Why should you read “Fahrenheit 451”? - Iseult Gillespie

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

“It was a pleasure to burn.

「燃燒讓人愉悅。

It was a special pleasure to see things eaten,

看東西被吞噬、看到東西變黑、

to see things blackened and changed.”

改變，特別讓人愉悅。」

Fahrenheit 451 opens in a blissful blaze - and before long,

《華氏 451 度》的開頭 是幸福的熊熊燃燒——沒多久，

we learn what’s going up in flames.

我們就會了解在火焰中 發生了什麼事。

Ray Bradbury’s novel imagines a world

雷布萊伯利的小說中 有個幻想的世界，

where books are banned from all areas of life -

在那裡，在各領域中 書都是被禁止的——

and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden.

也禁止持有書籍， 更不用說閱讀了。

The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains.

主角蒙塔格是位消防員， 要負責摧毀殘餘物。

But as his pleasure gives way to doubt,

但他的樂趣無法解除他的懷疑，

the story raises critical questions of how to preserve one’s mind in a society

這個故事中最關鍵的問題就是， 在這種自由意志、自我表現，

where free will, self-expression, and curiosity are under fire.

以及好奇心都被燒掉的社會中， 要如何保存一個人的心智？

In Montag’s world, mass media has a monopoly on information,

在蒙塔格的世界裡， 大眾媒體獨佔資訊，

erasing almost all ability for independent thought.

幾乎消除了所有獨立思考的能力。

On the subway, ads blast out of the walls.

在地鐵，牆壁上大聲播放廣告。

At home, Montag’s wife Mildred listens to the radio around the clock,

在家中，蒙塔格的太太 米爾德里德整天都在聽廣播，

and three of their parlor walls are plastered with screens.

客廳的三面牆壁被螢幕蓋滿。

At work, the smell of kerosene hangs over Montag’s colleagues,

工作時，蒙塔格的同事 身上散發著煤油味，

who smoke and set their mechanical hound after rats to pass the time.

他們打發時間的方式是抽菸 和放他們的機械獵犬去抓老鼠。

When the alarm sounds they surge out in salamander-shaped vehicles,

當警報響起時，他們會 衝上外面的蠑螈型車輛，

sometimes to burn whole libraries to the ground.

有時要把整座圖書館燒毀。

But as he sets tomes ablaze day after day like “black butterflies,”

但，隨著蒙塔格像「黑蝴蝶」 一樣日覆一日地焚書，

Montag’s mind occasionally wanders to the contraband that lies hidden in his home.

他的思想偶爾會神遊到 他家中藏的違禁品上。

Gradually, he begins to question the basis of his work.

漸漸地，他開始質疑 他的工作的基礎。

Montag realizes he’s always felt uneasy -

蒙塔格發現他總是感到不自在——

but has lacked the descriptive words to express his feelings in a society

但他沒有文字可以表述他的感受， 因為在這個社會中，

where even uttering the phrase “once upon a time” can be fatal.

光是唸出「很久很久以前」 這個句子就會招致殺身之禍。

Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world governed

《華氏 451 度》所描述的世界是由

by surveillance, robotics, and virtual reality-

監控、機器人， 以及虛擬現實所主宰——

a vision that proved remarkably prescient, but also spoke to the concerns of the time.

這個遠景已經被證明 是很有先見之明的，

但也說出了這個時代的擔憂。

The novel was published in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.

這本小說於 1953 年出版， 那時是冷戰的高峰。

This era kindled widespread paranoia and fear

這個時代激起的 是廣泛的妄想與恐懼，

throughout Bradbury’s home country of the United States,

遍及布萊伯利的母國：美國，

amplified by the suppression of information and brutal government investigations.

資訊的打壓和殘酷的 政府調查讓狀況更糟。

In particular, this witch hunt mentality

特別是這種獵女巫的心態，

targeted artists and writers who were suspected of Communist sympathies.

目標是被懷疑贊同 共產主義的藝術家和作家。

Bradbury was alarmed at this cultural crackdown.

布萊伯利警覺到這種文化壓迫。

He believed it set a dangerous precedent for further censorship,

他認為這開了危險的先例， 可能招致進一步的審查制度，

and was reminded of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria

且讓他想起了在法西斯統治時，

and the book-burning of Fascist regimes.

亞歷山大圖書館被摧毀， 書籍都被燒毀。

He explored these chilling connections in Fahrenheit 451,

他在《華氏 451 度》中探討了 這些讓人心寒的連結，

titled after the temperature at which paper burns.

書名則是紙張燃燒時的溫度。

The accuracy of that temperature has been called into question,

溫度的精確性有待確認，

but that doesn’t diminish the novel’s standing

但那並不會影響到這本小說

as a masterpiece of dystopian fiction.

身為反烏托邦傑作的地位。

Dystopian fiction as a genre amplifies troubling features of the world around us

反烏托邦虛構小說是一種類別，

會放大我們周遭世界中 讓人憂慮的特徵，

and imagines the consequences of taking them to an extreme.

並想像這些特徵 到了極端時會有什麼後果。

In many dystopian stories,

在許多反烏托邦的故事中， 政府針對不情願的對象施加約束。

the government imposes constrictions onto unwilling subjects.

But in Fahrenheit 451,

但在《華氏 451 度》中，

Montag learns that it was the apathy of the masses

蒙塔格發現，其實是大眾的冷漠

that gave rise to the current regime.

造成了目前的政權。

The government merely capitalized on short attention spans

政府只利用注意力短暫

and the appetite for mindless entertainment,

及大家喜歡不用腦娛樂的特性，

reducing the circulation of ideas to ash.

就把想法的流通化為灰燼。

As culture disappears, imagination and self-expression follow.

隨著文化消失，接著消失的 就是想像和自我表現。

Even the way people talk is short-circuited

連大家說話的方式也是短路的，

- such as when Montag’s boss Captain Beatty describes the acceleration of mass culture:

比如，蒙塔格的老闆比提隊長

是這樣描述大眾文化的加速：

"Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click? Pic? Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here,

「把影片加速，蒙塔格，快。 點？圖？看、眼、現在、影片、

這裡、那裡、快速、步調、 上、下、內、外、

There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh!

為何、如何、誰、 什麼、哪裡、啊？呃！

Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom! Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests.

砰！啪！重擊、乒、乓、碰！ 消化—消化、消化—消化—消化。

Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes!"

政治？一個專欄、 兩句話、一道標題！

接著，半空中，通通消失！」

In this barren world, Montag learns how difficult it is to resist when

在這貧瘠的世界中， 蒙塔格了解到，

當沒有什麼要守住的時候， 要抗拒是很難的。

there's nothing left to hold on to.

Altogether, Fahrenheit 451 is a portrait of independent thought

整體來說，《華氏 451 度》

是在描繪獨立思想 面臨絕種邊緣——

on the brink of extinction -

and a parable about a society which is complicit

它也是個寓言，說明社會其實

in its own combustion.

也是讓它自己燃燒的共犯之一。