Seeing Hands (Eric De Mauny)

Seeing Hands

In the Soviet Union several cases have been reported recently of people who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls. One case concerns an eleven-year-old schoolgirl, Vera Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things with different parts of her skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. One day she came into his office and happened to put her hands on the door of a locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there, and even described the way they were done up in bundles.

Vera’s curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research institute in the town of Ulyanovsk, near where she lives, and in April she was given a Federal Republic. During these tests she was able to read a newspaper through an opaque screen and, stranger still, by moving her elbow over a child’s game of Lotto she was able to describe the figures and colours printed on it; and, in another instance, wearing socking and slippers, to make out with her foot the outlines and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet. Other experiments showed that her knee and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all these test Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive things with her skin. It was also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.

====

这篇文章一直记着，是因为大学时候的气功与特异功能热，有钱学森
和清华大学领头，科学研究与群众运动得虎虎声色。

后来又被于光中、司马南等批伪，于是又一片哀鸿！

读这篇文才知道什么是对事情应有的态度。曾经看过一个瑞典科学家
对生物眼睛进化的研究，得知早期不少生物皮肤的感光性能，接着就
生出一个凹陷般的眼结构，象后来生出的耳凹陷结构一样。

诚如歌德的形态学精神，生物源初的感知都在皮肤上，以后渐渐进化
（异化）出诸窍来。然而皮肤对声，光等的感觉并未全失。

再说，蝙蝠使用声纳；恒河、长江和亚马逊豚在浑水中完全失去视觉
，以声纳透视；以至于某些昆虫、夜行负鼠或河鼠仅凭足须接触扫描
就能得到周围的全景图来。

用声纳触摸扫描出来的全景图，与一般眼睛相差无几，如果再加上一
层经验习惯和心理修饰的话。

Plato Today(R.H.S. Crossman)

Plato Today

The modern Plato, like his ancient counterpart, has an unbounded contempt for politicians and statesmen and party leaders who are not university men. He finds politics a dirty game, and only enters them reluctantly because he knows that at the very least he and his friends are better than the present gang. Brought up in the traditions of the ruling classes, he has a natural pity for the common people whom he has learnt to know as servants, and observed from a distance at their work in the factory, at their play in the parks and holiday resorts. He has never mixed with them or spoken to them on equal terms, but has demanded and generally received a respect due to his position and superior intelligence. He knows that if they trust him, he can give them the happiness which they crave. A man of culture, he genuinely despises the self-made industrialist and newspaper-king: with a modest professional salary and a little private income of his own, he regards money-making as vulgar and avoids all ostentation. Industry and finance seem to him to be activities unworthy of gentlemen, although, alas, many are forced by exigencies of circumstance to take some part in them. An intellectual, he gently laughs at the superstitions of most Christians, but he attends church regularly because he sees the importance of organized religion for the maintenance of sound morality among the lower orders, and because he dislike the skepticism and materialism of radical teachers. His genuine passions are for literature and the philosophy of science and he would gladly spend all his time in studying them. But the plight of the world compels his unwilling attention, and when he sees that human stupidity and greed are about to plunge Europe into chaos and destroy the most glorious civilization which the world has known, he feels that it is high time for men of good sense and good will to intervene and to take politics out of the hands of the plutocrats of the Right and the woolly-minded idealists of the Left. Since he and his kind are the only representatives of decency combined with intelligence, they must step down into the arena and save the masses for themselves.

====
这篇兼评兼叙，评叙中流溢出许多精彩的东西。很幸运大学能受这样
的英语教育，由新概念到剑桥证书一级，都是世界一流的文章。

喜欢的句子：
…he gently laughs at the superstitions of most Christians, but he attends church regularly because he sees the importance of organized religion for the maintenance of sound morality among the lower orders, and because he dislike the skepticism and materialism of radical teachers.

His genuine passions are for literature and the philosophy of science and he would gladly spend all his time in studying them.
:
…he feels that it is high time for men of good sense and good will to intervene and to take politics out of the hands of the plutocrats of the Right and the woolly-minded idealists of the Left.

