Titan of terror: the dark imagination of H.P. Lovecraft - Silvia Moreno-García

翻译人员: Yue Zhang 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

Arcane books of forbidden lore,

关于禁忌传说的隐秘书籍，

disturbing secrets in the family bloodline,

令人不安的家族秘密，

and terrors so unspeakable the very thought of them might drive you mad.

以及难以言说的恐惧事件， 每联想到它们，足以让你发狂。

By now, these have become standard elements in many modern horror stories.

如今，这些都已成为 许多现代恐怖小说的标准元素。

But they were largely popularized by a single author–

然而，它们能如此流行， 一位作家功不可没——

one whose name has become an adjective

他的名字已经演化成形容词

for the particular type of terror he inspired.

用以形容一种特别的恐怖故事类型， 他是其灵感来源。

Born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1890,

1890 年，霍华德·菲利普斯·洛夫克拉夫特 出生于罗德岛州，普罗维斯登。

Howard Phillips Lovecraft grew up admiring the Gothic horror stories

他从小喜爱 爱伦·坡和罗伯特·钱伯斯

written by Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Chambers.

创作的哥特式恐怖小说。

But by the time he began writing in 1917,

他于 1917 年开始创作，

World War I had cast a long shadow over the arts.

然而在这之前，第一次世界大战 让艺术长久地蒙上了阴影。

People had seen real horrors,

人们看到了真正的恐惧，

and were no longer frightened of fantastical folklore.

对那些奇幻的民间传说， 不再害怕。

Lovecraft sought to invent a new kind of terror,

洛夫克拉夫特试图 创造一种新的恐怖故事类型，

one that responded to the rapid scientific progress of his era.

这一故事类型与他所处的 时代中科技的快速发展大相呼应。

His stories often used scientific elements to lend eerie plausibility.

他的故事通常采用科学元素， 以达到恐怖的“逼真感”。

In "The Colour out of Space,"

在小说《星之彩》中，

a strange meteorite falls near a farmhouse,

一颗奇怪的流星砸向 一个农场附近，

mutating the farm into a nightmarish hellscape.

将农场突然变为 一个噩梦般的恐怖场景。

Others incorporated scientific methodology into their form.

其他故事则是将科学方法论 整合到故事形式之中。

"At the Mountains of Madness" is written as a report of an Antarctic expedition

小说 《疯狂山脉》 被写成一篇南极探险报告，

that unearths things better left undiscovered.

挖掘出一些不该被了解的东西。

In others, mathematics themselves become a source of horror,

在其他故事中， 数学本身成为了恐怖之源，

as impossible geometric configurations

无可能的几何排列

wreak havoc on the minds of any who behold them.

但凡人眼盯着它们， 会对大脑造成巨大破坏。

Like then-recent discoveries of subatomic particles or X-rays,

比如，当时刚发现的 亚原子粒子或 X 光，

the forces in Lovecraft’s fiction were powerful,

在洛夫克拉夫特的小说中， 它们拥有强大的力量，

yet often invisible and indescribable.

然而通常是无形的， 难以描述。

Rather than recognizable monsters, graphic violence, or startling shocks,

没有描写可辨识的怪物，

写实的暴力，或骇人的刺激，

the terror of “Lovecraftian” horror lies in what’s not directly portrayed–

洛夫克拉夫特式恐怖在于 那些间接隐晦的刻画——

but left instead to the dark depths of our imagination.

刻画的内容充分加深了 我们的黑暗想象力。

Lovecraft’s dozens of short stories, novellas, and poems

洛夫克拉夫特创作的 许多短篇小说，中篇小说和诗歌

often take place in the same fictional continuity,

通常建构于同一个虚构体系中，

with recurring characters, locations, and mythologies.

有着重复出现的角色，场景和神话。

At first glance,

乍眼一看，

they appear to be set within Lovecraft’s contemporary New England.

它们的场景似乎都被设定于 洛夫克拉夫特当时所在的新英格兰。

But beneath the surface of this seemingly similar reality lie dark masters,

然而，在看似相似的现实表层之下， 却潜藏着黑暗的主宰，

for whom Earth’s inhabitants are mere playthings.

于它们而言， 地球上的居民仅是玩物罢了。

More like primordial forces than mere deities,

洛夫克拉夫特的 《旧日支配者》中刻画的神明，

Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones lurk at the corners of our reality.

