Famous Authors Who Also Wrote for Children 文学巨匠：吾也有童趣

2015-05-30阿诺

新东方英语·中学版 2015年6期

阿诺

每个人心中都住着一个孩子，这话一点儿也不假。不信就来看看下面这些在童书界小试牛刀的文豪们。

James Joyce wrote some of the most influential—and impenetrable1）—literature of the 20th century. When he wasn't doing that， he wrote about cats. In 1936， Joyce mailed two stories to his grandson， Stephen. The tales would later be published as children's books： The Cat and the Devil and The Cats of Copenhagen. The Cat and the Devil， a riff2） off a French fable， posthumously3） became Joyce's first picture book in 1964. In it， a mayor hires the devil to build a bridge. The devil agrees under one condition： he owns the first soul that crosses. When the devil finishes， the mayor tosses a cat across the bridge， sealing the deal and leaving Lucifer4） with a pet. Joyce's second story， The Cats of Copenhagen， was published in 2012.

詹姆斯·乔伊斯创作了20世纪最具影响力也最晦涩难懂的一些文学作品。除此之外，他还写过关于猫的故事。1936年，乔伊斯给他的孙子斯蒂芬寄了两个故事。这两个故事日后都作为儿童读物出版了，分别叫做《猫与魔鬼》和《哥本哈根的猫》。《猫与魔鬼》改写自一则法国寓言，在乔伊斯去世后，于1964年出版，是其第一本图画故事书。书中讲述了一位市长雇用魔鬼来造桥。魔鬼同意了，但是有一个条件：第一个过桥人的灵魂要归他。当魔鬼把桥造好时，市长将一只猫扔到桥那头，由此完成了交易，只留给魔鬼一只宠物猫。乔伊斯的第二个故事《哥本哈根的猫》于2012年出版。

E. E. Cummings wrote around 2900 poems， two novels and countless essays. He also wrote four stories for his daughter Nancy， which were published in a 1965 collection called Fairy Tales. The stories include The Old Man Who Said "Why"， The Elephant and the Butterfly and The House That Ate Mosquito Pie. The most playful yarn5）， however， may be The Little Girl Named I—a funny play on words all the way through. At the end， the girl named "I" meets a girl named "You".

E. E. 卡明斯创作了约2900首诗、两部小说和无数篇散文，他还为女儿南希写了四个故事。这四个故事于1965年结集出版，书名为《童话故事》，其中包括《说“为什么”的老人》《大象和蝴蝶》以及《吃蚊子派的房子》。不过，最有趣的故事可能要数《名叫“我”的小女孩》——一个通篇都在玩文字游戏的有趣故事。在故事结尾，名叫“我”的那个女孩遇到了一个名叫“你”的女孩。

Upton Sinclair was called "a man with every gift except humor and silence" by Time magazine. Sinclair poured his life's work into criticizing society and politics， but he still found room for fun. In 1936， the muckraker6） released The Gnomobile： A Gnice Gnew Gnarrative with Gnonsense， but Gnothing Gnaughty.

In this story， a girl named Elizabeth discovers the last two gnomes7） living in the Redwood Forest. The gnomes—Bobo and Glogo—distrust "big people" because they cut trees and destroy gnome homes. After gaining their trust， Elizabeth drives her pointy-hatted friends across the country to find other gnomes. Sinclair couldn't help but moralize8）， subtly scolding industrialization and pollution along the way. In 1967， Walt Disney turned Sinclair's tale into a movie， The Gnome-Mobile.

厄普顿·辛克莱被《时代周刊》称作是“一个除了幽默和沉默之外拥有一切天赋的人”。辛克莱倾尽毕生的精力去批判社会和政治，不过他还是腾出时间来幽默了一把。1936年，这位喜欢揭露黑幕的作家发表了《小矮人车：一个荒谬但不出格的新故事》。

在这个故事中，一个名叫伊丽莎白的女孩发现了住在红杉林里的最后两个小矮人。这两个小矮人——博博和格洛戈——不信任“大人”，因为他们砍伐森林，破坏了小矮人的家园。伊丽莎白在赢得小矮人的信任后，开车载着这两个头戴尖顶帽的朋友去全国各地寻找其他小矮人。辛克莱还是忍不住要说教一番，故事的字里行间都隐含着他对工业化和污染问题的谴责。1967年，沃尔特·迪士尼公司将辛克莱的这个故事拍成了电影《地仙号快车》。

In 1951， Holiday published Hemingway's only stories for children： The Good Lion and The Faithful Bull. Hemingway likely wrote both fables for Adriana Ivancich （his Venetian love interest） and her nephew.

The Good Lion follows a winged， pasta-eating lion. He visits Africa， where he's bullied by other lions for being different. The big cat， however， never bites back. He stays cheerful， eventually flying away from his bullies in Hemingway style： "Adios9），" he said， for he spoke beautiful Spanish， being a lion of culture.

The Faithful Bull is a parody10） of Munro Leaf's The Story of Ferdinand， a tale about a bull who'd rather smell flowers than fight. Hemingway opens： One time there was a bull and his name was not Ferdinand and he cared nothing for flowers. He loved to fight and he fought with all the other bulls of his own age， or any age， and he was a champion. The bull is later sent to pasture to breed， where he falls in love with a beautiful cow. His true love， however， is bullfighting11）， so he returns—only to be killed by a matador12）.

