Why should you read "Don Quixote"? - Ilan Stavans

翻译人员: Riley WANG 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

Mounting his skinny steed,

骑上瘦马，

the protagonist of Don Quixote

主人公堂吉诃德

charges an army of giants.

向一队巨人发起进攻。

In his eyes, it is his duty

在他的眼中，

以心爱的女人达辛妮亚之名，

to vanquish these behemoths

将这些庞然大物彻底击败 是他的职责所在，

in the name of his beloved lady, Dulcinea.

However, this act of valor is ill conceived.

然而，这个英勇举动却欠缺考虑。

As his squire Sancho Panza explains to him

他的随从桑秋·潘沙又一次向他解释，

time and again, these aren’t giants;

这些并非巨人；

they are merely windmills.

它们不过是风车而已。

Don Quixote is undeterred,

堂吉诃德仍不气馁，

but his piercing lance

但是他刺出的长矛

is soon caught in their sails.

立刻就被风车的风帆卡住了。

Never discouraged,

这位骑士永不泄气，

the knight stands proudly, and becomes

他骄傲地挺直胸膛，

even more convinced of his mission.

更加确信自己的使命。

This sequence encapsulates

这组景象反映了

much of what is loved about Don Quixote,

人们为何喜爱堂吉诃德，

the epic, illogical, and soulful tale of

这个经典的、没有逻辑却真挚的，

Alonso Quijano,

关于阿隆索·吉哈诺的故事。

who becomes the clumsy but valiant

这位笨拙而又勇敢的主人公——

Don Quixote of la Mancha, known as

拉曼却地区的堂吉诃德

也被称为愁颜骑士。

the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.

Originally published in two volumes,

这本书最初分两卷出版，

the narrative follows Don Quixote

故事跟随堂吉诃德的脚步

as he travels through central and northern Spain

遍及西班牙中部和北部，

fighting the forces of evil.

记叙了他与邪恶势力的斗争。

Despite Don Quixote’s lofty imagination,

尽管堂吉诃德有出色的想象力，

his creator, Miguel de Cervantes,

他的创作者米格尔·德·塞万提斯

could never have imagined his book would

从未想到他的书

become the best-selling novel of all time.

竟能成为最畅销的小说。

Barring 5 years as a soldier,

在做了五年士兵之后，

and 5 more enslaved by pirates,

塞万提斯被海盗奴役了五年，

Cervantes spent most of his life

他在人生大部分的时间中

as a struggling poet and playwright.

都是一个痛苦的诗人和剧作家。

It wasn’t until his late 50’s

直到50多岁时，

that he published his greatest creation:

他发布了自己最杰出的作品，

an epic satire of chivalry novels.

一部经典的讽刺骑士小说。

At this time,

在当时，

medieval books chronicling the adventures

中世纪时期有很多书籍

of knights and their moral code

记述骑士历险故事和骑士道德准则，

dominated European culture.

它们在欧洲文化中占据主导地位。

While Cervantes was a fan,

虽然塞万提斯也是拥趸之一，

he was weary of these repetitive tomes,

但他对这些陈词滥调也感到厌倦，

which focused more on listing heroic feats

这些书的内容都旨在列举英雄事迹，

than character development.

而并非人物的成长发展。

To challenge them, he wrote Don Quixote,

塞万提斯写下了堂吉诃德， 向这些骑士小说发起了挑战。

the story of a hidalgo, or idle nobleman,

这是关于一个游手好闲贵族的故事，

who spends his days and nights

这位西班牙绅士日日夜夜

reading chivalry novels.

都在读骑士小说。

Driven mad by these stories,

他被这些小说搞疯了，

he fashions himself a champion for the downtrodden.

把自己当成受压迫人民的捍卫者。

Everyone in his village

同村庄的每个人

tries to convince him to give up his lunacy,

都试图劝说他放弃这些愚蠢行为，

going so far as to burn some of the

村民甚至不惜烧掉

堂吉诃德书房中的部分骑士小说。

lurid books in his personal library.

But Don Quixote is unstoppable.

