Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue

翻译人员: Riley WANG 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

"War and Peace,"

《战争与和平》

a tome,

它是一部恢弘的巨著，

a slog,

也是一部呕心沥血的作品。

the sort of book you shouldn't read in bed because if you fall asleep,

它并不是一本枕边书， 因为如果你打算睡了，

it could give you a concussion, right?

它会冲击你的心灵，不是吗？

Only partly.

不过，这也只是对一部分人来说。

"War and Peace" is a long book, sure,

《战争与和平》确实是一本很厚的书，

but it's also a thrilling examination of history,

但它精彩地展现了历史，

populated with some of the deepest, most realistic characters you'll find anywhere.

书中充满了现实、却不乏深刻的人物。

And if its length intimidates you, just image how poor Tolstoy felt.

如果读这个大部头令你止步， 可以想象托尔斯泰写它时将多么痛苦。

In 1863, he set out to write a short novel about a political dissident

1863年，托尔斯泰本来打算 写一本关于政见不合的短篇小说，

returning from exile in Siberia.

此时他刚从西伯利亚流亡回来。

Five years later, he had produced a 1,200 page epic

5年后，他洋洋洒洒写了1200页。

featuring love stories,

这部著作中包含了爱情故事、

battlefields,

bankruptcies,

战争、

经济破产、

firing squads,

消防队员、

religious visions,

宗教、

the burning of Moscow,

莫斯科大火、

and a semi-domesticated bear,

以及半驯化的熊，

but no exile and no political dissidents.

但是书中并未讲到流亡和政见不合。

Here's how it happened.

其原因如下：

Tolstoy, a volcanic soul,

托尔斯泰这个暴脾气的人，

was born to a famously eccentric aristocratic family in 1828.

1828年出生于贵族家庭， 此家庭以性格古怪而闻名。

By the time he was 30, he had already dropped out of Kazan University,

三十岁时，他从喀山大学辍学，

gambled away the family fortune,

挥霍着家族的财富，

joined the army,

参了军，

written memoirs,

写了回忆录，

and rejected the literary establishment to travel Europe.

选择去西欧旅游而不是潜心文学。

He then settled into Yasnaya Polyana, his ancestral mansion,

他后来定居在 Yasnaya Polyana， 这也是他的祖居。

to write about the return of the Decembrists,

在这里他写下了十二月党人的回归，

a band of well-born revolutionaries pardoned in 1856 after 30 years in exile.

即一群出身良好的改革分子 在经历30年流放后于1856年被赦免。

But, Tolstoy thought,

但托尔斯泰认为，

how could he tell the story of the Decembrists return from exile

如果不描述十二月党人在1825年

without telling the story of 1825,

对沙皇尼古拉斯二世进行的起义，

when they revolted against the conservative Tsar Nicholas I?

那该如何描写十二月党人的结束流放呢？

And how could he do that without telling the story of 1812,

这又不得不谈到1812年时

when Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia

拿破仑对俄罗斯的入侵事件

helped trigger the authoritarianism the Decembrists were rebelling against?

触发了十二月党人所反对的专制主义。

And how could he tell the story of 1812 without talking about 1805,

而描述1812年则需要描述1805年，

when the Russians first learned of the threat Napoleon posed

当时俄罗斯在奥斯特里茨战役中失败，

after their defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz?

从而开始感受到拿破仑的威胁。

So Tolstoy began writing,

因此，托尔斯泰决定了

both about the big events of history

他既要描写历史上的重要事件，

and the small lives that inhabit those events.

也要描写历史洪流中小人物的生活。

He focused on aristocrats, the class he knew best.

他把目标放在自己熟悉的贵族阶层，

The book only occasionally touches

书中只是偶尔涉及到

on the lives of the vast majority of the Russian population,

俄罗斯的普通大众，

who were peasants, or even serfs,

其中包括农民，甚至农奴，

farmers bound to serve the owners of the land on which they lived.

这些人在当时不得不为地主服务。

"War and Peace" opens on the eve of war between France and Russia.

