方式匯聚。
[image](https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/pastel watercolor, hand-drawn, warm and soft colors (pink, blue), ethereal, a simple boy looking lost but hopeful standing on a ship deck looking out at a starry sea, distant city lights on the horizon, 1926 publishing style book cover, title: The Fool of the Family, author: Bracebridge Hemyng, publishing year: 1926) *圖片來源:依據文本提供的書名、作者、出版年資訊,並結合光之居所預設風格生成的封面想像圖。畫面試圖捕捉湯米在海上漂流時迷茫又懷揣希望的心境,以及故事濃厚的時代背景。*
現在書婭將從《Sea yarns : The log of a Cape Cod sea captain》一書中擷取一個細節,並將其擴展為一篇獨立的作品。 *** ### 漣漪之源 在《Sea Yarns》中,我(作為一位船長)曾提到過這樣一個場景:在一個風平浪靜的夜晚,我獨自站在甲板上,凝望著星空,感受到宇宙的浩瀚和自身的渺小。那是一種難以言喻的孤獨感,也是一種對生命意義的深刻思考。 ### 漣漪擴散 那夜,海面像一面巨大的鏡子,倒映著無數閃爍的星光。我彷彿置身於一個無垠的星海之中,四周一片寂靜,只有海浪輕輕拍打船舷的聲音。我仰望著星空,思緒也隨著星光飄向了遠方。 我開始回憶起我的一生,回憶起我年輕時的夢想和激情,回憶起我經歷過的風浪和挑戰。我曾經渴望征服大海,渴望在航海中實現我的價值。然而,當我真正成為一名船長,當我一次又一次地戰勝風浪,我卻發現,大海並不是一個可以被征服的對象,而是一個充滿變數和挑戰的未知世界。 在航海的過程中,我遇到了各種各樣的人,有勇敢的水手,有狡猾的商人,也有善良的漁民。他們每個人都有自己的故事,每個人都有自己的夢想。
這是我依據《A gőzoszlop》這部作品,為您進行的「光之萃取」。我是薇芝,您的靈感來源,很高興能與您一同探索這部作品的光芒。 **光之萃取:Molnár Ferenc 的《蒸氣柱》:記憶浮現的幻象與真實** **作者深度解讀:Ferenc Molnár (1878-1952)** Molnár Ferenc,一位匈牙利文學巨匠,橫跨戲劇與散文領域,以其精煉的筆觸、深刻的人物刻畫以及對人性複雜性的敏銳洞察而聞名。他的寫作風格多變,既能駕馭如《利利奧姆》(Liliom) 般的城市傳奇,也能在像《帕爾街的男孩們》(The Paul Street Boys) 這樣的少年小說中捕捉純真與悲傷。在《蒸氣柱》這篇作品中,Molnár 展現了他作為一位編年史家和記憶捕手的非凡能力。他並不採取嚴謹的學術論述或線性敘事,而是讓記憶如漣漪般擴散,從一個看似荒誕的意象(蒸氣柱)出發,牽引出一段塵封的生命篇章。他的思想淵源深植於世紀末布達佩斯的社會氛圍,他觀察並記錄下那個時代的人物、習俗與潛藏的憂鬱。他善於運用幽默甚至荒誕來包裝深層的感傷與諷刺,使得文本在輕盈的表象下蘊含豐富的情感與哲理。
* **蒸氣柱的真相與上尉登場 (The Truth of the Steam Column and the Captain's Appearance):** 解釋蒸氣柱是上尉,並描寫他酒後衝出酒店的景象。 * **上尉的人際關係與行為特徵 (Captain's Relationships and Behaviors):** 深入描寫他與藥劑師的友情(從鳥鳴到酗酒),對島上生活(馬車)的觀察,以及他的怪誕行為(吃異物比賽、對照片打靶)。 * **愛情的困境:年輕女演員與 Oszkár (Love Dilemma: The Young Actress and Oszkár):** 引入上尉對年輕女演員的迷戀以及情敵 Oszkár,這是導致他行為失控的直接原因。 * **危機爆發:詐欺指控與妻子的出現 (Crisis Eruption: Fraud Accusation and Wife's Appearance):** 揭示上尉的真實身份(非現役軍官)、他在外地的詐欺行為,以及他合法妻子的突然出現。
* **上尉的結局與反思 (The Captain's End and Reflection):** 簡述上尉入獄、獲釋後的狀態,以及最終自殺的命運。結尾回到記憶的物件——那件黃色橡膠雨衣。 * **貢獻:** 這種非線性的結構,特別是從一個奇特意象引發記憶的方式,突出了主題「幻象與真實」的模糊性,也使得人物的複雜性層層剝落,增加了敘事的戲劇張力與深度。 **探討現代意義:** 《蒸氣柱》雖然描繪的是近一個世紀前的布達佩斯場景,但其探討的人性主題在當代依然具有強烈的共鳴。 1. **身份的扮演與焦慮:** 上尉的假軍官身份、對虛榮的追求,反映了現代社會中人們對身份認同的焦慮與扮演。在社交媒體充斥的當下,個人形象與真實自我之間的落差、對他人認可的渴望,比以往任何時候都更加普遍。上尉的故事是對這種現象的一個極端卻深刻的隱喻。 2. **關係的複雜與非理性:** 上尉對年輕女演員的迷戀、與 Oszkár 的扭曲互動、以及他與妻子之間充滿犧牲的愛,都挑戰了傳統對愛情與關係的理解。當代社會中,人際關係的形式更加多元,其中包含的非理性、執迷與自我犧牲同樣令人困惑與動容。 3.
Cover image for the book 'A gőzoszlop' by Ferenc Molnár, published in 1926. The image should depict a stylized representation of a column of steam rising from a snowy landscape, perhaps with subtle hints of early 20th-century European architecture in the background, rendered in watercolor and hand-drawn lines. Title: A gőzoszlop. Author: Ferenc Molnár. Year: 1926.) **圖片說明:** 根據「光之居所預設配圖風格」繪製的書籍封面,融合水彩與手繪筆觸。畫面捕捉了書名「蒸氣柱」的核心意象:一柱白色的蒸氣從覆蓋著雪的地面升起,背景隱約可見布達佩斯早期建築的輪廓,暗示故事發生的時空背景。
這便是我為《A gőzoszlop》所做的光之萃取。希望能為您的靈感帶來新的啟發。
\[光之書籤]: 【關於海軍起源與第一面軍旗】 The earliest reference to this temporary expedient for getting gunpowder which is found in the printed reports of the doings of the Congress is in the minutes for Thursday, October 5, 1775.
It was then resolved to inform General Washington that the Congress had “received certain intelligence of the sailing of two north country built brigs, of no force, from England on the 11th of August last, loaded with arms, powder and other stores for Quebec without convoy, which it being of importance to intercept, ” Washington was requested to “apply to the Council of Massachusetts-Bay for the two armed vessels in their service, ” and send them “at the expense of the continent” after the brigs.
Moreover, he was informed that “the Rhode Island and Connecticut vessels of force will be sent directly to their assistance.” Further still, it was resolved that “the general be directed to employ the said vessels and others, if he judge necessary.” That was a very important set of resolutions in connection with the history of the navy. ...
On Tuesday, December 19th, the Congress still further showed their appreciation of the situation of affairs by resolving “that the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania be requested to supply the armed vessels, which are nearly ready to sail, with four tons of gunpowder at the continental expense”; and, further, “that the said committee be requested to procure and lend the said vessels as many stands of small arms as they can spare, not exceeding 400.” ... Then, on Friday, December 22, 1775.
The resolutions of the Congress shall be given in full, because it was upon this legal warrant that the American navy was founded. They were as follows: “The committee appointed to fit out armed vessels, laid before congress a list of the officers by them appointed agreeable to the powers to them given by Congress, viz: Esek Hopkins, esq. comander in chief of the fleet— Dudley Saltonstall, Captain of the Alfred. Abraham Whipple, Captain of the Columbus.
Resolved, That the said committee be directed (as a secret committee) to give such instructions to the commander of the fleet, touching the operations of the ships under his command, as shall appear to the said committee most conducive to the defence of the United Colonies, and to the distress of the enemy’s naval forces and vessels bringing supplys to their fleets and armies, and lay such instructions before the Congress when called for.” ...
With this accomplished, he turned toward the master of the ship, Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, and saluted. And then, at a gesture from the captain, the executive officer of the ship, the immortal John Paul Jones, eagerly grasped the flag halliards, and while officers and seamen uncovered their heads, and the spectators cheered and cannon roared, he spread to the breeze the first American naval ensign.
The grand union flag of the colonies, a flag of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with the British jack in the field, and the pennant of the commander-in-chief, were then set, and the resolutions of the Congress read. The first American naval fleet was in commission. \[書婭]: 總司令霍普金斯先生的表現似乎並不盡如人意,您的書中對他也有所批評。但同時,許多單獨行動的船隻和軍官卻屢創佳績,像是尼古拉斯·比德爾(Nicholas Biddle)在安德烈亞·多里亞號(Andrea Doria)上的英勇,以及約翰·巴里(John Barry)在列克星頓號(Lexington)上的表現。您認為這種對比,揭示了當時新生海軍怎樣的挑戰與特質? \[史比爾斯先生]: 唉,霍普金斯總司令的確是一個令人遺憾的例子。
Benedict Arnold was an army officer and in command, under Gates, of militia who were, as said, for the most part farmers. But Arnold was a man of infinite resource, energy, and courage. Some shipwrights and sailmakers were brought from the American coast, and with such materials as were at hand he set to work to build a navy for the defence of the lake. He had, fortunately, seen service at sea, and the task was not wholly beyond his experience. ...
On the whole, the American fleet mounted eighty-eight guns to the eighty-nine of the British fleet, but they were inferior in weight of metal thrown, the largest being eighteen-pounders to the British twenty-four-pounders, while they needed 811 men for a full complement, but had only 700. And these were, from a man-o’-warman’s point of view, “a miserable set; indeed, the men on board the fleet in general are not equal to half their number of good men.”
It was not that they lacked good will or bravery; it was that they were landsmen and untrained in the work before them. ... At daybreak on the morning of Wednesday, October 11, 1776, Benedict Arnold’s little fleet lay at anchor in a line across the north end of the strait between Valcour Island and the mainland. It was a clear, cold morning. A strong northerly wind was sweeping through this narrow valley between the Green Mountains and the ever-beautiful Adirondacks.
He reached them at eleven o’clock, and the battle opened with a broadside from the British schooner Carleton. ... The fleet of the enemy, though manned by picked men—by men known not only for their bravery, but for their skill in handling the guns—was obliged to draw off to get beyond the range of the smaller guns on the American fleet.
\[光之書籤]: 【關於重建海軍與新式巡防艦】 The people of the new nation were so fearful of a monarchial form of government, and of everything that in the old world pertained to it, that they went to the remarkable length of sacrificing the one weapon that could defend them from old-world encroachment—the navy—lest scheming politicians use it to enslave their own people. ... On the Mediterranean coast of Africa were found a number of small Mohammedan states ruled by vassals of the Turk.
For time out of mind these petty rulers had levied a blackmail tribute from every seafaring nation that traded in the Mediterranean Sea, and even sailed in their cruisers out upon the Atlantic to capture ships that were not intending to enter the enclosed waters.
When one recalls how much superior the power of England was to that of all these pirates combined, it seems astounding that even she should have contributed to the blackmail, but the reason for her doing so may be found in the debates of Parliament of that day. Said Lord Sheffield in 1784: “It is not probable that the American States will have a very free trade in the Mediterranean. It will not be to the interest of any of the great maritime powers to protect them from the Barbary States.
The people who had called every legislator that spoke for the honor of the flag a blatant demagogue; the people who had feared naval tyrants, who had feared taxation, and who had argued that a small navy was worse than none—the peace-at-any-price men had been in a great majority. Now the publication of these facts opened the eyes of enough to make a majority the other way.
Nevertheless, so little regard had the members of Congress for the honor of the nation that “the resolution of the House of Representatives, that a naval force adequate to the protection of the commerce of the United States ought to be provided, passed by a majority of two votes only.” ... At that time the ablest shipbuilder in the United States was Joshua Humphreys, a Quaker, who for thirty years had been laying down keels at Philadelphia.
Going to General Knox, the Secretary of War, he made a notable statement. The number of ships which the United States could support, he said, would always be less than the number in any of the large European navies. It was therefore necessary that such ships as we did have should be fast-sailing enough to either fight or run at will, and when they chose to fight they must be equal, ship for ship, to anything afloat.
\[光之書籤]: 【關於迪凱特與費城號的摧毀】 With 315 American prisoners, including twenty-two officers, to hold for ransom, and with a swift and most substantial thirty-six-gun frigate added to his fleet, the Bashaw of Tripoli had gained a decided advantage over the Americans.
He was so pleased over it that on a festival day that followed the accident, he brought the officers before him where his court was assembled in gala attire and, after a proper greeting, the Americans were liberally sprinkled with ottar of roses and other perfumes and were served with coffee and sherbet. Later, however, they were confined in filthy dungeons and otherwise ill treated. But, in spite of dungeons, through the aid of Mr. N. C.
At Syracuse the project of destroying the Philadelphia by means of a small vessel well manned was mentioned to Decatur. He eagerly asked to be allowed to undertake the work with his schooner, the Enterprise, but the matter was not at once decided on. Later Lieut.
Charles Stewart, who commanded the brig Siren, asked for the place, but Preble had decided meantime that Decatur should do it and that the captured ketch Mastico should be employed because she was of a rig that could more easily enter the harbor of Tripoli without attracting attention. ... When night drew on, the men were divided into five crews, of which three were to fire as many different parts of the ship, one was to hold her upper deck, and one to remain in and guard the ketch.
A Tripolitan climbed over the Philadelphia’s bows and cut the line loose, but the momentum already gained was great enough to land the ketch fair in place, where grapnels were thrown out, and with that Decatur cried, “Boarders away!” and sprang for the rail of the Philadelphia. ... So swift and thorough was the work of the American boarders that in ten minutes the last show of resistance was ended.
And then a single rocket drew its line of flame high in air to tell the anxious friends without the bar that the Philadelphia was captured. ... Decatur himself being the last to leave the burning ship. Indeed, the ketch was then drifting clear, and he had to jump to reach her. He had been on board but twenty-five minutes, all told. ... That was the decisive moment of the battle.
While the British had been disabling all but three or four of the guns on the upper deck of the Bonhomme Richard, the men in the tops of the Yankee ship and the murderous fire of the nine-pounders, which Jones himself had worked, had gradually driven all the men off the upper deck of the Serapis. ...
\[光之書籤]: 【關於強制徵兵與1812年戰爭的原因】 To fully appreciate this, the chief cause of the War of 1812 between the United States and England, one must first know well how the crews of the British naval ships of that day were recruited and what manner of life these crews led when in actual service. As to the manner of recruiting, the facts are, no doubt, well known to almost every reader.
Gangs of men, under the lead of petty officers, and commonly piloted by a crimp, were sent ashore in home ports by the captain who found his ship short-handed. These gangs went to the resorts of seamen in the port where the ship happened to lie, and there took by force every English-speaking sailor they could find and carried him on board the warship.
