Why should you read Sylvia Plath? - Iseult Gillespie

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

“From the tip of every branch,

「從每一個枝頭，

like a fat purple fig,

就像一個豐滿的紫色無花果，

a wonderful future beckoned and winked…

一個美好的未來在招手和眨眼……

but choosing one meant losing all the rest,

但，選擇其一， 就表示失去所有其他的，

and, as I sat there, unable to decide,

我坐在這裡，無法決定，

the figs began to wrinkle and go black,

無花果開始皺起來且變黑，

and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

一個接著一個， 它們落在我的腳邊。」

In this passage from Sylvia Plath’s "The Bell Jar,"

這段文字出自希薇亞 普拉斯的《瓶中美人》，

a young woman imagines an uncertain future–

一位年輕女子想像著 一個不確定的未來——

and speaks to the universal fear

說出了普遍的恐懼，

of becoming paralyzed

害怕有可能因為做出 錯誤選擇而陷於癱瘓。

by the prospect of making the wrong choice.

Although she considered other careers,

雖然普拉斯也有考慮其他職涯，

Plath chose the artist’s way.

但她選擇走上藝術家之路。

Poetry was her calling.

詩作是她的天職使命。

Under her shrewd eye and pen,

在她機靈的洞察和筆觸之下，

everyday objects became haunting images:

日常物品也會變成 揮之不去的影像：

a “new statue in a drafty museum,”

「通風良好的 博物館中的新雕像」、

a shadow in a mirror, a slab of soap.

鏡中的影子、厚片肥皂。

Fiercely intelligent, penetrating and witty,

普拉斯非常聰明、敏銳，且機智，

Plath was also diagnosed with clinical depression.

她也被診斷出重度憂鬱症。

She used poetry to explore her own states of mind

透過詩作，她用最親密的方式

來探索她自己的心境，

in the most intimate terms,

and her breathtaking perspectives on emotion,

對於情緒、自然，以及藝術，

nature and art continue to captivate and resonate.

她那驚人的觀點 持續讓人著迷、共鳴。

In her first collection of poems,

在她的第一部詩集《巨神像》中，

"The Colossus,"

she wrote of a feeling of nothingness:

她寫下了關於「無」的感受：

"white: it is a complexion of the mind.”

「白：它是心靈的膚色。」

At the same time,

同時，她在自然中找到慰藉，

she found solace in nature,

from “a blue mist” “dragging the lake,”

從「藍霧」「拖著湖泊」，

to white flowers that “tower and topple,”

到白花「高聳且搖搖欲墜」，

to blue mussels “clumped like bulbs.”

到藍蚌「像球莖般結集在一起」。

After "The Colossus" she published "The Bell Jar,"

在《巨神像》之後，她又出版了 她唯一的小說《瓶中美人》，

her only novel,

which fictionalizes the time she spent working for Mademoiselle magazine

這本小說取材自她大學時期在紐約

為《佳人》雜誌工作的日子。

in New York during college.

The novel follows its heroine, Esther,

小說的主線劇情 是女主角艾絲瑟的故事，

as she slides into a severe depressive episode,

她遭遇嚴重的憂鬱症發作，

but also includes wickedly funny and shrewd depictions

但同時也納入了 怪異的趣味和精明的敘述，

of snobby fashion parties and dates with dull men.

描繪勢利的派對 以及跟無趣男人約會。

Shortly after the publication of "The Bell Jar,"

在《瓶中美人》出版後沒多久，

Plath died by suicide at age 30.

普拉斯自殺身亡，享年三十歲。

Two years later, the collection of poems she wrote in a burst of creative energy

兩年後，她在過世前幾個月

文思泉湧寫下的詩作被集結成冊，

during the months before her death

was published under the title "Ariel."

以《精靈》作為書名出版。

Widely considered her masterpiece,

《精靈》被廣泛認可為她的傑作，

Ariel exemplifies the honesty and imagination

普拉斯用這本詩集中 所例示的誠實和想像，

Plath harnessed to capture her pain.

來捕捉她的痛苦。

In one of "Ariel's" most forceful poems,

在《精靈》中最有力的 詩作之一「拉撒若夫人」中，

"Lady Lazarus," she explores her attempts to take her own life through Lazarus,

她透過拉撒若來探究 她自己試圖自殺的嘗試，

the biblical figure who rose from the dead.

拉撒若是名死而復活的聖經人物。

She writes, “and I a smiling woman/ I am only thirty/

她寫到：「而我， 微笑的女人／我只有三十歲／

And like the cat I have nine times to die.”

和貓一樣，我可以死九次。」

But the poem is also a testament to survival:

但這首詩也是生存的證明：

“I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air.”

「我帶著一頭紅髮復活／ 我把男人當空氣來吃。」

This unflinching language has made Plath an important touchstone

這種堅定的表達方式， 讓普拉斯成為很重要的試金石，

for countless other readers and writers

讓無數其他讀者及作家當作標準，

who sought to break the silence

尋求打破沉默，

surrounding issues of trauma, frustration, and sexuality.

談論關於創傷、挫折， 以及性慾的相關議題。

"Ariel" is also filled with moving meditations on heartbreak and creativity.

《精靈》也充滿了關於 心碎以及創意的動人沉思。

The title poem begins “Stasis in darkness/

詩集中的同名詩作 開頭寫著「靜止在黑暗中／

Then the substanceless blue/ Pour of tor and distances.”

接著，沒有實體的藍色／ 傾瀉出多岩的山以及距離。」

This sets the scene for a naked ride on horseback in the early morning—

這段文字描繪的， 是清晨裸體騎馬背的場景——

one of Plath’s most memorable expressions of the elation of creative freedom.

對於創意自由帶來的興高采烈， 普拉斯的這種表述方式讓人難忘。

But it is also full of foreboding imagery,

但它也充滿了預示性的意象，

such as “a child's cry” that “melts in the wall”

比如「一個孩子的哭泣」 「融化了牆壁」，

and a “red/eye, the cauldron of morning.”

及「紅色／眼睛，早晨的大鍋」。

This darkness is echoed throughout the collection,

這種黑暗迴蕩在整部詩集當中。

which includes controversial references to the holocaust and the Kamikazes.

詩集也因為提及了大屠殺 以及神風特攻隊而引起爭議。

Even the relics of seemingly happier times are described as crucifying the author:

即使看似比較開心的時代的遺跡， 也被描述成將作者釘上十字架：

“My husband and child smiling out of the family photo;

「我的先生和孩子 從家庭合照中微笑；

Their smiles catch onto my skin, little smiling hooks.”

他們的微笑勾住我的皮膚， 小小的微笑勾子。」

Her domestic dissatisfaction and her husband’s mistreatment of her

她在家中的不滿 及她先生對她的不當對待，

are constant themes in her later poetry.

常常出現在她後期的詩作當中。

After her death, he inherited her estate,

在她死後，他繼承了她的遺產，

and has been accused of excluding some of her work from publication.

且被控告刻意不讓 她的一些作品出版。

Despite these possible omissions and her untimely death,

儘管可能有些她的詩被遺漏了， 且她又過早過世，

what survives is one of the most extraordinary bodies of work

但她留存下來的作品，

屬於二十世紀詩人最不凡的詩作。

by a twentieth century poet.

While her work can be shocking in its rage and trauma,

雖然她的作品在憤怒 以及創傷上十分驚人，

Plath casts her readers as witnesses–

普拉斯讓她的讀者 扮演目擊證人——

not only to the truth of her psychological life,

不僅見證她真正的精神生活，

but to her astounding ability to express what often remains inexpressible.

也見證她將一般無法表述之事物 表述出來的驚人能力。