"引自《黑暗之心》上海交大出版社(2024版)评注本第1页 “The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm:关于这里的翻译,一般来说可以按照英文原文的句序,先说到“帆船稳稳地停住”,再说“潮水上涨,风也几乎停息”。但是仔细推敲,不如两句话颠倒翻译为好。这是为了照顾汉语的行文习惯,在汉语表达中,文章或者演讲的开篇,往往先点明时令和风物,再开始进入叙事。例如苏轼在"
"“The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being"
Droll thing life is- that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose.
诺顿始终是诺顿。。
"It had the appalling face of a glimpsed truth-the strange commingling of desire and hate"
“黑暗的中心”不仅指实体上的非洲刚果,而是一切意义之外的世界;借此,欧洲人得以在无知和实用主义的双重驱动下肆意改造(所谓“殖民”的逻辑),也让康拉德得以返身批判“意义之内”的欧洲,却也付出在叙事中将非洲土著去人性化的代价(“他们”不可被表述、不能言说自身)。这样的结构难以再承载非洲人的视角,倒不是康拉德是不是racist的问题。在这个层面上,任何对此书的简单定性都注定失败。此外,句式结构与整体形式的复杂甚至冗长,无不与简单到老套的海上冒险情节格格不入。// 两千年前,罗马对英格兰;两千年后,英格兰对非洲,从来都是对他者的拒斥和强加改造。难怪萨义德如此重视这篇文本。*LSE English Lit课第一篇