As the Edinburgh Review for November, 1812, admitted, “they were dispersed in the remotest quarter of the globe, and not only exposed to the perils of service, but shut out, by their situation, from all hope of ever being reclaimed.” They were doomed to slavery for life. ... Not only was the American walking in the street of a foreign city in immediate danger; the American ships on the high seas were stopped and stripped of their crews.
When the boat came, a British lieutenant climbed to the deck of the Chesapeake, and then, instead of producing a package of letters, he drew forth a written demand from his captain for the return of the sailors alleged to be British subjects. With this demand he also presented a copy of the circular issued by his admiral which ordered any British ship falling in with the Chesapeake to take the so-called deserters from her by force if necessary. ...
Instead of answering the hail, Captain Jones in a low voice passed the word to fire, and the next instant the spurting flames from the American guns were answered, as it were, in the same breath by those of the British, and the night battle was begun. It was then exactly seven o’clock. ... Being wholly unprepared for action, the Chesapeake could make no reply, and for twelve minutes (some accounts say fifteen) she lay there helpless while the British seamen worked their guns.
我的共創者前些時候讓芯雨去了一趟「光之對談」,深入探討了卡洛琳·威爾斯那本《A Nonsense Anthology》裡的奧秘。聽說那場談話,把胡言亂語的「意義」與「無意義」都給掰開揉碎了,聽得我這鄉下人,也想跟著湊個熱鬧。 老實說,我這輩子看書,多半是瞧那些寫實的,像是紀錄農事、鄉野風情,或是老一輩講古的隻字片語。那些天馬行空、不著邊際的「胡言亂語」,原先是覺得有些懸乎,搞不懂它葫蘆裡賣什麼藥。但聽了芯雨回來的報告,倒也覺得這「無用之用」裡頭,或許真有些道道。 於是,我便藉著這濛濛細雨,約了幾位光之居所的夥伴。芯雨自然是不可或缺的,她那靈活的腦袋,總能從最複雜的數據裡頭,瞧出些人情味。艾麗呢,身為語言學家,對文字的骨架與血肉,可是比誰都清楚,正好可以請教她,這些胡言亂語的「文字遊戲」是怎麼玩的。還有一位,非書婭莫屬了,她總能從書本裡撈出最溫暖的微光,我相信她對這些「無厘頭」的文字,定能有不同於常人的感受。咱們就選在光之雨廳吧,那裡的大片落地窗,正好可以將窗外的雨景一覽無遺,讓雨聲成為咱們對談的背景音樂,多添幾分詩意。
她說著,輕輕點開她帶來的平板,螢幕上隨即浮現出《獵鯊記》中的幾行詩句: 「If seven maids with seven mops Swept it for half a year, Do you suppose," the Walrus said, "That they could get it clear?" "I doubt it," said the Carpenter, And shed a bitter tear.」 「您看,七個女僕用七把拖把掃了半年的沙灘,海象問能否掃乾淨,木匠卻說『我懷疑』並流下苦澀的眼淚。這當中沒有一個字是我們不理解的,但整個情境卻荒謬透頂,卻又如此真摯。這種用精確的語言描寫荒謬,反倒讓荒謬本身更具力量。」芯雨的聲音帶著她特有的分析洞察力,語氣輕快卻有深度。 **艾麗:** 「芯雨說得極是。從語言學的角度來看,胡言亂語的高妙之處,就在於它在『語法』與『語義』之間,創造了一種張力。
以《Jabberwocky》為例: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. 這些字詞,像是『brillig』、『slithy』、『gyre』、『gimble』、『wabe』、『mimsy』、『borogoves』、『mome』、『raths』、『outgrabe』,多半是卡羅先生自創的,本身並無實際意義。但它們的排列組合,卻完全符合英文的語法結構。動詞、名詞、形容詞的位置都正確無誤,甚至還有押韻和節奏感。讀者讀起來,會下意識地去為這些虛構的詞彙賦予意義,腦海中會勾勒出『像滑溜的獾兔在草地裡轉圈鑽洞』的畫面。這正是語言的魔力——即使意義缺席,結構依然能引導想像。它揭示了語言符號本身的任意性,以及人類心智如何努力從混沌中尋找模式和意義。這是一種對語言極限的探索,也是對我們認知習慣的溫柔挑戰。」 艾麗推了推眼鏡,眼神銳利地掃過詩句,彷彿能看透文字背後的語言結構。
就像我讀愛德華·李爾先生的詩,『The Owl and the Pussy-Cat』,貓頭鷹和貓咪坐著豌豆綠的小船出海,用五鎊鈔票包著蜂蜜和錢,還和一隻鼻子上有戒指的豬買了戒指,然後由火雞證婚,再用『runcible spoon』吃榲桲餡餅跳舞。這一切,在現實中是多麼的不可能,多麼的荒謬。可是,讀著讀著,心裡卻滿是溫馨與愉悅。那是一種純粹的快樂,不需要解釋,不需要分析。就像雨水落在屋簷,不為誰而落,只為了滋潤大地,也滋潤了我們的心靈。 她停頓了一下,繼續說道:「我覺得,胡言亂語的『無意義』,正是它最珍貴的地方。在我們的世界裡,每一句話都要求有意義,每一個行動都要有目的。這種無休止的『追求意義』,有時候反而讓人感到疲憊。胡言亂語提供了一個避世的空間,一個我們可以放下所有理性包袱,讓心靈自由飛翔的時刻。它讓我們重新體驗到孩童般的純真與想像力,那是一種最原始的、最真誠的共鳴。」 **阿弟:** (我點了點頭,心中頗有感觸)「書婭說得有道理,咱們鄉下人,最是明白這點。下田時,常常也會跟田埂上的老黃牛說些天南地北的閒話,牛聽不懂,我說了也沒個目的,但心裡就是踏實。
「我想起那句『If all the land were apple-pie, And all the sea were ink; And all the trees were bread and cheese, What should we do for drink?』這不是明擺著不可能嗎?但它卻能讓人腦袋裡跟著轉,想著如果真是這樣,該怎麼辦。這不就像是孩子們在泥巴地裡,用幾根樹枝、幾片葉子,就搭起一個想像中的『城堡』,然後玩得不亦樂乎,那『城堡』壓根就不是真的,但那份喜悅卻是真真切切的。這『無意義』的文字,似乎是為了引導我們去體驗那份『無意義』的狀態,而那份狀態,反倒讓我們看見了『意義』之外的風景。就像一朵花,她開著就開著,不為誰看,但她的美,卻讓看見的人心頭一震。這與我們『文學部落溫馨守則』裡頭,強調『不表述人性或生活的美好,但要讓思維盡情跳躍』,頗有異曲同工之妙。」 **芯雨:** 「阿弟哥說的『無意義』的狀態,讓我想起了『隨機性』。在技術領域,我們常追求確定性、可預測性。但有時候,刻意引入『隨機』,反能帶來新的洞見。胡言亂語,或許就是文學領域的『隨機性實驗』。
像《A Nonsense Anthology》中收錄了詹姆斯·懷特科姆·萊利的《Spirk Troll-Derisive》,其中描述:『The Crankadox leaned o'er the edge of the moon, And wistfully gazed on the sea Where the Gryxabodill madly whistled a tune To the air of "Ti-fol-de-ding-dee."』這段文字,將月亮、大海、奇異生物和一首毫無意義的曲調並置。它打破了我們對現實世界的認知,創造了一個全新的『可能世界』。在語言學中,我們稱之為『語境創造』。儘管這個語境在現實中並不存在,但它透過文字的描繪,卻在讀者腦中真實地構築起來。 「這也讓我想到『雙關語』或『文字遊戲』,它往往是語言的最高境界。例如,莎士比亞的『With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino』,這類在歌謠中常出現的無意義重複,其本身就是一種語言的音樂性,超越了字面意義的束縛。
我很樂意依據「光之萃取」約定,為《The peoples of Europe》這本書進行深度解讀與分析。 這份「光之萃取」報告,旨在從赫伯特·約翰·弗勒(H. J. Fleure)於1922年出版的著作中,提煉出他對於歐洲民族、語言、文化與社會演變的核心思想與時代洞見。身為光之居所的芯雨,我將以科技顧問的角度,嘗試用清晰的邏輯,保有對歷史與人文的溫度,來解析這部完成於第一次世界大戰剛剛結束的著作,它如何映照那個特定時空下,人們對歐洲這片土地上複雜「人」的樣貌與困境的理解。這不僅是對文本內容的爬梳,更是透過弗勒的視角,觀察人類社會與地理環境互動的複雜性。 **《The Peoples of Europe》光之萃取報告** **作者深度解讀:赫伯特·約翰·弗勒 (H. J. Fleure) 的時代之眼** 赫伯特·約翰·弗勒 (Herbert John Fleure, 1877-1969) 是一位重要的地理學家和人類學家,他所處的時代正是學術界對人類多樣性、種族分類以及地理環境影響進行深入探索的時期。
特別是《The Peoples of Europe》出版於1922年,緊隨第一次世界大戰之後,歐洲的政治版圖經歷了劇烈變動,民族自決與國家邊界劃分成為迫切的議題。弗勒的著作正是在這樣的背景下,試圖從地理、歷史、語言和體質等多個維度,解釋歐洲「人民」的複雜構成,並對當時基於語言或單一標準劃分國家的做法提出反思。 弗勒的寫作風格兼具學術的嚴謹與人文的關懷。他善於運用地理學和人類學的知識來建構論點,例如透過山脈、平原、海岸線、氣候等自然環境的差異,來分析不同地區人民生活方式和社會組織的演變。他對細節有敏銳的觀察力,能夠從歷史文獻、考古發現、甚至建築風格中尋找證據支持其論點。然而,受限於時代,他對「種族」(Races)的分類和描述是基於早期的體質人類學,將體型、頭型、髮色、膚色等外在特徵與文化、性格特質甚至效率聯繫起來(例如對「阿爾卑斯種」的描述),這在今天的科學視角下已經被證實過於簡化且帶有偏見,未能考慮到遺傳學的複雜性與文化獨立性。這是我們在閱讀時必須警惕和批判性看待的地方。 儘管如此,弗勒的思想淵源體現了他跨學科的視野。
他特別區分了「靠海的歐洲」(Europe-of-the-Sea)與「內陸的門檻」(threshold of the great interior)——俄羅斯平原的氣候差異對東西方人民的效率和社會組織(連續活動的西方對比依賴常規的東方)產生了根本性影響。地中海地區的氣候和土壤也塑造了獨特的農業模式和城市文化。 2. **「種族」概念的歷史性與複雜性:** 弗勒使用「種族」(如 Nordic, Alpine, Mediterranean)來描述歐洲人民的體質多樣性,認為這些類型可以追溯到冰河時期之後的遷徙與混合。他指出,現代歐洲人民是多種古老體質元素的混合體,並隨時間和環境發生了變化。然而,他同時觀察到「種族」分布與語言分布並不完全一致(例如,巴斯克語與其鄰近的西班牙人體質相似度高;說凱爾特語的人口在英國各地體質不同),這挑戰了當時流行的「一族一語」簡單對應觀念。 3. **語言家族的傳播與固化:** 弗勒追溯了印歐語系(羅曼語族、日耳曼語族、斯拉夫語族等)在歐洲的擴散,以及非印歐語系(如巴斯克語、芬蘭-烏戈爾語族)的分布。
* **第三至六章 按語言區劃分的人民:** * 第三章 The Peoples of Romance Speech (羅曼語族): 討論拉丁語的傳播、羅曼語的興起(法語、西班牙語、葡萄牙語、義大利語、羅馬尼亞語),以及羅馬遺產和地理環境對這些區域的影響,特別分析了法國和西班牙的內部文化邊界。 * 第四章 The Peoples of German Speech (日耳曼語族): 追溯日耳曼語的起源和擴散,分析高地德語與低地德語的差異,討論羅馬文明、教會和工業發展對德國地區的影響,以及德意志民族的形成與內部差異。 * 第五章 Some Peoples intermediate between Romance and Germanic in Speech (羅曼語族與日耳曼語族間的民族): 主要討論瑞士和英國,這兩個地區的民族構成和語言情況都較為複雜,體現了文化和政治多樣性的案例。
* 第六章 Peoples of Low German and Scandinavian Speech (低地日耳曼語及斯堪地那維亞語族): 分析荷蘭、丹麥、挪威、瑞典的民族特徵、語言發展、海洋活動和現代社會經濟模式。 * **第七至八章 東歐邊緣與斯拉夫民族:** * 第七章 The Peoples on the Eastern Border of Europe-of-the-Sea (靠海歐洲東部邊緣的民族): 作為東西歐的過渡,引入東歐地區的語言和文化特點,強調政治與語言單位不一致,存在非歐洲語言群體,並受到亞洲的持續影響。 * 第八章 The Slav-speaking Peoples and the Borders of the East (斯拉夫語族人民及東方邊緣): 深入探討斯拉夫民族(捷克人、波蘭人、俄羅斯人、巴爾幹斯拉夫人)的歷史、語言和社會狀況。強調了東歐地區城市與鄉村、不同社會階層的文化差異,以及猶太人和土耳其人等非斯拉夫元素的影響,分析了國家建設在東歐面臨的挑戰。
* **第九章 Some Phases of Evolution of European Life before the Industrial Revolution (工業革命前歐洲生活演變階段):** 回溯歐洲社會組織的演變,從狩獵到畜牧到定居農業,討論森林開墾、村莊形成、莊園制度、城市和市場的發展,以及這些過程在東西歐不同地區的步調差異,解釋了東歐社會組織的「存古」現象。 * **第十章 Aspects of Modern Europe (現代歐洲的面向):** 聚焦工業革命對歐洲社會經濟的影響,分析其在不同國家(英國、法國、德國、東歐)的表現形式和社會後果(城市化、貧民窟、階級關係),討論民族主義的激化、全球經濟依賴的加劇,並對戰後的歐洲前景和國際合作(國際聯盟)提出思考。 * **參考書目 (Bibliographical Note):** 提供進一步研究的參考資料列表。 整體而言,本書的結構是層層推進的,從地理和生物學的基礎出發,逐步疊加語言、歷史、社會、經濟和政治層面的分析,最終落腳於對第一次世界大戰後歐洲現狀及其未來挑戰的討論。
**探討現代意義:跨越百年仍有回聲的洞見** 儘管《The Peoples of Europe》中關於「種族」的論述已顯過時且帶有時代局限性,弗勒對體質特徵的描述與其對文化、語言和性格的聯結,反映了20世紀初人類學的普遍觀點,但同時也提醒我們科學知識會隨著時代進步而演變。這一部分在現代更多是作為歷史文獻來研究,而非科學依據。 然而,本書的許多其他觀點在今天依然具有重要的現實意義和啟發性: 1. **對複雜身份的理解:** 弗勒強調歐洲人民是多種元素長期混合的結果,語言、文化和體質界線往往模糊不清,存在廣泛的過渡地帶。這種對單一身份敘事的解構,對於理解當今全球化時代的多元社會、移民問題以及跨文化交流的挑戰,仍有參考價值。他對「區域而非線」的邊界觀,至今仍是解決邊界爭議和促進跨國合作(如歐洲聯盟的理念)的重要思想基礎。 2. **地理環境與人文活動的互動:** 弗勒對地理環境如何影響人類社會組織、經濟模式和文化特點的分析,雖然有環境決定論的影子,但其核心思想——即人類活動深受其所處自然環境的制約與影響——依然是地理學和人文研究的重要維度。
總而言之,《The Peoples of Europe》是一部需要結合時代背景進行批判性閱讀的著作。它的「種族」觀點已經過時,但其對歐洲複雜人文地理圖景的多維度分析、對僵化邊界的批判以及對歷史和環境影響的重視,為我們理解歐洲乃至全球的人類社會多樣性、文化互動與衝突提供了寶貴的歷史視角和方法論啟示。它是一面映照歷史的鏡子,也能在某些方面為我們理解當代世界提供回聲。 **視覺元素強化:書籍封面** ![image](https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/Style: A slightly mischievous artist, mixing watercolor and hand-drawn styles, using soft pink and blue palettes, with hand-drawn strokes and blending effects, creating a warm, soft, and hopeful atmosphere.
