Everything you need to know to read "Frankenstein" - Iseult Gillespie

翻译人员: Yulin Li 校对人员: Yolanda Yao

In 1815, the eruption of Mount Tambora plunged parts of the world into darkness

在1815年，坦博拉火山的爆发 让世界上的许多地方都陷入了黑暗，

and marked a gloomy period that came to be known as The Year Without a Summer.

也开始了后来被称作 “无夏之年”的昏暗时期。

So when Mary and Percy Shelley arrived at the House of Lord Byron on Lake Geneva,

所以当玛丽·雪莱和她的丈夫 珀西·雪莱来到莱蒙湖湖旁的拜伦家时，

their vacation was mostly spent indoors.

他们只能主要在室内度假。

For amusement, Byron proposed a challenge to his literary companions:

为了娱乐大家，拜伦给他的 文人好友们提出了一个挑战：

Who could write the most chilling ghost story?

谁能写出最让人背后发凉的鬼故事呢？

This sparked an idea in 18-year-old Mary.

这个挑战给了18岁的玛丽 一个新主意。

Over the next few months, she would craft the story of Frankenstein.

在接下来的几个月时间里， 她打造出了科学怪人的故事。

Popular depictions may evoke a green and groaning figure,

大部分人也许会把它想成 一个绿色、发出恶心叫声的身影，

but that's not Mary Shelley's monster.

但是那可不是玛丽·雪莱心中的怪兽。

In fact, in the book, Frankenstein refers to the nameless monster's maker,

事实上在书中， “科学怪人”指的是一位无名的怪兽制造者，

Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

维克多·弗兰肯斯坦博士。

So tense is the struggle between creator and creature

创造者和被创造者之间的挣扎 是如此的紧张

that the two have merged in our collective imagination.

以至于两者在我们的想象中 已经合二为一了。

Before you read or reread the original text,

在你读或者重温原文之前，

there are several other things that are helpful to know about Frankenstein

还有些其他有助于 你了解《科学怪人》的事情，

and how it came to assume its multiple meanings.

以及它的多重含义是怎么来的。

The book traces Dr. Frankenstein's futile quest to impart and sustain life.

这本书讲述了弗兰肯斯坦博士一次 关于延长生命和长生不老的失败的探索。

He constructs his monster part by part from dead matter

他用已死物质的不同部分 来组建他的怪兽，

and electrifies it into conscious being.

然后再把他通电让他成为 一个有意识的存在。

Upon completing the experiment, however, he's horrified at the result and flees.

然而就在他快要完成这项任务之前， 他被试验的结果惊吓到然后逃走了。

But time and space aren't enough to banish the abandoned monster,

但是时间与空间不足以流放 这被抛弃的怪兽，

and the plot turns on a chilling chase between the two.

于是故事情节变成了 他们两者之间的惊悚博弈。

Shelley subtitled her fireside ghost story,

雪莱给了她这个篝火边的 鬼故事一个副标题——

"The Modern Prometheus."

“当代普罗米修斯”。

That's in reference to the Greek myth of the Titan Prometheus

这引用了希腊神话中 宙斯之子众神之一的普罗米修斯

who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity.

从神界偷偷把火种给人类的故事。

This gave humanity knowledge and power,

这给了人类知识和力量，

but for tampering with the status quo,

但是因为改变了当时的现状，

Prometheus was chained to a rock and eaten by vultures for eternity.

普罗米修斯被锁在一块巨石上， 永久的供秃鹫吃他的肉。

Prometheus enjoyed a resurgence in the literature of the Romantic Period

普罗米修斯在18世纪浪漫时期的文学里

during the 18th century.

经历过了一次“重生”。

Mary was a prominent Romantic,

玛丽显然是一个浪漫主义者，

and shared the movement's appreciation for nature, emotion, and the purity of art.

