【書摘】在斯萬家那邊—巴爾貝克 (Balbec) 8
Le nom de Parme, une des villes où je désirais le plus aller, depuis que j’avais lu la Chartreuse, m’apparaissant compact, lisse, mauve et doux ; si on me parlait d’une maison quelconque de Parme dans laquelle je serais reçu, on me causait le plaisir de penser que j’habiterais une demeure lisse, compacte, mauve et douce, qui n’avait de rapport avec les demeures d’aucune ville d’Italie, puisque je l’imaginais seulement à l’aide de cette syllabe lourde du nom de Parme, où ne circule aucun air, et de tout ce que je lui avais fait absorber de douceur stendhalienne et du reflet des violettes. Et quand je pensais à Florence, c’était comme à une ville miraculeusement embaumée et semblable à une corolle, parce qu’elle s’appelait la cité des lys et sa cathédrale, Sainte-Marie-des-Fleurs. Quant à Balbec, c’était un de ces noms où comme sur une vieille poterie normande qui garde la couleur de la terre d’où elle fut tirée, on voit se peindre encore la représentation de quelque usage aboli, de quelque droit féodal, d’un état ancien de lieux, d’une manière désuète de prononcer qui en avait formé les syllabes hétéroclites et que je ne doutais pas de retrouver jusque chez l’aubergiste qui me servirait du café au lait à mon arrivée, me menant voir la mer déchaînée devant l’église et auquel je prêtais l’aspect disputeur, solennel et médiéval d’un personnage de fabliau.
(Éditions Gallimard, 1987)
自從我讀了《巴馬修道院》以後，巴馬就成了我最想去的城市之一，我覺得它的名字緊密，光滑、顏色淡紫而甘美，如果有人對我說起我將在巴馬的某一所房子得到安置，那他就使我產生一種樂趣，認為我可以住進一所光滑、緊密、顏色淡紫而甘美的住所，它跟義大利任何城市的房子毫無關係，因為我只是借助於巴馬這個名字的密不通風的沉重音節，借助於我為它注入的司湯達式的甘美和紫羅蘭花的反光而把它設想出來的。而當我想到佛羅倫斯的時候，就彷彿是想到一座散發出神奇的香味，類似一個花冠的城市，因為它被稱之為百合花之城，而它的大教堂就叫做百花聖母院。至於巴爾貝克，它是這樣的名字中的一個，正如古老的諾曼底陶器還保留著製造它的陶土的顏色一樣，這些名字還體現著某種已經廢除了的習俗、某種封建權利、一些地方的歷史情況，還有某種曾構成一些古怪音節的過時的讀音方式，我也毫不懷疑還能從在當我到達巴爾貝克時將為我斟上一杯牛奶咖啡，領我到教堂面前去看奔騰的大海的那位客棧主人嘴裡聽到：我要賦予他一副古代韻文故事中的人物那種喜歡爭論，以及莊嚴肅穆的古色古香的派頭。
(p.420 追憶似水年華 I 在斯萬家那邊 聯經版 1992)
我讀了《巴馬修道院》以後，巴馬就成了我最想去的城市之一，它的名字在我心目中是緊致、光滑、柔美的，而且是淺紫色的，要是有誰對我講起巴馬城裡某座將要接納我的房屋，他就會引得我滿心歡喜地想像一座光滑、緊致、淺紫色的柔美的住所，它跟意大利任何一座城市裡的住所都不相干，因為我只是借助於巴馬這個發音低沉、密不透風的名字，借助於我賦予它的斯當達爾情調和紫羅蘭色澤而把它想像出來的。我想到佛羅倫薩，這座城市神奇地散發著馨香，就像一個花冠，因為它又叫百合花城，而它的教堂就叫百花聖母院。至於巴爾貝克，它是這樣的一種名字，就像一件諾曼底的古陶器上還保留著它出土所在地的泥土顏色一樣，我們從這種名字上可以體會到某種已經廢除的習俗，某種封建的特權，以及一種地域的歷史狀況和形成這兩個怪誕的音節的古拙的讀音方式，我毫不懷疑，那位將在我到達之際給我斟牛奶咖啡的旅店主人就是用那種方式說話的，在我的想像中，那位帶我去看教堂前面呼嘯的大海的旅店主人，就像中世紀韻文故事裡的人物那樣好跟人爭論，那樣不苟言笑，那樣古意盎然。
(p.430~431 追尋逝去的時光 I 去斯萬家那邊 上海譯文版 周克希譯 2004)
The name of Parma, one of the towns that I most longed to visit, after reading the Chartreuse, seeming to me compact and glossy, violet-tinted, soft, if anyone were to speak of such or such a house in Parma, in which I should be lodged, he would give me the pleasure of thinking that I was to inhabit a dwelling that was compact and glossy, violet-tinted, soft, and that bore no relation to the houses in any other town in Italy, since I could imagine it only by the aid of that heavy syllable of the name of Parma, in which no breath of air stirred, and of all that I had made it assume of Stendhalian sweetness and the reflected hue of violets. And when I thought of Florence, it was of a town miraculously embalmed, and flower-like, since it was called the City of the Lilies, and its Cathedral, Our Lady of the Flower. As for Balbec, it was one of those names in which, as on an old piece of Norman pottery that still keeps the colour of the earth from which it was fashioned, one sees depicted still the representation of some long-abolished custom, of some feudal right, of the former condition of some place, of an obsolete way of pronouncing the language, which had shaped and wedded its incongruous syllables and which I never doubted that I should find spoken there at once, even by the inn-keeper who would pour me out coffee and milk on my arrival, taking me down to watch the turbulent sea, unchained, before the church; to whom I lent the aspect, disputatious, solemn and mediaeval, of some character in one of the old romances.
(Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff )
Because the name of Parma, one of the towns I had most wanted to visit ever since I had read La Chartreuse, seemed to me compact, smooth, mauve, and soft, if anyone mentioned a certain house in Parma in which I would be staying, he gave me the pleasure of thinking I would be living in a house that was smooth, compact, mauve, and soft, that bore no relation to the houses of any real town in Italy, since I had composed it in my imagination with the help only of that heavy syllable, Parme, in which no air circulates, and of all that I had made it absorb of Stendhalian softness and the tint of violets. And when I thought of Florence, it was of a town miraculously fragrant and like the petals of a flower, because it was called the City of Lilies and its cathedral Saint-Mary-of-the-Flowers. As for Balbec, it was one of those names in which, as on a piece of old Norman pottery that retains the color of the earth from which it was taken, one can still see depicted the representation of some outmoded custom, of some feudal right, of some locality in an earlier condition, of an abandoned habit of pronunciation which had formed its heteroclite syllables and which I did not doubt I would rediscover spoken there even by the innkeeper who would serve me coffee with milk on my arrival, taking me down to watch the furious sea in front of the church, and to whom I would ascribe the disputatious, solemn, and medieval aspect of a character from a fabliau.
(Translated by Lydia Davis)
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