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雙語·邦斯舅舅 十六、德國人中的一個典型

所屬教程:譯林版·邦斯舅舅

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2022年06月02日

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XVI

By the beginning of the fourth month (towards the end of January, 1845), Pons' condition attracted attention at the theatre. The flute, a young man named Wilhelm, like almost all Germans; and Schwab, to distinguish him from all other Wilhelms, if not from all other Schwabs, judged it expedient to open Schmucke's eyes to his friend's state of health. It was a first performance of a piece in which Schmucke's instruments were all required.

The old gentleman is failing, said the flute; "there is something wrong somewhere; his eyes are heavy, and he doesn't beat time as he used to do," added Wilhelm Schwab, indicating Pons as he gloomily took his place.

Dat is alvays de vay, gif a man is sixty years old, answered Schmucke.

The Highland widow, in The Chronicles of the Canongate, sent her son to his death to have him beside her for twenty-four hours; and Schmucke could have sacrificed Pons for the sake of seeing his face every day across the dinner-table.

Everybody in the theatre is anxious about him, continued the flute; "and, as the premiere danseuse, Mlle. Brisetout, says, 'he makes hardly any noise now when he blows his nose.'"

And, indeed, a peal like a blast of a horn used to resound through the old musician's bandana handkerchief whenever he raised it to that lengthy and cavernous feature. The President's wife had more frequently found fault with him on that score than on any other.

I vould gif a goot teal to amuse him, said Schmucke, "he gets so dull."

M. Pons always seems so much above the like of us poor devils, that, upon my word, I didn't dare to ask him to my wedding, said Wilhelm Schwab. "I am going to be married—"

How? demanded Schmucke.

Oh! quite properly, returned Wilhelm Schwab, taking Schmucke's quaint inquiry for a gibe, of which that perfect Christian was quite incapable.

Come, gentlemen, take your places! called Pons, looking round at his little army, as the stage manager's bell rang for the overture.

The piece was a dramatized fairy tale, a pantomime called The Devil's Betrothed, which ran for two hundred nights. In the interval, after the first act, Wilhelm Schwab and Schmucke were left alone in the orchestra, with a house at a temperature of thirty-six degrees Reaumur.

Tell me your hishdory, said Schmucke.

Look there! Do you see that young man in the box yonder?... Do you recognize him?

Nefer a pit—

Ah! That is because he is wearing yellow gloves and shines with all the radiance of riches, but that is my friend Fritz Brunner out of Frankfort-on-the-Main.

Dat used to komm to see du blav und sit peside you in der orghestra?

The same. You would not believe he could look so different, would you?

The hero of the promised story was a German of that particular type in which the sombre irony of Goethe's Mephistopheles is blended with a homely cheerfulness found in the romances of August Lafontaine of pacific memory; but the predominating element in the compound of artlessness and guile, of shopkeeper's shrewdness, and the studied carelessness of a member of the Jockey Club, was that form of disgust which set a pistol in the hands of a young Werther, bored to death less by Charlotte than by German princes. It was a thoroughly German face, full of cunning, full of simplicity, stupidity, and courage; the knowledge which brings weariness, the worldly wisdom which the veriest child's trick leaves at fault, the abuse of beer and tobacco,—all these were there to be seen in it, and to heighten the contrast of opposed qualities, there was a wild diabolical gleam in the fine blue eyes with the jaded expression.Dressed with all the elegance of a city man, Fritz Brunner sat in full view of the house displaying a bald crown of the tint beloved by Titian, and a few stray fiery red hairs on either side of it; a remnant spared by debauchery and want, that the prodigal might have a right to spend money with the hairdresser when he should come into his fortune. A face, once fair and fresh as the traditional portrait of Jesus Christ, had grown harder since the advent of a red moustache; a tawny beard lent it an almost sinister look. The bright blue eyes had lost something of their clearness in the struggle with distress. The countless courses by which a man sells himself and his honor in Paris had left their traces upon his eyelids and carved lines about the eyes, into which a mother once looked with a mother's rapture to find a copy of her own fashioned by God's hand. This precocious philosopher, this wizened youth was the work of a stepmother.

Herewith begins the curious history of a prodigal son of Frankfort-on-the-Main—the most extraordinary and astounding portent ever beheld by that well-conducted, if central, city.