不仅仅是神明，更像是一种原始力量， 潜伏于我们的现实的角落里。

Beings such as Yog-Sothoth,

如犹格·索托斯这样的存在，

“who froths as primal slime in nuclear chaos

“它形为一团太初淤泥， 在原初混沌之核源中泛着泡沫

beyond the nethermost outposts of space and time.”

超越空间与时间的最底处的边界。”

Or the blind, idiot god Azathoth,

或如盲目痴愚之神，阿撒托斯，

whose destructive impulses are stalled only by

想要阻止他的破坏冲动，

the “maddening beating of vile drums

“只能疯狂地敲打肮脏的巨鼓，

and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.”

吹受诅咒的长笛，吹出 单调乏味让人作呕的哀鸣之音。”

These beings exist beyond our conceptions of reality,

这些存在，超出了 我们对现实的认知范畴，

their true forms as inscrutable as their motives.

他们真正的外形， 同他们的动机一样，难以捉摸。

Lovecraft’s protagonists–

洛夫克拉夫特塑造的主人公——

often researchers, anthropologists, or antiquarians–

通常是研究者，人类学家，或古董商——

stumble onto hints of their existence.

意外发现他们（神明）存在的蛛丝马迹。

But even these indirect glimpses are enough to drive them insane.

即便只有间接的一瞥， 足以让他们丧失理智。

And if they survive,

如果他们存活下来，

the reader is left with no feeling of triumph, only cosmic indifference–

读者也不会感觉这是胜利， 只体会到宇宙的冷漠——

the terrible sense that we are but insignificant specks

这种感觉非常可怕， 我们不过是微不足道的一粒尘埃，

at the mercy of unfathomable forces.

被某些深不可测的力量支配着。

But perhaps the greatest power these creatures had

但是，也许正是这些神明 所拥有的最强大的力量

was their appeal to Lovecraft’s contemporaries.

强烈吸引着 与洛夫克拉夫特同时代的人。

During his lifetime,

在洛夫克拉夫特的一生中，

Lovecraft corresponded with other writers,

他与其他作家通信，

encouraging them to employ elements and characters from his stories in their own.

鼓励他们在自己的故事里 采用他故事中的元素和角色。

References to Lovecraftian gods or arcane tomes

洛夫克拉夫特式神明或隐秘书卷，

can be found in many stories by his pen pals,

在他的笔友所创作的 许多故事中都被引用，

such as Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch.

其笔友包括罗伯特·E·霍华德 和罗伯特·布洛赫。

Today, this shared universe is called the Cthulhu Mythos,

如今，这一共享的宇宙世界 被叫做克苏鲁神话，

named after Lovecraft’s infamous blend of dragon and octopus.

名字来源于洛夫克拉夫特所创造的 恶名昭著的龙与章鱼的结合体怪物。

Unfortunately,

不幸的是，

Lovecraft’s fear of the unknown found a less savory expression

在他的个人观点中， 洛夫克拉夫特对未知的恐惧的表达，

in his personal views.

并不尽人意。

The author held strong racist views,

这位作家的言辞中， 带着强烈的种族歧视色彩，

and some of his works include crude stereotypes and slurs.

而他的某些作品中， 有着粗鲁的刻板印象和诽谤言辞。

But the rich world he created would outlive his personal prejudices.

然而，他所创造的丰富世界， 相比他的个人偏见，影响更深远。

And after Lovecraft’s death,

在洛夫克拉夫特死后，

the Cthulhu Mythos was adopted by a wide variety of authors,

克苏鲁神话体系 被大量的作者采用，

often reimagining them from diverse perspectives

通常是从多元的角度 来重新构想它们，

that transcend the author’s prejudices.

超越了他的个人偏见。

Despite his literary legacy,

尽管留下许多文学遗产，

Lovecraft was never able to find financial success.

洛夫克拉夫特却没能 获得经济上的成功。

He died unknown and penniless at the age of 46–

他无名而卒，身无分文， 年仅46岁——

a victim of the universe’s cosmic indifference.

他也是一名受害者， 遭受着宇宙的冷漠。

But his work has inspired numerous short stories, novels,

但是，他的作品 却为众多短篇故事、小说、

tabletop games, and cultural icons.

桌游和文化意象带来了灵感。

And as long as humans feel a sense of dread about our unknown future,

只要人类对我们未知的未来 尚具一丝恐惧，

Lovecraftian horror will have a place in the darkest corners of our imagination.

洛夫克拉夫特式恐惧就会存在于 我们想象中最黑暗的角落里。