書香漫溢

On the Odors Which My Books Exhale

書香漫溢

Eugene Field

尤金.菲爾德

作者簡介

尤金.菲爾德（Eugene Field，1850—1895），美國詩人和專欄作家，以兒童詩歌創(chuàng)作聞名。他也是頗負盛名的藏書家。

尤金.菲爾德藏書樓現(xiàn)屬圣路易斯市博物館，向全市公立學(xué)校的學(xué)生免費開放。

本文選自1896年出版的尤金.菲爾德遺作《書癡的愛情事件》（The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac）。書中寄托了作者對書的滿腔柔情。在寫完該書第19章的兩天后，尤金.菲爾德在睡夢中與世長辭，沒能完成該書最后一章。文中，作者描述了一種奇特的氣味——書香。一個人只有具備靈敏的嗅覺、細膩的心思，才能感受書的生命，與書惺惺相惜。作者正是如此，你又是如何？

Have you ever come out of the thick, smoky atmosphere of the town into the fragrant, gracious atmosphere of a library? If you have, you know how grateful the change is, and you will agree with me when I say that nothing else is so quieting to the nerves, so conducive to physical health, and so quick to restore a lively flow of the spirits.

Lafcadio Hearn once wrote a treatise upon perfumes, an ingenious and scholarly performance; he limited the edition to fifty copies and published it privately—so the book is rarely met with. Curiously enough, however, this author had nothing to say in the book about the smells of books, which I regard as a most unpardonable error, unless, properly estimating the subject to be worthy of a separate treatise, he has postponed its consideration and treatment to a time when he can devote the requisite study and care to it.

We have it upon the authority of William Blades that books breathe; however, the testimony of experts is not needed upon this point, for if anybody be sceptical, all he has to do to convince himself is to open a door of a bookcase at any time and his olfactories will be greeted by an outrush of odors that will prove to him beyond all doubt that books do actually consume air and exhale perfumes.

你是否曾穿過城市中彌漫的濃煙，走進圖書館里優(yōu)雅的芬芳？如果有過如此經(jīng)歷，你就會明白這種轉(zhuǎn)變多么令人愉快，也就會同意我的觀點——沒什么能比書香更讓人心緒平靜、身體健康、精神振奮。

小泉八云[1]曾寫過一部見解獨到的學(xué)術(shù)著作——一本關(guān)于香味的專著。該書未公開出版，只印了50本，所以非常罕見。不過說來也怪，書中竟只字未提書香。我將其視為無法原諒的失誤，除非作者明智地意識到書香值得寫專文論述，故暫不撰文，待進行必要的研究之后再詳細闡述。

威廉?布萊茲[2]的權(quán)威著作談及了書會呼吸。不過，這一點無須專家論證。如果有人懷疑，他只要隨時打開書柜，就能聞到撲鼻的書香。這會打消他的所有懷疑，證明書確實會吸入空氣，吐出芬芳。

Visitors to the British Museum complain not unfrequently that they are overcome by the closeness of the atmosphere in that place, and what is known as the British Museum headache has come to be recognized by the medical profession in London as a specific ailment due to the absence of oxygen in the atmosphere, which is caused by the multitude of books, each one of which, by that breathing process peculiar to books, consumes several thousand cubic feet of air every twenty-four hours.

Professor Huxley wondered for a long time why the atmosphere of the British Museum should be poisonous while other libraries were free from the poison; a series of experiments convinced him that the presence of poison in the atmosphere was due to the number of profane books in the Museum. He recommended that these poison-engendering volumes be treated once every six months with a bath of cedria, which, as I understand, is a solution of the juices of the cedar tree; this, he said, would purge the mischievous volumes temporarily of their evil propensities and abilities.

常有訪客抱怨大英博物館內(nèi)空氣憋悶、不堪忍受。倫敦醫(yī)學(xué)界已將“大英博物館頭痛癥”列為特殊疾病，將其歸咎于書太多而造成空氣中缺氧。憑借獨特的呼吸方式，每本書每天會消耗幾千立方英尺的空氣。

長期以來，赫胥黎教授[3]一直想知道，為何大英博物館內(nèi)空氣有毒，其他圖書館卻免受此害。一系列實驗讓他確信，空氣有毒是因為博物館里有褻瀆神明的書。他建議，這些制造毒氣的書必須每六個月拿“松汁”浸泡一次。據(jù)我所知，“松汁”是一種雪松樹汁溶液。赫胥黎教授說，這能暫時凈化有害卷冊邪惡的本性和力量。

I do not know whether this remedy is effective, but I remember to have read in Pliny that cedria was used by the ancients to render their manuscripts imperishable. When Cneius Terentius went digging in his estate in the Janiculum he came upon a coffer which contained not only the remains of Numa, the old Roman king, but also the manuscripts of the famous laws which Numa compiled. The king was in some such condition as you might suppose him to be after having been buried several centuries, but the manuscripts were as fresh as new, and their being so is said to have been due to the fact that before their burial they were rubbed with citrus leaves.

