Why should you read Charles Dickens? - Iseult Gillespie

翻译人员: Zibo Huang 校对人员: Bangyou Xiang

The starving orphan seeking a second helping of gruel.

忍饥挨饿的孤儿寻求着 第二份果腹的薄粥。

The spinster wasting away in her tattered wedding dress.

未婚待嫁的老姑娘 在破旧的婚纱中虚度时光。

The stone-hearted miser plagued by the ghost of Christmas past.

铁石心肠的守财奴 饱受过去之灵的折磨。

More than a century after his death,

即便是在离世一百多年之后，

these remain recognizable figures from the work of Charles Dickens.

查尔斯·狄更斯作品中的人物 依旧特点鲜明。

So striking is his body of work that it gave rise to its own adjective.

他的作品如此的引人注目， 让他的写作风格自成一派。

But what are the features of Dickens's writing that make it so special?

但是狄更斯作品的哪些特 征使它如此特别呢？

Dickens’s fiction brims with anticipation

狄更斯的小说让人满怀期待，

through brooding settings, plot twists, and mysteries.

作品贯穿着思维严谨的设定， 曲折的故事情节以及神秘性。

These features of his work kept his audience wanting more.

这些特性激发了观众的求知欲。

When first published, his stories were serialized,

当第一章发行后，作品就开始连载了，

meaning they were released a few chapters at a time in affordable literary journals

也就是在读者买得起的文学期刊上 每次发行几个新章节，

and only later reprinted as books.

只有完结之后才会整理并刊印成书。

This prompted fevered speculation over the cliffhangers

这引发了人们对他设计 的扣人心弦的情节

and revelations he devised.

和所揭露真相的狂热猜测。

Serialization not only made fiction available to a wider audience

连载不仅让作品面向更广大的读者，

and kept them reading,

让他们保持阅读兴趣，

but increased the hype around the author himself.

而且也为作者本身做足了宣传。

Dickens became particularly popular for his wit,

狄更斯因为他的才智变得尤其出名，

which he poured into quirky characters and satiric scenarios.

他将才智完全倾注于离奇的人物 以及戏剧化的讽刺之中。

His characters exhibit the sheer absurdity of human behavior,

他塑造的角色展示了 人类行为中极为荒谬的一面，

and their names often personify traits or social positions,

这些角色的名字往往能展现出 个人特点或社会地位，

like the downtrodden Bob Cratchit,

像受压迫的 Bob Cratchit，

the groveling Uriah Heep,

卑躬屈膝的 Uriah Heap，

and the cheery Septimus Crisparkle.

以及活泼的 Septimus Crisparkle。

Dickens set these colorful characters against intricate social backdrops,

狄更斯在复杂的社会背景中 设立了色彩鲜明的人物形象，

which mimic the society he lived in.

这是对他所生活的社会 的一种写照。

For instance, he often considered

例如，狄更斯经常思考

the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

工业革命所带来的改变。

During this period,

在工业革命时期，

the lower classes experienced sordid working and living conditions.

底层社会居民的工作 和居住环境十分恶劣。

Dickens himself experienced this hardship as a child

狄更斯自身在孩童时期 就经历过这般苦难，

when he was forced to work in a boot blacking factory

在他的父亲因欠债而锒铛入狱后，

after his father was sent to debtors' prison.

他就被迫进入皮靴染色厂工作。

This influenced his depiction of the Marshalsea prison in Little Dorrit,

这影响了他在长篇小说《小杜丽》中 对马歇尔希监狱的描写，

where the titular character cares for her convict father.

其中名义上的角色 就负责照顾她的囚犯父亲。

Prisons, orphanages, or slums may seem grim settings for a story,

故事中监狱，孤儿院或者贫民窟 这些背景看起来残忍，

but they allowed Dickens to shed light

但却使狄更斯能够揭示

on how his society's most invisible people lived.

当时社会中最容易 被忽视的人群的生活。

In Nicholas Nickleby,

在《尼古拉斯·尼克贝》中，

Nicholas takes a job with the schoolmaster Wackford Squeers.

尼古拉斯与学校校长 Wackford Squeers 共事。

He soon realizes that Squeers is running a scam

他很快意识到， Squeers 在经营着一个骗局，

where he takes unwanted children from their parents for a fee

他通过支付费用从而得到 那些父母欲抛弃的孩子，

and subjects them to violence and deprivation.