但是没有什么能阻止堂吉诃德，

He dresses up in old shining armor,

他穿起古老闪亮的铠甲，

mounts his skinny horse,

骑上他的瘦马，

and leaves his village in search of glory.

离开了村庄，前去寻找荣耀。

Cervantes’ novel

塞万提斯的小说

unfolds as a collection of episodes

详细地展开了一组故事，

detailing the mishaps of the valiant knight.

描述了这位勇敢骑士的不幸遭遇。

Yet unlike the chivalry books

和其他骑士书籍不同，

and perhaps all other prior fiction,

或者说和所有之前的虚构小说不同，

Cervantes’ story deeply investigates

塞万提斯的故事深刻探讨了

the protagonist’s inner life.

主人公的内心世界。

Don Quixote matures as the narrative develops,

随着叙事的发展 堂吉诃德不断成熟，

undergoing a noticeable transformation.

他经历了显而易见的改变。

This literary revelation

这种文学展开方式

has led many scholars to call Don Quixote

让许多学者将堂吉诃德称为

the first modern novel.

第一本现代小说。

And this character development

这种人物性格的发展

doesn’t happen in isolation.

并不是割裂独立的，

Early on, Don Quixote is joined

一开始，堂吉诃德的伙伴

by a villager-turned-squire

是同村的村民桑丘·潘沙，

named Sancho Panza.

他后来成为了一名乡绅。

Sancho and Don Quixote

桑丘和堂吉诃德

are a study in opposites:

是截然相反的两类人：

with one as the grounded realist

一个是脚踏实地的现实主义者，

to the other’s idealism.

另一个则是理想主义者。

Their lively, evolving friendship is often credited

他们生动的，不断演化的友谊

经常被认为是 主人公和助手组合的最早原型，

as the original hero and sidekick duo,

inspiring centuries of fictional partnerships.

这也启发了后续几个世纪 小说中的伙伴关系。

Don Quixote was a huge success.

堂吉诃德获得了巨大的成功。

Numerous editions were published across Europe

在17世纪，

不计其数的版本在全欧洲发行，

in the seventeenth century.

Even in the Americas,

甚至传到了美国，

where the Church banned all novels

而当时美国的教会禁止各类小说，

for being sinful distractions,

认为它分散人们的精力，是有罪的存在，

audiences were known to enjoy pirated editions.

但读者们则享受着读盗版书的快乐。

The book was so well received that

这本书好评如潮，

readers clamored for more.

读者们强烈要求看后续情节。

After a rival author attempted to cash in

某个作家写出一个假的后续作品以此赚钱，

on a fake follow-up, Cervantes released

在这一事件后，

the official sequel in response.

塞万提斯写出了正统的后续故事。

Now published alongside the first volume

现在，第二卷随第一卷共同出版，

as a completed text, this second volume picks up

共同构成一部完整的作品，

第二卷增加了原来版本中遗漏的部分，

where the original left off,

only now Don Quixote and Sancho have become folk heroes.

只有在现在的版本中， 堂吉诃德和桑丘才成为民间英雄。

Just as in real-life, Cervantes included

塞万提斯把现实生活中小说的成功

his novel’s success in the world of his characters.

写进了他笔下角色的世界。

This unconventional meta-awareness

这种一反常规的超越式的思考意识

created philosophical complexity,

创造出哲学层面的复杂性，

as the knight and his squire ponder

骑士和随从开始思考

the meaning of their story.

他们的故事带来了何种意义。

Unfortunately, Cervantes had sold

不幸的是，

塞万提斯当时以低价将书的版权卖出。

the book’s publishing rights for very little.

He died rich in fame alone.

他去世时仅是名声显赫，却并无多少财富。

But his treatise on the power of creativity

但是他的出色想象力

and individualism has inspired

和个人主义精神影响了

art,

艺术、

literature,

文学、

popular culture,

流行文化、

and even political revolution.

甚至是政治革命。

Don Quixote argues

堂吉诃德认为

that our imagination greatly informs our actions,

我们的想象力极大地影响我们的行动，

making us capable of change,

使我们能够改变，

and, indeed, making us human.

也使我们为人。