星期四, 14 11 月, 2024
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人物丨切斯特顿是谁？

共融学会
By 共融学会
98



Who is G.K. Chesterton?

切斯特顿是谁？


戴尔·阿奎斯特（Dale Ahlquist） / 撰

切偲 / 翻译

同塵 / 审订





切斯特顿自画像





Who is G.K. Chesterton?
切斯特顿是谁？



Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) is a writer like none other. As a journalist, he wrote thousands of essays for the London newspapers. But he also wrote a hundred books: novels, poetry, plays, literary criticism, history, economic theory, philosophy, and theology. And detective stories. He wrote on every conceivable subject, but his vast output is matched only by the consistency and clarity of his thought, his uncanny ability to tie everything together. In the heart of nearly every paragraph lies a jaw-dropping aphorism or sparkling paradox that leaves readers shaking their heads in wonder.
吉尔伯特·基思·切斯特顿（Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 1874-1936）是位与众不同的作家。身为记者，他为伦敦报纸撰稿数千篇。但他也著书百本：小说、诗、戏剧、文学批评、历史、经济理论、哲学和神学。以及侦探小说。任何可想到的主题，他极尽所能地周遍。作品体量庞大，但思理条畅，万有一以贯之。几乎每段话的中心都蕴藉着令人瞠目的警句或闪闪发光的悖论，令读者频频叩首、惊叹不已。


“Chesterton approached every subject with great wit and overflowing mirth. The world needs to be shaken with his laughter once again.”
“切斯特顿处理每个话题时，都施以非凡的机智和满溢的欢乐。世界需要再次被他的笑声震撼。”

He was not only a creator of characters, he was a character in his own right. At six foot-four, and three hundred pounds, with cape and swordstick, crumpled hat and tiny glasses at the end of his nose, he was a cause for amusement wherever he appeared. But he was one of the most beloved men of his time. Even his opponents regarded him with great affection. His humility, his wonder at existence, his graciousness and joy set him apart not only from most “artists” or “celebrities” but from most anyone.
他不仅创造了诸多角色，也形塑己身，成了角色。身长六英尺四英寸，重三百磅，披斗篷，持剑杖，戴着皱巴巴的帽子，鼻槛上架着一副小眼镜，无论身在何处，都是引人发笑的对象。但他却是彼时最受爱戴的人物之一。即便他的对手都对他怀有深厚感情。他的谦逊，他对存在的惊奇，他的亲和与喜乐，不仅使他有别于大多数艺术家或名流，甚至使他异于几乎所有人。



A massive mind in a massive body, Chesterton was a giant in all respects. But in our day he is a giant in hiding, a giant apparently too big to be seen. Even though Chesterton is still widely quoted, he is largely forgotten. And yet so many of the very things he warned against have come to pass: mindless faddism, rampant materialism, moral relativism, censorship by the press (as opposed to censorship of the press), the rise of the twin evils of big government and big business, the decline of the family, the loss of beauty in the arts, the loss of wonder at the world, the loss of liberty in life.
庞大的身躯里有颗广大的心灵（A massive mind in a massive body），切斯特顿在各方面都是个巨人。然处今世，他却是个隐而不显的巨人，太过庞大，以至于难以眼见。许多文章援引切斯特顿，但人们几乎忘记了他。即便如此，许多他曾警告过的事情都变成了现实：盲目的时髦主义（faddism）、猖獗的唯物主义（materialism）、道德相对主义（moral relativism）、为新闻所审查（censorship by the press）（而不是对新闻的审查 as opposed to censorship of the press）、大政府和财团这对孪生之恶的崛起、家庭的衰落、艺术中美的丧失、对世界的惊奇实已消亡、生命的自由不复言及。

Chesterton’s words ring truer today than when they were first written at the other end of the previous century. And while all that sounds quite serious, it is refreshing to find that Chesterton approached every subject with great wit and overflowing mirth. The world needs to be shaken with his laughter once again.
上世纪末，切斯特顿秉笔为文，著之于篇，及至今日，文辞不灭，而更为真实。虽然上述一切乍听起来相当严重，但切斯特顿处理它们时，都施以非凡的机智和满溢的欢乐，令人耳目一新。世界需要再次被他的笑声震撼。

Read Dale Ahlquist’s introductory essay on G.K. Chesterton, “Who is This Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him?” 
请读戴尔·阿奎斯特介绍G.K.切斯特顿的文章：“这家伙是谁，为什么我前所未闻？”



Who is this Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him?
这家伙是谁，为什么我前所未闻？



I’ve heard the question more than once. It is asked by people who have just started to discover G.K. Chesterton. They have begun reading a Chesterton book, or perhaps have seen an issue of Gilbert, or maybe they’ve only encountered a series of pithy quotations that marvelously articulate some forgotten bit of common sense. They ask the question with a mixture of wonder, gratitude and…resentment. They are amazed by what they have discovered. They are thankful to have discovered it. And they are almost angry that it has taken so long for them to make the discovery.
我不止一次听到这个问题。初遇G.K.切斯特顿的人会如此询问。他们正开始读切斯特顿的书，或者可能看见了某一期吉尔伯特杂志，或者他们只偶遇了一串简练的引文，内藏机锋，巧妙地点出一些被遗忘的常识。他们询问，带着惊奇、感激以及……抱怨。“我发现了什么？”他们感到惊讶。“我发现了他。”他们满怀感激。“我竟然这么晚才发现他。”他们几乎生气。



“Who is this guy…?”