暴力对待这些孩子们并剥削他们。

Oliver Twist also deals with the plight of children in the care of the state,

《雾都孤儿》同样也讲述了 州孤儿院的孩子们的困难处境，

illustrating the brutal conditions of the workhouse

描绘了冷酷无情的贫民习艺所。

in which Oliver pleads with Mr. Bumble for food.

在这里，Oliver 向 Bumble 先生乞求食物。

When he flees to London, he becomes ensnared in a criminal underworld.

当 Oliver 逃到伦敦后， 却又陷入了地下犯罪的圈套。

These stories frequently portray Victorian life

这些故事频繁描绘了 维多利亚时代（译注：1837-1901)

as grimy, corrupt, and cruel.

阴冷，腐败以及残酷无情的现实。

But Dickens also saw his time as one in which old traditions

但是狄更斯同样也注意到 在他所处的时代，

were fading away.

老传统正日渐式微。

London was becoming the incubator of the modern world

伦敦凭借工业，贸易 以及社会流动能力的新模式，

through new patterns in industry, trade, and social mobility.

渐渐成为现代社会的孵化器。

Dickens's London is therefore a dualistic space:

于是狄更斯笔下的伦敦 成为了二元化的世界：

a harsh world that is simultaneously filled with wonder and possibility.

一面是艰难困苦的世界， 另一面充满着希望与无限可能。

For instance, the enigma of Great Expectations

例如，《远大前程》里的奥秘

centers around the potential of Pip,

就是围绕着主人公 Pip 的潜力，

an orphan plucked from obscurity by an anonymous benefactor

主人公是一名孤儿，默默无闻的他 受到一名匿名神秘人帮助，

and propelled into high society.

进入了上层社会。

In his search for purpose,

在他寻求真相的过程中，

Pip becomes the victim of other people’s ambitions for him

Pip 成为了其他人野心的替罪羊，

and must negotiate with a shadowy cast of characters.

必须与阴影下的角色做出妥协。

Like many of Dickens’s protagonists,

与很多狄更斯笔下的主人公一样，

poor Pip's position is constantly destabilized,

可怜的 Pip 的地位瞬间土崩瓦解，

just one of the reasons why reading Dickens

这就是为何拜读狄更斯的作品

is the best of times for the reader,

对读者来说是最美好的时代，

while being the worst of times for his characters.

同时对他笔下的角色来说 是最悲惨时代的原因之一。

Dickens typically offered clear resolution by the end of his novels,

狄更斯通常在小说的结尾 给出清晰的结局，

– with the exception of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

——除了《艾德温·德鲁德之谜》。

The novel details the disappearance of the orphan Edwin under puzzling circumstances.

该小说详细描述了孤儿 Edwin 在谜一般的环境下消失了。

However, Dickens died before the novel was finished

然而，狄更斯本人 却在小说完成前去世了，

and left no notes resolving the mystery.

没有留下任何信息 来辅助解决这个谜题。

Readers continue to passionately debate over who Dickens intended as the murderer,

读者们继续激烈的争论 谁是狄更斯笔下的杀手，

and whether Edwin Drood was even murdered in the first place.

以及是否 Edwin Drood 在第一次出场就被杀死了。

Throughout many adaptations,

在许多改编版本，

literary homages,

文学致敬

and the pages of his novels,

以及小说的字里行间中，

Dickens’s sparkling language and panoramic worldview

狄更斯引人入胜的文笔 以及全景版的世界观

continue to resonate.

持续产生着共鸣。

Today, the adjective Dickensian

时至今日，形容词 Dickensian

often implies squalid working or living conditions.

仍然暗指污秽的工作 或是肮脏的生活环境。

But to describe a novel as Dickensian is typically high praise,

但是形容一部小说为 Dickensian，通常来说是较高的称赞，

as it suggests a story in which true adventure and discovery

因为它展示了发生在 意料之外的地点的

occur in the most unexpected places.

真实冒险和发现。

Although he often explored bleak material,

尽管狄更斯经常探寻 阴森冷酷的世界本质，

Dickens’s piercing wit never failed to find light in the darkest corners.

但他那利刃般的思绪 总能在最黑暗的角落发现光明。