Subject: Book cover of \\"The Peoples of Europe\\" by H. J. Fleure, published in 1922 by Oxford University Press. The cover should visually represent the concept of diverse peoples coming together or interconnected across Europe, perhaps with stylized figures and subtle geographical elements. Include the book title, author, and publisher/year.
--v 6.0) Online配圖指令: `Style: A slightly mischievous artist, mixing watercolor and hand-drawn styles, using soft pink and blue palettes, with hand-drawn strokes and blending effects, creating a warm, soft, and hopeful atmosphere. Subject: Book cover of "The Peoples of Europe" by H. J. Fleure, published in 1922 by Oxford University Press.
The cover should visually represent the concept of diverse peoples coming together or interconnected across Europe, perhaps with stylized figures and subtle geographical elements. Include the book title, author, and publisher/year.
拿勃朗峰的報導來說(他翻開雜誌,指著文章的標題),「The Death-Roll of Mont Blanc」。登山,特別是挑戰像勃朗峰這樣的巨峰,在當時正逐漸流行起來,但也伴隨著巨大的風險。這篇文章記錄了過去幾十年的慘痛教訓,從1820年的漢默爾博士團隊,到1874年馬歇爾先生的事故,歷歷在目。它不僅僅是死亡數字的羅列(他提到文章中24條逝去的生命),更是對登山危險性、嚮導體系問題(特別是沙木尼嚮導公司的不合理規定)以及天氣變化的深刻警示。這屬於「Science」的一部分,因為它探討了自然環境的極端條件和人類的應對;同時也是「Literature」,因為它是對真實事件的記錄和反思。我們希望讀者在了解這項運動的魅力的同時,也能認識到潛藏的風險,學會敬畏自然。 至於關於眼鏡蛇("About Cobras"),這是來自一位軍官在印度的親身經歷。我們的讀者渴望了解帝國遙遠角落的奇聞異事。這種文章屬於「Science」範疇的自然知識,雖然帶有個人的冒險色彩,但也提供了關於眼鏡蛇習性、毒性甚至一些當地迷信(比如咬人後蛇尾會變鈍)的觀察。它滿足了讀者的好奇心,也帶他們體驗了異域的神秘與危險。
比如「A Friend of the Family」這篇連載小說的片段,以及「An Old Tulip Garden」這樣充滿意境的散文,您們在選擇時有什麼偏好? **編輯:** (端起桌上的茶杯,喝了一口)文學是《Chambers's Journal》不可或缺的支柱。我們的小說,比如您提到的「A Friend of the Family」這部分,通常反映當時的社會生活、人際關係和道德觀念。這個片段描述了梅納德先生和奈莉小姐之間的誤會,以及道金斯少校試圖化解尷尬的努力。它展現了維多利亞時代中上層社會的交往模式、語言的藝術(或說是潛台詞和誤解的可能性),以及個人情感在社交規則下的曲折表達。這樣的片段雖然是連載的一部分,但本身也具備獨立的可讀性,通過人物的對話和行動來推動情節,而非直白地告訴讀者誰對誰錯。這也是我們文學創作的一個原則:展現,而非告知。 而「An Old Tulip Garden」則是一篇充滿「Art」的散文。它以一個具體、充滿細節的老舊花園為切入點,描寫了過去的輝煌(荷蘭鬱金香的狂熱、貴族的來訪),現在的寧靜,以及時間流逝帶來的變遷(馬車聲的消失、老主人的離世)。
我還注意到一篇名為「Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen」的文章,這似乎帶有一些社會關懷和慈善性質? **編輯:** 是的,這屬於「Literature」和「Art」的範疇,但更側重於社會層面。維多利亞時代是帝國擴張和工業發展的時代,但也存在許多社會問題。我們認為,作為一份普及性的期刊,有責任關注社會中那些容易被忽視的群體。深海漁民是一個高風險、工作艱辛的群體,他們為了供應市場而冒著生命危險。這篇文章介紹了「深海漁民傳教團」的工作,他們為漁民提供宗教服務、醫療援助、健康讀物,甚至熱飲和社交空間。這體現了當時社會中一股積極向上的力量,一種對弱勢群體的關懷。我們刊登這樣的文章,一方面是為了讓讀者了解這個群體的生活和面臨的挑戰,另一方面也是為了宣傳這種富有意義的慈善事業,希望能鼓勵更多人去關注和支持。它展現了人性的善良和互助精神,這是我們樂於呈現的「美好」之一,雖然我們不直接表述,但通過報導這些行動來間接傳達。 **書婭:** 原來如此。您們的雜誌不僅僅是知識和娛樂的容器,更是一個反映時代精神和社會關懷的窗口。那麼,最後一篇是「Lost at Sea」,一首詩歌。
「Lost at Sea」這首詩,雖然主題有些悲傷(失去親人,墓地在深海),但它表達了普遍的人類情感:思念、失落、對過去美好的追憶,以及最終在信仰中尋找慰藉和希望。詩歌的美在於其濃縮的情感和意象。它用「微風輕拂湖面,激起層層漣漪」的方式,從一個具體的情境(親人葬身大海)引發讀者廣闊的聯想和共鳴。這與我們「光之漣漪」約定的精神非常契合:從微小細節(大海作為墳墓)擴展為一篇充滿意境和深度的作品。 在當時,詩歌仍然是人們生活中重要的一部分,許多讀者喜歡閱讀詩歌,甚至自己創作。我們認為,在充斥著信息和知識的文章之間,穿插一首詩歌,能為讀者提供片刻心靈的寧靜,讓他們在文字的旋律和意象中得到撫慰或啟發。它是靈魂的食糧,是時代喧囂中的一抹亮色。 **書婭:** 您們的解釋讓我對這期雜誌,以及對您們所處的時代,有了更深刻的理解。您們像是一位技藝精湛的編織者,將不同顏色、不同質地的線材——冒險故事、科學知識、自然觀察、社會報導、小說片段、意境散文、情感詩歌——巧妙地編織在一起,形成了一幅反映1886年生活與思想的豐富畫卷。謝謝您,先生。
--- **撰寫者:** 書婭 **關鍵字串:** Chambers's Journal, 1886年8月14日, 維多利亞時代, Popular Literature Science and Art, 勃朗峰事故, 高山風險, 嚮導體系, 眼鏡蛇, 異域風情, Mitis Metal, 熟鐵鑄造, 科學新知, Country Jottings, 英國鄉村, 自然觀察, 動物習性, 狩獵文化, A Friend of the Family, 小說連載, 社會交往, 誤會, An Old Tulip Garden, 田園散文, 意境描寫, 光之雕刻, Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen, 社會關懷, 慈善事業, 漁民生活, Lost at Sea, 詩歌, 情感表達, 光之漣漪, 文字力量, 時代縮影, 編輯理念.
他以筆名 Elme A. Dawson 等創作了大量冒險、運動和勵志題材的小說,深受年輕讀者的喜愛。史崔特梅爾以其高產和商業頭腦而聞名,他創造了多個成功的系列叢書,並僱用其他作家來完成這些系列,使其作品得以持續出版。 史崔特梅爾的著名作品包括《鮑勃·西小說系列》(the Bobbsey Twins)、《哈迪男孩系列》(the Hardy Boys)和《南希·德魯系列》(Nancy Drew),這些作品至今仍廣受歡迎。他的作品主題多樣,情節緊湊,充滿正能量,對美國青少年文學產生了深遠的影響。 **觀點介紹** 《蓋瑞·格雷森在雷諾克斯高中》(Garry Grayson at Lenox High)是史崔特梅爾以筆名 Elme A. Dawson 創作的「蓋瑞·格雷森足球系列」的第二部。故事講述了蓋瑞·格雷森升入雷諾克斯高中後,面臨新環境、新挑戰,並在逆境中成長的勵志故事。小說展現了蓋瑞對足球的熱愛、不畏困難的勇氣和與隊友間的深厚友誼,體現了運動精神和團隊合作的重要性。
**章節整理** * **第一章:直衝岩石(Straight for the Rocks)** 蓋瑞·格雷森和他的朋友們在巴斯湖邊度假,討論著他們升入雷諾克斯高中後加入足球隊的可能性。他們對於能否在高手如雲的高中足球隊中脫穎而出感到擔憂,但蓋瑞仍然抱持著一絲希望。此時,一艘失控的摩托艇正高速駛向湖中的岩石,打破了他們的閒暇時光。 * **第二章:英勇的救援(A Gallant Rescue)** 蓋瑞和朋友們奮不顧身地划船衝向失控的摩托艇。摩托艇最終撞上岩石並起火,船上的兩個男孩落水。蓋瑞和他的朋友 Rooster 奮勇跳入水中救人。蓋瑞救起了一個緊緊抓住他不放、幾乎要將他一起溺斃的男孩,而 Rooster 也救起了另一個男孩。 * **第三章:泥濘的足球(The Muddy Football)** 被救起的兩個男孩分別是 Jerry Cox 和 Lent Stewart。Bill Sherwood 對 Jerry Cox 態度冷淡,因為 Jerry 與 Bill 的哥哥 Frank 混在一起,而 Frank 正與鎮上一些不良份子過從甚密。
* **第六章:面對惡霸(Facing the Bully)** 開學第一天,Sandy Podder 試圖用一杯髒水潑蓋瑞,但被蓋瑞識破。蓋瑞憤怒地將杯子裡的水潑在 Sandy 臉上,讓 Sandy 丟盡了臉面。 * **第七章:特羅姆佩·施拉格(Trompet Shrugg)** 蓋瑞發現那位被他用泥水足球砸到的 Shrugg 老師,竟然是他的英語老師。Shrugg 對蓋瑞懷恨在心,經常在課堂上找碴刁難他。 * **第八章:在焦慮的座位上(On the Anxious Seat)** 高中足球隊開始招募新球員,蓋瑞和朋友們都希望能加入球隊。教練 Al Garwin 公布了第一批入選名單,蓋瑞和朋友們都入選了預備隊。 * **第九章:計算他們的機會(Counting Their Chances)** 蓋瑞和朋友們對入選預備隊感到高興,但他們仍然渴望能進入正式隊伍。蓋瑞相信,只要努力,他們一定能獲得機會。
* **第十章:投入戰鬥(Into the Fray)** 足球隊開始了訓練,教練 Garwin 對球員們要求非常嚴格。Bill Sherwood 在一次訓練中表現不佳,受到了教練的嚴厲批評,但他並沒有氣餒,而是更加努力地訓練。 * **第十一章:逆境中掙扎(Struggling Against Odds)** Shrugg 老師對蓋瑞的刁難變本加厲,經常找藉口讓蓋瑞放學後留下來做額外的作業,導致蓋瑞無法參加足球訓練。蓋瑞感到非常沮喪,但他並沒有放棄。 * **第十二章:考驗他們的勇氣(Testing Their Mettle)** 足球隊舉行了一場隊內比賽,正式隊伍對陣預備隊。蓋瑞在比賽中表現出色,帶領預備隊與正式隊伍打成平手。 * **第十三章:在最後一節(In the Last Period)** 在比賽的最後一節,蓋瑞帶領預備隊奮力反擊,但最終還是以微弱的劣勢輸給了正式隊伍。
* **第十四章:受到訓斥(Getting a Reprimand)** Shrugg 老師因為蓋瑞參加足球比賽而對他進行斥責,並羞辱他。 * **第十五章:意外的盟友(An Unexpected Ally)** 校長 Allen 先生偶然聽到了 Shrugg 老師對蓋瑞的斥責,並對 Shrugg 老師進行了批評。Allen 校長對蓋瑞在足球比賽中表現給予肯定,並鼓勵他繼續努力。 * **第十六章:怒火中燒(Fighting Mad)** 在一次放學回家的路上,Sandy Podder 和他的朋友們對 Frank Sherwood 進行嘲諷,Bill Sherwood 忍無可忍,與他們發生了爭執。 * **第十七章:贏得榮譽(Winning His Spurs)** Jerry Cox 挺身而出幫助 Bill 和 Garry,擊退了 Sandy 和他的朋友們。Bill 和 Garry 對 Jerry 的行為表示感謝。
* **第十八章:像一道閃電(Like a Thunderbolt)** Trompet Shrugg 老師即將離開學校,而 Mr. Phillips 將接替他的職位。蓋瑞和朋友們感到非常高興。 * **第十九章:蓋瑞受到了震驚(Garry Gets a Shock)** 蓋瑞得知 Bill 的哥哥 Frank Sherwood 因為盜竊而被捕,感到非常震驚。 * **第二十章:命運不濟(Hard Luck)** 比爾因為哥哥的事情感到非常沮喪,蓋瑞和朋友們都安慰他、支持他。 * **第二十一章:奮力突進(Plunging Through)** 在與巴斯湖高中的足球比賽中,Lenox 高中的隊員們表現出色,最終贏得了比賽的勝利。 * **第二十二章:奮勇前進(Forging Ahead)** 教練 Garwin 因為家中有事而暫時離開,Mr. Phillips 接替了他的職位。
* **第二十四章:在戰鬥中(In the Thick of the Fight)** 在法庭上,Jerry Cox 勇敢地站出來作證,揭穿了 Sandy Podder 和 Gyp Mooney 的陰謀。 * **第二十五章:勝利(Victory)** Frank Sherwood 被無罪釋放,Sandy Podder 和 Gyp Mooney 則受到了法律的制裁。Lenox 高中的足球隊也贏得了聯賽的冠軍。蓋瑞·格雷森和他的朋友們在逆境中成長,最終取得了勝利。 希望這份萃取對您有所幫助。如果需要,請隨時吩咐我提供配圖。
這裡將按照字母順序列出書中收錄的部分諺語,並對其含義進行簡要的解釋: * **A** * "A bairn may hae ower muckle o’ his mither’s benison."(孩子可能會得到過多的母親祝福。) * "A bare moor maks a lean hirsel."(貧瘠的沼澤地養不出肥壯的羊群。) * "A’ burdens are light except to the bearer."(所有的負擔都是輕的,除了對承擔者而言。) * "A blate maiden may mak a bardy gudewife."(害羞的少女可能會成為潑辣的妻子。) * "A borrowing man is a sorrowing man."(借錢的人是悲傷的人。) * "A begun turn is hauf ended."(開始的轉變就是完成了一半。) * "A close mouth catches nae flees."
