398.夏济安致夏志清 1959年8月6日

398.夏济安致夏志清 1959年8月6日

志清弟:

英国的信已发出,关于国语一段,我是这样说的:

I was born, in 1916, in Soochow, Kiangsu, in the area of Wu dialect. So it will sound hardly convincing if I assert that I speak Mandarin fluently. But I do. The fact is that as a Southerner, I have always had the ambition to master the pronunciation and structure of Peking speech ever since my primary school days.I have never stopped learning from people who speak pure Mandarin, and my stay in Peiping (1946–[19]48) helped me to a much greater extent than Professor Y. R. Chan's phonogram records to which I used to listen when I was a college student in Shanghai. What gratifies me is that my diligent studies seem to the rewarding. When I was in Taiwan, my speech was praised by my colleagues who are real Pekinese, such as Professor Ignatius Ying(英千里) that it was good Mandarin and that it did not show any trace of Soochow accent. That, I hope, will also satisfy you. I shallbe only too glad to produce certificates from qualified persons if such are required.

这样写并不好算吹牛。我的国语“味道”很够。偶然有些字,咬音不准(esp.文言的字,因为我很少机会用北平话念文言),但他们要求只是fluently,那是我相信很够格的。

我很想去剑桥,Berkeley事如成,也得明年二月才开始。我得要在美国做半年马浪荡(1)。教书半年满了,visa又成问题。张心沧说one or two years,这个two years很有用,因为我在英国假如住满两年,照移民法,我又可以别种身份申请来美。那时别种机会总多些。在台湾再去住两年,那是〔时〕脱身的机会很少的。何况照我看来,台湾总要出事的。表面麻醉,内部紧张,大家都在等候刺激。

张天翼的书,Berkeley已寄来。你要找的页码是p.52。这一段你所翻译的,我看an involuntary shudder似有不妥,因为shudder应该都是involuntary的。如把这个adj.删去较好;但shudder一个字似乎与下面gnats等等的关系还不够(“她打了个寒噤,觉得有垃圾堆上那些小蚊子叮满在身上似的”)。要换什么adj.我也想不出来。请你斟酌吧。

那天晚上在Victor Erlich(此人在U.W.声望极高)家里见到Bernard Malamud(2)。此人现在Oregon State College教英文,据英文系的人说是美国当代的Chekhov。我没有看过他的东西,他是犹太人,讲英文倒很clipped。他大讲Trilling vs. J. Donald Adams(3) over Frost。我这期PR已买来,Trilling那篇文章写得很好,我是万万写不出的。据我看来,Trilling对于Frost不好算不恭敬,只是对于在座诸公很是不敬,无怪Adams等要大怒。美国的Nationalists vs. Internationalists、rural aristocracy vs. city people的斗争我本来略有所知,想不到后者还要牵涉犹太人在内。Adams说:“Frost might have had the Nobel Prize if so many New York critics hadn't gone whoring after European Gods.”但是Malamud似乎用了Semitic critics这样一个phrase。New England与New York之争,中国人恐怕很少知道。

钱锺书的事我已去信问陈世骧,不知他有没有听说什么。Dick Walker对于此事,一些〔点〕不知。

再谈,专颂

近安

Carol、Joyce前均问好

济安 启

八月六日


(1) 又作“马郎党”,上海方言,游手好闲的意思,也指游手好闲的人。胡祖德《沪谚》卷上:“马浪荡,十弃行……谓其一生游荡,百无一成。又称马郎党。”

(2) Bernard Malamud(伯纳德·马拉默德,1914—1986),美国犹太作家。作品主要表现美国的犹太人生活,曾获美国国家图书奖、普利策奖等,代表作有《魔桶》(The Magic Barrel)、《修配工》(The Fixer)等。

(3) J. Donald Adams(唐纳德·亚当斯,1891—1968),美国批评家,代表作有《书与人生之探讨》(Speaking of Books and Life)、《作家的责任》(The Writer's Responsibility)、《魔法与神秘的语词》(The Magic and Mystery of Words)等。

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