George Orwell, "Politics and English Language," 1946

...
Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White Papers and the speeches of under-secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost finds in them a fresh, vivid, home-made turn of speech. When one watches tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases—bestial atrocities, iron heel, bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder—one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker’s spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate favorable to political conformity.

...

冠冕堂皇的空洞文体往往和闪烁其词的骗术相辅相成。这在英文里是这样，在中文里也是一定的。幸运的是，不登大雅之堂的“恶搞”如果运用得当，正好可以致冠冕堂皇的骗术于死地。鲁迅、王小波等文体家便是擅长“恶搞”的好手。他们帮助并启发读者去识别空洞的语言，并告诉我们：如果说空洞的语言还有什么用处的话，那就是欺骗。只有像他们这样正直而敏锐地去使用汉语，才能够发掘并整理出一整套“现代汉语骗术大全”来。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

读丰子恺的画（二）: "Winter of Jiaxing"

这幅画一看上去就很有意思。大人和小孩穿得严乎乎圆滚滚的，煞是可爱。穿成这样，却不让我们看到正脸儿，在我们的想象中，这一大一小的样子就更可爱了。在这个寒冷光秃的冬日，只有他们两个在走动。他们是回家还是去做客？与这二人形成对比的，是光秃秃的树，光秃秃的石板路，光秃秃的冬天。其实，在坚实的树皮底下，依然流动着树的生命，厚厚的石板下面，也蛰伏着虫蚁和嫩芽。只是冬日的生命万物都被裹着盖着，我们看不见罢了。就连这一大一小两个人，手也是袖中牵在一起，暖暖的。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

advice on style: William Strunk Jr., (2)/ 再谈文体

Here is another advice of William Strunk Jr., from that “little book,” The Elements of Style, which I regard as the informal “constitution of letters.”

Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.

If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete.

Two examples:

In proportion as men delight in battles, bullfights, and combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, burning, and the rack. (Herbert Spencer, Philosophy of Style)

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. (Ecclesiastes, King James Version)

文体家 William Strunk Jr. 的又一条忠告：要鲜明、具体，不要含混、空洞。英文语体的发展没有经历废除“古文”这一幕。好的英文可以取得中国古文佳作同样的效果：千锤百炼，雄浑有力。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

巴西的现代性 (Brazilian Modernity)

Flora Süssekind, Cinematograph of Words: Literature, Technique, and Modernization in Brazil (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997).

这是一本巴西学者写的书，被翻译成英文在美国出版，得以让英语读者也了解作者对巴西文学与现代性的思考。书里从新技术和新发明的角度来谈论近现代巴西的文化活动，分析了留声机、照相机、电影、打字机等等对文化生产和消费的冲击。这个比较有意思。本书关注的巴西文化进程，差不多是从十九世纪末到二十世纪初这段时间，正好是我们大清国“锐意进取”的末期。巴西在1889年就已经从帝制迈向共和了。我们的大清国一直挺到1911年。做为两个大国，又在大致的历史时期走向近现代社会，晚清民初的日常生活和同时期的巴西有些共性。其中一个相似之处就是对新技术和新发明的好奇。拿我们的晚清民初来说，不管是颐和园的电灯，溥仪的自行车还是上海的照相馆，新玩意儿的引进和应用都五花八门，对文化的影响更复杂得很。留声机刚传入巴西的时候，也是个新奇的玩意儿。值得玩味的是，最先有机会摆弄这个新玩意儿的还是旧制度的头头——巴西的皇上。留声机在巴西最初录下来的，是末代皇帝的声音。此时离皇上的退位仅剩一个星期。

通过讲述新技术和发明进入巴西后所产生的文化意义，此书告诉读者：怀旧和布新，并不是泾渭分明的。

Some quotations:

(The exhibition and the royal auditions of Edison’s phonographs in 1889)
What is ironic about this incident is that it took place on the eve of the proclamation of the republic, and that in its earliest use in Brazil the phonograph should have preserved the last voices of the empire—including that of the emperor himself. (32)

There was yet another phonograph exhibition before the imperial family—the most melancholy of all. This was on November 14, 1889—the night before the proclamation of the republic. (33)

Thus, from a political point of view the phonograph played the part of recording the voices of the rulers of the empire just before their fall from power. These recordings had a somewhat ambiguous effect: at the same time that they preserved and reproduced the voices they also seemed to divest them of their earlier aura, in a rather cruel way. The voice of the emperor, recorded on November 9, was the voice of a deposed monarch only one week later. It was as though the daguerreotypes and phonograms that held such a fascination for Pedro II were announcing, without his being aware of the fact, the fading of the empire’s insignia and the extinction of the monarchy. And the new devices, having been blessed by the emperor, were soon in the service of those who succeeded him in power. (33)

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

Miscellaneous “primitive” and “savagery”/ “原始”与“野蛮“种种

[T]his great reservoir of moral, social, and physical pollution which is constantly extending its area and threatens to engulf with its filthiness and immorality the fairest portion of our city.

