狼厅

By Hilary Mantel

没错，都铎王朝！这期书屋的推荐——《狼厅》，就是以大臣托马斯·克伦威尔的视角讲述亨利八世时代都铎王朝的故事。书中的克伦威尔一改在过去文学作品中一贯声名狼藉的形象：虽然同样野心勃勃、阴险狡诈，但却多了一些同情心和不少人情味，让人不禁愿意被这样的角色带领，游走在这段激情澎湃的王朝历史当中：亨利八世的宗教改革，他与凯瑟琳王后的离婚案，与罗马教廷的决裂，迎娶安妮·博林……

英国女作家希拉里·曼特尔凭《狼厅》获得了2009年的英国布克文学奖，2012年再次凭借此书的续篇《提堂》斩获布克奖，成为英国历史上两获此项殊荣的第一位本土作家，也是获得这一殊荣的首位女作家。用布克奖评委的话说：“我们的决定是基于小说之宏大、叙事之大胆以及其场景设置。”西方文学界也将此书誉为“新历史主义小说”。

本期节选了克伦威尔童年、中年及回忆中青年的三个片段，供大家一探这位亨利八世身边第一权臣跌宕起伏的人生。

Thomas Cromwell is now a little over forty years old. He is a man of strong build， not tall. Various expressions are available to his face， and one is readable： an expression of 6）stifled amusement. His hair is dark， heavy and waving， and his small eyes， which are of very strong sight， light up in conversation： so the Spanish ambassador will tell us， quite soon. It is said he knows by heart the entire New Testament in Latin， and so as a servant of the cardinal is apt “ready”with a text if 7）abbots 8）flounder. His speech is low

托马斯·克伦威尔现在刚刚四十出头。他身材不高，但体形健硕。他脸上有太多种表情，其中一种不难看清：那是一种暗暗的饶有兴味的表情。他的头发又黑又密，还带点卷，眼睛虽小却目光如炬，谈话时特别有神采：过不了多久，西班牙大使就会这样告诉我们。据说他将整部拉丁文《圣经·新约》熟记于心，因此，作为红衣主教的仆人，如果哪位神父念诵经文一时卡壳，他总是——随时都可以——张口就来。他说话声音

When people tell him what Gregory has failed to do， he says， “Hes busy growing.” He understands his need to sleep； he never got much sleep himself， with Walter stamping around， and after he ran away he was always on the ship or on the road， and then he found himself in an army. The thing people dont understand about an army is its great， unpunctuated wastes of inaction： you have to 10）scavenge for food， you are camped out somewhere with a rising water level because your mad 11）capitaine says so， you are shifted 12）abruptly in the middle of the night into some indefensible position， so you never really sleep， your equipment is defective， the gunners keep causing small unwanted explosions， the crossbowmen are either drunk or praying， the arrows are ordered up but not here yet， and your whole mind is occupied by a 13）seething anxiety that things are going to go badly because 14）il principe， or whatever little worshipfulness is in charge today， is not very good at the basic business of thinking. It didnt take him many winters to get out of fighting and into supply. In Italy， you could always fight in the summer， if you felt like it. If you wanted to 15）go out.

当别人告诉他格利高里（编者注：克伦威尔的儿子）什么事情没做好时，他会说：“他正忙着长身体呢。”他理解他对睡眠的需要；他自己就从来没有足够的睡眠，因为沃尔特总是在发火，“嗵嗵嗵”地走来走去；而离家出走之后，他如果不是在船上，就是在路上；后来当了兵。关于军队，人们所不了解的一点，就是按兵不动而形成的巨大而长期的浪费：你得去搜寻食物，由于你那位发疯的上尉的命令你们得驻扎在某个水位不断上涨的地方，以至于在深更半夜要突然转移到某个无法防御的地方，所以你永远不会有真正的睡眠，你的装备有毛病，炮兵总是弄出一些意想不到的小炸响，弓箭手要么醉醺醺的，要么在祷告，而弓箭却还在被调往前线的路上；你忧心忡忡，满脑子担心会出事情，因为不论掌管今日的是君王还是别的什么尊敬的神灵，显然连基本的思考都不大会。没过几年，他就离开了战场，做起了生意。在意大利，夏天总是有架可打，如果你想这样的话。如果你活腻了的话。译文参考自上海译文出版社

刘国枝等 译