These so-called books of Numa would perhaps have been preserved unto this day but for the fanaticism of the people who exhumed and read them; they were promptly burned by Quintus Petilius, the praetor, because (as Cassius Hemina explains) they treated of philosophical subjects, or because, as Livy testifies, their doctrines were inimical to the religion then existing.

As I have had little to do with profane literature, I know nothing of the habits of such books as Professor Huxley has prescribed an antidote against. Of such books as I have gathered about me and made my constant companions I can say truthfully that a more delectable-flavored lot it were impossible to find. As I walk amongst them, touching first this one and then that, and regarding all with glances of affectionate approval, I fancy that I am walking in a splendid garden, full of charming vistas, wherein parterre after parterre of beautiful flowers is unfolded to my enraptured vision; and surely there never were other odors so delightful as the odors which my books exhale!

我不知道這種處理方法是否有效，但我記得普林尼的著作里提過，古人用松汁保護手稿不致腐壞。格涅烏斯?泰倫提烏斯曾在賈尼科洛山的莊園里挖到一個箱子，里面不但有羅馬老國王努馬的殘骸，還有他訂立的著名法典的手稿。國王陛下的模樣很糟糕，一看就知道他在地底下待了好幾個世紀；但那份手稿卻光鮮如新，據(jù)說是因為入土前曾用柑橘葉擦拭過。

如果沒有那些狂熱的發(fā)掘者和讀者，這些所謂的“努馬之書”或許能夠保存至今。它們很快被羅馬執(zhí)政官昆圖斯?佩蒂留斯付之一炬。根據(jù)卡西烏斯?赫米那的解釋，焚書原因是這些書探討了哲學(xué)問題。李維則認為，焚書原因是書中理論有悖于當時的宗教學(xué)說。

我與褻瀆神明的著作一向無甚瓜葛，因此對赫胥黎教授建議處理的有毒書籍一無所知。我敢說，再也找不到比我的藏書、我那些忠實的伙伴味道更妙的東西了。我徜徉在書籍之間，時而摸摸這本，時而碰碰那本，滿懷深情地注視每一本書。我幻想自己漫步于一座富麗堂皇的花園，鮮花競相綻放，美景盡收眼底，令我心醉神迷。確實，沒有哪種氣味能像書香一樣，讓人如此愉悅！

My garden aboundeth in pleasant nooks

And fragrance is over it all;

For sweet is the smell of my old, old books

In their places against the wall.

Here is a folio that’s grim with age

And yellow and green with mould;

There’s the breath of the sea on every page

And the hint of a stanch ship’s hold.

And here is a treasure from France la belle

Exhaleth a faint perfume

Of wedded lily and asphodel

In a garden of song abloom.

And this wee little book of Puritan mien

And rude, conspicuous print

Hath the Yankee flavor of wintergreen,

Or, may be, of peppermint.

In Walton the brooks a-babbling tell

Where the cheery daisy grows,

And where in meadow or woodland dwell

The buttercup and the rose.

But best beloved of books, I ween,

Are those which one perceives

Are hallowed by ashes dropped between

The yellow, well-thumbed leaves.

For it’s here a laugh and it’s there a tear,

Till the treasured book is read;

And the ashes betwixt the pages here

Tell us of one long dead.

But the gracious presence reappears

As we read the book again,

And the fragrance of precious, distant years

Filleth the hearts of men

Come, pluck with me in my garden nooks

The posies that bloom for all;

Oh, sweet is the smell of my old, old books

In their places against the wall!