Depiction of San Francisco Chinatown (San Francisco Chronicle February 24, 1880).
***********************************

It was so easy to imitate these people. I learned to spit in the very first days. We used to spit in each other’s faces; the only difference was that I licked my face clean afterwards and they did not.

Franz Kafka, “A Report to an Academy” in The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces (New York: Schocken books, 1948), 180.

Ah, one learns when one has to; one learns when one needs a way out; one learns at all costs.

Ibid, 183.
**********************************

All complacency over his handiwork had vanished; never could he bring himself to exhibit to mortal eye these repulsive creatures. His only thought was the unanswerable question: what should he do with them? On this he brooded continually, reaching no conclusion because he could no more contemplate destroying creatures possessing human intelligence, however distorted and degraded, than he could have taken the life of a born idiot or one insane.

Louise J. Strong, “An Unscientific Story” The Cosmopolitan 34, no 4 (February, 1903), 414.

They were small, oblique, set closely together, of a heady black, their only lids being a whitish membrane that swept them at intervals—but they sparkled and glowed with passion, dimmed with tears, and widened with thought. Those eyes, more than a score of them, were fixed upon him now with entreaty, menace, fear, revolt, and, most of all, judgment burning in their depths. Even the smaller ones, of which there were many in various sizes, eyed him with resentment and hate, while scurrying, like frightened rats, from corner to corner as he moved about.

Ibid, 416.
*********************************

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretense but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea--something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to.

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (New York: Norton, 1988), 10. Quoted from Theodore Huters, Bringing the World Home: Appropriating the West in Late Qing and Early Republican China (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press), 266.

William Schaefer, "Shanghai Savage" Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 11.1 (2003) 91-133.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/positions/v011/11.1schaefer.html

不加按语了。相互关联当然是有。现在只是先列一个感兴趣的单子。当然，我的同情不是站在十九世纪和二十世纪初西方所自诩的“文明人”一边。我所同情的是被“文明人”所诋毁的“原始”、“野蛮”群体，以及他们是怎样被诋毁的。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

读丰子恺的画（一）: "A Late Home Return"

题目叫《晚归》，与画意十分贴切。墙上的钟告诉我们已经很“晚”了，稚子的亲昵告诉我们这是归家的一幕。不仅如此。“晚归”可能有更深的意思。“晚”让人不禁想到时间的流逝，晚者，老也。“归”呢，意味着返回到时间的初始——孩提时代。人伦的延续与孩子的等候，引导归航的主人公回到了家园。他蹲了下来，眼睛与孩子的视线在同一个高度交织。时钟的满脸笑意便是对“晚归”这一幕的称许。

说到那个时钟，画得也很有意思。它高高居于父子三人的上方，画面上大片的空白使得背景里应有的一面白墙完全是虚空的，需要由观者的想象力来补充。在想象一片空无的白墙时，也自然有可能联想：时间就是这般地了无痕迹。

还说那个钟。我发现它的形状与电视剧《围城》里方鸿渐的爸爸、无锡方老先生的那口著名的钟简直完全一样。《围城》里方老先生的钟每天都要晚个把小时。方鸿渐和孙柔嘉结婚以后，这口钟又传给了方鸿渐。丰子恺先生是浙江人。如果我们相信电视剧《围城》对道具的细节很讲究的话，大概会觉得，民国时候浙江的钟都是这个样子罢。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

William Strunk Jr., E. B. White, and Chuang-tzu

William Strunk Jr. 和 E. B. White 是两位文体专家，提倡简洁干净的文风。他们认为，成功的写作过程是从错综复杂的想绪里抽出最有效的语句呈现给读者。好语言的标准是应该使读者念起来不觉得有累赘和障碍。

下面是从他们合著的小书《风格的要素》 (The Elements of Style, 3rd Edition) 里挑出的两段话：

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. (William Strunk Jr.)