Patterns of Culture(Ruth Benedict)

Patterns of Culture

Custom has not been commonly regarded as subject of any great moment. The inner workings of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behaviour at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behaviour more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberrant. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role that custom plays in experience and in belief, and the very great varieties it may manifest.

No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. Even in his philosophical probings he cannot go behind these strerotypes; his very concepts of the true and the false will still have reference to his particular traditional customs. John Dewey has said in all seriousness that the part played by custom in shaping the behaviour of the individual as over against any way in which he can affect traditional custom, is as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue over against those words of his own baby talk that are taken up into the vernacular of his family. When one seriously studies the social orders that have had the opportunity to develope autonomously, the figure becomes no more than an exact and matter-of-fact observation. The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviour. By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities, its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities. Every child that is born into his group will share them with him, and no child born into one on the opposite side of the globe can ever achieve the thousandth part. There is no social problem it is more imcumbent upon us to understand than this of the role of custom. Until we are intelligent as to its laws and varieties, the main complicating facts of human life must remain unintelligible.

The study of custom can be profitable only after certain preliminary propositions have been accepted, and some of these propositions have been violently opposed. In the first place any scientific study requires that there be no preferential weighting of one or another of the items in the series it selects for for its consideration. In all the less controversial fields like the study of cacti or termites or the nature of nebulae, the necessary method of study is to group the relevant material and to take note of all possible variant forms and conditions. In this way we have learned all that we know of the law of astronomy, or of the habits of the social insects, let us say. It is only in the study of man himself that the major social sciences have substituted the study of one local variation, that of Western civilization.

Anthropology was by definition impossible as long as these distinctions between ourselves and the primitive, ourselves and the barbarian, ourselves and the pagan, held sway over people’s minds. It was necessary first to arrive at that degree of sophistication where we no longer set our own belief over against our neighbour’s superstition. It was necessary to recognize that these institutions which are based on the same premises, let us say the supernatural, must be considered together, our own among the rest.

====

我以为现代散文中，带有人类学思想的英国绅士们的文章最有见的。一直渴望能
在华文世界中读到这样的文章，哪怕是片言只语。。。

恐怕还得等二十年吧！

很喜欢这几句：
:
No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.
:
…is as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue over against those words of his own baby talk that are taken up into the vernacular of his family.
:
Until we are intelligent as to its laws and varieties, the main complicating facts of human life must remain unintelligible.
:
Anthropology was by definition impossible as long as these distinctions between ourselves and the primitive, ourselves and the barbarian, ourselves and the pagan, held sway over people’s minds.

Painting as a Pastime(Winston Chruchill)

Painting as a Pastime

A gifted American psychologist has said, ‘Worry is a spasm of the emotion; the mind
catches hold of something and will not let it go.’ It is useless to argue with the mind in
this condition. The stronger the will, the more futile the task. One can only gently
insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. And if this something else is rightly
chosen, if it is really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually,
and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and
repair begins.

The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of first
importance to a public man. But this is not a business that can be undertaken in a day or
swiftly improvised by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental
interests is a long process. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good
ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when
needed.

To be really happy and really safe, on e ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and
they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: ‘I will take an interest in this
or that.’ Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire
great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any
benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do.
Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled
to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use
offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of
playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the
politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about
serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the week-end.

As for the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, who can gratify
every caprice and lay their hands on almost every object of desire for them a new
pleasure, a new excitement is only an additional satiation. In vain they rush frantically
round from place to place, trying to escape from avenging boredom by mere clatter and
motion. For them discipline in one form or another is the most hopeful path.

It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two
classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly,
those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have
their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their
reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its
simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second
class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough.
Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced
interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative
outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed it may
well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of
banishing it at intervals from their minds.

===
很喜欢邱吉尔这一篇。人吃饱了饭，怎样生活是很重要的，孔子有礼乐，西洋有
礼拜堂，邱吉尔却说至少要有两个真正独立的兴趣爱好！

是谁说过：不会休息的人就不会工作。我以为不止工作，不会休息的人根本就不
会生活。很喜欢这几句：
:
The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground;
they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be
at hand when needed.
:
To be really happy and really safe, on e ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real.
:
As for the unfortunate people who can … For them discipline in
one form or another is the most hopeful path.

