Who IS Sherlock Holmes - Neil McCaw

翻译人员: Zhimin Lin 校对人员: Cissy Yun

More than a century after first emerging

在他第一次在维多利亚时期那亮着煤气灯、迷雾重重的伦敦街头

into the fog-bound, gas-lit streets of Victorian London,

现身一个多世纪之后，

Sherlock Holmes is universally recognizable.

夏洛克·福尔摩斯如今在世界上家喻户晓。

Even his wardrobe and accessories are iconic:

甚至连他的服饰也成了他的标志：

the Inverness cape,

带护肩的斗篷、

deerstalker hat,

猎鹿帽

and calabash pipe,

和葫芦式烟斗，

and figures such as his best friend and housemate Doctor Watson,

而且诸如他最好的朋友和室友华生、

arch-nemesis Moriarty,

死敌莫里亚蒂

and housekeeper Mrs. Hudson

和房东哈德森太太

have become part of the popular consciousness,

也都为公众所熟知

as have his extraordinary, infallible powers of deduction

就像他那用于伸张法律的

utilized in the name of the law,

非凡可靠的推理能力、

his notorious drug use,

他那恶名昭著的吸毒行为

and his popular catchphrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson."

以及他那著名的口头禅：“这很简单，我亲爱的华生。”

And yet many of these most recognizable features of Holmes

然而福尔摩斯这些鲜明特点的相当一部分

don't appear in Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories.

并未在阿瑟·柯南·道尔的原版小说中出现。

Doyle's great detective solves crimes in all sorts of ways,

道尔笔下的伟大侦探使用各种途径侦破案件，

not just using deduction.

而并非只通过推理。

He speculates, and at times even guesses, and regularly makes false assumptions.

他会怀疑，有时甚至靠猜测， 且时常作出错误的假设。

Furthermore, Mrs. Hudson is barely mentioned,

不仅如此，哈德孙太太很少被提及，

no one says, "Elementary, my dear Watson,"

没人说过“这很简单，我亲爱的华生”，

and the detective and his sidekick live apart for much of the time.

这位神探和他的朋友 大多数时候也不住在一起。

Moriarty, the grand villain, only appears in two stories,

大反派莫里亚蒂只在两个故事中出现过，

the detective's drug use is infrequent after the first two novels,

在前两部小说后这位神探也不再频繁吸毒，

and Holmes is rarely enthralled to the English legal system;

他更很少为英国的法律系统所吸引；

He much prefers enacting his own form of natural justice

相比于坚守法律条文，

to sticking to the letter of the law.

他更倾向于以自己的形式伸张正义。

Finally, many of the most iconic elements of the Holmesian legend

最后，福尔摩斯式传奇中的大量标志性元素

aren't Doyle's either.

也不出自道尔。

The deerstalker cap and cape were first imagined by Sidney Paget,

猎鹿帽和斗篷源于故事最初的插画家

the story's initial illustrator.

Sidney Paget的想象。

the curved pipe was chosen by American actor William Gillette

弯曲的烟斗则是美国演员William Gillette用它

so that audiences could more clearly see his face on stage,

来使这样观众能更清楚地看到他的面部。

and the phrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson,"

至于“这很简单，我亲爱的华生”这句话

was coined by author and humorist P.G. Wodehouse.

则是作家和幽默家P.G.Wodehouse的创造。

So who exactly is Sherlock Holmes?

那么福尔摩斯到底是个怎样的人？

Who's the real great detective, and where do we find him?

真正的伟大神探是谁，我们又该到哪去寻找他呢？

Purists might answer that the original Sherlock

正统主义者会回答说 柯南·道尔从他的大学导师

inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's university mentor Dr. Joseph Bell

Joseph Bell博士那得到灵感所创作的夏洛克

is the real one.

是最真实的。

But the fact remains that that version of Sherlock has been largely eclipsed

但事实是大量不同的诠释

by the sheer volume of interpretation,

很大程度上掩盖了这个版本的福尔摩斯，

leaving Doyle's detective largely unrecognizable.

导致道尔笔下的侦探形象模糊不清。

So there's another, more complex,

因此有另一个更加复杂

but perhaps more satisfying answer to the question,

但或许更令人满意的答案，

but to get there, we must first consider the vast body of interpretations

但是，我们必须 首先考虑对于这位侦探的

of the great detective.

海量的不同诠释。

Since Conan Doyle's first story in 1887,

在柯南·道尔1887年发表第一个故事后，

there have been thousands of adaptations of Holmes,

出现了成千上万个改编版的福尔摩斯，

making him perhaps the most adapted fictional character in the world.

使得他几乎成为世界上 被改编次数最多的虚构人物。

That process began with Victorian stage adaptations,

这一过程自维多利亚时期的戏剧改编开始，

and accelerated with the emergence of film.

并在电影最初萌生阶段迅速增加

There were more than 100 film adaptations of Holmes

仅在20世纪前20年就出现了

in the first two decades of the 20th century alone.

超过100种电影改编版的福尔摩斯。

And since then, there have many thousands more in print,

从那以后，更多的版本成千上万地在书籍、

and on film,

电影、

television,

电视、

stage,

and radio.

舞台

和广播中出现。

Holmes has been reinterpreted by people everywhere,

福尔摩斯被各地的人们

in remarkably different, and often contradictory ways.

塑造成不同，甚至相反的形象

These adaptations demonstrate both Holmes's popularity

这些改编同时展现了福尔摩斯的普及性

and his malleability.

以及可塑性。

For instance, he featured in a number of allied anti-Nazi propaganda films

比如，在二战时期，他出现在了同盟国的

during World War II.

许多反纳粹宣传片中。

And both Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt

温斯顿·丘吉尔和富兰克林·迪兰诺·罗斯福

were avid enthusiasts,

都是爱好者，

the latter even joining the Baker Street Irregulars,

后者甚至加入了贝克街小分队，

a Holmesian appreciation society,

一个福尔摩斯鉴赏协会，

and nicknaming one secret service hideout Baker Street.

并将一处特工据点命名为贝克街。

And yet, at the very same time,

然而，与此同时，

Holmes also appeared in various German-language film adaptations,

福尔摩斯也出现在各种德语影片中，

some of which were said to have been much-loved favorites of Adolf Hitler.

其中一些据说是阿道夫·希特勒的至爱。

So let's return to our question.

让我们回到刚才的问题。

Would the real Sherlock Holmes please stand up?

真正的夏洛克·福尔摩斯请现身！

The truth is that this world of adaptation has made him into a palimpsest.

事实是，这些各式各样的改编 已经使他成为一个多义词，

Sherlock is a cultural text,

夏洛克是一种文化的代名词，

repeatedly altered over time as each new interpretation becomes superimposed

它随着每一种诠释的叠加

不断地变化

over those that proceed it.

This means that Sherlock continually evolves,

这意味着夏洛克在不断地进化，

embodying ideas and values often far removed

其拥有的思维和价值观

from those found in Conan Doyle.

都与柯南·道尔的原版相去甚远

And after each particular story ends, Sherlock rises again,

随着每个单一的故事的结束， 夏洛克又会再次出现。

a little changed, perhaps,

with a new face and fresh mannerisms or turns of phrase,

他或许带着一点小小的变化，

but still essentially Sherlock, our Sherlock.

也许是拥有一张新的面孔，或是一句新的口头禅

但本质上，他仍是夏洛克，我们的夏洛克。