“这家伙是谁…？”



Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him, he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the 20th century. He said something about everything and he said it better than anybody else. But he was no mere wordsmith. He was very good at expressing himself, but more importantly, he had something very good to express. The reason he was the greatest writer of the 20th century was because he was also the greatest thinker of the 20th century.
无法用一句话概括切斯特顿。一段话也不行。事实上，尽管有如此之多的优秀传记，但没有一本可以真正抓住他。与其等待牧羊人将绵羊和山羊分开（典出玛窦福音25:31-33），不如直言不讳：G.K.切斯特顿是20世纪最好的作家。他对一切都有所言说（said something about everything），而且他说得比任何人都好。但他不仅仅是个舞文弄墨者（wordsmith）。他善于表达自己，然而更重要的是，他确实有很好的东西要表达。他之所以是20世纪最伟大的作家，全赖于他也是20世纪最伟大的思想家。

Born in London, G.K. Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s, but never went to college. He went to art school. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown.
G.K.切斯特顿生在伦敦，就读于圣保禄中学，但从未上过大学。他去了艺术学院。1900年，他应邀为杂志写艺术评论，随后成为史上最高产的作家之一。书百本，文两百余篇，诗作几百首，包括史诗《白马谣》，戏剧五部，小说五部，短篇小说两百篇左右，包括以神父-侦探布朗神父为主角、大受欢迎的探案集。

In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4,000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly. (To put it into perspective, four thousand essays is the equivalent of writing an essay a day, every day, for 11 years. If you’re not impressed, try it some time. But they have to be good essays – all of them – as funny as they are serious, and as readable and rewarding a century after you’ve written them.)
尽管切斯特顿在文学上造诣不凡，但他认为自己主要是一名记者。他撰写了四千多篇报刊文章，在《伦敦新闻画报》（the Illustrated London News）周刊上开辟专栏，供稿长达30年，至于《每日新闻》(the Daily News)周刊，则历13年。他也编撰自己的报纸，《G.K.周刊》。（说得更明白一些，四千篇文章相当于每日一篇持续十一年。如果你无法感同身受，姑且试试。而且它们必得是佳作——所有文章——既风趣且严肃，百年之后，仍可朝夕读诵，价值不减。）

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away papers.
至于文学批评、社论、历史、政治、经济学、哲学和神学，切斯特顿同样得心应手。他的文风显目：谦卑、一致、悖论、机智和惊奇统摄全集。尽管文章大部分当初都刊登在阅后即弃的报纸上，但今日仍旧及时（timely），且永不过时（timeless），一如当年。

This man who composed such profound and perfect lines as “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried,” stood 6’4″ and weighed about 300 pounds, usually had a cigar in his mouth, and walked around wearing a cape and a crumpled hat, tiny glasses pinched to the end of his nose, swordstick in hand, laughter blowing through his moustache. And usually had no idea where or when his next appointment was. He did much of his writing in train stations, since he usually missed the train he was supposed to catch. In one famous anecdote, he wired his wife, saying, “Am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?” His faithful wife, Frances, attended to all the details of his life, since he continually proved he had no way of doing it himself. She was later assisted by a secretary, Dorothy Collins, who became the couple’s surrogate daughter, and went on to become the writer’s literary executrix, continuing to make his work available after his death.
这个人写出了如此精妙完美的句子，如：“基督教的理想，从未被付诸实践而后发现不足；相反，它被发现困难重重而后从未实践。”他身长六英尺四英寸，重约三百磅，嘴里叼着一支雪茄，披着斗篷，顶着皱巴巴的帽子走来走去，鼻槛上架着一副小眼镜，手持剑杖，笑声吹开他的胡子而遁去。而且，他通常不知道自己接下来有何安排、要去何地。他在火车站写了很多文章，因为他总是错过他本该赶上的火车。有一则出名的轶事，他给妻子发了封电报：“我在哈伯勒市场。我该去哪儿？”身为他忠实的妻子，弗朗西丝（Frances）事无巨细地照料着他的生活，因为他周而复始地证明自己是靠不住的。后来，秘书多萝西·柯林斯（Dorothy Collins）前来帮忙，成了这对夫妇的养女，随后又成了这位作家的文学执行者，在他死后，继续出版他的作品。



