经济学人367:温暖的火花

 　　New poetry

　　新诗集
　　Sparks of warmth
　　温暖的火花
　　Love's Bonfire. By Tom Paulin.
　　《爱之篝火》汤姆 坡林著
　　TOM PAULIN, an Anglo-Irish poet and Oxford 1 academic, is no stranger to the evocative power of words. He was born in Leeds in 1949 and grew up in Belfast.
　　汤姆 坡林，一位盎格鲁血统的爱尔兰诗人兼牛津学者，运用字句能量来激荡人心，挥洒自如。他于1949年出生于里兹，后于贝尔法斯特长大成人。
　　His work is attentive 2 to the shift between these differing cultures, the pinpoints 3 of speech that separate one from another.
　　他的作品关注不同文化之间的微妙转换，以及相应的独特语言记号。
　　His poetry takes place both against the backdrop of Irish sectarian violence and in the glare of “that cold intense/English light”;
　　其诗歌创作时期，正逢爱尔兰宗派暴力斗争涌起，同时“冷酷繁复的英文”正焕发光芒，大行其道。
　　his feeling of displacement 4 between the two places described in lean, simple phrases.
　　他在两者之间逡巡，颇有流离之感，于是付诸笔端，词句嶙峋，着意素淡。
　　“Love's Bonfire”, his latest collection, is no less stark 5.
　　《爱之篝火》是他最新的集子，风格一如既往，鲜明夺目。
　　Eight years in the making, Mr Paulin's poetry has been whittled 6 down over years of revision.
　　历时8年，几经批删，坡林先生成诗十分精悍。
　　His short, punchy poems are characterised by their ability to evoke 7 images through the smallest of details, or through sudden shifts of register.
　　虽篇幅短小，却一击中的，其诗特色便是，以最幽微的细节抑或语域的骤然切换，于读者眼前唤起鲜活画面。
　　Often impatient with what he sees as euphemisms 8 or newspeak—“It was some phrase like level playing field/that gunked me as he said it”
　　他对于那些忸怩的委婉语或做作的新闻语极其不耐烦。“‘公平竞争平台'一旦出口/我瞬间陷入泥潭沼泽”。
　　—Mr Paulin's poems fight against lazy uses of language: “let's try to unpack 9 this gave me the cue/to leave”.
　　坡林先生极其反对懒惰地套用现成词句。“‘我们就用这个吧'/此时我应掉头便走”。
　　Like the nearly burned-out bonfire described in the title poem, Mr Paulin's poetry revels 10 in a certain charred 11 bleakness 12.
　　诗集开篇中所描述的，那余烬尚有一丝红亮的篝火，正是坡林先生的诗，仅存词句之焦烬，似无意涵之生息，却别蕴一种狂纵和自得。
　　However, the poems that make up the centre of “Love's Bonfire”—translations and adaptations by Mr Paulin from the work of his contemporary, the Palestinian poet Walid Khazendar—are far more playful.
　　然而，构筑《爱之篝火》主骨的则是坡林先生译自或改写其同代人——巴勒斯坦诗人Walid Khazendar的作品，似乎出于玩乐趣味。
　　Coupling Mr Paulin's lean language with the livelier, surreal images of Mr Khazendar, they are among the most compelling works here.
　　坡林先生的语言瘦骨嶙峋，搭配Khazendar诗作的蓬勃生机和荒诞画面，真是引人入胜的组合。
　　Whether it is the description “you drag your shadow behind you/like it's a ladder” or the dreamlike evocation 13 of someone,
　　无论是“你身后拖着影子/仿佛踩着梯子”之类的句子，或是某人
　　who “wanted to rub his tongue on tree bark/and ask how it happened”, these poems prevent “Love's Bonfire” from becoming too austere 14.
　　“将舌头于树皮上摩擦/问这一切何以发生”之类梦幻的画面，都让《爱之篝火》不会过于素淡寡味。
　　And although Mr Khazendar's poetry can be serious or sinister—one,
　　尽管Khazendar的诗作可能严肃而且恐怖，
　　“Belongings”, opening “Who entered my room when I was out/and moved the vase on the mantelpiece just a tad?”—in Mr Paulin's translations, they never seem too laboured.
　　比如《归属》这首的开头，“是谁趁我外出闯入房间/将壁炉上花瓶挪动一丁点”，坡林先生的翻译却毫无累赘之感。
　　This may surprise some readers who are aware of Mr Paulin's work as a cultural commentator 15 in Britain.
　　对于那些把坡林先生视作英国文化评论员的读者们来说，这些作品可能让他们大吃一惊。
　　On television his political statements are not always so nuanced.
　　他在电视节目里的政治评论并不总是如此意涵微妙。
　　But unlike these appearances, in “Love's Bonfire” Mr Paulin demonstrates the strength that comes with saying less, not unlike relying on only a spark for warmth.
　　恰恰相反，坡林先生在《爱之篝火》里展现了简词素句的力量，所凭依的，不过是一颗温暖的小火花。