“84 Charing Cross Road” Revisited 重訪查令十字街84號

By Monica Porter 趙云舒/選 黃湘淇/注

In June， 1971， a slim volume by a little-known，1 middle-aged American writer， Helene Hanff， was published in Britain. Called 84 Charing Cross Road， it was a most unlikely bestseller—simply a collection of letters between the impecunious book-lover Hanff， in New York， and the staff of Marks & Co， an antiquarian bookshop in London.2

The correspondence spanned two decades—from Britains post-war austerity to the height of the Swinging Sixties—and was full of warmth， humour and humanity.3 If our notion of the “special relationship” between Britain and America means anything at all， it is embodied in the pages of Hanffs little book.4

It all began in October 1949 as a straightforward5 business correspondence. Having seen an advert for Marks & Co， describing them as specialists in out-of-print books， Hanff wrote to them with a wish list of titles shed been unable to acquire in New York.6 “I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books，” she explained. “If you have clean second-hand copies of any of the books on the list， for no more than $5 each， will you consider this a purchase order and send them to me？”7

The order was dealt with by the shops manager， Frank Doel， who sent her some of the items she wanted and promised to look out for the others. He addressed8 his letter “Dear Madam” and signed it “Yours faithfully， FPD”. All very formal， very British. But it wouldnt stay that way for long. Hanffs next letter enclosed payment， praised the “soft vellum and cream-coloured pages” of the books， which put to shame her “orange-crate bookshelves”， and ended with a PS：9 “I hope ‘madam doesnt mean over there what it means over here.” She had an insatiable hunger for the classic works of English literature—Jane Austen， John Donne， Chaucer， Samuel Pepys.10 She sent the shop further orders and more books were dispatched to her Manhattan bedsit.11 Then in December she had a surprise for Marks & Co.

Having heard about the food rationing in effect in Britain， Hanff sent the staff “a small Christmas present” of foodstuffs most Brits hadnt seen for years， including a large ham.12

This was hastily followed by a short note： “I just noticed on your last invoice it says ‘B. Marks， M. Cohen. Proprietors. ARE THEY KOSHER？ I could rush a tongue over. ADVISE PLEASE！”13

In Charing Cross Road， “FPD” and his staff were deeply moved by this gesture14 from a woman they had never met， 3，500 miles away. At Easter she delighted them again， with a parcel containing real eggs—their first in many years of making do with the powdered variety.15 And so began a more personal， more affectionate transatlantic relationship.16 Soon Hanff was exchanging letters not only with Doel， but with his kindly Irish wife， Nora， as well as the rest of the team at Marks & Co.

Disarmed by her quirky， engaging jocularity， the letters from the businesslike Doel grew less formal，17 although it wasnt until 1952 that he finally addressed her as “Dear Helene”. For her， he became “Frankie”： “Now listen Frankie， its going to be a long cold winter and I babysit in the evenings and I need reading matter. Dont sit around， go find me some books！”

Hanff longed to visit London， to “see the England of English literature”.18 But， as the years passed， she could never afford to make the trip. Single and childless， she lived a hand-to-mouth existence as a writer of childrens history books， television scripts and magazine articles， and regarded herself essentially as a failed playwright.19 Her first proper book， in 1961， was Underfoot in Show Business， an account of how she had failed to “crash the theatre” with her string of unproduced plays.20

The long-running correspondence with “her bookshop”， and especially with Frank Doel， gave her a treasured bond with the city she seemed destined never to see.21 When， in January 1969， she received a letter from Marks & Co informing her that Doel had died of peritonitis following a ruptured appendix， she was devastated.22 The bond was lost.

To a friend embarking on a trip to London that spring， she wrote： “The blessed man who sold me all my books died a few months ago.23 But Marks & Co is still there. If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road， kiss it for me！ I owe it so much.” The epistolary book chronicling her relationship with the shop was born out of her deep sense of loss.24 Published in the US in 1970， it was an instant success. Unexpectedly， Hanff was catapulted out of obscurity to be feted in the media as a new literary celebrity.25 Fan letters poured in to her tiny apartment on East 72nd Street.

