為何沒人收藏我的作品？

Why Does Nobody Collect Me?

為何沒人收藏我的作品？

Robert Benchley

羅伯特.本奇利

作者簡介

羅伯特.本奇利（Robert Benchley，1889—1945），散文作家、幽默作家、著名演員，《生活》（Life）和《紐約客》（The New Yorker）雜志戲劇評論家。

本奇利1912年畢業(yè)于哈佛大學。他經(jīng)常把自己生活中的挫折拿出來大書特書。其作品包括《所有的事》（Of All Things）、《我不知所措的十年》（My Ten Years in a Quandary）等，大多嘲諷了中產(chǎn)階級生活的可惡之事。他還制作并主演過多部喜劇短片，其中短片《如何入睡》（How to Sleep）曾獲奧斯卡獎。

本文最初發(fā)表于1934年9月的《版本記錄》（The Colophon），后收入1947年威廉.塔哥（William Targ）編撰的《愛書人的歡宴》（Carrousel for Bibliophiles）。作者不乏自嘲地發(fā)問“我比海明威年紀大，作品也比他多得多。......為啥就沒人關(guān)注呢？”文中充滿了反話和雙關(guān)語，滑稽逗趣的文字令人捧腹。

Some months ago, while going through an old box of books looking for a pressed nasturtium, I came across a thin volume which, even to my dreamer’s instinct, seemed worth holding out, if only for purposes of prestige.

It was a first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, the edition brought out in Paris by the Three Mountains Press in 1924, while Hemingway was just “Old Ernie” who lived over the sawmill in the rue Notre Dames des Champs. I knew that it must be worth saving, because it said in the front that the edition consisted of one hundred and seventy copies, of which mine was number thirty-nine. That usually means something.

幾個月前，為了尋找一朵夾在書里的旱金蓮，我翻了一整箱舊書。在箱子里，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了一本薄薄的小冊子。夢想家的直覺告訴我，如果為了使自己顯得有面子，這本書值得珍藏。

那是歐內(nèi)斯特?海明威《在我們的時代里》的初版本，1924年由巴黎三山出版社出版。當時，海明威還只是住在圣母院大街鋸木廠樓上的“老歐尼”。我知道這本書值得收藏，因為書前寫著，該書首印170本，我這本編號39。通常來說，這意義非凡。

It so happened that, a few weeks later, “Old Ernie” himself was using my room in New York as a hide-out from literary columnists and reporters during one of his stop-over visits between Africa and Key West. On such all-too-rare occasions he lends an air of virility to my dainty apartment which I miss sorely after he has gone and the furniture has been repaired.

More to interrupt his lion-hunting story than anything else, I brought out my copy of In Our Time and suggested that, in memory of happy days around the Anis Del Oso bowl at the Closerie des Lilas, it might be the handsome thing for him to inscribe a few pally sentiments on the fly-leaf. Not, as I took pains to explain to him, that I was a particular admirer of his work, so much as that I wanted to see if he really knew how to spell.

巧的是幾周后，“老歐尼”在從非洲到基維斯特[1]的途中到我家短暫停留，躲避那些文學專欄作家和記者。這段不同尋常的日子里，他為我雅致的公寓增添了不少男子氣概。他離開后，家具整修了一番。我心酸地懷念起公寓過去的樣子。

為了不讓他安心寫那篇獵獅故事[2]，我拿出《在我們的時代里》，建議他在扉頁上寫幾句友情贈言，紀念我們在丁香園咖啡館喝著茴香酒度過的歡樂時光。我告訴他，這事挺顯風度。我煞費苦心地向他說明，自己是他的狂熱粉絲。而事實上，我更想看他會不會拼寫。

Encouraged by my obviously friendly tone, he took a pen in his chubby fist, dipped it in a bottle of bull’s blood, and wrote the following:

To Robert (“Garbage Bird”) Benchley,

hoping that he won’t wait for prices

to reach the peak—

from his friend,

Ernest (“—”) Hemingway

The “Garbage Bird” reference in connection with me was a familiarity he had taken in the past to describe my appearance in the early morning light of Montparnasse on certain occasions. The epithet applied to himself, which was unprintable except in Ulysses, was written deliberately to make it impossible for me to cash in on the book.

Then, crazed with success at defacing In Our Time, he took my first edition of A Farewell to Arms and filled in each blank in the text where Scribner’s had blushed and put a dash instead of the original word. I think that he supplied the original word in every case. In fact, I am sure of it.

On the fly-leaf of this he wrote:

To R. (G). B. from E. (—). H.

Corrected edition. Filled-in blanks.

Very valuable. Sell quick.