深透了浪漫主义运动中 对自然、感情和艺术之纯粹的欣赏。

Two years after Mary released "Frankenstein",

在玛丽发表《科学怪人》的两年后，

Percy reimagined the plight of Prometheus in his lyrical drama,

珀西将普罗米修斯的悲剧 重现在了他的抒情戏剧

"Prometheus Unbound."

《被释放的普罗米修斯》中。

The Romantics used these mythical references

浪漫主义艺术者们 引用古代神话

to signal the purity of the Ancient World in contrast to modernity.

表现出较之现代社会，古代世界的纯粹。

They typically regarded science with suspicion,

他们通常带着怀疑的角度 看待科学，

and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales

《科学怪人》是最先关于人工智能

about artificial intelligence.

的几个发人深省的故事之一。

For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural,

对雪莱来说， 恐惧并不来自于超自然，

but born in a lab.

而来自于一个实验室。

In addition, gothic devices infuse the text.

并且，哥特式手法贯穿在整部作品。

The gothic genre is characterized by unease,

哥特类型以不安、

eerie settings,

诡异的场景，

the grotesque,

怪诞，

and the fear of oblivion -

和对被遗忘的恐惧而著名 ——

all elements that can be seen in "Frankenstein."

所有的这些元素， 都有体现在《科学怪人》中。

But this horror had roots in personal trauma, as well.

但是这部恐怖小说也有作者个人创伤的痕迹。

The text is filled with references to Shelley's own circumstances.

这本书到处都充满了对雪莱 自己的处境的隐喻。

Born in 1797, Mary was the child of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.

出生于1797年，玛丽是威廉·戈德温 和玛丽·沃斯通克拉夫特的孩子。

Both were radical intellectual figures,

父母两人都是激进的知识分子，

and her mother's book, "A Vindication of the Rights of Women,"

她母亲的书 《为女权辩护》

is a key feminist text.

是女权主义的关键书籍。

Tragically, she died as a result of complications from Mary's birth.

但是遗憾的是， 她死于玛丽出生时引起的并发症。

Mary was haunted by her mother's death,

母亲的死一直困惑着玛丽，

and later experienced her own problems with childbirth.

之后她自己也经历了 生育中的问题。

She became pregnant following her elopement with Percy at 16,

她在16岁和珀西私奔后 就怀了孕，

but that baby died shortly after birth.

可是她的孩子在出生后不久就夭折了。

Out of four more pregnancies, only one of their children survived.

在接下来的四次怀孕经历中， 只有一个孩子存活了下来。

Some critics have linked this tragedy to the themes explored in "Frankenstein."

有些评论家把这一悲剧 与《科学怪人》的主题联系了起来。

Shelley depicts birth as both creative and destructive,

雪莱将新生描绘成创新与毁灭，

and the monster becomes a disfigured mirror of the natural cycle of life.

怪兽也变成了一个自然生命循环中 被摧毁的照映。

The monster, therefore, embodies Dr. Frankenstein's corruption of nature

所以怪兽象征了弗兰肯斯坦博士 在追求荣耀的道路上

in the quest for glory.

对自然的摧毁。

This constitutes his fatal flaw, or hamartia.

这就造成了他的致命缺陷。

His god complex is most clear in the line,

他的过度操控欲 在这个句子里被很清楚地体现，

"Life and death appear to me ideal bounds which I should first break through

“生与死对我来说 是最理想的应该打破的第一个界限，

and pour a torrent of light onto our dark world."

然后把光的激流倒入我们黑暗的世界中。“

Although he accomplishes something awe-inspiring,

虽然他完成了令人敬畏的事情，

he has played with fire at his own ethical expense.

他同时也在他自己的道德方面冒了险。

And that decision echoes throughout the novel,

这样的决定在整本小说中呼应，

which is full of references to fire and imagery that contrasts light and dark.

并用了许多火的影像和光与暗的对比。

These moments suggest not only the spark of Prometheus's fire,

这样子的时刻不仅仅暗示了 普罗米修斯之火的光辉，

but the power of radical ideas to expose darker areas of life.

也揭示了激进想法 在揭开生活黑暗面的力量。