In Britain the book was acquired by André Deutsch and published the following June and that month Hanff at long last stepped off a plane at Heathrow to enjoy five weeks in the city of her dreams.26 Her only sadness was that Marks & Co had recently closed down. She made a pilgrimage to the empty， dusty shop and visited the now-widowed Nora at home.27

“She told me how furious28 she used to be when he brought one of my letters home to read to the family，” Hanff wrote in 1973. “‘Id say to him， what kind of husband are you， to bring another womans letters home！ ‘If he hadnt brought them home， I said， ‘youd have had cause to29 worry. She looked at me and nodded. ‘Thats just what Frank used to say.”

The enthusiastically reviewed 84 Charing Cross Road was even more of a hit30 here than in the US. It won Hanff a huge British fan base and， in the following years， turned into a phenomenon.31 In 1975 it was adapted for32 television by the BBC. Then in 1981 James Roose-Evanss award-winning stage version was a West End hit which ran for 16 months.33

Hanff really hit the jackpot34 a few years later， when Hollywood came calling. Producer Mel Brooks acquired the property as a star vehicle for his wife， Anne Bancroft.35 Doel would be played by Anthony Hopkins36. Could things get any better？

It was at this point that our paths crossed. One day in a local library in 1981， I came upon37 84 Charing Cross Road. I was so moved by it that I sent Hanff a letter， explaining that I was a fellow writer and asking whether we might meet. Before long we fixed a date38.

We met at Rumpelmayers， an elegant old café on Central Park South. In her gravelly， smokers voice she regaled me with anecdotes about New York life， and I relished her acerbic wit and self-deprecating humour.39 I was in my mid-thirties， she was nearing 70， I had a family， she was alone and fiercely40 independent. I was at a low ebb41 in my career， she was at the height of hers. Yet， opposites though we were， we shared some common threads42 in our lives.

When I told her about my stagnating career and fear that time was passing me by， she empathised because she had been through the same thing， at exactly the same age.43 She described how， when she was 34， she woke up in a sweat one night at the terrifying thought that she still hadnt had a play on Broadway.

When I complained about how remote and unhelpful literary agents were， she snorted in agreement.44 Her own agent， she said， wouldnt take her calls for years as she wasnt considered “big enough”. Even after 84 became a bestseller the agent remained elusive45.

When her book Qs Legacy—about the influence on her of the literary critic Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch—came out in 1985，46 naturally I read it with interest. I arranged to call on her at home one day， so she could sign my copy. Her inscription47 reads： “For Monica Porter—a young fellow writer—in the hope that shell live to write far better books than this one.”

We lost touch， eventually. Then one day in April 1997 I opened the paper to find her obituary48. Shed had diabetes for many years and died as a result of complications a week short of her 80th birthday.49 Sadly， all the fame and accolades bestowed on her over the years had not given her financial security.50 By her own account she was broke in her final years， and accepted a grant from an authors charity to help with hospital bills.51

Even when she had money， Hanff had given it away. Sheila Wheeler， Doels daughter， who lives in Muswell Hill， north London， tells me the writer made sure they received a share of her royalties52 following Franks death. “We saw her as an American fairy godmother when I was growing up，” she says. “I pictured her as someone tremendously rich and glamorous， looking like Lauren Bacall.53 It was a shock， when I finally met her in 1971， to see how wrong I had been.”

84 Charing Cross Road is today in print as a Virago Modern Classic54—kept alive for a new generation. The self-effacing Helene would doubtless be astounded that her little 84 is now considered a classic.55 I can just picture that look of incredulity， and hear that throaty laugh.56

1. slim： 薄的；volume： 書。

2. 這本書叫《查令十字街84號》，是最不可思議的暢銷書——僅僅是紐約一個不名一文的書迷漢芙和倫敦一家舊書店——馬克斯與科恩書店的店員之間的書信集。impecunious： 不名一文的；antiquarian： 古文物研究的。

3. correspondence： 通信；span： 跨越；post-war： 戰(zhàn)后的；austerity： 緊縮，嚴(yán)峻；height： 高度，頂點(diǎn)；the Swinging Sixties： 搖擺60年代，是指20世紀(jì)60年代以倫敦為中心的時尚和文化風(fēng)潮，由年輕人主導(dǎo)，強(qiáng)調(diào)戰(zhàn)后緊縮后的樂觀主義和享樂主義；humanity： 人性。

