狼廳

By Hilary Mantel

沒錯，都鐸王朝！這期書屋的推薦——《狼廳》，就是以大臣托馬斯·克倫威爾的視角講述亨利八世時代都鐸王朝的故事。書中的克倫威爾一改在過去文學作品中一貫聲名狼藉的形象：雖然同樣野心勃勃、陰險狡詐，但卻多了一些同情心和不少人情味，讓人不禁愿意被這樣的角色帶領，游走在這段激情澎湃的王朝歷史當中：亨利八世的宗教改革，他與凱瑟琳王后的離婚案，與羅馬教廷的決裂，迎娶安妮·博林……

英國女作家希拉里·曼特爾憑《狼廳》獲得了2009年的英國布克文學獎，2012年再次憑借此書的續(xù)篇《提堂》斬獲布克獎，成為英國歷史上兩獲此項殊榮的第一位本土作家，也是獲得這一殊榮的首位女作家。用布克獎評委的話說：“我們的決定是基于小說之宏大、敘事之大膽以及其場景設置?！蔽鞣轿膶W界也將此書譽為“新歷史主義小說”。

本期節(jié)選了克倫威爾童年、中年及回憶中青年的三個片段，供大家一探這位亨利八世身邊第一權臣跌宕起伏的人生。

Thomas Cromwell is now a little over forty years old. He is a man of strong build， not tall. Various expressions are available to his face， and one is readable： an expression of 6）stifled amusement. His hair is dark， heavy and waving， and his small eyes， which are of very strong sight， light up in conversation： so the Spanish ambassador will tell us， quite soon. It is said he knows by heart the entire New Testament in Latin， and so as a servant of the cardinal is apt “ready”with a text if 7）abbots 8）flounder. His speech is low

托馬斯·克倫威爾現(xiàn)在剛剛四十出頭。他身材不高，但體形健碩。他臉上有太多種表情，其中一種不難看清：那是一種暗暗的饒有興味的表情。他的頭發(fā)又黑又密，還帶點卷，眼睛雖小卻目光如炬，談話時特別有神采：過不了多久，西班牙大使就會這樣告訴我們。據(jù)說他將整部拉丁文《圣經(jīng)·新約》熟記于心，因此，作為紅衣主教的仆人，如果哪位神父念誦經(jīng)文一時卡殼，他總是——隨時都可以——張口就來。他說話聲音

When people tell him what Gregory has failed to do， he says， “Hes busy growing.” He understands his need to sleep； he never got much sleep himself， with Walter stamping around， and after he ran away he was always on the ship or on the road， and then he found himself in an army. The thing people dont understand about an army is its great， unpunctuated wastes of inaction： you have to 10）scavenge for food， you are camped out somewhere with a rising water level because your mad 11）capitaine says so， you are shifted 12）abruptly in the middle of the night into some indefensible position， so you never really sleep， your equipment is defective， the gunners keep causing small unwanted explosions， the crossbowmen are either drunk or praying， the arrows are ordered up but not here yet， and your whole mind is occupied by a 13）seething anxiety that things are going to go badly because 14）il principe， or whatever little worshipfulness is in charge today， is not very good at the basic business of thinking. It didnt take him many winters to get out of fighting and into supply. In Italy， you could always fight in the summer， if you felt like it. If you wanted to 15）go out.

當別人告訴他格利高里（編者注：克倫威爾的兒子）什么事情沒做好時，他會說：“他正忙著長身體呢?！彼斫馑麑λ叩男枰?；他自己就從來沒有足夠的睡眠，因為沃爾特總是在發(fā)火，“嗵嗵嗵”地走來走去；而離家出走之后，他如果不是在船上，就是在路上；后來當了兵。關于軍隊，人們所不了解的一點，就是按兵不動而形成的巨大而長期的浪費：你得去搜尋食物，由于你那位發(fā)瘋的上尉的命令你們得駐扎在某個水位不斷上漲的地方，以至于在深更半夜要突然轉移到某個無法防御的地方，所以你永遠不會有真正的睡眠，你的裝備有毛病，炮兵總是弄出一些意想不到的小炸響，弓箭手要么醉醺醺的，要么在禱告，而弓箭卻還在被調(diào)往前線的路上；你憂心忡忡，滿腦子擔心會出事情，因為不論掌管今日的是君王還是別的什么尊敬的神靈，顯然連基本的思考都不大會。沒過幾年，他就離開了戰(zhàn)場，做起了生意。在意大利，夏天總是有架可打，如果你想這樣的話。如果你活膩了的話。譯文參考自上海譯文出版社

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