转自唐风论坛
Frodo生日贺文] [翻译] Letter #192：托尔金书信192号
192 From a letter to Amy Ronald 27 July 1956
第192通 选自1956年7月27日给Amy Ronald的信
By chance, I have just had another letter regarding the failure of Frodo. Very few seem even to have observed it. But following the logic of the plot, it was clearly inevitable, as an event. And surely it is a more significant and real event than a mere 'fairy-story' ending in which the hero is indomitable? It is possible for the good, even the saintly, to be subjected to a power of evil which is too great for them to overcome – in themselves. In this case the cause (not the 'hero') was triumphant, because by the exercise of pity, mercy, and forgiveness of injury, a situation was produced in which all was redressed and disaster averted. Gandalf certainly foresaw this. See Vol. I p. 68-9. Of course, he did not mean to say that one must be merciful, for it may prove useful later – it would not then be mercy or pity, which are only truly present when contrary to prudence. Not ours to plan ! But we are assured that we must be ourselves extravagantly generous, if we are to hope for the extravagant generosity which the slightest easing of, or escape from, the consequences of our own follies and errors represents. And that mercy does sometimes occur in this life. 真是很巧，我刚刚就Frodo的失败写了一封信。看来绝大部分人甚至没注意到这一点。其实就事件本身而言，按照情节的发展，它也是无可避免的。比起一个单纯“童话故事”式的英雄无所不能的收尾，这样结局应该更真实，更深刻吧？当邪恶力量太过强大，超出了个人极限时，好人，甚至圣人，是可能屈服变节的。在这种情形下，是仁慈、怜悯和对伤害的宽恕让错误得以补救，灾难得以避免，因此，获得胜利的是正义，而非“英雄”自己。Gandalf显然预见到了这一点。请见第一卷68至69页。当然，他不是说为日后利益着想，一个人需要同情怜悯他人——那就不是仁慈或怜悯了，真正需要怜悯或仁慈的时候总是与自身利益相违的时候。这不是我们可以计划预料的！不过，要是我们希望别人宽宏大量地谅解，甚至不追究自己的蠢行和错误造就的后果的话，我们自己首先就得宽宏大量对待别人。这种认知让人感到安心。而这一类的仁慈在生活中也确实时有发生。 Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said). See Vol. I p. 65. A third (the only other) commentator on the point some months ago reviled Frodo as a scoundrel (who should have been hung and not honoured), and me too. It seems sad and strange that, in this evil time when daily people of good will are tortured, 'brainwashed', and broken, anyone could be so fiercely simpleminded and self righteous.
Frodo的荣耀是应得的，因为他竭自己所有，贡献出了意志和体力的每一滴力量，这一切刚好足够把他带到目的地，却不能更远。在他的年代里，几乎没有其他任何人可能走到这么远。此后其它力量——故事作者（并非指我自己），“那位自在永在，无以名之的人”（一位批评家语）——运作了。请见第一卷65页。几个月前，第三位（也是唯一一位）批评家就此辱骂Frodo，连同我，说我们是该被绞死而非歌颂的恶棍。这令人悲哀，也让人奇怪——在这个心怀善意的普通人受折磨，遭“洗脑”，被迫害的年代里，还竟然有思想简单得如此可怕又自以为是的人。 I do not think Walter de la Mare walked in my country, whether you mean: read my work before he died, or inhabited a similar world, or both. I only met him once, many years ago, and we had little to say; but as far as my feelings for and understanding of his work goes, I should guess that he inhabited a much darker and more hopeless world: one anyway that alarms me profoundly. Walter de la Mare的世界与我的不同，无论你怎么理解——他生前读过我的作品，我们境地相似，或是两者皆有。我只在多年前与他有一面之缘，而我们无话可说；然而就我自己的感受和对他作品的理解，我倒是认为他的世界比我的更黑暗，希望也更渺茫——我因此深受启发，也更为警觉。
