沒讀過名著？隨便翻翻，假裝讀過了 Mar 12, 2007《紐時周報全文精譯》 Haven't Read It Skim a Few Pages and Fake It 田思怡譯 坊間出版的書也許真的太多了，幸好不是全都得讀。實際上，一種自然淘 汰機制把非讀不可的書限定在經典名著和暢銷書，這些書已成為有教養的知識 交流和社交談話的一部分。 PARIS －It may well be that too many books are published, but by good fortune, not all must be read. In practice, a form of natural selection limits essential reading to those classics and best sellers that become part of civilized intellectual and social discourse. 當然，許多人也沒有從頭到尾讀完這些書，而且不好意思承認，他們一直 擔心被人視破自己是個沒有文化修養的人。 Of course, many people don’t get through these books, either, and too embarrassed to admit it, they worry constantly about being exposed as philistines. 如今，52歲的巴黎大學文學教授皮耶．巴亞爾拿一本聊天課堂上的求生手冊 來解救他們。而且顯然需求殷切。「如何談論你沒讀過的書？」已成為巴黎的暢 銷書，而且歐洲各地爭相簽下翻譯權。 Now Pierre Bayard, 52, a Paris University literature professor, has come to their rescue with a survivor’s guide to life in the chattering classes. And it is evidently much in need. “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read?” has become a best seller here, with translation rights snapped up across Europe. 巴亞爾說：「我很驚訝，因為過去我沒想過不讀書的人竟有這麼大的罪惡感。 有了這本書，他們可以不需要接受心理輔導就去除罪惡感，而且也便宜得多。」 “I am surprised because I hadn’t imagined how guilty nonreaders feel,” Mr. Bayard said. “With this book, they can shake off their guilt without psychoanalysis, so it’s much cheaper.” 巴亞爾讓讀者相信並沒有非讀書不可的義務，並坦承他曾把自己從未讀過， 或只是瀏覽過的書拿到課堂上教學生。他還記得曾和旁人熱烈討論一本書，而 這本書對方也沒讀過。 Mr. Bayard reassures them that there is no obligation to read, and confesses to lecturing students on books that he has either not read or has merely skimmed. And he recalls passionate exchanges with people who also have not read the book under discussion. 他還舉出另一些作家為例，蒙田就記不住自己讀過的東西；還有詩人瓦雷 里，即使書他連翻都沒翻過，卻總找得到辦法去讚美其作者。巴亞爾發現葛林、 洛吉和其他作家小說中的人物，興致勃勃地質疑讀書的必要。他也拒絕被普魯 斯特或喬埃斯嚇倒。 He further cites writers like Montaigne, who could not remember what he read, and Paul Valery, who found ways of praising authors whose books he had never opened. Mr. Bayard finds characters in novels by Graham Greene, David Lodge and others who cheerfully question the need to read at all. And he refuses to be intimidated by Proust or Joyce. 巴亞爾先指出不讀書的大有人在，接著提出如何掩飾對一本書無知的訣竅。 Having demonstrated that nonreaders are in good company, Mr. Bayard then offers tips on how to cover up ignorance of a book. 會晤一本書的作者可以很有技巧。巴亞爾說，不需要表現對這本書有多了 解，因為作者對自己的作品已有定見。他說，答案在於「稱讚這本書，卻不談 細節」。 Meeting a book’s author can be tricky. Here, Mr. Bayard said there was no need to display knowledge of the book, since the author already has his own ideas about it. Rather, he said, the answer is “to speak well of it without entering into details.” 他指出，學生擅長對他們沒看過的書發表意見。書的封面、書評、有關作 者的八卦，甚至正在進行的談話都能提供素材，幫他們裝成很懂的樣子。 Students, he noted, are skilled at opining about books they have not read. The book’s cover, reviews, gossip about the author and even the current conversation can all provide food for sounding informed. 而巴亞爾最大膽的建議是，不讀書的人應談他們自己，只拿書作幌子，而 不多談書的內容。他說，這麼一來，他們被迫發揮自己的想像力，形同在創作 自己的書。 But Mr. Bayard’s most daring suggestion is that nonreaders should talk about themselves, using the pretext of the book without dwelling on its contents. In this way, he said, they are forced to tap their imagination and, in effect, invent their own book. 他寫道：「學會巧妙地談論自己不知道的事，比窮盡浩瀚的書海更有價值。」 “To be able to talk with finesse about something one does not know is worth more than the universe of books,” he writes. 巴亞爾說，他要協助人們藉由挑戰文學在法國的展現方式，來克服對文化 的畏懼。「學生被告知要讀這本書，再填一個表格，詳述他們讀過的東西。這 是直線教法，有助於聖化讀物。現在人們來找我，描述他們在學校所受的文化 創傷。『你必須讀完普魯斯特的所有著作』，他們的心理受到創傷。」 Mr. Bayard said he wanted to help people conquer their fear of culture by challenging the way that literature is presented in France. “Students are told to read the book, then to fill out a form detailing everything they have read. It’s a linear approach that serves to enshrine books. People now come up to me to describe the cultural wounds they suffered at school. ‘You have to read all of Proust.’ They were traumatized.” 他說：「他們把文化看成一面高牆，是令人害怕的『知識』怪物。但是我 們這些讀起書來廢寢忘食的知識分子，知道讀一本書的方法很多，你可以略讀， 可以從頭讀，卻不把它讀完，也可以只看目錄。你學習和一本書共處。」 “They see culture as a huge wall, as a terrifying specter of ‘knowledge,’ “ he said. “But we intellectuals, who are avid readers, know there are many ways of reading a book. You can skim it, you can start and not finish it, you can look at the index. You learn to live with a book.” By ALAN RIDING 【2007-03-13/聯合報/C7版/教育】 -- 大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私語。 嘈嘈切切錯雜彈，大珠小珠落玉盤。 間關鶯語花底滑，幽咽泉流水下灘。 水泉冷澀弦凝絕，凝絕不通聲漸歇。 別有幽愁暗恨生，此時無聲勝有聲。 銀瓶乍破水漿迸，鐵騎突出刀槍鳴。 曲終收撥當心畫，四弦一聲如裂帛。 東船西舫悄無言，唯見江心秋月白。 --

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