我的語氣中充滿了友好。在這顯而易見的慫恿下，他用胖乎乎的手攥住一支筆，往牛血紅酒[3]里蘸了蘸，一揮而就：

致羅伯特?（“廢鳥”）?本奇利：

希望他沒盼著

書價一飛沖天

好友：歐內(nèi)斯特?（“——”）?海明威

“廢鳥”是他以前給我起的綽號，用來形容我某次在蒙帕納斯晨光映照下的模樣。他自己的外號更是不登大雅之堂，只有在《尤利西斯》里才可能出現(xiàn)。他故意把那個綽號寫上扉頁，是存心不讓我拿書賣錢。

成功“糟?！蓖辍对谖覀兊臅r代里》的面目之后，海明威意猶未盡，又把我的《永別了，武器》[4]初版本拿出來，把書里被刪的詞逐一還原。這些詞曾讓斯克里布納出版社臉紅心跳，全被該社換成了破折號。我猜想，他大概把每個詞都改了回來。事實上，我很確信。

他在扉頁上寫道：

E. (——). H. 致 R. (G). B.[5]

修訂版。補全空白。

非常值錢。祝速賣。

Now, oddly enough, I had never considered selling either book. I had known, in a general way, that a first edition of The Gutenberg Bible would be worth money, and that, if one could lay hands on an autographed copy of Canterbury Tales, it would be a good idea to tuck it away, but that a first edition of one of Ernie’s books could be the object of even Rabelaisian jesting as to its commercial value surprised and, in a vague sort of way, depressed me. Why are not my works matters for competitive bidding in the open market?

I am older than Hemingway, and have written more books than he has. And yet it is as much as my publishers and I can do to get people to pay even the list price for my books, to say nothing of a supplementary sum for rare copies. One of my works, Love Conquers All, is even out of print, and yet nobody shows any interest in my extra copy. I have even found autographed copies of my books in secondhand book shops, along with My Life and Times by Buffalo Bill. Doesn’t anybody care?

奇怪的是，我從未想過賣掉其中任何一本。我知道，《古登堡圣經(jīng)》的初版一般都很值錢，而且如果誰能搞到簽名版的《坎特伯雷故事集》，最好還是把它藏起來。不過，歐尼的初版書竟能賣到如此天價，足以成為拉伯雷式的笑話。我在吃驚之余，還感到莫名的郁悶。為什么我的作品公開拍賣就叫不上價呢？

我比海明威年長，作品也比他多。我和出版商竭盡全力，期待讀者哪怕按標價付款也好。指望他們?yōu)橄∪卑姹径喔饵c錢，就更是奢望了。我的大作《愛征服一切》幾乎絕版，但我手頭的存貨卻沒人感興趣。我甚至發(fā)現(xiàn)自己簽過名的書躺在二手書店里，就在布法羅?比爾的《我的生活與時代》旁邊。難道就沒人在乎嗎？

What is there about me and my work that repels collectors? I am handsome, in an unusual sort of way, and speak French fluently, even interspersing some of my writings with French phrases. True, some of my copy, as it goes to the printer, is not strictly orthodox in spelling and punctuation, but the proof-readers have always been very nice about it, and, by the time my books are out, there is nothing offensive to the eye about them. And yet I have been told by hospital authorities that more copies of my works are left behind by departing patients than those of any other author. It does seem as if people might at least take my books home with them.

...

But, until the collecting public comes to its senses, I seem to be saddled, not only with a set of mutilated galleys, but about twenty-five rare copies of my earlier works, each unique in its way. Possibly Hemingway would like them in return for the two books of his own that he has gone to so much trouble to render unsalable for me.

我和我的作品究竟哪里不好，嚇跑了收藏者？從某個特殊角度看，我長得挺帥，我能說一口流利的法語，甚至能用法語為作品稍加點綴。的確，我的一些作品付梓之時，拼寫和標點有點小毛病，但校對員都沒抱怨什么。而且書出版以后，那些小錯也不怎么礙眼。不過，醫(yī)院負責人告訴我，出院病人留下的書里，我的作品總比別人的多。我還以為，人們至少會把我的書帶回家呢。

……

不過看來直到收藏者普遍意識到我作品的價值，我將一直身負重擔。我的重擔包括一套殘缺不全的校樣，以及25本我的早期作品，每本都是“與眾不同”的稀有版本。或許海明威愿意收藏我的上述大作，來報答我收藏他那兩本被題詞糟蹋、無法脫手的小書。

醫(yī)院負責人告訴我，出院病人留下的書里，我的作品總比別人的多。我還以為，人們至少會把我的書帶回家呢。

Robert Benchley 羅伯特?本奇利

[1] 基維斯特（Key West），美國佛羅里達群島最南邊的一個島嶼和城市，是著名的旅游勝地。海明威的許多作品都在這里寫成。

[2] “獵獅故事”指《非洲的青山》。1933年，海明威偕妻子和朋友去非洲狩獵，回來后便寫了這部紀實作品。

[3] 牛血紅酒，匈牙利埃格爾出產(chǎn)的著名紅酒。

[4] 《永別了，武器》，海明威的代表作。

[5] R. (G). B.為羅伯特.“廢鳥”.本奇利 [Robert (“Garbage Bird”) Benchley]的縮寫，E. (——). H.為歐內(nèi)斯特.“——”.海明威 [Ernest (“—”) Hemingway]的縮寫。