Frodo生日贺文] [翻译] Letter #192：托尔金书信192号
192 From a letter to Amy Ronald 27 July 1956
第192通 选自1956年7月27日给Amy Ronald的信
By chance, I have just had another letter regarding the failure of Frodo. Very few seem even to have observed it. But following the logic of the plot, it was clearly inevitable, as an event. And surely it is a more significant and real event than a mere 'fairy-story' ending in which the hero is indomitable? It is possible for the good, even the saintly, to be subjected to a power of evil which is too great for them to overcome – in themselves. In this case the cause (not the 'hero') was triumphant, because by the exercise of pity, mercy, and forgiveness of injury, a situation was produced in which all was redressed and disaster averted. Gandalf certainly foresaw this. See Vol. I p. 68-9. Of course, he did not mean to say that one must be merciful, for it may prove useful later – it would not then be mercy or pity, which are only truly present when contrary to prudence. Not ours to plan ! But we are assured that we must be ourselves extravagantly generous, if we are to hope for the extravagant generosity which the slightest easing of, or escape from, the consequences of our own follies and errors represents. And that mercy does sometimes occur in this life. 真是很巧，我刚刚就Frodo的失败写了一封信。看来绝大部分人甚至没注意到这一点。其实就事件本身而言，按照情节的发展，它也是无可避免的。比起一个单纯“童话故事”式的英雄无所不能的收尾，这样结局应该更真实，更深刻吧？当邪恶力量太过强大，超出了个人极限时，好人，甚至圣人，是可能屈服变节的。在这种情形下，是仁慈、怜悯和对伤害的宽恕让错误得以补救，灾难得以避免，因此，获得胜利的是正义，而非“英雄”自己。Gandalf显然预见到了这一点。请见第一卷68至69页。当然，他不是说为日后利益着想，一个人需要同情怜悯他人——那就不是仁慈或怜悯了，真正需要怜悯或仁慈的时候总是与自身利益相违的时候。这不是我们可以计划预料的！不过，要是我们希望别人宽宏大量地谅解，甚至不追究自己的蠢行和错误造就的后果的话，我们自己首先就得宽宏大量对待别人。这种认知让人感到安心。而这一类的仁慈在生活中也确实时有发生。 Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said). See Vol. I p. 65. A third (the only other) commentator on the point some months ago reviled Frodo as a scoundrel (who should have been hung and not honoured), and me too. It seems sad and strange that, in this evil time when daily people of good will are tortured, 'brainwashed', and broken, anyone could be so fiercely simpleminded and self righteous.
Frodo的荣耀是应得的，因为他竭自己所有，贡献出了意志和体力的每一滴力量，这一切刚好足够把他带到目的地，却不能更远。在他的年代里，几乎没有其他任何人可能走到这么远。此后其它力量——故事作者（并非指我自己），“那位自在永在，无以名之的人”（一位批评家语）——运作了。请见第一卷65页。几个月前，第三位（也是唯一一位）批评家就此辱骂Frodo，连同我，说我们是该被绞死而非歌颂的恶棍。这令人悲哀，也让人奇怪——在这个心怀善意的普通人受折磨，遭“洗脑”，被迫害的年代里，还竟然有思想简单得如此可怕又自以为是的人。 I do not think Walter de la Mare walked in my country, whether you mean: read my work before he died, or inhabited a similar world, or both. I only met him once, many years ago, and we had little to say; but as far as my feelings for and understanding of his work goes, I should guess that he inhabited a much darker and more hopeless world: one anyway that alarms me profoundly. Walter de la Mare的世界与我的不同，无论你怎么理解——他生前读过我的作品，我们境地相似，或是两者皆有。我只在多年前与他有一面之缘，而我们无话可说；然而就我自己的感受和对他作品的理解，我倒是认为他的世界比我的更黑暗，希望也更渺茫——我因此深受启发，也更为警觉。