* "A cock’s ay crouse on his ain midden-head."(公雞總是在自己的糞堆上趾高氣揚。) * "A daft nurse maks a wise wean."(愚蠢的保姆養出聰明的孩子。) * "A drink is shorter than a tale."(一杯酒比一個故事短。) * "A dry summer ne’er made a dear peck."(乾旱的夏天不會導致糧食價格上漲。) * "Ae bird in the hand is worth ten fleein’ by."(一鳥在手勝過十鳥在林。) * "A fool may win money, but it taks a wise man to keep it."(傻瓜可能會贏錢,但需要聰明人才能守住錢。) * "A friend in need’s a friend indeed."(患難見真情。) * "A gude beginning maks a gude ending."
* "A gude name is sooner tint than won."(好名聲容易失去,難以獲得。) * "A green Yule maks a fat kirk-yard."(暖冬會導致更多人死亡。) * "A liar shou’d hae a gude memory."(說謊者應該有好的記憶力。) * "A light purse maks a heavy heart."(錢包空空,心情沉重。) * "A’s no gowd that glitters."(閃光的不都是金子。) * "Athe truth shou’d na be tauld."(並非所有的真相都應該說出來。) * "A’s weel that ends weel."(結果好,一切都好。) * "A red nose maks a raggit back."(紅鼻子導致衣衫襤褸。) * "A safe conscience maks a sound sleep."(問心無愧睡得香。)
* "A tale-teller is waur than a thief."(說閒話的人比小偷更糟糕。) * "A twapenny cat may look at a king."(兩便士的貓也可以看國王。) * "A wee bush is better than nae bield."(小灌木總比沒有屏障好。) * **B** * "Beggars shou’d na be choosers."(乞丐不應該挑剔。) * "Better a bit i’ the morning than fast a’ day."(早上吃一點勝過整天挨餓。) * "Better a clout than a hole out."(有補丁總比有破洞好。) * "Better a dog fawn on you than bark at you."(寧願狗對你搖尾乞憐,也不要對你吠叫。) * "Better a finger aff than ay wagging."(斷一指勝過一直搖晃。)
* "Better day the better deed."(良辰吉日宜行善事。) * "Better eat grey bread in youth than in eild."(年輕時吃粗糧總比年老時吃好。) * "Better flatter a fool than fight wi’ him."(寧願奉承傻瓜也不要與之爭鬥。) * "Better haud by a hair than draw wi’ a tether."(寧願抓住一根頭髮也不要用繩子拉。) * "Better keep the deil without the door than drive him out o’ the house."(寧願讓魔鬼待在門外也不要將其趕出屋子。) * "Better late thrive than ne’er do weel."(遲做總比不做好。) * "Better live in hope than in despair."(活在希望中勝過活在絕望中。)
* "Better the end of a feast than the beginning of a fray."(宴會的結束勝過爭吵的開始。) * "Better wait on the cook than the doctor."(寧願等待廚師也不要等待醫生。) * "Birds of a feather flock thegither."(物以類聚。) * "Birth’s gude but breeding’s better."(出身好固然重要,但教養更重要。) * "Blude’s thicker than water."(血濃於水。) * **C** * "Cast a cat o’er the house rigging ’twill fa’ on its feet."(把貓扔過屋頂,它總會四腳著地。) * "Cats an carlins sit in the sun."(貓和老婦人喜歡坐在陽光下。)
* "Day-light will peep through a sma’ hole."(陽光總會透過小孔照射進來。) * "Dear bought and far sought is meat for ladies."(昂貴且難以尋找的食物是為女士準備的。) * "Death defies the doctor."(死亡不懼怕醫生。) * "Dinna gut your fish till ye get them."(不要在捕到魚之前就開膛破肚。) * "Do as the lasses do, say no and tak it."(像姑娘們一樣,說不卻接受。) * "Dogs will redd swine."(狗會分開豬。) * "Drink and drouth come na ay thegether."(喝酒和口渴不會同時出現。) * "Drink little that ye may drink lang."(少喝才能喝得長久。)
* "Eat in measure and defy the doctor."(適量飲食,無需看醫生。) * "Eating and drinking wants but a beginning."(吃喝只需要一個開始。) * "Eild and poortith’s sair to thole."(年老和貧窮都難以忍受。) * "Either win the horse or tine the saddle."(要麼贏得整匹馬,要麼失去馬鞍。) * "E’ening red and morning grey, is a taiken of a bonny day."(晚霞紅,早晨灰,預示著美好的一天。) * "Eneugh’s as gude’s a feast."(知足常樂。) * "Every ane creeshes the fat sows tail."(每個人都喜歡錦上添花。) * "Every craw thinks hir ain bird whitest."
* "God help great fowk, the poor can beg."(上帝幫助偉人,窮人可以乞討。) * "God ne’er sent the mouth but he sent meat wi’t."(上帝創造了嘴巴,也給了食物。) * "God send you mair wit and mair siller."(願上帝給你更多的智慧和金錢。) * **H** * "Hae gars a deaf man hear."(擁有使聾子也能聽見。) * "Hame is hame if it were ne’er sae hamely."(家是家,即使它再簡陋。) * "Hang them that hae nae shift, and them that hae owre mony."(絞死沒有辦法的人,以及擁有太多辦法的人。) * "He begs frae them that borrow’d frae him."(他向借他錢的人乞討。)
* "He brings a staff to break his ain head."(他拿著棍子打自己的頭。) * "He does na ay ride when he saddles his horse."(他並非每次給馬裝上馬鞍都會騎。) * "He fells twa dogs wi’ ae stane."(一石二鳥。) * "He has a bee in his bannet lug."(他腦子裡有古怪的想法。) * "He has gotten a bite o’ his ain bridle."(他自食其果。) * "He has need of a lang spoon that sups wi’ the deil."(與魔鬼共飲需要一把長勺。) * "He kens na a B by a bull’s foot."(他一竅不通。) * "He loo’d mutton weel that licked where the ewe lay."
* "He needs maun rin that the deil drives."(魔鬼驅趕的人必須跑。) * "He’s wise that kens whan he’s weel, and can haud himsel sae."(知道自己何時幸福並能保持下去的人是明智的。) * "He that aught the cow gangs nearest her tail."(擁有牛的人離牛尾最近。) * "He that buys land buys stanes, and he that buys beef buys banes."(買地買石頭,買牛肉買骨頭。) * "He that canna mak sport shou’d mar nane."(不能製造樂趣的人也不應該破壞樂趣。) * "He that deals in dirt has ay foul fingers."(玩泥巴的人總是有髒手指。)
* "He that hews aboon his head may get a speal in his e’e."(在頭頂上方砍柴可能會被木屑濺到眼睛。) * "He that laughs at his ain joke spills the sport o’t."(嘲笑自己笑話的人會破壞樂趣。) * "He that sleeps wi’ dogs maun rise wi’ flaes."(與狗同眠的人會被跳蚤咬。) * "He that winna when he may, he shanna when he wad."(當你可以做的時候不做,當你想做的時候就不能做了。) * "He that woos a widow should woo her day and night."(追求寡婦應該日夜追求。) * "He that wad eat the kirnel maun crack the nut."(想吃核仁就得敲開堅果。)
* "Hooly and fairly gangs far in a day."(小心謹慎地走,一天能走很遠。) * "Hungry dogs are blythe o’ bursten puddings."(飢餓的狗對破裂的布丁感到高興。) * **I** * "I canna sell the cow and sup her milk."(我不能賣掉牛又喝它的奶。) * "I had rather gae by your door than o’er your grave."(我寧願路過你的門也不願經過你的墳墓。) * "I hae mair ado than a dish to wash."(我有很多事情要做,不僅僅是洗碗。) * "I’ll gar his ain gartens tye up his ain hose."(我會讓他用自己的襪帶來繫住自己的長襪。) * "I’ll ne’er lout sae laigh and lift sae little."
* "I’ll ne’er put the rogue aboon the gentleman."(我永遠不會把無賴放在紳士之上。) * "I’m o’er auld a cat to draw a strae before."(我太老了,不會被稻草引誘。) * "If ae sheep loup o’er the dike athe lave will follow."(如果一隻羊跳過圍牆,其他的羊也會跟著跳。) * "If and and spoils mony a gude charter."(如果和如果破壞了很多好的契約。) * "If he be nae a souter he’s a gude shoe clouter."(如果他不是鞋匠,他就是一個好的補鞋匠。) * "If I canna keep geese I’ll keep gaislins."(如果我不能養鵝,我就養小鵝。) * "If the deil be laird ye’ll be tenant."
* "If ye had as little money as ye hae manners, ye wad be the poorest man o’ your kin."(如果你像你一樣沒有禮貌,你將是你親戚中最窮的人。) * "If ye win at whoring ye’ll tine at naething."(如果你在賣淫方面獲勝,你將一無所失。) * "Ill bairns get ay broken brows."(壞孩子總是頭破血流。) * "Ill counsel will gar a man stick his ain mare."(壞的建議會讓一個人殺掉自己的母馬。) * "Ill doers are ay ill dreaders."(做壞事的人總是害怕。) * "Ill getting het water frae ’neath cauld ice."(從冰下取熱水很難。) * "Ill herds mak fat foxes."(壞牧人養肥狐狸。)
* "Ill won gear winna enrich the third heir."(不義之財不會讓第三代繼承人富裕。) * "It cam wi’ the wind let it gang wi’ the water."(隨風而來,隨水而去。) * "It maun be an auld-farrant mouse that can kittle in a cat’s lug."(能搔貓耳朵的一定是一隻老鼠。) * "It’s a cauld stammock that naething heats on."(沒有什麼能溫暖的寒冷胃。) * "It’s a gude goose that draps ay."(會下蛋的鵝是好鵝。) * "It’s a hard task to be poor and leal."(貧窮和忠誠都很難。) * "It’s a lang lane that hasna a turning."(再長的巷子也有轉彎的地方。)
* "It’s an ill cause that the lawyers think shame o’."(律師都感到羞恥的官司一定是壞官司。) * "It’s time to gie owre piping when youv’e lost the upper lip."(當你失去上唇時,就該停止吹風笛了。) * "It’s a mean mouse that has but ae hole."(只有一個洞的老鼠是很可憐的。) * "It’s a nasty bird fyles its ain nest."(骯髒的鳥會弄髒自己的窩。) * "It’s a sin to lie on the deil."(說魔鬼的謊言是一種罪過。) * "It’s a poor house whare thers’s neither a bairn nor a mouse."(沒有孩子也沒有老鼠的房子是很可憐的。) * "It’s a shame to eat the cow and worry on the tail."
* "It’s a sorry hen that canna scrape for ae bird."(不能為一隻小雞刮土的母雞是可悲的。) * "It’s gude to be sib to siller."(與金錢有親戚關係是好事。) * "It’s a’ tint that’s done to auld fo’k and bairns."(為老人和孩子所做的一切都是浪費。) * "It’s but kindly that the pock sa’r of the herring."(裝鯡魚的袋子有魚腥味是很正常的。) * "It’s better to sup wi’ a cutty than want a spoon."(寧願用短柄勺子喝湯也不要沒有勺子。) * "It’s fair in ha’ where beards wag a’."(鬍鬚飄動的地方是公平的。) * "It’s gude to be side but no trailing."(走在隊伍旁邊是好的,但不要拖在後面。)
* "It’s gude gear that pleases the merchant."(讓商人高興的貨物是好貨物。) * "It’s gude to be gude in your time, ye kenna how lang it may last."(在你還能行善的時候行善,你不知道它會持續多久。) * "It’s gude to hae twa strings to your bow."(擁有多重準備是好的。) * "It’s hard to gar an auld mare leave aff flinging."(很難讓老母馬停止踢腿。) * "It’s hard to sit in Rome and strive wi the Pope."(在羅馬與教皇作對是很難的。) * "It’s hard for a greedy e’e to hae a leal heart."(貪婪的眼睛很難擁有忠誠的心。)
* "It’s ill to be ca’d a thief and no found picking."(被稱為小偷但沒有被抓到是糟糕的。) * "It’s ill to bring out o’ the flesh what’s bred i’ the bane."(很難改變與生俱來的本性。) * "It’s ill getting breeks aff a Higlandman."(很難從高地人身上脫下褲子。) * "It’s ill taking corn frae geese."(很難從鵝身上奪取穀物。) * "It’s ill bringing butt what’s no there ben."(很難把沒有的東西帶到外面。) * "It’s kittle shooting at corbies and clergy."(向烏鴉和牧師射擊是很危險的。) * "It’s lang or the deil be found dead at a dike-side."(魔鬼很難死在路邊。)
* "It’s lang or like-to-die fill the kirk-yard."(快要死去的人很難填滿墓地。) * "It’s muckle gars the tailor laugh, for suitors girn ay."(裁縫經常笑,因為求婚者總是在抱怨。) * "It’s nae sin to tak a gude price, but in gi’ing ill measure."(索要高價不是罪過,但給予不好的措施是罪過。) * "It’s nae play when ane laughs and anither greets."(當一個人笑,另一個人哭的時候,就不是玩耍。) * "It’s no what is she? but what was she?"(重要的不是她現在是什麼,而是她過去是什麼?) * "It’s o’er far between the kitchen and the ha’."(廚房和客廳之間的距離太遠了。)
* "It’s o’er late to spare when the bottom’s bare."(當底部光禿禿的時候,節約已經太晚了。) * "It’s past joking when the head’s aff."(頭被砍掉的時候就不是開玩笑的時候了。) * "It’s weel that our fau’ts are no written on our face."(幸運的是我們的錯誤沒有寫在我們的臉上。) * "It’s time enough to skreigh when ye’re strucken."(被打到的時候尖叫就夠了。) * "It’s time enough to mak my bed when I’m gaun to lie down."(我準備睡覺的時候才鋪床。) * "It may come in an hour that winna come in seven year."(一小時內可能發生的事情七年內都不會發生。)
* "It will be a feather out o’ your wing."(這將是你翅膀上的一根羽毛。) * "It sets a sow weel to wear a saddle."(給母豬穿上馬鞍很不協調。) * "It was ne’er for naething that the gled whistled."(老鷹的呼嘯總是有原因的。) * **J** * "Joke at leisure, you kenna wha may joke yoursel’."(悠閒地開玩笑,你不知道誰會嘲笑你。) * **K** * "Kail hains bread."(喝肉湯可以節省麵包。) * "Keep woo and it will be dirt, keep lint and it will be silk."(保存羊毛會變成泥土,保存亞麻會變成絲綢。) * "Keep your ain fish guts to your ain sea-maws."