十六、德國人中的一個典型

第四個月初,一八四五年正月將盡的時候,戲院里的同事注意到邦斯的健康了。其中有個吹笛子的青年,像差不多所有的德國人一樣名叫威廉,幸而他姓希華勃,才不至于和所有的威廉相混,但仍沒法和所有的希華勃分清。他覺得必須把邦斯的情形點醒許模克。那天正上演新戲,用得著許??怂鶕?dān)任的樂器。

邦斯愁眉苦臉跨上指揮臺的時候,威廉·希華勃便指著他說:“老人家精神不行呢,怕有什么病吧。你瞧,他目光黯淡,揮起棍子也不大得勁?!?/p>

“人到了六十歲總是這樣的。”許??嘶卮?。

他為了每天和朋友一同吃飯的樂趣,簡直會把朋友都犧牲掉;這情形很像沃爾特·司各特所寫的那個母親,為了把兒子多留二十四小時,結(jié)果送了他的命[1]。

“戲院里大家都在為他操心,正像頭牌舞女哀絡(luò)依思·勃里斯多小姐說的,他連擤鼻子的聲音都沒有了?!毕HA勃又說。

往常老音樂家捧著手帕擤起他窟窿很大的長鼻子來,聲音像吹喇叭,為此常常受到庭長夫人的埋怨。

“只要能讓他有點兒消遣,要我怎樣犧牲都愿意;他心里悶得慌。”許??嘶卮?。

“真的,我老是覺得邦斯先生了不起,咱們這批窮小子高攀不上,所以我不敢請他吃喜酒。我要結(jié)婚了……”

“怎么樣的結(jié)婚?”許??藛枴?/p>

“噢!當(dāng)然是規(guī)規(guī)矩矩的?!蓖牭皆S??藛柕眠@么古怪,以為是句俏皮話,其實這個純粹的基督徒是根本不會挖苦人的。

聽見臺上的鈴響了,邦斯把樂隊里的人馬瞧了一眼,叫道:“喂,大家坐下吧!”

樂隊奏著《魔鬼的未婚妻》的序曲;那是一出非常叫座的神幻劇,直演了二百場。第一次休息時間,樂隊里人都走盡了,只剩下威廉和許???,場子里的溫度在列氏寒暑表上升到三十六度。

“來,把你的故事講給我聽?!痹S模克對威廉說。

“那個月樓上的年輕人,你瞧見沒有?……你認得是誰嗎?”

“不認得……”

“那是因為他戴了黃手套,發(fā)了財?shù)木壒剩凰褪俏业呐笥迅チ衅潯げ_納,那個美因河上的法蘭克福人……”

“是以前到樂隊里來,坐在你旁邊看戲的那個嗎?”

“就是他??刹皇亲兞艘粋€人,教你不相信嗎?”

這故事的主角是代表某一種典型的德國人。他的相貌,一方面有歌德的曼非斯托番那種尖刻辛辣的氣息[2],一方面像奧古斯德·拉封丹的小說中的人物,愛說愛笑,脾氣挺好;他又刁猾又天真;有生意人的貪狠,也有跑馬總會會員的灑脫;而最主要的還有使少年維特想自殺的那種苦悶,但他的苦悶不是為了什么夏洛蒂[3],而是為了德國的諸侯。他的臉十足地道是個德國典型:又狡獪,又樸實,又愚蠢,又勇敢,他所有的那點知識只能增加煩惱,所有的經(jīng)驗給他鬧一下孩子氣就完了;他濫喝啤酒,濫抽煙;再加美麗而無神的藍眼睛閃出一點可怕的光芒,使身上的那些對比格外顯著。弗列茲·勃羅納穿扮得像銀行家一樣講究,在戲院里聳著一個禿頂?shù)哪X袋,皮色像提香畫上的,早年的放浪生活與以后的落難生活,還給他在腦殼兩旁留下少許金黃頭發(fā)蜷作一堆,使他恢復(fù)家業(yè)的那天還有資格去照顧理發(fā)匠。他的臉從前長得又俊又嫩,像畫家筆下的耶穌基督,如今顏色變得很難看,長了紅紅的髭和茶褐色的胡子,愈加陰沉了。跟憂患掙扎的結(jié)果相比,眼睛也藍得不明凈了。落魄巴黎的時期所受的種種委屈,使他的眼皮癟了下去,眼睛的輪廓也改了樣;可是當(dāng)初母親還認為這對眼睛就是自己的小影而看得出神呢。這個少年老成、未老先衰的小伙子,原是個后母一手造成的。

以下我們要講一個浪子的故事,在雖是中立而不失為開明的、美因河上的法蘭克福城里,那簡直是破天荒的怪事[4]。

注解:

[1] 沃爾特·司各特短篇小說集The Chronicles of the Canongate中第一篇,述一青年應(yīng)征入伍,母親愛子心切,不忍遽離,服以安眠藥,致應(yīng)召失時,被邏卒目為逃兵加以逮捕;逮捕時受母親慫恿,又將邏卒一人當(dāng)場格殺。兩罪俱發(fā),兒子被槍斃。

[2] 曼非斯托番為魔鬼的名字,初見于十六世紀(jì)的通俗書籍,后歌德用為《浮士德》中魔鬼的名字,遂更知名。

[3] 夏洛蒂為歌德《少年維特之煩惱》中的女主角。

[4] 路易·菲利普治下,自一八三六起,國會中的政府黨稱為擁護王朝的左派,而反對黨則分為中間偏右與中間偏左兩派。巴爾扎克常譏諷此等“中間”派。美因河上的法蘭克福為日耳曼帝國會議最后集會處,又為獨立自由的城市,故作者以此影射中間派。

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