“言语，众所周知，是现实的大敌”:西方人眼中的可能来源

Conradiana Pub Date : 2023-11-01 DOI:10.1353/cnd.2019.a910735

Alan Procter

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But the subordinate tag to his claim, “as is well known,” in those four following parts lapses, the fame uncorroborated, as if its source in the mind of the narrator, like his very acquisition of words themselves, lay too deep to be resurrected. In quite another book, a recent study of the poetry of the Russian Arsenii Tarkovsky, Kitty Hunter Blair, in commenting on a line of Tarkovsky’s poetry, makes reference to an echoed line in a poem of a century earlier, a “much-quoted line” (23). The poem is the brief “Silentium,” its author Feodor Tiuchev (1803–73; also spelled Fyodor Tyutchev). Blair renders the relevant lines from “Silentium” as “a thought once spoken is a lie” (23). Similarly, Charles Tomlinson translates the lines: “Utter your thoughts / They flow in lies” (lns. 9–10). If among literate Russians the line has been much quoted, then the narrator’s claim to its fame is justified, just as his recollection of the line itself is faithful. It is possible, then, to conjecture that Conrad’s own Russian experience included this poem, thereafter perhaps lying deep within him until it resulted here in his narrator’s instinctive unreflective, unelaborated, unidentified recall of it. If so, then a paradox ensues, for Tiuchev’s poem reckons on words to proclaim the primacy of that wordlessness, of inexpression that he so cherished, the “reality” of the narrator’s third sentence of Under Western Eyes. Such cherished reality for Conrad’s characters seems to exist outside the boundaries of their word-filled lives within which they place themselves, or find themselves. Foremost among them, the protagonist and Tekla brave the costs of seeking release from the great foes of reality. In writing his novel, unique as it was in the severity of costs to his own well-being, Conrad may have been seeking for himself a similar release, his silentium. [End Page 179] Alan Procter ALAN PROCTER is an independent scholar. Following a degree in English language and literature in 1958 from the University of Toronto, he engaged for thirty-some years with teenagers and literature in Toronto suburban-school classrooms, and now continues to enjoy the worth of others’ writing. <h2>WORKS CITED</h2> Blair, Kitty Hunter. Poetry and Film: Artistic Kinship between Arsenii and Andrei Tarkovsky. Tate, 2014. Google Scholar Tiuchev, Feodor. “Silentium.” Translated by Charles Tomlinson, Russian Poets, edited by Peter Washington, Everyman, 2009, p. 45. Google Scholar Copyright © 2019 Texas Tech University Press ... 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引用次数: 0