This absent-minded, overgrown elf of a man, who laughed at his own jokes and amused children at birthday parties by catching buns in his mouth, this was the man who wrote a book called The Everlasting Man, which led a young atheist named C.S. Lewis to become a Christian. This was the man who wrote a novel called The Napoleon of Notting Hill, which inspired Michael Collins to lead a movement for Irish Independence. This was the man who wrote an essay in the Illustrated London News that inspired Mohandas Gandhi to lead a movement to end British colonial rule in India. This was a man who, when commissioned to write a book on St. Thomas Aquinas, had his secretary check out a stack of books on St. Thomas from the library, opened the top book on the stack, thumbed through it, closed it, and proceeded to dictate a book on St. Thomas. Not just any book. The renowned Thomistic scholar, Ettienne Gilson, had this to say about it:
这个心不在焉、长得太大的精灵，会对自己开的玩笑哈哈大笑，也会在生日聚会上，把面包抛到空中，然后用嘴接住，逗乐孩子。就是这个人，写了一部《永恒的人》，引导年轻的无神论者C.S.路易斯（C.S. Lewis）成为了基督徒。就是这个人，写了一部小说《诺丁山的拿破仑》，迈克尔·柯林斯（Michael Collins）因此激厉而振起，领导了爱尔兰独立运动。就是这个人，在《伦敦新闻画报》上写了一篇文章，鼓舞甘地（Mohandas Gandhi）发起一场运动，结束了英国在印度的殖民统治。就是这个人，受托为圣多玛斯·阿奎那（St. Thomas Aquinas）作传，他让秘书从图书馆借了一摞关于圣多玛斯的书籍，他打开堆在顶上的书，翻了翻，合上，开始口述一本圣多玛斯传。并非普普通通的一本书。著名的多玛斯学者埃蒂安·吉尔松(Etienne Gilson)这样看待它：

I consider it as being without possible comparison the best book ever written on St. Thomas. Nothing short of genius can account for such an achievement. Everybody will no doubt admit that it is a ‘clever’ book, but the few readers who have spent twenty or thirty years in studying St. Thomas…cannot fail to perceive that the so-called ‘wit’ of Chesterton has put their scholarship to shame. He has guessed all that which we had tried to demonstrate, and he has said all that which they were more or less clumsily attempting to express in academic formulas. Chesterton was one of the deepest thinkers who ever existed; he was deep because he was right; and he could not help being right; but he could not either help being modest and charitable, so he left it to those who could understand him to know that he was right, and deep; to the others, he apologized for being right, and he made up for being deep by being witty. That is all they can see of him.
我认为，这是有史以来关于圣多玛斯最好的书，无可比拟。这样的成就，非天才莫属。当然，每个人都会承认，这是一本“聪明”的书。但是那少数费二三十年之功研习圣多玛斯的读者（按：吉尔松暗指自己）却不能不觉察到，切斯特顿的“机智”让他们的学问相形失色。他猜到了我们试图证明的一切，他说尽了我们或多或少笨拙地试图用学术公式来表达的东西。切斯特顿是史上最深刻的思想家之一；他深刻，因为他是对的；他没法不对；但他也没法不谦卑、不仁慈，所以，他把这些留给那些与他神交的后来者，他们知道他是对的，是深刻的；至于其他人，他为他的正确致歉，他用诙谐来装扮他的深刻。这就是他们所能看到的一切。

Chesterton debated many of the celebrated intellectuals of his time: George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, Clarence Darrow. According to contemporary accounts, Chesterton usually emerged as the winner of these contests, however, the world has immortalized his opponents and forgotten Chesterton, and now we hear only one side of the argument, and we are enduring the legacies of socialism, relativism, materialism, and skepticism. Ironically, all of his opponents regarded Chesterton with the greatest affection. And George Bernard Shaw said: “The world is not thankful enough for Chesterton.”
那个时代有许多显名于世的知识分子，切斯特顿常与他们交辨是非：萧伯纳（George Bernard Shaw）、H.G. 威尔斯（H.G. Wells）、伯特兰·罗素（Bertrand Russell）、克莱伦斯·丹诺（Clarence Darrow）。据那时的报道，切斯特顿通常在这些辩论赛中独冠群雄，然而，世界让他的对手不朽，却独独遗忘了他。如今，我们只能听到论争单方的一面之词，我们正在忍受社会主义（socialism）、相对主义（relativism）、唯物主义（materialism）和怀疑主义（skepticism）的遗风故俗。讽刺的是，与切斯特顿论理的人，却对他情深意切。萧伯纳说：“世界对切斯特顿的感激远远不够。”