忧郁(Spleen)-Charles Baudelaire

忧郁

1.

雨月，整个城市使它感到气恼，
它从瓮中把大量阴暗的寒冷
洒向附近墓地的苍白的亡魂，
把一片死气罩住多雾的市郊。

我的猫在方砖地上寻找垫草，
不停地摇着它那生疮的瘦身，
老诗人的魂在落水管里升沉，
象怕冷的幽灵似的发出哀号。

大钟在悲鸣，冒着烟气的柴薪，
用假声伴奏伤风的钟摆之声，
这时，在一个患浮肿的老妇人

死后留下的发臭扑克牌里，
红心侍从和黑桃皇后在一起
闷闷地交谈他俩过去的爱情。

2.

我有比活了一千年更多的回忆。

一只在抽屉里塞满了账单、诗词
情书、诉状、抒情歌曲以及用收据
包裹着一些浓密的头发的大橱，
也不及我烦闷的脑子藏着这样
多的秘密。它乃是金字塔、大坟场
它收容了比万人冢更多的死尸。
—我是一块连月亮也厌恶的墓地，
那儿，爬行着长蚯蚓，象悔恨一样
老是缠住我最亲爱的死者不放。
我是充满枯蔷薇的旧日女客厅，
杂乱地放着一些过时的流行品，
发愁的粉画，布歇的褪色的油绘
独自发出拨塞的香水瓶的香味。
在多雪之年的沉重的雪花下面
当阴郁的冷淡所结的果实—厌倦
正在扩大成为不朽之果的时光
还有什么比这跛行的岁月更长？
—活的物质啊，今后，你不过是一块
在多雾的撒哈拉沙漠深处的沉睡
被茫茫的恐怖所包围的花岗岩！
不过是个不见知于冷淡的人世、
古老的人面狮，在地图上被遗忘，
野性难驯，只会对夕阳之光歌唱。

3.

我象是一个多雨之国的王者
豪富而却无力，年轻而已老衰，
他嘲笑那些卑躬屈膝的教师
对爱犬和其他动物感到厌腻。
猎物、鹞鹰、或者看到他的百姓
死在阳台前，都不能使他开心。
听到宠爱的小丑唱滑稽的歌，
也不能使这冷酷的病夫解忧；
饰有百合花纹的床变成坟墓
任何君王都感到满意的侍女
也想不出作什么猥亵的打扮
能使这年轻的活尸露出笑脸。
为他制造黄金的博士也不能
从他本质里根除腐败的成份，
由罗马人传过来的浴血洗澡
(权贵们到晚年时期都会想到)，
也难重温他迟钝的尸体，那里
流着忘川的绿水，却没有血液。

4.

当天空象盖子般沉重而低垂，
压在久已厌倦的呻吟的心上，
当它把整个地平线全部包围，
泻下比夜更惨的黑暗的昼光；

当大地变成一座潮湿的牢房，
在那里，“希望”就象一只蝙蝠，
用怯懦的翅膀不断拍打牢墙，
又向朽烂的天花板一头撞去；

当雨水洒下绵绵无尽的雨丝，
仿佛一座大牢狱的铁栏一样，
当一群无声息的讨厌的蟢子
来到我们的头脑的深处结网，

这时，那些大钟突然暴跳如雷，
向长空发出一阵恐怖的咆哮，
象那些无家可归的游魂野鬼，
那样玩固执拗，开始放声哀号。

—一长列的柩车，没有鼓乐伴送，
在我的灵魂里缓缓前进；“希望”
失败而哭泣，残酷暴虐的“苦痛”
把黑旗插在我低垂的脑壳上。

===
这个有现代味，就是缺音韵，法语中要好一些，还有人谱曲，曲中有
爵士味。

波德莱尔本人爱素描，现代诗中似乎画大于音，后现代音画都不要了
，只好参禅。

可是中国人参了一千五百年的禅，还是参不开算盘。

睡眠的精靈

睡眠的精靈

美如仙子
跚跚來遲的睡神
快讓我擺脫精神煎熬
與肉體疲憊

你悄悄走過麥地
小鳥在樹梢安營
風中搖晃的百合
早已在月下酐睡

星睡﹐河睡﹐風也睡
世間一切都已沉睡
跚跚來遲的睡神
為什么還守在窗扉?