摘要

为了代替摘要，这里有一个简短的内容摘录:“众所周知，词语是现实的大敌”:西方人眼中的可能来源Alan Procter(传记)《西方人眼中的世界》的第三句话，用康拉德的俄语叙述者的话来说，是这样的:“众所周知，词语是现实的大敌。”在小说接下来的四个部分中，这一惊人的主张得到了显著的支持，其中之一就是各种人物在追求各种令人不安的、自我辩解的、虚幻的虚幻版本时所说的谎言。但是，他那句话的从属标签，“众所周知”，在接下来的四部分中消失了，名声未经证实，仿佛它在叙述者头脑中的来源，就像他对词汇本身的习得一样，太深了，无法复活。在另一本书中，最近对俄罗斯诗人阿尔谢尼·塔可夫斯基的诗歌进行了研究，凯蒂·亨特·布莱尔在评论塔可夫斯基的一行诗时，提到了一个世纪前一首诗中与之呼应的一句“被多次引用的诗”(23页)。这首诗是一首简短的《寂静》，作者费奥多尔·图切夫(1803-73;也拼作Fyodor Tyutchev)。布莱尔将《沉默》中的相关台词解读为“思想一旦说出来就是谎言”(23)。同样，查尔斯·汤姆林森(Charles Tomlinson)翻译了这句话:“说出你的想法/它们在谎言中流动”(lns)。9 - 10)。如果有文化的俄罗斯人经常引用这句话，那么叙述者声称这句话的名声是有道理的，正如他对这句话本身的回忆是忠实的一样。因此，我们可以推测康拉德自己的俄罗斯经历包括这首诗，也许在这之后，这首诗深藏在他的内心深处，直到他的叙述者本能地、不加思索地、不加阐述地回忆起这首诗。如果是这样，那么一个悖论就随之而来了，因为图切夫的诗用文字来宣告他所珍视的无言和无表情的首要地位，即叙述者在《西方人的眼睛下》第三句中的“现实”。康拉德笔下的人物所珍视的现实似乎存在于他们充满文字的生活的边界之外，他们在这个边界中定位自己，或者找到自己。其中最重要的是，主人公和Tekla勇敢地从现实的大敌人那里寻求解脱。在写他的小说时，康拉德可能是在为自己寻找一种类似的解脱，他的沉默，因为他自己的幸福付出了严重的代价。Alan Procter是一位独立学者。1958年从多伦多大学获得英语语言文学学位后，他在多伦多郊区学校的课堂上从事青少年文学研究三十多年，现在继续享受他人作品的价值。作品引用了布莱尔，凯蒂·亨特。诗歌与电影:阿尔谢尼和安德烈·塔可夫斯基之间的艺术亲缘关系。泰特,2014年。费奥多尔，谷歌学者图切夫。“Silentium。”查尔斯·汤姆林森译，《俄罗斯诗人》，彼得·华盛顿主编，Everyman出版社，2009年，第45页。Google Scholar版权所有©2019德州理工大学出版社

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"Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality": A Possible Source for Under Western Eyes

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

“Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality”: A Possible Source for Under Western Eyes
Alan Procter (bio)

The third sentence of Under Western Eyes, in the words of Conrad’s Russian-literate narrator, reads, “Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality.” In the four parts of the novel that follow, this startling claim gets manifest support in significant ways, just one of which is the lies uttered by various characters in their pursuits of various troubling, self-justified, delusional versions of unreality. But the subordinate tag to his claim, “as is well known,” in those four following parts lapses, the fame uncorroborated, as if its source in the mind of the narrator, like his very acquisition of words themselves, lay too deep to be resurrected.

In quite another book, a recent study of the poetry of the Russian Arsenii Tarkovsky, Kitty Hunter Blair, in commenting on a line of Tarkovsky’s poetry, makes reference to an echoed line in a poem of a century earlier, a “much-quoted line” (23). The poem is the brief “Silentium,” its author Feodor Tiuchev (1803–73; also spelled Fyodor Tyutchev). Blair renders the relevant lines from “Silentium” as “a thought once spoken is a lie” (23). Similarly, Charles Tomlinson translates the lines: “Utter your thoughts / They flow in lies” (lns. 9–10). If among literate Russians the line has been much quoted, then the narrator’s claim to its fame is justified, just as his recollection of the line itself is faithful.

It is possible, then, to conjecture that Conrad’s own Russian experience included this poem, thereafter perhaps lying deep within him until it resulted here in his narrator’s instinctive unreflective, unelaborated, unidentified recall of it. If so, then a paradox ensues, for Tiuchev’s poem reckons on words to proclaim the primacy of that wordlessness, of inexpression that he so cherished, the “reality” of the narrator’s third sentence of Under Western Eyes. Such cherished reality for Conrad’s characters seems to exist outside the boundaries of their word-filled lives within which they place themselves, or find themselves. Foremost among them, the protagonist and Tekla brave the costs of seeking release from the great foes of reality. In writing his novel, unique as it was in the severity of costs to his own well-being, Conrad may have been seeking for himself a similar release, his silentium. [End Page 179]

Alan Procter

ALAN PROCTER is an independent scholar. Following a degree in English language and literature in 1958 from the University of Toronto, he engaged for thirty-some years with teenagers and literature in Toronto suburban-school classrooms, and now continues to enjoy the worth of others’ writing.