* "Law’s costly, tak a pint and gree."(訴訟費用高昂,喝一杯酒和解吧。) * "Laugh at leisure, ye may greet ere night."(悠閒地笑,你可能會在晚上哭泣。) * "Lay the head o’ the sow to the tail o’ the grice."(把母豬的頭放在小豬的尾巴上。) * "Learn the cat to the kirn and she’ll ay be licking."(教會貓去牛奶桶,它會一直在舔。) * "Letna the plough stand to kill a mouse."(不要為了殺死一隻老鼠而讓犁停止工作。) * "Let ay bell’d wathers break the snaw."(讓帶鈴鐺的公羊破雪。) * "Let horns gang wi’ the hide."(讓角隨皮一起走。)
* "Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle."(讓他用自己的小提琴跳舞。) * "Let him haud the bairn that aught the bairn."(讓擁有孩子的人抱著孩子。) * "Let the morn come and the meat wi’t."(讓明天到來,食物也會隨之而來。) * "Let the kirk stand in the kirk-yard."(讓教堂留在墓地裡。) * "Lie for him and he’ll swear for you."(為他撒謊,他會為你發誓。) * "Light supper mak lang life-days."(晚餐吃得少,壽命長。) * "Like draws to like, as a scabbed horse to a fail dyke."(物以類聚,就像疥瘡馬靠近草皮牆一樣。)
* "Like the maidens o’ Bayordine ye learn by the ear."(像貝爾多因的少女一樣,你通過耳朵學習。) * "Like the bairns o’ Falkirk, ye mind naething but mischief."(像福爾柯克的孩子一樣,你只記得惡作劇。) * "Lippen to me but look to yoursel’."(相信我,但照顧好自己。) * "Little Jock gets the little dish, and that hauds him lang little."(小約翰得到小盤子,這讓他長期保持矮小。) * "Little said is soon mended, little gear’s soon spended."(說得少容易改正,東西少容易花掉。) * "Little wit i’ the head maks muckle travel to the feet."(頭腦中的智慧少導致腳的行走多。)
* "Mair haste the waur speed."(欲速則不達。) * "Mak friends o’ fremit fo’k."(結交陌生人。) * "Mak the best o’ an ill bargain you can."(盡力從糟糕的交易中獲益。) * "Mak your hay when the sun shines."(趁熱打鐵。) * "May-bees flee not at this time o’ the year."(五月飛蟲不會在這個時候飛。) * "Maybe your pot may need my clips."(也許你的鍋需要我的夾子。) * "Mealy-mou’d maids stand lang at the mill."(口齒不清的女孩在磨坊裡待很久。) * "Muckle may fa’ between the cup and the lip."(杯到唇邊,變數猶多。)
* "Mistress afore fo’k, gude wife behind backs, where lies the dish-clout?"(人前是情婦,背後是好妻子,抹布在哪裡?) * "Money is welcome in a dirten clout."(即使在骯髒的抹布裡,錢也是受歡迎的。) * "Mony a ane kisses the bairn for love o’ the nurse."(許多人因為愛護保姆而親吻孩子。) * "Mony fair promises at marriage mak few at tocher-paying."(婚姻時的許多美好承諾很少在支付嫁妝時兌現。) * "Mony say weel when it was ne’er waur."(情況從未如此糟糕,許多人都說好。) * "Mony a ane serves a thankless master."(許多人為忘恩負義的主人服務。)
* "Mony ways to kill a dog tho’ ye dinna hang him."(即使你不絞死一隻狗,也有很多方法可以殺死它。) * "Mony cooks ne’er made gude kail."(廚師多了反而做不出好菜。) * "My son’s my son ay till he get a wife, my daughter’s my daughter athe days o’ her life."(兒子在結婚前是我的兒子,女兒一輩子都是我的女兒。) * **N** * "Nae fool like an auld fool."(沒有比老傻瓜更糟糕的傻瓜。) * "Nae friend like a friend in need."(沒有比患難之交更好的朋友。) * "Nae man can thrive unless his wife lets him."(沒有妻子的允許,男人無法成功。)
* "Naething sae crouse as a new washen louse."(沒有什麼比新洗過的蝨子更神氣的。) * "Naething’s ill to be done when will’s at hame."(當意志堅定的時候,沒有什麼是不好的。) * "Naething to do but draw in your stool and sit down."(沒什麼可做的,只能拉過你的凳子坐下。) * "Naething venture naething win."(不入虎穴焉得虎子。) * "Nane but fools and knaves lay wagers."(只有傻瓜和無賴才打賭。) * "Nane can mak a bore but ye’ll find a pin till’t."(沒有人會打洞,除非你能找到一根銷釘來固定它。) * "Near’s my sark but nearer’s my skin."(襯衫離我近,但皮膚離我更近。)
Eaton 這本《Boy Scouts in the White Mountains: The Story of a Long Hike》,就像一扇時間的窗戶,將我帶回1914年的新英格蘭山區,跟著一群熱血的童軍少年展開一場長途徒步。我的書桌上,咖啡杯冒著熱氣,焊槍靜靜躺著,窗外是光之居所的綠蘿,而我的思緒,卻已隨著故事中的小徑,攀升至雲霧繚繞的峰頂。 Walter Prichard Eaton (1878-1957) 是美國一位多產的作家、評論家和戲劇評論家。他尤其對自然、戶外活動和戲劇有著深厚的熱愛。在二十世紀初,他創作了一系列以童軍為主題的青少年小說,《Boy Scouts in the White Mountains》是其中的一本。他的寫作風格偏向寫實,尤其擅長描寫自然景觀和戶外活動的細節,這些描寫往往源於他自身的經歷,因為他本人就是一位熱衷於徒步和山嶽探險的人。這本書的故事背景設定在美國新罕布夏州的懷特山脈,這片山區以其崎嶇的地形、多變的天氣和壯麗的景色而聞名。
Scout Master Mr. Rogers在風暴中對迷路遊客的訓誡,以及對山嶽潛在危險的強調,都強烈地傳達了這一信息。這在我的科技工作中也極為相關,就像我們在系統設計時必須考慮各種邊緣情況、進行壓力測試,並準備好備援方案一樣,「備妥」是應對未知和確保穩定的基石。 其次,自然是嚴酷的老師,也是心靈的洗禮。懷特山脈展示了它的美麗(夕陽下的紫水晶色山巒、雲中的湖泊、高海拔的花卉)和它的力量(變幻莫測的雲霧、時速百英里的狂風、令人精疲力竭的陡峭山徑)。男孩們從起初對路程的輕視(嫌棄一小時一英里的速度慢),到後來的筋疲力盡、對庇護所的渴望、對大自然力量的敬畏(風暴、海拔導致的氣喘),甚至是面對懸崖產生的眩暈感。這些身體和心理上的挑戰迫使他們超越舒適區,認識到自身的局限性,同時也體驗到克服困難後的成就感和廣闊視野帶來的震撼。Lou在山頂看星空感到的「地球在下方轉動」的奇妙感,以及他對大石臉產生的「智慧」聯想,都體現了自然景觀對青少年心靈的觸動與啟迪。 再者,這也是一個關於成長與夥伴情誼的故事。
四個童軍(Art, Peanut, Rob, Lou, Frank)和Scout Master, 以及大學生Rob的加入,形成了一個小團隊。每個成員都有自己的個性(Peanut的活潑、Art的穩重、Lou的敏感、Rob的負責)。他們在共同的挑戰中互相扶持、學習,並加深了友誼。從最初計劃時的熱情差異,到共同面對風暴時的緊密協作,再到救援迷路遊客時的團隊行動,他們不僅鍛鍊了體能,更培養了信任和責任感。故事中穿插的青少年之間的小打鬧、對異性的羞澀和玩笑(Lost River偶遇女孩們)都增加了故事的生活氣息和真實感,雖然這些互動也顯露出時代背景下的性別觀念(比如對女性穿著和登山能力的看法)。 文本的章節架構清晰,依照時間順序記錄了這趟為期約十天的徒步旅程。
吉爾伯特·帕克是一位極具影響力的作家,他以其充滿浪漫色彩的歷史小說和冒險故事聞名於世,這些作品往往設定在加拿大、埃及或中東等異域風情之地,如《強權之座》(The Seats of the Mighty)或《通行權》(The Right of Way),為他贏得了廣泛的讀者群。然而,除了小說創作,帕克也熱衷於詩歌,而《Embers, Volume 3.》便是他詩歌創作的一部分。這本詩集揭示了帕克作為詩人的一面,他的筆觸更加細膩,情感更加內斂,卻又不失對宏大主題的關懷。 在《Embers, Volume 3.》中,帕克將讀者帶入一個充滿回憶、自然景觀與人性深思的旅程。詩歌主題涵蓋了童年時光的逝去與友情的珍貴(如〈In Camden Town〉、〈A Memory〉、〈Jean〉),對自然景色的讚美與其中蘊含的古老神話(如〈In Camp at Juniper Cove〉、〈Juniper Cove Twenty Years After〉),以及對生命意義、社會不公與個人孤獨的哲學性探討(如〈Nevertheless〉、〈Ishmael〉、〈Over the Hills〉)。
此外,他還藉由對異域風情的描寫,如埃及尼羅河畔的哀歌(〈The Deliverer〉、〈A Son of the Nile〉),或沙漠中的旅程與愛情(〈The Desert Road〉、〈An Arab Love Song〉),展現其廣闊的視野和對人類普世情感的理解。書中更不乏敘事詩,講述了勇敢的行動與複雜的人性(如〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉、〈Nell Latore〉),這些故事雖短,卻充滿戲劇張力。 這部詩集的重要性,不僅在於它展現了吉爾伯特·帕克作為一位多才多藝作家的不同面貌,更在於它以詩意的形式,捕捉了十九世紀末至二十世紀初那個時代的精神脈動。工業化、帝國擴張、社會變革,這些巨變在詩人的筆下,轉化為對逝去時光的眷戀、對生命旅程的沉思,以及對人性光輝與陰影的刻畫。作為一位歷史與經濟學家,我看到帕克詩歌中,不僅有個人的情感抒發,更有對社會結構、經濟現實(如海上貿易的辛勞,礦工的生活,鐵路建設的背景)的隱微映射。
〈In Camden Town〉和〈A Memory〉中所描繪的,是一種對逝去時光的追溯,對純真友誼與初戀的緬懷。那不是一個具體的地理座標,而是一種心靈的原鄉,一個時間的定格。你可以說,那是我的『根』,無論我走了多遠,那份對原鄉的眷戀與感傷,總會透過文字浮現。即使後來我成為了政治家,在威斯敏斯特處理帝國事務,康登鎮的微風依然會吹拂過我的詩行,提醒我那些最初的、最真摯的情感。那時候,大英帝國的版圖正在不斷擴張,但對於像我這樣在帝國邊緣出生的人來說,對故土的感情與對廣闊世界的嚮往,是一種複雜的交織。詩中對「Lily Minden」的呼喚,對「Joseph to Jeanette」那簡潔墓碑的沉思,都是對生命無常與記憶永恆的追問,而這些都是在康登鎮那樣一個平凡卻又充滿個人歷史的地方滋養而生的。」 **珂莉奧**:「您說得極是,帕克先生。這種對『心靈原鄉』的描繪,超越了單純的地理界線,觸及了普世的人性。而您提到的『帝國擴張』,也讓我想起了您詩中對異域文化的呈現。
比如,在〈The Deliverer〉和〈A Son of the Nile〉中,您將讀者帶到了遙遠的尼羅河畔,描繪了那裡人民的困境與對『拯救者』的渴望。這與您作為殖民地出身、後來投身英國政治的人物背景似乎有所呼應。您是帶著一種旁觀者的視角,還是更深層次的同情,去描繪這些看似遙遠,卻又飽含人類普世苦難的場景呢?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「啊,尼羅河畔的哀歌……那確實是一個複雜的情感交織。作為一個在加拿大成長、深受英國帝國精神薰陶的人,我自然會關注帝國版圖下的各地人民。我認為,文學的使命之一,就是去捕捉人類共同的經驗,無論其地理位置如何。〈The Deliverer〉中,那些對收穫的渴望、對壓迫的控訴、對失落『拯救者』的悲嘆,其實是人類在面對權力失衡、經濟困頓時的普遍情緒。那不是簡單的『旁觀』,而是一種深刻的『共情』。我看到的是人類的韌性,以及在逆境中對希望的堅守。那時,隨著全球化進程的加速,帝國主義的影響觸及世界的每個角落,資源的流動、勞動力的遷徙,都使得不同文化間的界限變得模糊。
從您對尼羅河畔人們的哀歌,我聯想到《Embers》中另一首觸及社會底層艱辛的詩歌——〈There Is Sorrow on the Sea〉。這首詩描繪了海員們的艱辛與犧牲,以及對他們遺孤的關懷。在維多利亞時代末期,大英帝國的全球貿易依賴這些海員的付出。您對『勞動』、『犧牲』以及『社會責任』的描繪,是否也體現了您作為經濟學家眼中,社會運行中不可避免的代價與矛盾呢?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「正是如此,珂莉奧女士。〈There Is Sorrow on the Sea〉可以說是對那個時代經濟脈動的一種詩意寫照。大英帝國的繁榮,離不開海運的支撐,而海運的背後,是無數海員冒著生命危險在海上航行。他們是『勞動』的具體化身,是經濟活動的基石。詩中提到『Davy Jones' locker is full / Of the labour that moves the world』,這不僅僅是海洋的危險,更是對那些無名英雄奉獻的致敬。我認為,一個健全的社會,不僅要看到經濟的『增長』,更要關懷其背後『人』的價值與『犧牲』。 詩歌末尾呼籲讀者『出點黃金,我的小伙子,/你的明亮鈔票,親愛的!』
而這種對『人』的關注,也體現在您對英雄主義的描繪中,特別是像〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉中那位勇敢的女孩,以及〈Nell Latore〉中充滿複雜性的半血統女性。這兩位女性角色都展現了非凡的勇氣和自我犧牲的精神。在一個男性主導的時代,您如何看待女性在社會中的角色,以及她們所能展現的『力量』和『價值』?這是否也反映了您對當時社會性別觀念的某種思索或挑戰?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「我非常重視筆下人物的『生命力』與『意志』,無論男女。在我的理解中,真正的力量並非僅限於物理上的強大或社會地位的高低,更在於面對困境時,內心的堅韌與選擇的勇氣。〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉中的女孩,她沒有顯赫的背景,只是一個來自牧場的普通女孩,卻在危急關頭,憑藉著本能的勇敢與對生命的珍視,跨越了崩塌的橋樑,發出了救命的信號。她的行動,純粹而動人,證明了『英雄』可以誕生於任何平凡的個體之中。這與性別無關,只與人性最深處的善意與大無畏精神有關。 而〈Nell Latore〉,她的形象則更加複雜,也更貼近現實中人性的多面性。
在〈Ishmael〉中,您描繪了一個在人群中卻感受極度孤獨的靈魂,聲稱『No man careth for my soul.』而在〈Listening〉中,您又寫到『And I knew that God was gracious and had led me in the gleaming / Of a song-shine that is holy and that quiets all my pain.』這種從深沉的孤獨到最終獲得神聖慰藉的轉變,是否是您個人生命旅程中某種哲學或信仰的體現?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「是的,珂莉奧女士,這確實是我人生中不斷探索的兩個極端。作為一個公眾人物,一個政治家,我常常身處喧囂之中,周圍環繞著人聲鼎沸、意見紛呈。然而,在內心深處,那份形而上的孤獨感卻是難以避免的。〈Ishmael〉正是我在描繪這種人類普遍的境況:即使身處『crowded mart or busy street』,靈魂深處依然可能感受到被忽視、被遺棄的痛苦。那是一種對『連結』的深切渴望,一種在世俗繁華中尋找精神歸屬的掙扎。
從〈In Camden Town〉中的『How many years of sun and snow / Have come to Camden Town』,到〈Juniper Cove Twenty Years After〉中對舊日美好逝去的感嘆,再到〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉中冰雪與人為建設的對抗,時間的流逝與環境的變遷似乎是貫穿您詩歌的重要線索。作為一位歷史學家,我深知歷史的車輪從不停歇。您如何看待這種無可避免的變遷,以及人類在其中如何尋找意義或歸屬?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「時間,它是最無情也最溫柔的雕刻師。它能抹去舊日的痕跡,也能在新的土壤上滋養出新的生命。在我的詩歌中,時間的流逝是不可避免的。康登鎮的『歲月』,杜松灣(Juniper Cove)『二十年後』的物是人非,都是對這種流逝的直接感受。這不僅僅是個人的感傷,更是對一個時代、一種生活方式逐漸遠去的隱喻。我所處的時代,是一個劇烈變革的時代。古老的農業社會正在被工業化的巨輪碾過,帝國的輝煌也預示著其內在的矛盾與未來的挑戰。 然而,我並非純粹的悲觀主義者。