If one is to write, one must believe—in the truth and worth of the scrawl, in the ability of the reader to receive and decode the message. No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence, or whose attitude is patronizing. (E. B. White)

第一段是说要力求没有废话。就象一台机器不应该有多余的零件一样，每个多余的字都是对读者阅读的干扰。我再添一句：就好象好的音乐里不应该有多余的音符。第二段是说要把读者放在第一位。读者才是真正的裁判。任何的华而不实、故弄玄虚，都是皇帝的新衣，不会被读者买帐。（我也插一句：反常的情况也有，比如读者预先被“忽悠”了。）

两位的忠告让我联想到了《庄子》里的解牛高手庖丁。解牛和提炼准确的语句一样，都是剖析和剔除的工作。解牛要找准骨节和关键。同样，写作也是化繁为简，不是化简为繁，更不是无中生有。写作不精心，就有可能把“血肉相连”的思路弄成“血肉模糊”的文字，最终吃苦的是无辜的读者。

在庄子的这则寓言里，庖丁已经十九年没有换过一把刀，技艺早就出神入化了。但是每次干活时，他还是认真对待。每次完成了活计以后，那份痛快的感觉也不会改变。这里是一小段原文：

每至於族，吾見其難為 。怵然為戒，視為止，行為遲，動刀甚微。謋然已解，如土委地。提刀而立，為之而四顧，為之躊躇滿志。善刀而藏之。(莊子 養生主 C.3)

Burton Watson 是翻译中国古代典籍的大师级“庖丁”。且看他的翻译：

“However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out, and be careful, keep my eyes on what I’m doing, work very slowly, and move the knife with the greatest subtlety, until—flop! the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all around me, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and put it away.”

翻译如同写作。这段翻译，准确、简洁、生动，将原文里的关键和脉络一一化解，达到了 William Strunk Jr. 和 E. B. White 的要求。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

Y. R. Chao and Bertrand Russell (sent to me by a friend)

From B. Russell's Autobiography: "We had an official interpreter assigned to look after us. His English was very good and he was especially proud of his ability to make puns in English. His name was Mr. Chao and, when I showed him an article I had written called "Causes of the Present Chaos," he remarked, "Well, I suppose, the causes of the present Chaos are the previous Chaos."

Cheers!

Ruan Muhua

我的回信：
Dear Mr Ruan,
Chao's wife, Yang Buwei (杨步伟), also wrote an autobiography, Autobiography of a Chinese Woman, which was translated into English by her husband, Chao Yuanren, (赵元任) one of the former chairs of my department. The book is a combination of a strong female character and Chao's terrific English style.

Cheers!
Dun

朋友的回信：

More from Russell's Autobiography:

"I became a close friend of his in the course of our journeys. He was engaged to a Chinese girl and I was able to remove some difficulties that had impeded his marriage. I still hear from him occasionally and once or twice he and his wife have come to see me in England."

So Russell did more than merely help a friend resolve some difficulties--he also ensured the writing of a book. I'll look it up, and thanks for telling me of it.

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。

庄子 山木 木石姻缘/ Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi)

庄子行于山中，见大木枝叶盛茂，伐木者止其旁而不取也。问其故，曰：“无所可用。”庄子曰：“此木以不材得终其天年。”夫子出于山，舍于故人之家 。故人喜，命竖子杀雁而烹之。竖子请曰：“其一能鸣，其一不能鸣，请奚杀？”主人曰：“杀不能鸣者。”明日，弟子问于庄子曰：“昨日山中之木，以不材得终其天年，今主人之雁，以不材死；先生将何处？”庄子笑曰：“周将处乎材与不材之间。材与不材之间，似之而非也，故未免乎累。若夫乘道德而浮游则不然，无誉无訾，一龙一蛇，与时俱化，而无肯专为；一上一下，以和为量，浮游乎万物之祖，物物而不物于物，则胡可得而累邪！此神农、黄帝之法则也。若夫万物之情，人伦之传，则不然。合则离，成则毁；廉则挫，尊则议，有为则亏，贤则谋，不肖则欺，胡可得而必乎哉！悲夫！弟子志之，其唯道德之乡乎！”

孟子说，“物之不齐，物之情也”。这里的“情”不是指情感，而是状况、命运、自然等。庄子讲“万物之情，人伦之传”，也是在讲物性人性都在“道”里面。让我 想起了红楼梦里的石兄。石头兄“自怨自叹、日夜悲号惭愧”，是因为“但见众石俱得补天，独自己无材不堪入选”，落在“无材”二字上。这让人又回到庄子，山中大木“以不材得终其天年”。这“无材”和“不材”不尽相同，细微之处耐人寻味。

由木及林，又想到林黛玉和木石姻缘。显然，林妹妹没有“终其天年”就不幸夭亡了。这个悲剧又让人回过头来注意庄子前文里面的“杀”字和“处”字。正如庄子的学生问的，“先生将何处？”

庄子说的“一龙一蛇，与时俱化”十分潇洒，用庄子自己的话叫逍遥、神、浮游等等，now a dragon, now a snake。 又让我联想到石与玉的转化了。“佛祖说法、顽石点头”的“顽石”与鲜明莹洁的“美玉”竟然也可以是一体，难怪石兄得以终其天年。

没时间写成一篇文章了，就到这里，算是读书笔记吧。

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者：Dun Wang (王敦)。