艾伦·金斯堡之死
题目借用了北岛在艾伦·金斯堡死后一周年的纪念文章《诗人之死》。不同于诗人个人化的温情回忆，《经济学人》这篇讣告十分朴实，又带着戏谑的意味，仿佛死亡也不能把一个人拔高。
讣告原文与赏析
Allen Ginsberg, who howled about life in America, died on April 5th, 1997, aged 70
《经济学人》介绍艾伦·金斯堡时用的是“who howled about life in America”。熟悉金斯堡的读者知道“Howl”是他的成名诗，而 howl 作动词时“嚎叫”的本意也能很好地概括他的状态和个性：癫狂、敢言、敢于与众不同。对不熟悉他的读者来讲，这几个词埋下了很强的悬念：这究竟是个什么人？
1. WHEN Allen Ginsberg was being shown around an Oxford college he asked to see the rooms Shelley had used. His companion was uncertain of their whereabouts, but pointed hopefully to a door. Mr Ginsberg entered, dropped to his knees and kissed the carpet, much to the surprise of the occupant, who was making tea. Shelley would have been amused. He would have recognised a fellow romantic and quite likely invited him along to meet Keats and Byron. And as a connoisseur of dope, the American must have a chat with De Quincey about the virtues of opium.
开头一个场景就让艾伦·金斯堡的特立独行跃然纸上了。双膝下跪亲吻雪莱住过的房间的地毯看似癫狂，但从下文可以看出这样的举动根本不算什么，因为他是金斯堡。作者用了两个“would”来想象假如雪莱在世会发生什么，也为第二段埋下了伏笔。
最后一句提到了英国散文家和批评家德·昆西，他和雪莱、拜伦同时代，代表作《一个吸食鸦片者的自白》来自他吸食鸦片后所产生的狂热梦境。在常人来看，鸦片是邪恶的，但对德·昆西和艾伦·金斯堡来说，这却是天赐之物（godsend），因此文中用的词是“the virtues of opium”。
2. The curious era in American culture that produced the beat generation (from beatitude or deadbeat: take your pick) was in some ways a reliving of England's 19th-century romantic movement. The beats rejected the rationality of normal living. In their pursuit of “flower power” some sought a return to nature. Mr Ginsberg was their outrageous Byron, although far from handsome and in love with men rather than women.
将英国读者熟悉的浪漫主义运动和不太熟悉的“垮掉的一代”关联起来，便于读者快速理解金斯堡，显示了作者的学识和面对特定受众时的换位能力。第五段写乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》也是同样的出发点。
“flower power”是一句反战口号，结合下文提到的金斯堡与旧金山的渊源，让我想起《阿甘正传》里 Jenny 搭车去旧金山时的配乐 San Fancisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair). 里面有这么一句歌词：
For those who come to San Fancisco,
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
一个男人是同性恋用最简单的表达可以说：He is in love with men rather than women. 我记得《经济学人》之前在写朝鲜的世袭制（hereditary system）时是这样表达的：pass power from father to son. 可见表达的灵活性比词汇量更重要。能用简单的词汇表达复杂的意思不简单。
3. “Coming out”, green politics, feminism, trash fashion and much else that today hardly raises an eyebrow, made its bow in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mr Ginsberg and his friends, among them Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, would not claim to have begotten all these innovations, but they were a catalyst. Although the Eisenhower presidency (1953-61) is thought of as a stodgy period, the civil rights movement was growing and in 1961 America sent its first soldiers to Vietnam. Civil rights and draft dodging were oxygen to the beats.
这一段概述了金斯堡和他的朋友们与美国六十年代文化的关系，涉及到很多背景知识，有兴趣的读者可以延伸阅读莫里斯·迪克斯坦的《伊甸园之门》。Jack Kerouac（杰克·凯鲁亚克）其实是“垮掉的一代”最早的提出者，他的《在路上》是在美国家喻户晓的作品。最后一句很有意思，说民权和逃兵役是垮掉的一代的氧气。说什么人喜欢什么，离不开什么，或总会怎样时可以用“A is oxygen to B”。这种表达在字典上学不到，只能在阅读中通过语境来学习和内化。我们不妨现学现用，比如：
Snapchat and Instagram are oxygen to many youths.
Books are oxygen to the nerdy.
Bungee, skydiving and deep sea diving are oxygen to the adventurous.
The start of fame
4. Allen Ginsberg, though, grew up in a nine-to-five world. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia determined to make good. His father was a teacher, and wrote poetry of a traditionalist style. Young Allen went to university and was expected to become a lawyer. This ordered life came apart. His mother, who for years had had bouts of schizophrenia, was confined to a mental home. Mr Ginsberg dropped out and had a series of jobs, including a spell writing copy for advertisements. He settled in San Francisco because of its “tradition of Bohemia” and wrote “Howl”, the poem that made him famous.