His writing has been praised by Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Karel Capek, Marshall McLuhan, Paul Claudel, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Sigrid Undset, Ronald Knox, Kingsley Amis, W.H. Auden, Anthony Burgess, E.F. Schumacher, Neil Gaiman, and Orson Welles. To name a few.
欧内斯特·海明威、格雷厄姆·格林、伊夫林·沃、豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯、加布里埃尔·加西亚·马尔克斯、卡雷尔·卡佩克、马歇尔·麦克卢汉、保尔·克洛岱尔、多萝西·赛耶斯、阿加莎·克里斯蒂、西格丽德·温塞特、罗纳德·诺克斯、金斯利·阿米斯、W.H. 奥登、安东尼·伯吉斯、E.F. 舒马赫、尼尔·盖曼和奥森·威尔斯都称赞他的作品。仅举几例。

T.S. Eliot said that Chesterton “deserves a permanent claim on our loyalty.”
T.S. 艾略特说，“我们应当誓死效忠”切斯特顿。



“…and why haven’t I heard of him?”

“……为什么我前所未闻？”



Why haven’t you heard of him?
为什么你前所未闻？
There are three answers to this question:
这题有三解：
Ø  I don’t know.
我不知道。
Ø  You’ve been cheated.
你被骗了。
Ø  Chesterton is the most unjustly neglected writer of our time.
切斯特顿是我们这个时代最不公正地被忽视的作家。


Perhaps it is proof that education is too important to be left to educators and that publishing is too important to be left to publishers, but there is no excuse why Chesterton is no longer taught in our schools and why his writing is not more widely reprinted and especially included in college anthologies. Well, there is an excuse. It seems that Chesterton is tough to pigeonhole, and if a writer cannot be quickly consigned to a category, or to one-word description, he risks falling through the cracks. Even if he weighs three hundred pounds. But there is another problem. Modern thinkers and commentators and critics have found it much more convenient to ignore Chesterton rather than to engage him in an argument, because to argue with Chesterton is to lose.
也许这证明了：教育太重要了，不能留给教育工作者，出版太重要了，不能留给出版商。但是，没有理由，我们的学校不再教授切斯特顿，没有理由，切斯特顿的著作不再广泛传播、尤其不再被收入大学读本。好吧，有个理由。切斯特顿似乎很难被归类，如果一位作家不能迅速归入某个类别，或者被一个词概述，他就有可能坠入夹缝，默默无闻。即使他重三百磅。但有另外一个问题。现代思想家、评论员和批评者发现，较之允许切斯特顿参与辩论，忽视他要方便得多。因为与切斯特顿交手，只能败北。



Chesterton argued eloquently against all the trends that eventually took over the 20th century: materialism, scientific determinism, moral relativism, and spineless agnosticism. He also argued against both socialism and capitalism and showed why they have both been the enemies of freedom and justice in modern society.
切斯特顿骋辞弘辩，力驳最终占领20世纪的所有趋势：唯物主义、科学决定论、道德相对主义和懦弱的不可知论。他也同时驳斥社会主义和资本主义，并且展示出为何它们都是现代社会自由和正义的敌人。

And what did he argue for? What was it he defended? He defended “the common man” and common sense. He defended the poor. He defended the family. He defended beauty. And he defended Christianity and the Catholic Faith. These don’t play well in the classroom, in the media, or in the public arena. And that is probably why he is neglected. The modern world prefers writers who are snobs, who have exotic and bizarre ideas, who glorify decadence, who scoff at Christianity, who deny the dignity of the poor, and who think freedom means no responsibility.
他支持什么？他辩护什么？他为“普通人”和常识（“the common man” and common sense）辩护。他为穷人辩护。他为家庭辩护。他为美辩护。他为基督宗教和天主教信仰辩护。他所辩护的一切，在课堂、在媒体、在公共场合，都甚少言及。也许，这就是他被忽视的原因。现代世界更青睐势利的作家，他们常有奇思妙想，他们颂赞颓废，他们嘲弄基督教，他们否认穷人的尊严，他们认为自由意味着无须负责。

But even though Chesterton is no longer taught in schools, you cannot consider yourself educated until you have thoroughly read Chesterton. And furthermore, thoroughly reading Chesterton is almost a complete education in itself. Chesterton is indeed a teacher, and the best kind. He doesn’t merely astonish you. He doesn’t just perform the wonder of making you think. He goes beyond that. He makes you laugh.
但是，尽管学校不再教授切斯特顿，除非你通读切斯特顿，否则你就不能认为自己受过教育。此外，通读切斯特顿，本身几乎就是一种整全的教育。切斯特顿确实是位老师，而且是最好的那种。他不仅让你惊奇。他不仅只展现让你深思的惊奇。他超越这些。他让你大笑不已。







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