進屋來吧﹗進屋來吧﹗
放出睡眠的小精靈
讓夜深難眠的天靈蓋上
都有她們的降臨

再把你臂上的絲巾
借我裁一段夢境﹐夢啊﹗
快讓我擺脫精神煎熬
與肉體疲憊

2004/03/26

====

胡写一首小歌谣，给不好入睡的过去。

〖母親河〗

〖母親河〗

— 致故鄉的墓地

夜深
媽媽在放河燈
媽媽也放成了一盞河燈

河上清風
都是她平日裡的音聲

清早﹐打着露水
摸一澡盆鯽魚
砸破藍花碗﹐做了一個月子

毒日頭下
河沿槌被子的聲音
青石板堆起的肥皂泡裡
團團的誰的身影

閃炸雷﹑刀子雨
一窩小雞偎縮在母親懷裡
小河漲水。。。

黃昏
星星爬到屋梁上
迎盼母親和魚的夕陽

05/10/2001

===
今天母亲节，读了华的母亲诗，想到自己的母亲。拿出一首三年前母
亲节的诗，也还能唤醒不少沉睡的记忆。。。

诗中的语言是另一类语言，诗中的情景是河岸的情景。

唐璜的道德光譜(金?c?)

唐璜的道德光譜

金慶雲

當唐璜的手被石像捏住，自知大限已至，仍然不肯悔改：「懺悔！」「不！」「懺悔！」「不！」「懺悔！」「不！」這三次對答，是所有歌劇裡最恐怖、最勇敢的聲音……

這機率不比一顆大隕石擊中地球來得高，震動也不來得小：一個精采的題材正好擊中天才作曲家，一個公認的，可能是人類史上最天才的天才。

歌德錯過了，到老還在懊惱：「莫札特該為浮士德作曲的。」他寫信給席勒：「所有你的戲劇理想在《唐喬望尼》裡都實現了。」

莫札特的天才令所有人懾服，包括貝多芬。但他說：我不可能用莫札特那樣的劇本。像《唐喬望尼》這類「不道德」的題材，不值得莫札特為之浪費天才。

這不道德的題材卻多麼引人！關於唐璜，至今有五百種以上的各類文學或藝術創作，五千種以上研究評論分析。其中莫札特的歌劇佔據著最中心、最頂峰。不，它根本不屬於其中。因為它的音樂，使這題材超越了善惡爭論，黑白對立，進入另一種境界。使每一個人物各有其存在的理由。

這題材，莫里哀用法文，拜倫用英文，普希金用俄文寫過。是齊克果在《或此或彼》裡的命題，是卡繆的薛西弗斯神話的佳例。這歌劇，華格納在《歌劇與戲劇》裡反覆讚嘆（莫札特的歌劇，當然就是戲劇），赫曼赫塞稱之為「人類最後一件完美」。

莫札特可沒那麼嚴肅。自己將之歸入喜歌劇，演出時定為詼諧劇。這是絕無冷場的偵探故事、冒險故事、愛情故事、滑稽故事、鬼故事。具備了一切吸引觀眾的條件，但不等於就是偉大作品。令其不朽的，還是莫札特的音樂。

這是唐璜倒楣的一天。自從失手殺人，諸事不順。不斷獵艷者同時也是被獵者。自吹自擂卻四處碰壁的風流手段似乎還不如逃生本領高強。他躲進墓園，為他所殺的騎士長石像竟然發話。不信邪的唐璜邀石像共餐。石像依約前來，把他拖進了地獄。

當唐璜的手被石像捏住，自知大限已至，仍然不肯悔改：

「懺悔！」「不！」「懺悔！」「不！」「懺悔！」「不！」

這三次對答，是所有歌劇裡最恐怖、最勇敢的聲音。或許唐璜不只是一個花花公子，而是一個莊嚴的悲劇英雄，一個革命者，一個干犯天條的普羅米修斯。他堅持自己的生活方式，堅持選擇生活方式的權利。