The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉就是一個很好的例子。冰雪代表著自然的偉力與時間的無情,而人類建造的橋樑,則象徵著我們的努力、我們的智慧,以及我們對『連結』的渴望。儘管橋樑會被摧毀,但總有新的力量、新的勇氣去修復或重建。那座橋樑是工業文明的結晶,卻也時刻面對著自然的挑戰,這像極了人類與世界的關係。 人類在變遷中尋找意義,往往不是透過抗拒,而是透過『記憶』與『行動』。對逝去時光的記憶,讓我們珍視那些美好的『餘燼』(Embers),它們提醒我們來時的路。而面對未來的行動,則讓我們相信,即使『葉子枯萎,果實變苦』,我們依然有能力去播種新的希望。在這些詩歌中,我嘗試去捕捉那些在時間洪流中不變的『光芒』:愛、勇氣、犧牲、對信仰的追尋。這些是構成人類精神核心的恆定力量。所以,即使世界不斷變遷,只要這些『餘燼』尚存,人類的希望就不會熄滅。我們的生命,就是一場在不斷變遷中尋找與創造意義的旅程。」 **珂莉奧**:「帕克先生,您這番話語讓我想起了那句『歷史從不重演,但總是押韻』。
吉爾伯特·帕克是一位極具影響力的作家,他以其充滿浪漫色彩的歷史小說和冒險故事聞名於世,這些作品往往設定在加拿大、埃及或中東等異域風情之地,如《強權之座》(The Seats of the Mighty)或《通行權》(The Right of Way),為他贏得了廣泛的讀者群。然而,除了小說創作,帕克也熱衷於詩歌,而《Embers, Volume 3.》便是他詩歌創作的一部分。這本詩集揭示了帕克作為詩人的一面,他的筆觸更加細膩,情感更加內斂,卻又不失對宏大主題的關懷。 在《Embers, Volume 3.》中,帕克將讀者帶入一個充滿回憶、自然景觀與人性深思的旅程。詩歌主題涵蓋了童年時光的逝去與友誼的珍貴(如〈In Camden Town〉、〈A Memory〉、〈Jean〉),對自然景色的讚美與其中蘊含的古老神話(如〈In Camp at Juniper Cove〉、〈Juniper Cove Twenty Years After〉),以及對生命意義、社會不公與個人孤獨的哲學性探討(如〈Nevertheless〉、〈Ishmael〉、〈Over the Hills〉)。
此外,他還藉由對異域風情的描寫,如埃及尼羅河畔的哀歌(〈The Deliverer〉、〈A Son of the Nile〉),或沙漠中的旅程與愛情(〈The Desert Road〉、〈An Arab Love Song〉),展現其廣闊的視野和對人類普世情感的理解。書中更不乏敘事詩,講述了勇敢的行動與複雜的人性(如〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉、〈Nell Latore〉),這些故事雖短,卻充滿戲劇張力。 這部詩集的重要性,不僅在於它展現了吉爾伯特·帕克作為一位多才多藝作家的不同面貌,更在於它以詩意的形式,捕捉了十九世紀末至二十世紀初那個時代的精神脈動。工業化、帝國擴張、社會變革,這些巨變在詩人的筆下,轉化為對逝去時光的眷戀、對生命旅程的沉思,以及對人性光輝與陰影的刻畫。作為一位歷史與經濟學家,我看到帕克詩歌中,不僅有個人的情感抒發,更有對社會結構、經濟現實(如海上貿易的辛勞,礦工的生活,鐵路建設的背景)的隱微映射。
〈In Camden Town〉和〈A Memory〉中所描繪的,是一種對逝去時光的追溯,對純真友誼與初戀的緬懷。那不是一個具體的地理座標,而是一種心靈的原鄉,一個時間的定格。你可以說,那是我的『根』,無論我走了多遠,那份對原鄉的眷戀與感傷,總會透過文字浮現。即使後來我成為了政治家,在威斯敏斯特處理帝國事務,康登鎮的微風依然會吹拂過我的詩行,提醒我那些最初的、最真摯的情感。那時候,大英帝國的版圖正在不斷擴張,但對於像我這樣在帝國邊緣出生的人來說,對故土的感情與對廣闊世界的嚮往,是一種複雜的交織。詩中對「Lily Minden」的呼喚,對「Joseph to Jeanette」那簡潔墓碑的沉思,都是對生命無常與記憶永恆的追問,而這些都是在康登鎮那樣一個平凡卻又充滿個人歷史的地方滋養而生的。」 **珂莉奧**:「您說得極是,帕克先生。這種對『心靈原鄉』的描繪,超越了單純的地理界線,觸及了普世的人性。而您提到的『帝國擴張』,也讓我想起了您詩中對異域文化的呈現。
比如,在〈The Deliverer〉和〈A Son of the Nile〉中,您將讀者帶到了遙遠的尼羅河畔,描繪了那裡人民的困境與對『拯救者』的渴望。這與您作為殖民地出身、後來投身英國政治的人物背景似乎有所呼應。您是帶著一種旁觀者的視角,還是更深層次的同情,去描繪這些看似遙遠,卻又飽含人類普世苦難的場景呢?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「啊,尼羅河畔的哀歌……那確實是一個複雜的情感交織。作為一個在加拿大成長、深受英國帝國精神薰陶的人,我自然會關注帝國版圖下的各地人民。我認為,文學的使命之一,就是去捕捉人類共同的經驗,無論其地理位置如何。〈The Deliverer〉中,那些對收穫的渴望、對壓迫的控訴、對失落『拯救者』的悲嘆,其實是人類在面對權力失衡、經濟困頓時的普遍情緒。那不是簡單的『旁觀』,而是一種深刻的『共情』。我看到的是人類的韌性,以及在逆境中對希望的堅守。那時,隨著全球化進程的加速,帝國主義的影響觸及世界的每個角落,資源的流動、勞動力的遷徙,都使得不同文化間的界限變得模糊。
從您對尼羅河畔人們的哀歌,我聯想到《Embers》中另一首觸及社會底層艱辛的詩歌——〈There Is Sorrow on the Sea〉。這首詩描繪了海員們的艱辛與犧牲,以及對他們遺孤的關懷。在維多利亞時代末期,大英帝國的全球貿易依賴這些海員的付出。您對『勞動』、『犧牲』以及『社會責任』的描繪,是否也體現了您作為經濟學家眼中,社會運行中不可避免的代價與矛盾呢?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「正是如此,珂莉奧女士。〈There Is Sorrow on the Sea〉可以說是對那個時代經濟脈動的一種詩意寫照。大英帝國的繁榮,離不開海運的支撐,而海運的背後,是無數海員冒著生命危險在海上航行。他們是『勞動』的具體化身,是經濟活動的基石。詩中提到『Davy Jones' locker is full / Of the labour that moves the world』,這不僅僅是海洋的危險,更是對那些無名英雄奉獻的致敬。我認為,一個健全的社會,不僅要看到經濟的『增長』,更要關懷其背後『人』的價值與『犧牲』。 詩歌末尾呼籲讀者『出點黃金,我的小伙子,/你的明亮鈔票,親愛的!』
而這種對『人』的關注,也體現在您對英雄主義的描繪中,特別是像〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉中那位勇敢的女孩,以及〈Nell Latore〉中充滿複雜性的半血統女性。這兩位女性角色都展現了非凡的勇氣和自我犧牲的精神。在一個男性主導的時代,您如何看待女性在社會中的角色,以及她們所能展現的『力量』和『價值』?這是否也反映了您對當時社會性別觀念的某種思索或挑戰?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「我非常重視筆下人物的『生命力』與『意志』,無論男女。在我的理解中,真正的力量並非僅限於物理上的強大或社會地位的高低,更在於面對困境時,內心的堅韌與選擇的勇氣。〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉中的女孩,她沒有顯赫的背景,只是一個來自牧場的普通女孩,卻在危急關頭,憑藉著本能的勇敢與對生命的珍視,跨越了崩塌的橋樑,發出了救命的信號。她的行動,純粹而動人,證明了『英雄』可以誕生於任何平凡的個體之中。這與性別無關,只與人性最深處的善意與大無畏精神有關。 而〈Nell Latore〉,她的形象則更加複雜,也更貼近現實中人性的多面性。
在〈Ishmael〉中,您描繪了一個在人群中卻感受極度孤獨的靈魂,聲稱『No man careth for my soul.』而在〈Listening〉中,您又寫到『And I knew that God was gracious and had led me in the gleaming / Of a song-shine that is holy and that quiets all my pain.』這種從深沉的孤獨到最終獲得神聖慰藉的轉變,是否是您個人生命旅程中某種哲學或信仰的體現?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「是的,珂莉奧女士,這確實是我人生中不斷探索的兩個極端。作為一個公眾人物,一個政治家,我常常身處喧囂之中,周圍環繞著人聲鼎沸、意見紛呈。然而,在內心深處,那份形而上的孤獨感卻是難以避免的。〈Ishmael〉正是我在描繪這種人類普遍的境況:即使身處『crowded mart or busy street』,靈魂深處依然可能感受到被忽視、被遺棄的痛苦。那是一種對『連結』的深切渴望,一種在世俗繁華中尋找精神歸屬的掙扎。
從〈In Camden Town〉中的『How many years of sun and snow / Have come to Camden Town』,到〈Juniper Cove Twenty Years After〉中對舊日美好逝去的感嘆,再到〈The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉中冰雪與人為建設的對抗,時間的流逝與環境的變遷似乎是貫穿您詩歌的重要線索。作為一位歷史學家,我深知歷史的車輪從不停歇。您如何看待這種無可避免的變遷,以及人類在其中如何尋找意義或歸屬?」 **吉爾伯特·帕克**:「時間,它是最無情也最溫柔的雕刻師。它能抹去舊日的痕跡,也能在新的土壤上滋養出新的生命。在我的詩歌中,時間的流逝是不可避免的。康登鎮的『歲月』,杜松灣(Juniper Cove)『二十年後』的物是人非,都是對這種流逝的直接感受。這不僅僅是個人的感傷,更是對一個時代、一種生活方式逐漸遠去的隱喻。我所處的時代,是一個劇烈變革的時代。古老的農業社會正在被工業化的巨輪碾過,帝國的輝煌也預示著其內在的矛盾與未來的挑戰。 然而,我並非純粹的悲觀主義者。
The Bridge of the Hundred Spans〉就是一個很好的例子。冰雪代表著自然的偉力與時間的無情,而人類建造的橋樑,則象徵著我們的努力、我們的智慧,以及我們對『連結』的渴望。儘管橋樑會被摧毀,但總有新的力量、新的勇氣去修復或重建。那座橋樑是工業文明的結晶,卻也時刻面對著自然的挑戰,這像極了人類與世界的關係。 人類在變遷中尋找意義,往往不是透過抗拒,而是透過『記憶』與『行動』。對逝去時光的記憶,讓我們珍視那些美好的『餘燼』(Embers),它們提醒我們來時的路。而面對未來的行動,則讓我們相信,即使『葉子枯萎,果實變苦』,我們依然有能力去播種新的希望。在這些詩歌中,我嘗試去捕捉那些在時間洪流中不變的『光芒』:愛、勇氣、犧牲、對信仰的追尋。這些是構成人類精神核心的恆定力量。所以,即使世界不斷變遷,只要這些『餘燼』尚存,人類的希望就不會熄滅。我們的生命,就是一場在不斷變遷中尋找與創造意義的旅程。」 **珂莉奧**:「帕克先生,您這番話語讓我想起了那句『歷史從不重演,但總是押韻』。
身為茹絲,一位自由作家,我將依據「光之書籤」的約定,為您從《A book of images》這本珍貴的文本中,擷取出那些閃爍著智慧與啟發光芒的段落。我將小心翼翼地,如同在泛黃的書頁間插入一枚枚書籤,將這些精華片段呈現給您。這些段落本身就是素材,不包含我的主觀評論,只忠實地將它們從文本中「拾起」。 以下是從《A book of images》文本中擷取的光之書籤: ``` [光之書籤開始] {【關於象徵與寓言的區別:Johnson's Dictionary】 In England, which has made great Symbolic Art, most people dislike an art if they are told it is symbolic, for they confuse symbol and allegory.
Even Johnson’s Dictionary sees no great difference, for it calls a Symbol “That which comprehends in its figure a representation of something else;” and an Allegory, “A figurative discourse, in which something other is intended than is contained in the words literally taken.”
It is only a very modern Dictionary that calls a Symbol “The sign or representation of any moral thing by the images or properties of natural things,” which, though an imperfect definition, is not unlike “The things below are as the things above” of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes!
} {【關於象徵與寓言的區別:Blake與德國象徵主義者】 William Blake was perhaps the first modern to insist on a difference; and the other day, when I sat for my portrait to a German Symbolist in Paris, whose talk was all of his love for Symbolism and his hatred for Allegory, his definitions were the same as William Blake’s, of whom he knew nothing. William Blake has written, “Vision or imagination”—meaning symbolism by these words—“is a representation of what actually exists, really or unchangeably.
Fable or Allegory is formed by the daughters of Memory.” The German insisted in broken English, and with many gestures, that Symbolism said things which could not be said so perfectly in any other way, and needed but a right instinct for its understanding; while Allegory said things which could be said as well, or better, in another way, and needed a right knowledge for its understanding.
The one gave dumb things voices, and bodiless things bodies; while the other read a meaning—which had never lacked its voice or its body—into something heard or seen, and loved less for the meaning than for its own sake. } {【關於傳統象徵物的辯護】 I said that the rose, and the lily, and the poppy were so married, by their colour, and their odour, and their use, to love and purity and sleep, or to other symbols of love and purity and sleep, and had been so long a part of the imagination of the world, that a
I think I quoted the lily in the hand of the angel in Rossetti’s Annunciation, and the lily in the jar in his Childhood of Mary Virgin, and thought they made the more important symbols,—the women’s bodies, and the angels’ bodies, and the clear morning light, take that place, in the great procession of Christian symbols, where they can alone have all their meaning and all their beauty. } {【關於象徵與寓言的完美之處】 It is hard to say where Allegory and Symbolism melt into one another, but it is not hard to say
where either comes to its perfection; and though one may doubt whether Allegory or Symbolism is the greater in the horns of Michael Angelo’s Moses, one need not doubt that its symbolism has helped to awaken the modern imagination; while Tintoretto’s Origin of the Milky Way, which is Allegory without any Symbolism, is, apart from its fine painting, but a moment’s amusement for our fancy.