4. notion： 觀念，看法；be embodied in： 體現(xiàn)在，呈現(xiàn)在。

5. straightforward： 坦率的，明確的。

6. 漢芙看到了馬克斯與科恩書店的廣告，上面聲稱他們專營絕版書，于是她給他們寫了一份愿望書單，都是她在紐約無法找到的書籍。advert： 廣告；specialist： 專家；out-of-print： 絕版的；wish list： 心愿單。

7. second-hand： 二手的；purchase order： 采購單。

8. address： （在信封、包裹等上）書寫（收件人姓名、地址）。

9. enclose： 附上；vellum： 牛皮紙，上等皮紙；cream-coloured： 淡黃色的，米色的；put to shame： 使蒙羞，使自愧不如；orange-crate： 橙色板條箱；bookshelf： 書架；PS： 附言，補(bǔ)充說明，postscript的縮寫。

10. insatiable： 永不滿足的；hunger： 渴求；Jane Austen： 簡·奧斯?。?775—1817），英國小說家，代表作有《傲慢與偏見》、《理智與情感》等；John Donne： 約翰·鄧恩（1572—1631），英國玄學(xué)派詩人，代表作品有《歌與十四行詩》、《突發(fā)事件的禱告》等；Chaucer： 喬叟（1343—1400），英國文學(xué)之父，被公認(rèn)為中世紀(jì)最偉大的英國詩人，代表作品有《坎特伯雷故事集》； Samuel Pepys： 塞繆爾·佩皮斯（1633—1703），17世紀(jì)英國作家和政治家，以散文和流傳后世的日記而聞名。

11. dispatch to： 發(fā)送；Manhattan： 曼哈頓，紐約市中心區(qū)；bedsit： 臥室兼起居室。

12. food rationing： 食物定量配給；in effect： 生效；foodstuff： 食品；ham： 火腿。

13. hastily： 匆忙地，草草地；invoice： 發(fā)票； proprietor： 所有者，業(yè)主；kosher： 猶太潔食，符合教規(guī)的清真食品；I could rush a tongue over： 我可以加急送一條牛舌過去。因為Hanff發(fā)現(xiàn)了發(fā)票落款處的Cohen，這是常用的猶太名，而猶太人不吃（豬肉）火腿，所以她才說如果他們不吃火腿，她可以寄猶太潔食過去，比如牛舌。

14. gesture： 舉動。

15. Easter： 復(fù)活節(jié)，一年一度紀(jì)念“耶穌復(fù)活”的節(jié)日，一般在每年春分月圓之后的第一個星期日；parcel： 包裹；make do with： 設(shè)法應(yīng)付，勉強(qiáng)對付；powdered variety： 各種打成粉的食品。

16. affectionate： 充滿深情的；transatlantic： 橫渡大西洋的。

17. be disarmed by： 被……解下心防； quirky： 古怪的；engaging： 動人的，迷人的；jocularity： 幽默，詼諧的言行； businesslike： 事務(wù)性的。

18. 漢芙渴望去趟倫敦，“看看英國文學(xué)所描述的英國”。long to do： 渴望做。

19. 單身無嗣的她是一位寫兒童歷史書、電視劇本和雜志文章的作家，生活貧困潦倒，她覺得自己實(shí)際上是個失敗的劇作家。hand-to-mouth existence： 僅能糊口度日，勉強(qiáng)維持生計；television script： 電視劇本；essentially： 基本上； playwright： 劇作家。

20. proper： 真正的，正經(jīng)的；underfoot 在腳下，被踐踏地；account： 敘述；crash the theatre： 闖蕩劇院；（a） string of： 一系列的；unproduced： 未上演的。

21. long-running： 持續(xù)很長時間的；treasured： 珍貴的；bond： 紐帶；destined： 注定的。

22. peritonitis： 腹膜炎；ruptured appendix： 闌尾破裂；devastated： 十分震驚的，傷心欲絕的。

23. embark on： 開始；blessed： 神佑的。

24. epistolary： 書信體的；chronicle： 記錄。

25. unexpectedly： 出乎意料地，意外地；be catapulted out of obscurity： 從默默無聞到暴得大名，catapult意為“把……彈出去”，obscurity意為“無名，默默無聞”； be feted as： 被譽(yù)為；literary celebrity： 文學(xué)名人。

