【HP/FB 双语】GGAD通信集——三十五只猫头鹰(13)

我恐怕他已经脱离了黑魔王的初期阶段，我们大概正位于他躲躲闪闪又喜怒无常的早期青春期。通过我们的相处，这种情况我已经很清楚了。不过不幸的是，他没有什么朋友和他共度这个糟糕的阶段，而我已经把这个倒霉的比喻发挥到极致了。

As for the choice you mention—it weighs on me heavily, yes. My Pensieve has been invaluable. And—at times my heart proves difficult to untangle as well.

至于那个你提过的选择——没错，它重重压在我心头上。我的冥想盆是无价的。然而——有时，我也没办法解开我的心结。

One can think almost endlessly on that question, that of Muggles. Though they've answered some of your wonders themselves—the further you look into Muggle artistic criticism, the more you realize that there are valid criteria for judging creative output beyond its practical-magical usefulness. I'm enclosing a text that's been particularly helpful with that, if also dry. One thing I've found particularly difficult to realize, as a wizard, that to a Muggle a life of the mind does, in fact, entail losing any ability to affect reality directly. Yet, for that, it is often surprising how many of them choose such a life, and those who don't, who choose professions of battle and labor where they can change physical reality through their own natural means, are generally considered to be a second class. I'd heard it proposed that they're unconsciously mimicking wizarding society. I think perhaps the cause and effect there is off.

在那个关于麻瓜问题上，人们几乎可以无休止地思考下去。即使他们回答了一些你想知道的——对麻瓜的文化评论研究得越深入，你就越会意识到，评判一件造物的时候，除过具有魔力和实用性，其实还有很多合理的标准。我给你附上一些对这些特别有帮助的文稿，希望它没有被打湿。我发现身为巫师很难认识到的一点就是，麻瓜没有单依靠意识就能直接改变现实的能力。然而于此，常常令人惊讶的是，很多麻瓜都选择了过这种空想的生活。而除此之外的人，那些以劳动为业，通过原始手段来改造现实的人，地位却位于次等。我听说这是他们无意识去模仿魔法社会的行为，但我却并不是这么看的。

But, I beg your pardon, I ramble. This topic has been my pet hobby as of late. And, as you've pointed out, I have a Dark Lord to attend to.

抱歉，我扯得有些远了。这个话题是我最近的小爱好。还有，就像你说的，我还要当心一个黑魔王呢。

[enclosure: Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism]

[附：诺思洛普·弗莱，批评的剖析]

注：

1.《批评的剖析》提出原型批评的基础是神话理论，大概是映照前后文的芬兰史诗《卡萨瓦拉》（其中有神话色彩）的一个小细节。AD每次给GG送的东西分量都不轻，我都担心猫头鹰飞一半体力不支然后掉下去了……

第十七只猫头鹰

June 30th, 1957

Albus—

阿不思——

Oh, that last was unusually brusque for you. Do I detect a hint of annoyance at me Have I upset you in turn Or is it fear at these choices you must make Such a bother it must be, after all, to be the self-appointed leader of the free wizarding world. Or fear of Voldemort Or fear that I hit your nail on the head

上一封信有些不同于寻常的简短了。我是察觉到了一丝你对我的不满了吗？我是又惹你生气了吗？或是说，你在畏惧着这些迫不得已要做出选择？这确实很令人心烦，毕竟你非要把责任揽在肩上，在这种境况下去当一个自封的领导者。又或者是你在害怕伏地魔？还是说你难以承受我这些一针见血的话？

But never mind that. I want to tell you a story, Albus.

但，别去在意那些了。我想给你讲一个故事，阿不思。

When I lie awake at night on my thin mattress, as I so often do, until the moon sinks behind the horizon or out of sight of my narrow window, until the witching-hour chill creeps along the floor of my cell like a living thing, I swim through memories. I have no Pensieve, of course—nothing magical in here but my trusty old watch—but I still have my mind. Often, of course, it is the little things thate up first—my old wand, before I found It, or the woodwork in the walls of a Muggle house I sacked years ago, or the toads I kept as a child. And often I relive particular things, to console myself.

夜晚，当我躺在一层薄薄的床垫上，就像以往那样，清醒着，直到寒意如同活物一般潜伏在地底；直到目睹月光坠落，从狭窄的窗缝间抽离，我便会又一次陷入回忆。我并没有冥想盆，自然——这里除了我那块可靠的旧手表之外，也不可能存在任何与魔法有关的东西——但我至少还拥有记忆。回忆里常会先浮现出我的旧魔杖——我在找到它之前所用的那根，或是多年前我洗劫的一个麻瓜家中墙上的木制品，抑或是孩提时代我曾驯养过的那只蟾蜍。我常常重温这些特别的事情，以此试图给自己带来些许慰藉。

I would like to think I have a good memory. But it is nothingpared to a Pensieve. Here we are again—all those little conveniences of the wizarding world, and how to do without them. There are some memories I sometimes imagine must be worn thin in my mind—and yet they say that constant reminders strengthen a memory. True, perhaps. And yet—I've otten something.

我想我的记忆力还算不错，但这远不足以和冥想盆相比。我们又绕回来了——关于这些魔法世界里诸多小小的便利，以及如何不再依赖于它们。总有一些记忆在我脑海里模糊了痕迹——但人们总说反复回忆可以抵抗遗忘。也许真是这样，也许吧。可是——我已然忘记了一段旧事。