我的花園在怡人角落，

四處彌漫芳香；

因為舊書香氣襲人，

書架倚著高墻。

這部對開本年久色衰，

霉斑有綠有黃；

每頁散發(fā)大海的氣息，

暗示密封船艙。

這是法國佳麗的珍寶，

散發(fā)隱約芳香，

香氣中有百合與水仙，

園中歌聲飛揚。

這本清教徒風(fēng)范的小書，

印得粗魯張狂，

帶著美國佬的冬青味道，

或許有薄荷香。

沃爾頓喋喋不休的小溪旁，

雛菊愉快生長；

而在草地或林場上，

毛茛玫瑰開放。

但是最可愛的書，我想

讓你有所感受，

泛黃發(fā)皺書頁上的灰燼，

讓它倍顯神圣。

這有歡笑，那有淚水，

直至讀完珍藏；

留在書頁之間的灰燼，

講述漫長死亡。

當我們再次閱讀此書，

仍舊倍感親切，

珍貴舊時光留下的芬芳，

充盈人們心房。

來吧，隨我到花園角落，

摘取花朵馨香；

哦，我的舊書香氣襲人，

書架倚著高墻！

Better than flowers are they, these books of mine! For what are the seasons to them? Neither can the drought of summer nor the asperity of winter wither or change them. At all times and under all circumstances they are the same—radiant, fragrant, hopeful, helpful! There is no charm which they do not possess, no beauty that is not theirs.

What wonder is it that from time immemorial humanity has craved the boon of carrying to the grave some book particularly beloved in life? Even Numa Pompilius provided that his books should share his tomb with him. Twenty-four of these precious volumes were consigned with him to the grave. When Gabriel Rossetti’s wife died, the poet cast into her open grave the unfinished volume of his poems, that being the last and most precious tribute he could pay to her cherished memory.

History records instance after instance of the consolation dying men have received from the perusal of books, and many a one has made his end holding in his hands a particularly beloved volume. The reverence which even unlearned men have for books appeals in these splendid libraries which are erected now and again with funds provided by the wills of the illiterate. How dreadful must be the last moments of that person who has steadfastly refused to share the companionship and acknowledge the saving grace of books!

Such, indeed, is my regard for these friendships that it is with misery that I contemplate the probability of separation from them by and by. I have given my friends to understand that when I am done with earth certain of my books shall be buried with me. The list of these books will be found in the left-hand upper drawer of the old mahogany secretary in the front spare room.

我的書比花更妙！季節(jié)更替又如何？無論夏日干旱，還是冬日嚴寒，都無法使其枯萎、將其改變。無論何時何地，書籍始終如一，永遠光彩奪目、芬芳四溢、充滿希望、使人受益！書籍魅力無窮，蘊藏無盡之美。

人類自古就渴望將愛書帶進墳?zāi)梗@是多么奇妙！即使努馬國王也和書籍分享墓穴，用24卷珍貴典籍陪葬。加百利?羅塞蒂[4]的妻子去世后，詩人將未竟的詩篇投入她開敞的墓穴。這是詩人最后的、也是最寶貴的禮物，銘刻妻子在世時的珍貴記憶。

歷史記錄了一個又一個例證：垂死之人靠熟讀書籍得到安慰，許多人彌留之際手持愛書，直至離開人世。即使目不識丁的人也對書籍尊敬有加。許多金碧輝煌的圖書館都是靠文盲遺贈的基金建起的。對那些拒不與書為伴、也不知書中益處的人來說，臨終時刻將是多么可怕！

這便是我與書的友誼。想到和它們分開的日子也許已不遠，我就心生苦楚。我已告知友人，當我離開人世，定要拿愛書陪葬。我家客房里有張古老的桃花心木寫字臺，在寫字臺左邊上層抽屜里能找到這些書的清單。

我徜徉在書籍之間，時而摸摸這本，時而碰碰那本，滿懷深情地注視每一本書。我幻想自己漫步于一座富麗堂皇的花園，鮮花競相綻放，美景盡收眼底，令我心醉神迷。

Eugene Field 尤金?菲爾德

[1]小泉八云（Koizumi Yakumo，1850—1904），原名帕特里克.拉夫卡迪奧.赫恩（Patrick Lafcadio Hearn），旅居日本的英國人。他將日本民間故事改寫成英文短篇，成為現(xiàn)代日本怪談文學(xué)的鼻祖。

[2]威廉.布萊茲（William Blades，1824—1890），英國書目文獻學(xué)家、印刷史家。

[3]湯瑪斯.亨利.赫胥黎（Thomas Henry Huxley，1825—1895），英國著名博物學(xué)家。

[4] 丹蒂.加百利.羅塞蒂（Dante Gabriel Rossetti，1828—1882），英國詩人和畫家。他的妻子在生下一名死嬰后服用過多鴉片酊而死。萬分沮喪的羅塞蒂在她的墓地埋葬了大量未完成的詩稿。