是的，唐璜何罪，該遭此下場？勾引婦女，始亂終棄，似乎不值得大驚小怪。刺死騎士長，也非蓄意。追根究柢，所有人看不慣的，是他的生活態度，縱情享樂，活在當下，一個天不怕地不怕的無神（鬼）論者。

在終曲六重唱裡，唐璜下了地獄，「我們這些好人」，重新回到，重新尋找自己的生活，平靜的，多半是乏味的生活。沒有了唐璜，故事隨之結束。但沒有人會忘記唐璜。每個人都或多或少的沾到了他愛滋帶原者的血液。

但為什麼莫札特賦予唐璜那光明的、樂天的音樂？到底莫札特是什麼態度？貝多芬早把他推上了道德天秤。樂如其人，作品不就是人格的表彰麼？就如電影《阿瑪迪斯》裡薩里耶利質疑的，為什麼一個浪蕩輕浮的小子，竟會得到上帝的鍾愛，賦予無比的天才？

這就像我們不明白，怎麼有人能夠置身於喧鬧的舞會之中，一邊喝著甜酒，高談闊論，一邊在筆下寫出晶瑩透明的音樂？這是天才最大的奧祕。

不要在莫札特身上尋找唐璜吧。就在寫《唐喬望尼》時，得到父親病重的消息（下地獄那一場，是他潛意識裡對自己違逆父意的責罰麼？）他寫了一封最嚴肅深刻的信：

……因為死亡，準確的說，我們人生的真正最終目的，我在這一兩年來這樣認識了這人類真實的，最好的朋友，以至於它的形象對我不再是可怕的，反而是十分安詳的，撫慰的！而我感謝我的神，恩賜我這樣的幸運，給予我這樣的機會──您瞭解我嗎？──認識到它就是我們真正的幸福的鑰匙。每當我躺在床上，我從來不曾或忘：可能我第二天就不再存在──雖然我還這麼年輕。而每一個認識我的人，都不會說我是頹喪或悲傷的。而我每天為這幸福感謝我的造物主，也祝願我的每一個同為人者享有這樣的幸福……。

莫札特的音樂是一種廣大的慈悲。萬物均霑，無惡無善。他對每一種人都有同情，不，同情是一種傲慢，他與他們同樂。就像他自己人生的困阨，從不能影響他音樂的光輝澄澈。

因為上帝說，這個世界太糟了，讓莫札特出生吧。因為，即便在現實中他是凡人，在音樂中，他就是天使。

====

兰舟谈唐璜，蜻蜓点水几个字，有点“到此一游”的味道。

止不住我昨晚赶了一场富特文特勒指挥的《唐璜》，此档案被称为是
唐璜演出中的经典。

虽只看完了头场，也想写几个字，对白看一场戏示以回报。

男低音的《观芳谱》已在玛雅的“卡萨罗瓦”贴中谈过。第一场最精
彩的唱段恐怕还是唐璜与泽琳娜的二重唱：

5_ 1 12 3 1 6_ 2 – – 1 7_.7_ 1 2 2 5_

5_ 1 12 3 1 6_ 2 – – 1 7_ 6_5_ 5_ 6_7_ 13 5 –

2 4321 7_ 32 1 –

2 7_5_ 3 53 2 7_2 – 2 7_5_ 3 53 2 7_2 –
…

5_ 1 12 3 1 6_ 2 – – 1 7_.7_ 1 2 2 5_
…

这个很美，令人一听难忘。曾在音乐史被改编成各种器乐演奏，我头
一回听到是吉他二重奏，美得让我不知梦香，不知肉味。

还有一段是采琳娜的咏叹调，《鞭打我吧》:

鞭打我吧，好马赛多，
你可怜的小采琳娜在你面前像只羔羊，
任你鞭打，任你惩罚！

鞭打我吧，你的采琳娜在你面前像只羔羊，
任你鞭打，任你惩罚！

任你扯乱我的头发，任你将我苦苦折磨，
允许我吻你的手，任你折磨，
任你折磨，任你惩罚！
任你惩罚，任你惩罚！

鞭打我吧，好马赛多，
你可怜的小采琳娜在你面前像只羔羊，
任你鞭打，任你惩罚！

亲爱的人啊，鞭打我吧，
在你面前像只羔羊，
任你鞭打，任你惩罚！

我早知道，你不会忍心！
我早已知道，你不忍会心，你不忍心！
我们永远相爱相亲，
我们永远相爱相亲，
美满生活幸福欢欣，
美满生活幸福欢欣，
美满生活幸福欢欣，
美满生活幸福欢欣，
美满生活幸福欢欣！

我们永远相爱相亲，
美满生活幸福欢欣，
我们永远相爱相亲，
美满生活幸福欢欣。
是，是，是，是，是，是；
永远相爱又相亲，
是，是，是，是，是，是；
永远相爱又相亲，永远相爱又相亲，
永远相爱又相亲。

那些个si,si,si,si,si,si,(是，是，是，是，是，是)把男人的魂都唱出
窍了。

上回我写“天乐”中说：而感情是肉体的音乐，诚然。红杏招蜂的二
重唱是那么优雅、恬静，而出墙后的忤悔又是这样如胶似蜜。这样的
爱情，谁享受的起？

现今的人都没有了歌声，音乐也成了摇滚家和专业明星的摇钱树，有
一点什么事情就吵闹，就抄律师。与其花那些个冤枉精力和钱，还不
如听两场戏，唱两支歌曲要紧。

此是我对这两支歌曲的一点俗解。（又是“音乐的魔力”）

枷锁中的波德莱尔(张泠)

枷锁中的波德莱尔

　　“喝得酩酊大醉！”法国诗人查尔斯·波德莱尔在一首广为人知的诗中如此劝勉众人，但他将自己的生活弄得一塌糊涂，也就失去了广告代言的功效。关于他的一本新传记《枷锁中的波德莱尔》(Baudelaire　in　Chains)最近在美国出版，书中坚持认为，这种沉溺，并非诗人灵感的源泉，只是“他所有问题的根源”。本书作者弗兰克·希尔顿(Frank　Hilton)总结了波德莱尔一生中很多问题，包括他“不能解决自己的经济状况，与他人不尽如人意的关系，糟糕的健康状态……”作者相信这些不幸折磨着诗人，而最重要的，是他“创作长篇作品的长期障碍”。所有这些，作者希尔顿归咎于波德莱尔的沉湎鸦片，他认为这一点被其他波德莱尔的传记作者低估了。那些作者将这些归因于梅毒(希尔顿怀疑这一诊断是否准确)及其他疾病对波德莱尔身体的困扰，还有他密友们的无情，及公众的愚昧。

　　波德莱尔的自我描述，以及在此基础上被许多他的传记作者扩充了的观念，集中于他是个特立独行的个例，是不能以时俗标准来衡量其行为和人格的天才。“瘾君子就是瘾君子。”希尔顿如是回应。对波德莱尔的其他传记作者，他暗示，宣扬诗人的个人神话，这些神话并不比每个瘾君子钟爱的借口高明多少：迫害妄想症，坏运气，自怜自艾，“改邪归正”的永恒承诺———当然从不会兑现。

　　作者也将他与19世纪那些被鸦片扼杀的天分甚高的作家作对照，比如英国诗人塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治(Samuel　Taylor　Coleridge)和英国作家托马斯·德昆西(Thomas　De　Quincey)。无论后者的鸦片瘾带给他多少痛苦，也给他一个重要的写作主题(他因1821年的自传《一个英国鸦片吸食者的自白／Confessions　of　an　English　Opium　Eater》而出名)，使得他在今天还不被人遗忘。而柯勒律治，如波德莱尔，代表了无数潜在可能性，但只有部分获得实现。波德莱尔极有天赋，尽管很多浪费于琐事；而柯勒律治的非凡魅力为他赢得韦奇伍德家族(英国陶瓷工艺家)终生俸禄。但他们使得自己也使得钦敬他们的人们失望了，以柯勒律治来说，至少，鸦片成为生活主要内容导致了他的失败。如果沉溺鸦片同样毁了波德莱尔的天分，如果瘾君子们都表达一种态度和行为，那么两人定是以相似方式毁了自己的生活。