26. 在英國，書的版權(quán)被安德烈出版社獲得，并于同年六月出版，當(dāng)月，漢芙最終在希思羅機(jī)場下了飛機(jī)，開始享受在這座她夢寐以求的城市的五周之旅。at long last： 最終，總算；Heathrow： 希思羅機(jī)場（位于英國倫敦）。

27. pilgrimage： 拜謁，（到某重要的地點(diǎn)或人物居所的）參觀；dusty： 落滿灰塵的；now-widowed： 如今寡居的。

28. furious： 怒不可遏的。

29. have cause to do： 完全有理由去做……。

30. hit： 極受歡迎的物（或人）。

31. fan base： 粉絲群；phenomenon： 非凡的事物，奇跡。

32. be adapted for： 被改編為。

33. James Roose-Evans： 詹姆斯·魯斯-埃文斯（1972— ），英國劇作家；award-winning： 獲獎的；stage version： 舞臺劇版本；West End： 倫敦西區(qū)，是與紐約百老匯（Broadway）齊名的世界兩大戲劇中心之一，是表演藝術(shù)的國際舞臺，也是英國戲劇界的代名詞。

34. hit the jackpot： 中大獎。

35. producer： 制片人；property： 所有權(quán)；star vehicle： 造星工具；Anne Bancroft： 安妮·班克羅夫特（1931—2005），美國演員，其作品《畢業(yè)生》蜚聲世界影壇，是奧斯卡最佳女主角得主之一。

36. Anthony Hopkins： 安東尼·霍普金斯（1937— ）英國著名戲劇和影視演員，因出演《沉默的羔羊》榮獲64屆奧斯卡（1992年）最佳男演員獎。

37. come upon： 遇到。

38. fix a date： 定下了會面。

39. 以其沙啞的煙熏嗓音，她與我分享了紐約生活的趣事，我欣賞她尖刻的機(jī)智和自嘲的幽默感。gravelly： 聲音低沉沙啞的；smokers voice： 煙熏嗓；regale sb. with： 使人享受，以……款待某人；anecdote： 趣事；relish： 享受；acerbic： 尖刻的；wit： 機(jī)智；self-deprecating： 自嘲的。

40. fiercely： 極其，非常。

41. at a low ebb： 在低潮，在低谷。

42. common thread： 相同的思路。

43. 當(dāng)我告訴她我一蹶不振的事業(yè)，擔(dān)心自己荒廢時日時，她感同身受，因為她恰恰也在同樣的年紀(jì)時有著一樣的經(jīng)歷。stagnating： 停滯的；empathise： 同情。

44. remote： 冷淡的；literary agent： 作家代理人； snort： 輕蔑或憤怒地發(fā)出哼聲。

45. elusive： 逃避的，閃避的。

46. Qs Legacy ： 傳記作品《Q的遺產(chǎn)》；literary critic： 文學(xué)評論家；Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch： 阿瑟·奎勒-庫奇爵士（1863—1944），英國小說家、評論家。

47. inscription： 題詞。

48. obituary： 訃告。

49. diabetes： 糖尿??；complications： 并發(fā)癥。

50. accolade： 贊美，榮譽(yù)；bestow on： 授予；financial security： 經(jīng)濟(jì)上的保障。

51. by ones own account： 據(jù)某人自己說；broke： 一貧如洗的；grant： 撥款；charity： 慈善團(tuán)體。

52. royalty： 版稅。

53. fairy godmother： 仙女教母；tremendously： 驚人地，極其地；glamorous： 迷人的，富有魅力的；Lauren Bacall： 勞倫·白考爾（1924—2014），美國女演員。

54. Virago Modern Classic： 是為了頌揚(yáng)女性作家而對其作品進(jìn)行再出版的一系列書。

55. self-effacing： 謙遜的，不出風(fēng)頭的；doubtless： 毫無疑問地；astounded： 感到吃驚的。

56. incredulity： 懷疑，不輕信；throaty： 低沉的，沙啞的。