这段看似简单，但非常值得学习。8个句子，每句分别交代了金斯堡成长过程的一个事实或细节，毫不拖泥带水。中阶和高阶学习者句子写作的一大问题是喜欢写读起来非常绕、信息过多的长句子。这段值得反复阅读体会，尤其是你在描写一个人的经历的时候不妨回过头来看看。
“This ordered life came apart”可以用在太多人身上。比如，上大学填报志愿家长想帮你做决定，毕业考研、找工作还是考公务员一些家长也想做决定，这都可以叫做“ordered life”。如果你选择了自己的路，就可以用这句话。我马上想到的是李安的经历。
5. Just as an earlier generation first heard of “Ulysses” when it was banned, “Howl” became famous by being prosecuted for obscenity. In the course of a long and widely-publicised trial its opening lines were read by millions who would not normally pick up a book of poetry. Unlike “Ulysees”, with James Joyce's peculiar syntax, “Howl”, whatever its merits as poetry, is a pretty straightforward read: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, /dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.”
直到第五段，全文才第一次提到金斯堡的成名作。“Howl”和乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》命运一样，都是因为作品被禁因祸得福。“Howl”在美国有多出名呢？“its opening lines were read by millions who would not normally pick up a book of poetry”。就连一般不读诗的人都知道开头那几句。然后，作者并没有评价这首诗的好坏，只是说它“挺直接的”。从“destroyed by madness”, “starving hysterical naked”, “dragging themselves through the negro streets”, “an angry fix”这些疯狂的表达我们能感受到艾伦·金斯堡创作时那种歇斯底里的状态。
6. Even better for a public avid for novelty, Allen Ginsberg turned out to be a character, a bald-headed bearded lump in sandals, never short of a lively opinion and, if there was a photographer around, happy to play the buffoon. He travelled across America reading his poems to large, mainly young audiences who seemed not to mind that he was often incomprehensible, perhaps because his admirers were themselves blotto on drugs.
“a bald-headed bearded lump in sandals”几个词生动地刻画了金斯堡的不修边幅。最后一句中的“who seemed not to mind that he was often incomprehensible”和上一段中的“its opening lines were read by millions who would not normally pick up a book of poetry”相呼应。
7. Even during his travels abroad he was often in the headlines. He was expelled from Cuba and Czechoslovakia for advocating homosexuality, and from India, where he sought “eastern mysticism” and was accused of being an American spy, and from various countries in Latin America where he said he was looking for new drugs. At a party in London he took off his clothes and hung a hotel notice, “Do not disturb”, on his penis. “Poetry is best read naked,” he said. John Lennon, not a man usually offended, shielded his wife and walked out in disgust. Back home, Mr Ginsberg practised yoga and other forms of meditation, declaring them to be superior to drugs, and became a devotee of a guru who dressed his staff as English butlers. He once bemused police at a civil rights demo in Chicago by chanting the mantra “om” for seven hours.
这一段通过金斯堡去过的国家、精神信仰显示了他的疯癫。伦敦聚会趣闻和约翰•列侬的反应让人眼前一亮。
8. The New Yorker published a sly version of “Howl”: “I saw the best minds of my generation/ Reading their poems to Vassar girls/ Being interviewed by Mademoiselle./ Having their publicity handled by professionals.”
9. Nevertheless, Allen Ginsberg was said to be a generous man, giving support to less famous poets and other writers. He pioneered poetry designed to be read aloud. He turned down offers from big publishing houses and stuck with the small firm that first put him in print. He produced a mountain of work published in some 40 books. On one day just before he died he was said to have written a dozen poems.
这一段我读出了金斯堡的义气和念旧。北岛在《蓝房子》里曾提过金斯堡对他那些“垮掉的一代”老伙计们慷慨和怀念的事迹，据说他多年来一直照顾穷困潦倒的诗人科尔索 (Gregory Corso)，他还会经常听当年和杰克·凯鲁亚克一起喝酒聊天的录音，一个人在黑暗中坐着，“脸上露出悲哀”。
文中提到的“the small firm that first put him in print”就是旧金山非常著名的集书店、出版于一体的 City Lights（城市之光）。今天位于 261 Columbus Avenue 的 City Lights Bookstore 已然是旧金山的文化标志，还有不少同性恋者会前去朝圣。
10. Will his poetry endure? Some of his poems are now in anthologies. “Kaddish”, about his mother's death, is well regarded. But while every poet may hope to outlive fashion and be read for ever, there are not many Shelleys. The judge who heard the “Howl” case decided that the poem had “social importance”. That, anyway, was true enough.
做创造性工作的人应该都希望自己的作品能够“outlive fashion”。这个表达应该学会，在很多非虚构写作的场合中可以用到，例如：
The truly classic works are born to outlive fashion.
Artists, young and old alike, aspire to leave their mark and outlive fashion.
最后，《经济学人》的作者似乎对金斯堡的作品有点不以为然，“勉强”承认了 “Howl”的社会意义。如果一定要比较的话，我更喜欢北岛在《诗人之死》的最后一句：
诗人之死，并没为这大地增加或减少什么，虽然他的墓碑有碍观瞻，虽然他的书构成污染，虽然他的精神沙砾暗中影响那庞大机器的正常运转。
关于这个版块有问题欢迎在评论区留言。也欢迎推荐《经济学人》历来的讣告人物。
题图：“Howl” and Allen Ginsberg. 配图：City Lights Bookstore. 配乐：San Fancisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) by Scott McKenzie.
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