　　波德莱尔与柯勒律治都在童年时失去父亲，并缺乏母爱，都长时期热情地迷恋那些并不会回报他们爱恋的女人，尽管波德莱尔迷人但知识浅陋的情人珍妮·杜瓦(Jeanne　Duval)与柯勒律治的朴素聪明的萨拉·哈钦森(Sara　Hutchinson)截然不同，两位诗人都围绕他们欲望的客体构建了精致的幻想。

　　波德莱尔和柯勒律治都曾借助药物减缓消沉和压力，又被服药过量和停止服药之间的两极交替症状折磨：失眠，痉挛，噩梦，便秘，无精打采，绝望。不可否认，他们在鸦片中寻到灵感和意象，但也剽窃，这种过失被他们的传记作者认为与药物习惯有密切关系。对于鸦片吸食者，希尔顿写道，“他们自己的东西和别人的东西之间的分界线往往非常模糊”。

　　两位诗人特征上的不同不能被他们共同的嗜好掩盖。波德莱尔的本能是探索内在幻想的领域；柯勒律治，他所有的“幻想”趋向于外延扩展，即使在他鸦片用量最多的时期，他仍有巨大的写作能量，足以使波德莱尔嫉妒。批评柯勒律治的“懒散”，尤其这些言论出自他之前的助手、后来苛刻的评论家威廉·哈兹利特(William　Hazlitt)——“当我们想到他所浪费的能力，我们失去耐心”——具有欺骗性。柯勒律治仅相对于同时代人对于他超人成就的期待而言显得虚度时光了。

　　柯勒律治也被人们承认曾再三与自己的鸦片瘾斗争，但波德莱尔，希尔顿论述，从未作过努力。希尔顿对比他所认为的波德莱尔的遮遮掩掩、自欺欺人与德昆西的令人钦佩的坦率。部分对照在于国别特征：法国浪漫主义趋向夸张和宏大，英国人则倾向被反讽性自我否定催促的率直。拯救柯勒律治生活的，除却他自己的生命力和达观态度，是他的谦卑、幽默感和把握友谊的才能。在诗人最低落的时候，仍有人———常常是被波德莱尔摒弃为庸俗的中产阶级的人士———照料他恢复健康。在希尔顿的论述中，这些是波德莱尔在吸食第一口鸦片前缺乏的要素，或许这是他所有问题的根源。

====

夏尔＊波德莱尔(1821－1867)，法国诗人，有《恶之花》，《巴黎的忧郁》,一般被公
认为西方现代诗歌鼻祖。

上回贴子里提到波德莱尔，这篇波德莱尔的小文倒有点新意：

而最重要的，是他“创作长篇作品的长期障碍”。

知風草

知風草

秋﹐萬物沉醉于丰收的酒漿
只有你﹐依舊守在岡位上
輕風傳來一陣陣銀鈴聲
交織着一支夢幻般的和響

你是四季風的信使
一顆顆“心”形印在你身上
那來自春天的一束束花蕊
以風為媒﹐隨風幻想﹑飛翔

什么時候你墜臥情侶的溫床
什么時候負荷種子的份量
風中吹過一陣陣銀鈴聲
是你的感愧﹐是你的期望﹖

春風和春雨哪里會空費
不都珍藏在你厚實的根莖內
夏日嬌陽﹐棲鳥朝夕歌唱
都留在孩子幸福的小嘴上

伴你的銀鈴﹐讓我們贊頌
頌一支丰收中大地與水的謠想
風撳動鈴兒﹐如痴如醉
催萬物一道沉浸冬日夢鄉

2003/11/02
=====

上回写鹅观草，提及知风草，有人劝我也写一写。因其名字好，英文
名字更好，叫作爱情草(Love grass)。东非有一种重要粮食tef，与
其同属。

我很爱其心形的种实，更爱其秋风中迷幻般的谷序。因为在草上化过
不少心力，故而斗胆从本体来写，也是为了锻炼四行诗的文笔。

晚上有空把照片扫上来。