《战争与和平》的故事以法俄战争前夕为开始。

Aristocrats at a cocktail party fret about the looming violence,

鸡尾酒会上的贵族们 为逼近的战事而担忧，

but then change the topic to those things aristocrats always seem to care about:

但话题迅速转向 贵族们一向关注的问题：

money,

钱、

sex,

色、

and death.

死亡。

This first scene is indicative

书的第一节也暗示了

of the way the book bounces between the political and personal

在一个前所未有的宏大背景下，

over an ever-widening canvas.

情节同时在政治和个人两方面展开。

There are no main characters in "War and Peace."

《战争与和平》中并没有主角。

Instead, readers enter a vast interlocking web

相反，读者们会看到

of relationships and questions.

一张巨大的关系和问题交错的网。

Will the hapless and illegitimate son of a count

那个不幸的私生子

marry a beautiful but conniving princess?

能够娶到美丽但却骄纵的公主吗？

Will his only friend survive the battlefields of Austria?

他唯一的朋友能够在战争中活下来吗？

And what about that nice young girl falling in love with both men at once?

那个对两个男人一见钟情 的年轻女孩又会如何呢？

Real historical figures mix and mingle with all these fictional folk,

真实的历史人物和虚构的形象彼此交叉，

Napoleon appears several times,

拿破仑在书中出现数次，

and even one of Tolstoy's ancestors plays a background part.

托尔斯泰的祖先甚至都在书中扮演了角色。

But while the characters and their psychologies are gripping,

尽管人物及其心理描写扣人心弦，

Tolstoy is not afraid to interrupt the narrative

托尔斯泰并不担心打断原有的叙述

to pose insightful questions about history.

而提出深刻的，关于历史的问题：

Why do wars start?

为什么战争会爆发？

What are good battlefield tactics?

什么是好的战场战术？

Do nations rise and fall on the actions of so-called great men like Napoleon,

伟大人物，例如拿破仑， 是否决定了国家的兴亡？

还是说更大的文化和 经济力量起着决定作用？

or are there larger cultural and economic forces at play?

These extended digressions are part of what make "War and Peace"

这些延伸出的题外话也成就了这本巨著

so panoramic in scope.

使其拥有更加宏大的格局。

But for some 19th century critics,

但19世纪的一些评论认为，

this meant "War and Peace" barely felt like a novel at all.

很难说《战争与和平》是一部小说。

It was a "large, loose, baggy monster," in the words of Henry James.

Henry Jame 认为这是 “大部头、松散、拖沓的怪物。”

Tolstoy, in fact, agreed.

事实上，托尔斯泰也承认这点。

To him, novels were a western European form.

于他而言，小说是西欧的一种文学形式。

Russian writers had to write differently because Russian people lived differently.

而俄罗斯人民的生活方式和西欧不同， 这使得俄罗斯作家需要做出改变。

"What is 'War and Peace'?" he asked.

他自问“什么是《战争与和平》？”

"It is not a novel.

“它并不是部小说，

Still less an epic poem.

也不像一部史诗，

Still less a historical chronicle.

也不是编年体历史。

'War and Peace' is what the author wanted and was able to express

它是作者用一种能够表达的题材

in the form in which it was expressed."

去表达他想要、并且能够表达的内容。

It is, in other words, the sum total of Tolstoy's imaginative powers,

换句话说，这是托尔斯泰全部的想象力，

and nothing less.

仅此而已。

By the time "War and Peace" ends,

《战争与和平》结尾时，

Tolstoy has brought his characters to the year 1820,

书中的时间已经回溯到1820年。

36 years before the events he originally hoped to write about.

这比托尔斯泰最初设想的1856年早了36年，

In trying to understand his own times,

在试图了解自己所处的时代的情况下，

he had become immersed in the years piled up behind him.

他沉浸在过去。

The result is a grand interrogation into history,

最终诞生了这部追索 在战争背景下，历史、

culture,

文化、

philosophy,

哲学、

psychology,

心理、

and the human response to war.

以及人类如何应对战争的巨著。