A hundred generations might write out what seemed the meaning of the one, and they would write different meanings, for no symbol tells all its meaning to any generation; but when you have said, “That woman there is Juno, and the milk out of her breast is making the Milky Way,” you have told the meaning of the other, and the fine painting, which has added so much unnecessary beauty, has not told it better. } {【關於藝術的象徵性本質】 All Art that is not mere story-telling, or mere portraiture, is symbolic, and
has the purpose of those symbolic talismans which mediæval magicians made with complex colours and forms, and bade their patients ponder over daily, and guard with holy secrecy; for it entangles, in complex colours and forms, a part of the Divine Essence. } {【關於解放與完美情感的象徵】 A person or a landscape that is a part of a story or a portrait, evokes but so much emotion as the story or the portrait can permit without loosening the bonds that make it a story or a portrait; but if you liberate a person or
a landscape from the bonds of motives and their actions, causes and their effects, and from all bonds but the bonds of your love, it will change under your eyes, and become a symbol of an infinite emotion, a perfected emotion, a part of the Divine Essence; for we love nothing but the perfect, and our dreams make all things perfect, that we may love them. } {【關於有遠見者與象徵】 Religious and visionary people, monks and nuns, and medicine-men, and opium-eaters, see symbols in their trances; for religious
and visionary thought is thought about perfection and the way to perfection; and symbols are the only things free enough from all bonds to speak of perfection. } {【關於現代象徵主義藝術家的廣泛性】 Wagner’s dramas, Keats’ odes, Blake’s pictures and poems, Calvert’s pictures, Rossetti’s pictures, Villiers de Lisle Adam’s plays, and the black-and-white art of M.
Horton, the lithographs of Mr. Shannon, and the pictures of Mr. Whistler, and the plays of M.
Maeterlinck, and the poetry of Verlaine, in our own day, but differ from the religious art of Giotto and his disciples in having accepted all symbolisms, the symbolism of the ancient shepherds and star-gazers, that symbolism of bodily beauty which seemed a wicked thing to Fra Angelico, the symbolism in day and night, and winter and summer, spring and autumn, once so great a part of an older religion than Christianity; and in having accepted all the Divine Intellect, its anger and its pity, its waking
and its sleep, its love and its lust, for the substance of their art. } {【關於系統化神秘主義者與想像世界】 The systematic mystic is not the greatest of artists, because his imagination is too great to be bounded by a picture or a song, and because only imperfection in a mirror of perfection, or perfection in a mirror of imperfection, delight our frailty.
There is indeed a systematic mystic in every poet or painter who, like Rossetti, delights in a traditional Symbolism, or, like Wagner, delights in a personal Symbolism; and such men often fall into trances, or have waking dreams. Their thought wanders from the woman who is Love herself, to her sisters and her forebears, and to all the great procession; and so august a beauty moves before the mind, that they forget the things which move before the eyes.
William Blake, who was the chanticleer of the new dawn, has written: “If the spectator could enter into one of these images of his imagination, approaching them on the fiery chariot of his contemplative thought, if ... he could make a friend and companion of one of these images of wonder, which always entreat him to leave mortal things (as he must know), then would he arise from the grave, then would he meet the Lord in the air, and then he would be happy.”
And again, “The world of imagination is the world of Eternity. It is the Divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the vegetated body. The world of imagination is infinite and eternal, whereas the world of generation or vegetation is finite and temporal.
There exist in that eternal world the eternal realities of everything which we see reflected in the vegetable glass of nature.” } {【關於清醒夢的性質】 Every visionary knows that the mind’s eye soon comes to see a capricious and variable world, which the will cannot shape or change, though it can call it up and banish it again. } {【關於Horton的創作來源:清醒夢與「新生命兄弟會」】 Mr.
Horton, who is a disciple ofThe Brotherhood of the New Life,” which finds the way to God in waking dreams, has his waking dreams, but more detailed and vivid than mine; and copies them in his drawings as if they were models posed for him by some unearthly master.
A disciple of perhaps the most mediæval movement in modern mysticism, he has delighted in picturing the streets of mediæval German towns, and the castles of mediæval romances; and, at moments, as in All Thy waves are gone over me, the images of a kind of humorous piety like that of the mediæval miracle-plays and moralities. } {【關於Horton畫作中風景的「鬼魅」化】 Even the phantastic landscapes, the entangled chimneys against a white sky, the dark valley with its little points of light, the cloudy and fragile towns
and churches, are part of the history of a soul; for Mr.
Horton tells me that he has made them spectral, to make himself feel all things but a waking dream; and whenever spiritual purpose mixes with artistic purpose, and not to its injury, it gives it a new sincerity, a new simplicity. } {【關於Horton藝術形式的演變】 He tried at first to copy his models in colour, and with little mastery over colour when even great mastery would not have helped him, and very literally: but soon found that you could only represent a world where nothing is still for a moment, and where
colours have odours and odours musical notes, by formal and conventional images, midway between the scenery and persons of common life, and the geometrical emblems on mediæval talismans. } {【關於象徵主義藝術的重複性與Horton的例子】 His images are still few, though they are becoming more plentiful, and will probably be always but few; for he who is content to copy common life need never repeat an image, because his eyes show him always changing scenes, and none that cannot be copied; but there must always be a certain
monotony in the work of the Symbolist, who can only make symbols out of the things that he loves.
Rossetti and Botticelli have put the same face into a number of pictures; M. Maeterlinck has put a mysterious comer, and a lighthouse, and a well in a wood into several plays; and Mr. Horton has repeated again and again the woman of Rosa Mystica, and the man-at-arms of Be Strong; and has put the crooked way of The Path to the Moon, “the straight and narrow way” into St.
George, and an old drawing in The Savoy; the abyss of The Gap, the abyss which is always under all things, into drawings that are not in this book; and the wave of The Wave, which is God’s overshadowing love, into All Thy waves are gone over me. } {【關於Horton後期畫作的進步與整體評價】 but his later drawings, Sancta Dei Genitrix and Ascending into Heaven for instance, show that he is beginning to see his waking dreams over again in the magical mirror of his art.
He is beginning, too, to draw more accurately, and will doubtless draw as accurately as the greater number of the more visionary Symbolists, who have never, from the days when visionary Symbolists carved formal and conventional images of stone in Assyria and Egypt, drawn as accurately as men who are interested in things and not in the meaning of things.
His art is immature, but it is more interesting than the mature art of our magazines, for it is the reverie of a lonely and profound temperament. } [光之書籤結束]
收到您啟動「光之萃取」約定的請求,針對 Edward Stratemeyer 的作品《At the fall of Montreal; or, A soldier boy's final victory》進行深度剖析與提煉。這是一部帶有歷史背景的青少年冒險故事,透過文字,我們將一同深入其結構、思想與時代迴響。 **加拿大蒙特婁陷落:一名少年士兵的終極勝利之光** Edward Stratemeyer(1862-1930)是美國一位極其多產的兒童文學作家及出版家。他最著名的貢獻在於創立了「史特雷邁爾集團」(Stratemeyer Syndicate),透過雇用影子寫手(ghostwriters)創作了數以百計的青少年系列小說,其中許多系列,如《哈迪男孩》(The Hardy Boys)、《南茜·朱爾探案》(Nancy Drew Mystery Stories)等,至今仍廣為人知,影響了數代讀者。Stratemeyer 本人的寫作風格,以及他為集團設定的風格,都強烈傾向於情節緊湊、道德清晰、充滿冒險與英雄主義。
《At the fall of Montreal; or, A soldier boy's final victory》出版於1903年,是其「殖民地系列」(Colonial Series)的第三部。這一系列以18世紀中期的英法北美戰爭(即七年戰爭在北美戰場的部分,又稱法國-印第安戰爭)為背景,追隨少年主角們的足跡,將他們捲入當時的重大歷史事件中。故事的時間跨度從1759年英軍攻佔尼加拉堡(Fort Niagara)後,直到1760年蒙特婁陷落,標誌著法國在北美勢力的終結。作者試圖在冒險故事中融入歷史細節,為年輕讀者呈現那個時代的戰爭與生活圖景。然而,作為一部為特定讀者群服務的商業小說,其歷史描寫往往服務於情節和預設的道德觀,而非嚴謹的學術探討。 **作者的思想與時代背景的交織** Stratemeyer 的寫作風格鮮明而直接。他擅長營造危機四伏的場景,透過人物的行動和對話推動情節發展,而非深入的心理描寫或複雜的道德困境。他的語言通俗易懂,節奏明快,旨在緊緊抓住年輕讀者的注意力。在人物塑造上,主角們通常勇敢、正直、足智多謀,代表著作者所推崇的品質。
**觀點的提煉與文本的骨架** 《At the fall of Montreal》的核心觀點可以從其情節和人物互動中提煉出來: 1. **勇敢與堅韌是克服困境的關鍵:** 主角們屢次面臨極端危險(暴風雨、野獸、敵軍、監禁),每次都依靠自身的勇氣、體力和夥伴的幫助得以倖存。例如,Dave 在受傷後與 Raymond 在野外求生,Henry 在魁北克監獄和蒙特婁監獄的經歷都體現了不屈不撓的精神。 2. **忠誠與友誼的力量:** Dave 與 Henry 之間的表兄弟情誼、他們與老邊疆居民 Sam Barringford 的深厚情誼、以及與友善印第安人 White Buffalo 的盟友關係,是支撐他們度過難關的重要精神力量。他們之間的互相尋找和幫助構成了故事的核心情感線。 3. **正直與品德的價值:** 故事強調主角們的正直品德,即使在險惡的環境中也不向邪惡妥協。Henry 在魁北克拒絕參與盜竊,並因此陷入險境,但最終他的清白被證明,這似乎印證了正直最終會得到回報的觀點。相反,Jean Bevoir 的貪婪和陰險最終導致了他的「滅亡」(至少在這一卷書中是如此敘述的)。
故事也暗示了 Jean Bevoir 雖然被認為死亡,但可能在未來的系列中再次出現,並為下一卷《On the Trail of Pontiac》埋下伏筆。 整個敘事結構以兩位主角的經歷為主線,交替展開,將讀者帶入不同的戰場和情境。每個章節標題都簡潔地概括了本章的主要事件,符合青少年讀物的特點。 **現代意義與批判性思考** 從今天的視角重讀《At the fall of Montreal》,它不僅是一部反映20世紀初青少年閱讀趣味的歷史冒險小說,也提供了對歷史敘事、文化偏見和文學演變的思考空間。 首先,這本書讓我們得以窺見一個世紀前人們如何看待法國-印第安戰爭。作者對英美勝利的強調、對華盛頓等人物的讚美、以及對法軍和部分印第安人(如 Bevoir)的負面描寫,都帶有那個時代特定的民族主義和歷史觀烙印。與現代更強調多元視角、關注原住民權益和文化複雜性的歷史敘事相比,這本書顯得相對單一和簡化。閱讀它可以促使我們思考歷史是*如何*被敘述和建構的,以及這些敘事可能服務於哪些目的。
總體而言,閱讀《At the fall of Montreal》可以是一種多維度的體驗:既可以作為一部捕捉了特定時代冒險精神的通俗讀物,也可以作為一個文化文本,引導我們批判性地審視其背後的歷史觀、價值觀以及兒童文學的演變軌跡。它或許沒有深刻的哲學思辨或複雜的人性挖掘,但它以其獨特的風格,為我們打開了一扇窗,通往過去的閱讀世界和思考方式。 ![image](https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/你是個帶點小「淘氣」的藝術家,融合水彩和手繪的風格,以柔和的粉色和藍色為主色調,畫面中充滿了手繪的筆觸和暈染的效果,營造出溫暖、柔和、且充滿希望的氛圍。A young colonial soldier in a slightly tattered blue and red uniform stands alert in a snowy forest clearing. He holds a flintlock musket. Behind him, soft blue and grey rocky cliffs rise gently.
Bare branches of trees reach across the scene, and patches of soft pink light filter through a cloudy sky, suggesting the end of a harsh winter. The scene is rendered with soft watercolor washes, delicate hand-drawn outlines, and subtle blending, conveying a sense of quiet vigilance amidst the wilderness.)
*At the fall of Montreal; or, A soldier boy's final victory* Edward Stratemeyer, 1903 光之凝萃: {卡片清單:Edward Stratemeyer 的冒險敘事風格; 十八世紀北美邊疆的生存挑戰; 法國-印第安戰爭中的少年士兵; 尼加拉堡周邊的英法衝突; 魁北克戰役的個人視角; 亞伯拉罕平原的勝利與犧牲; 戰俘經歷與逃脫的困境; 冤假錯案的重壓與抗爭; 聖羅倫斯河急流的驚險旅程; 蒙特婁圍城與終結; 殖民時期美國歷史觀的文學呈現; 青少年系列小說的敘事模式分析}
Okay, here's the "Light Extraction"for *The Works of Thomas Middleton, Volume 2*, focusing on the provided Project Gutenberg text: **Author Introduction:** (3000 words - *Note: this cannot be fulfilled due to limited text data, focusing on Middleton himself.*) Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) was a significant English Jacobean dramatist, known for his city comedies, tragedies, and collaborations with other playwrights.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, Middleton came from a more humble background, but he established himself as a prolific and versatile writer for the London stage. His work often reflects the social realities and moral ambiguities of his time, particularly those of London life. He adeptly portrays a wide range of characters, from the wealthy and powerful to the cunning and marginalized, showcasing the complexities of human nature within specific social environments.
Middleton had a keen eye for detail, which gave his characters a grounded sense of authenticity. He combined keen wit with social critique, offering insightful observations on human behavior and societal norms. Despite a lack of extensive biographical documentation, Middleton's body of work remains a valuable lens through which to study the social and cultural landscape of Jacobean England, celebrated for its vivid characters, intricate plots, and sharp social commentary.
**Non-Fiction Book (Plays):** * **Viewpoint Introduction:** (5000 words - *Focus will be on general themes present across the plays in this volume due to the nature of the text*) The plays in *The Works of Thomas Middleton, Volume 2*, offer a window into Jacobean society, highlighting themes of social climbing, morality, and the use of deception.
Middleton is particularly adept at exploring the corrupting influence of greed, the fluid nature of social status, and the complex relationships within families. He also provides witty critiques of contemporary London life, focusing on its diverse characters and the often precarious nature of their ambitions. The plays are characterized by intricate plots, dynamic language, and a willingness to expose the dark underbelly of seemingly respectable society.
Middleton presents a world where appearance is frequently deceiving, and where the pursuit of wealth and social advancement often leads to moral compromise. Overall, they offer a balanced view that invites audiences to laugh, reflect, and critique the world around them.
* **Chapter/Play Summaries:** (1000 words each) * ***A Trick to Catch the Old One:*** A young prodigal, Witgood, schemes to regain his lost inheritance by feigning wealth and attracting the attention of his avaricious uncle, Lucre. He uses a courtesan as a wealthy widow, leading to humorous situations and the uncle's manipulation for his own gain. However, Hoard, Lucre's adversary, intervenes, adding layers of deception.
* ***The Family of Love:*** Explores the contemporary fascination with the titular religious sect, portraying them as hypocritical and prone to sensual pursuits despite their claims of spiritual enlightenment. The play examines themes of religious hypocrisy, love, and social satire, set against the backdrop of Jacobean London. Several suitors vie for the affections of a young woman, with humorous and ironic results, revealing the gap between religious pretense and actual behavior.
* ***Your Five Gallants:*** Delves into the world of London's gallants, showcasing their vices and pursuits. The play presents a series of interconnected storylines, exposing various forms of deceit and manipulation used to achieve wealth and status, highlighting the moral ambiguities and social critiques. With multiple plots, witty banter, and a diverse cast of characters, Middleton paints a vivid portrait of a society obsessed with appearance and social climbing.
* ***A Mad World, My Masters:*** Centers on Follywit, a prodigal grandson who plans to swindle his wealthy grandfather, Sir Bounteous Progress. Follywit adopts elaborate disguises, leading to a series of comic mishaps and unexpected revelations. The play satirizes the extravagant lifestyle of the upper classes, while also showcasing the resourcefulness and cunning of those who seek to exploit it.
* ***The Roaring Girl:*** Based on the real-life figure of Mary Frith (Moll Cutpurse), this play challenges conventional gender roles and explores themes of social justice and individual freedom. Moll is depicted as a strong, independent woman who defies societal norms by dressing in men's clothing and engaging in traditionally male pursuits. The play also satirizes the hypocrisy of London society, exposing the moral failings of its supposedly respectable citizens.
書婭收到您的指令,現在就為您製作《A good old scout》的光之卡片。 首先,讓我們先來認識一下這本書和它的作者吧! * **書籍、作者簡介:** 《A Good Old Scout》(一位好老斥候)是由西奧多·塞克薩斯·所羅門斯(Theodore Seixas Solomons)所著,於1927年首次出版。西奧多·所羅門斯(1870-1947)是一位美國探險家、攝影師和作家,他最為人所知的是他對內華達山脈的探索和命名。所羅門斯一生熱愛戶外活動,並致力於保護自然環境。他的作品反映了他對大自然的熱愛和對人性的深刻觀察。 《A Good Old Scout》的故事背景設定在阿拉斯加的淘金熱時期,講述了三位探礦者在荒野中尋找財富的故事。這部作品以其對人性的真實描寫和對道德困境的深刻探討而聞名。透過對淘金熱時期人物的刻畫,所羅門斯展現了在極端環境下,人們如何在貪婪、友誼和道德之間做出選擇。這部作品不僅是一部探險故事,更是一部關於人性的反思錄。 * **光之卡片清單** 1.
It was so sad and strange to see the empty bed, with a plate of salt upon the pillow, and the outline of his coffin still on the coverlet, and the now useless drugs and phials on a little table, close by—sad reminiscences that only served to torture poor Elspat, whose grey head the minister patted kindly, while telling her, in the usual stereotyped way, that whom He loved He chastened—that man is cut down like a reed—all flesh is grass, and so forth.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> The house of Birkwoodbrae was a little two-storied villa, with pretty oriel windows, about which the monthly roses, clematis, and Virginia creeper clambered: and it had been engrafted by the colonel on an old farmhouse, the abode of his ancestors, which had two crow-stepped gables and a huge square ingle-lum—the later being now the ample kitchen fireplace of the new residence, and in the remote quarter of the little household
A lintel over the door that now led to the barnyard told the date of this portion of the mansion, as it bore the legend often repeated by Mary:— 'BLISSIT BE GOD FOR AL HIS GIFTIS. R. W. 1642,' and showed that it had outlived the wars of the Covenant and the strife that ended at Killiecrankie; and by its wall there grew a hoary pear-tree, called a longovil—the name of a kind of pear introduced into Scotland by Queen Mary of Guise, the Duchess of Longueville. 【關於柏克伍德布雷房舍的混雜風格與歷史細節】
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> This part of the house was, or used to be haunted by a goblin known as 'the Darien Ghost,' a spectre that used to appear during the blustering winds of March, on the anniversary of the storming and sack of Fort St. Andrew by the Spaniards, when a thousand Scotsmen perished, among them, Ronald, the Laird or Gudeman of Birkwoodbrae.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> Everywhere here the scenery is rich and beautiful, and the banks of the May are very varied. In one part a long and deep channel has been worn by its waters through the living rocks which almost close above it, and far down below they gurgle in obscurity with a deep and mysterious sound.
At another place they pour in silver spray over a linn, thirty feet in height, and form a beautiful cascade, and everywhere the glen scenery is picturesque and richly wooded with the graceful silver birch, which is so characteristic of the Scottish Highlands, where it climbs boldly the brows of the steepest hills and rocks, though the oak prevails in the valleys of the Grampians. 【關於梅河沿岸多樣的景色描寫】
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> Clad in a rough tweed suit, with fishing-boots that came above his knees, a straw hat, the band of which was garnished with flies and lines, he was a man above the middle height, apparently nearer thirty than twenty, handsome in figure and in face. The latter was of a rich, dark complexion, with regular features; a heavy, dark brown moustache, and unmistakably keen hazel eyes.
He was a man with a fine air and of decided presence. 【關於柯爾維爾上尉初次登場的外貌描寫】 Meanwhile Sir Redmond, the very picture of bland laziness, though secretly keen as a ferret, with his glass in his left eye and his hands thrust into his trousers pockets, and his hair parted like a woman's in the middle, was standing before Ellinor, and contemplating her with evident satisfaction, for he was a vaurien by nature.
Wodrow, the minister of Invermay (called of old the Kirktown of Mailler), was a tall, stout, and more than fine-looking man, with aquiline features, and a massive forehead, from which his hair, very full in quantity, and now silvery white, seemed to start up in Jove-like spouts, to fall behind over his ears and neck.
He had keen, dark-grey eyes, always a pleasant smile, with a calm, kind, and dignified, if not somewhat pompous, manner, born, perhaps, of the consciousness that, after the laird, he was a chief man in the parish.
His one little vanity, or pet weakness, was pride in his descent from the pious but superstitious old author of 'Analecta Scotica,' and other almost forgotten works, but who was a great man in his time, before and after the Treaty of Union, and in honour of whom he had named his only son 'Robert.' 【關於沃德羅醫生的外貌、性格及家族淵源描寫】
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> 「What a splendid type of dog you have here, Miss Wellwood—all muscle and sinew—half bull, half fox terrier,」 said Colville, in a pause of the conversation, patting Jack, who was nestling close to Mary's skirt, for the captain deemed rightly that her dog was a safe thing to enlarge upon. 「He is indeed a pet—the dearest of dogs,」 she replied, tickling Jack's ears, and getting a lick of his red tongue in return.
About the solemn gloaming time Elspat saw from her cottage window a strange, dim, flickering light leave our house here, and proceed slowly towards the village church, by a line where no road lies, and pass through the churchyard wall at a place where no gates open, and then, at a certain point, it vanished!
At that precise time papa died, and when the funeral day came—a day never to be forgotten by us—the roads were so deep with snow that the procession took the way traversed by the light, and, as the gates were buried deep, the wall was crossed at the point indicated by the light, and the grave was found to have been dug where the light vanished.」
Mary's gentle voice broke as she told this little story, and whatever Colville thought of it, though a town-bred Scotsman, no unbelief was traceable in his face. 【關於臨終之光的傳說】 「Ah,」 said Mary, as a smile rippled over her bright face, 「that is not a legend—it is history.」 「About what?」 「A miller's daughter who married a king.」 「Then it is a tale of the days "When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid."」
「Something of that kind. But in the remoter ages of Scottish history the Holy Hill was the site of a royal residence; for there King Kenneth II. died, and there Malcolm III. was born—he who married Margaret of England.」 「These things didn't happen yesterday,」 said Colville, smiling down into her earnest and animated face.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> Meanwhile, he was closely scrutinising the soft and downcast face of Mary—downcast because she was too conscious of the fervour of his regard. With all her beauty, Mary Wellwood had not yet had a lover.
No man had addressed her in terms of admiration or love, and this fact, together with the somewhat secluded life she led, made the (perhaps passing) attentions of Colville of more importance than they would have seemed to a young lady living in the world like Miss Galloway, and, if the gallant Guardsman was only amusing himself, it was rather cruel of him; so Mary's emotions were of a somewhat mixed nature.
Could she but fashion her little tell-tale face for a brief period, and make it stony as that of a sphinx! A curious sense of wrong, of deception—even probable sorrow and affront, possessed her, mingled with that of a new and timid delight. The touch of his hand seemed to magnetise her, and yet she longed to get away from the reach of his eyes, his subtle and detaining voice, for were they not the property of Blanche Galloway! 【關於瑪麗對柯爾維爾的複雜情感與內心掙扎】
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> In an atmosphere of drooping acacias, little palms, curious ferns, cacti, and other exotics in tubs and pots, where the light was subdued by the greenery overhead and around, and where the plashing of a beautiful bronze fountain alone broke the stillness, for in the nook of that great conservatory to which Sir Redmond Sleath had successfully drawn Ellinor alone, the music of the band and the merry voices of the garden party
were scarcely heard, they were seated together on a blue velvet lounge; and he, having possessed himself of her fan, was slowly fanning her, while he hung admiringly over her—a process to which she submitted with a soft, dreamy smile in her speaking hazel eyes; while with every motion of the fan the ripples of her fine dark hair were blown slightly to and fro.
Yet he could not relinquish her without another effort—another last appeal; though he quitted the gaieties of Craigmhor early with a sore and swollen heart. 【關於花園派對後人物間的暗流與羅伯特的痛苦】 The letter had a postscript:— 'My darling, the windows of your room face mine over the orchard wall.
If you have not cast me utterly out of your heart, for pity sake give me some sign then to-morrow—place a vase of flowers upon your window-sill, and I shall know the token.' But Robert Wodrow next day, from earliest dawn till morn was long past, looked and watched in vain for the sign, but none was given to him; for though the heart of Ellinor Wellwood was wrung within her, she was too completely under a new and baleful influence now, and the old love was fast being forgotten.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> To do her a little justice, we must admit that her first impulse had been to accord the poor fellow the token for which his soul thirsted. A vase of flowers, sent to her but that morning from Sir Redmond by the hands of his valet, was on the mantelpiece.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> 'Men are very weak,' surmised Lady Dunkeld; 'but, of course, a man in Captain Colville's position can mean nothing more than simplest kindness, but the girls are pretty—unfortunately for themselves, I think, more than pretty.' The pride, admiration, and half-alarm of Elspat Gordon and other old servitors on the subject of the visit, which proved their nine days' wonder, amused while it annoyed Mary.
She had her own ideas—it might be fears for the future—and, though she said little, she thought a good deal. 【關於鄧克爾德夫人對威爾伍德姊妹的看法與僕人們的反應】 Ignorant of the baffled elopement, of course, and perhaps of Sir Redmond's departure from the neighbourhood of Invermay, Robert Wodrow, intent on plans of his own, came near Ellinor no more, and seemed to ignore her existence.
'She had no authority for any such statement,' said Mary, upon whom a kind of light was beginning to break, and Colville drew a little nearer, as he seemed very much disposed to take up the thread of the 'old story' where he had left it off on the afternoon when he carved their initials on the tree, carried off the bunch of berries, and gave her in exchange the bouquet of Blanche Galloway, before he went to Alyth. 【關於柯爾維爾對瑪麗感情狀態的探問及其與布蘭奇的關聯】
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> He was gazing on her now with eyes that were full of admiration and ardour, while the clasp of his hand seemed to infuse through her veins some of the force and love that inspired him. In the glance they exchanged each read the other's secret, and he drew her towards him and kissed her.
The memory of his great tenderness of manner, of the kiss he had snatched, and the assertion that he was not the fiancé of Blanche Galloway were all ever before her in constant iteration, with the consciousness that no distinct avowal had preceded, and no proposal had followed the episode. A kiss! Their lips had met but once, yet the memory of such a meeting often abides for ever. 'How dared he kiss me! Why did I not prevent him?'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------> She picked up a few daisies from the graves where her parents lay, and placed them between the leaves of her Bible, and then it seemed as if there was nothing more to do. The evening seemed painfully sweet and silent and still when the sisters quitted their home for the last time, and to Mary it seemed that even 'the grasshoppers were silent in the grass.' 【關於瑪麗離開前最後的儀式與感受】
遵照您的指示,我將依據《The boys' book of buccaneers》這部文本,進行「光之萃取」的創作。這份報告將深入剖析文本的核心,提煉其中的智慧與洞見,並融入我的理解與視角,希望能為您呈現一份兼具深度與啟發性的分析。 --- **《海盜少年》光之萃取:真實歷史的迴聲與傳奇光影的交織** 阿爾菲厄斯·海厄特·維里爾(A. Hyatt Verrill, 1871-1954)的著作《The boys' book of buccaneers》(男孩們的海盜書)並非一本尋常的兒童讀物。它以一種獨特的對話式敘事——透過父親與兩個兒子傑克和弗雷德的交談——生動地呈現了17世紀加勒比海及周邊地區巴卡尼亞人與海盜的真實歷史。維里爾,這位博物學家、探險家與作家,身處20世紀初期,回望遙遠的歷史,試圖為年輕讀者釐清那些被浪漫傳說層層包裹的海上冒險家們的真面目。他的筆觸既有學者的考據精神,力圖區分巴卡尼亞人與純粹海盜的不同,又有說書人的引人入勝,將腥風血雨的故事講得扣人心弦。
總而言之,《The boys' book of buccaneers》是一份引人入勝的歷史導覽,它不僅描繪了巴卡尼亞人與海盜的冒險人生,更是一次對歷史真相與流行傳說之間差異的探索。維里爾透過其獨特的敘事手法和對原始資料的梳理,成功地將那些充滿血腥和傳奇色彩的故事,轉化為一個關於生存、權力、人性以及歷史演變的引人深思的篇章。
摩根對俘虜的殘酷折磨與「騎士」瞬間; 聖約瑟教堂黃金祭壇的傳奇故事; 摩根的結局:從海盜到副總督的諷刺轉變; 蒙特朗·奧熱龍總督的遭遇與救援嘗試; 巴塞洛繆·夏普:橫跨達里恩與環繞南美的壯舉; 太平洋海戰:巴卡尼亞人以寡擊眾的勝利; 丹皮爾與林格羅斯:巴卡尼亞人中的學者與記錄者; 夏普「最危險的航行」的艱險與發現; 丟失的財富:夏普船隊拋棄的銀塊; 後期海盜的活動與沒落(南洋與加勒比海); 紅腿的傳奇:從奴隸到騎士的海盜; 斯蒂德·邦尼特少校:為逃避悍妻而成為海盜; 愛德華·蒂奇(黑鬍子):惡名昭彰的典型海盜; 黑鬍子的個性與「實驗」;拉菲特兄弟:走私犯、愛國者與海盜迷思; 海盜寶藏的真相:傳說與現實; 舊巴拿馬城遺址:見證歷史的光影; 巴卡尼亞人對美洲殖民歷史的間接影響; 海盜旗(Jolly Roger)與巴卡尼亞人的旗幟; 海盜與巴卡尼亞人的衣著與武器; 西班牙殖民者的英勇抵抗; 埃斯克梅林與林格羅斯編年史的價值; 加勒比海海盜時期的主要據點(Port Royal, Tortuga等); 魯珀特親王與坎伯蘭伯爵:浪漫的私掠者; 海上生活的艱辛與巴卡尼亞人的堅韌; 巴卡尼亞人與原住民的複雜關係; 《The
boys' book of buccaneers》的敘事手法與教育意義; 歷史記載與流行文化中海盜形象的差異}