1951年，《假日》杂志（编注：美国著名旅游杂志）刊登了海明威仅有的两篇儿童故事：《好狮子》和《忠贞的公牛》。这两篇寓言故事可能都是海明威写给阿德里安娜·伊凡契奇（他的威尼斯恋人）和她的侄子的。

《好狮子》围绕一只长着翅膀、吃意大利面的狮子展开。他去非洲旅游，因为与众不同而遭到其他狮子的欺负。不过，这只“大猫”却从来不会还击。他一直都高高兴兴的，最后离开了那些欺负他的家伙，远走高飞，颇具海明威的风格：“再见。”他用西班牙语说，因为他是一头有教养的狮子，能说一口漂亮的西班牙语。

曼罗·里夫（编注：美国儿童文学作家）的《爱花的牛》讲述了一头爱闻花香不爱打斗的公牛的故事。海明威的《忠贞的公牛》是对这本书的恶搞。海明威开头写道：从前有一头公牛，他的名字不叫费迪南，他一点儿也不喜欢花。他好斗，他跟其他所有同龄的或不同龄的公牛斗，他是常胜将军。后来，这头公牛被送到牧场上繁育后代，在那儿他爱上了一头漂亮的母牛。然而，他的最爱依然是和别的牛打斗，于是他又回去了——结果死在了斗牛士的手上。

Thirteen years after writing Brave New World， Aldous Huxley penned a story for his 5-year-old niece called The Crows of Pearblossom. Four years after Huxley died， Random House13） published the tale as a picture book. The story follows Mr. and Mrs. Crow and their neighbor， Mr. Snake， who always steals and eats their eggs. One day， the Crows leave fake eggs in their nest. When Mr. Snake eats the eggs， he gets a bad stomachache and dies.

在写完《美丽新世界》13年后，阿道司·赫胥黎为五岁的侄女写了一个故事，名叫《梨花大道的乌鸦一家》。赫胥黎去世四年后，兰登书屋以图画书的形式出版了这个故事。故事围绕乌鸦先生、乌鸦太太以及总是偷吃乌鸦蛋的邻居蛇先生展开。一天，乌鸦夫妇在巢里留下几枚假蛋。蛇先生吃下去后，肚子便开始疼得厉害，最后死掉了。

James Baldwin's novel Go Tell It on the Mountain is the story of a boy growing up in Harlem14）. Baldwin's children's book， Little Man Little Man， tells a similar tale. A 4-year old named TJ—based on Baldwin's young nephew—plays ball in the streets. The story is a collage15） of his observations， written in a style that "blends black English and child's talk". Here's an excerpt： A couple of times a car almost run him over. That ain't nothing. He going to be a bigger star than Hank Aaron one of these days. Soon as he gets a little bit older， he going to jump the roofs.

詹姆斯·鲍德温的小说《向苍天呼吁》讲述了一个在哈莱姆区长大的男孩的故事。其创作的儿童读物《小小男子汉》也讲了一个类似的故事。一个名叫TJ的四岁男孩——以鲍德温的小侄子为原型——在街上打球。故事整个就是小男孩的所见所闻，语言则用了一种“融合了黑人英语和儿童用语”的风格。下面摘录其中一段：好几次，他都差点被车撞倒。那不算什么。总有一天，他会成为比汉克·艾伦（编注：美国著名职业棒球手）还要出名的明星。只要再长大一些，他就能从屋顶上往下跳了。

Tolstoy loved kids. At 21， the aristocrat opened a school for peasants on his estate. While writing Anna Karenina， he started working on schoolbooks for his students. Tolstoy wrote about his childhood， adapted Aesop's Fables and Hindu stories and penned playful fairy tales like Ivan the Fool and The Peasant and the Cucumbers. When Tolstoy finished， he read the tales to his toughest critics—the tots16） at his schools. He asked them for pointers17） and reworked18） the stories until the tough crowd softened. Tolstoy eventually published the stories in two primers19）， the ABC Book and the New ABC Book， which became staples20） at Russian schools.

托尔斯泰喜欢孩子。21岁时，这位贵族在自己的庄园里办了一所农夫学校。在写作《安娜·卡列尼娜》的同时，他开始为自己的学生编写教材。托尔斯泰写了自己童年的故事，改编了《伊索寓言》和印度神话，还写了《傻子伊凡》和《农夫和黄瓜》这样幽默的童话故事。学校里的孩子们是这些故事最严格的评审，托尔斯泰每每写完之后，都会把故事念给他们听，向他们征求意见，然后进行修改，直到这些挑剔的小家伙们满意为止。托尔斯泰后来将这些故事汇编成两本启蒙读物出版，分别是《识字课本》和《新编识字课本》，它们后来成了当年俄国学校里主要的教材。

1. impenetrable [?m?pen?tr?bl] adj. 费解的；难以理解的

2. riff [r?f] n. 重复乐段；文章

3. posthumously [?p?stj?m?sli] adv. 死后；身后

4. Lucifer [?lu?s?f?（r）] n. 路西法，早期基督教著作中对堕落以前的撒旦的称呼，在此指故事中的魔鬼。

5. yarn [jɑ?n] n. （经添油加醋而更加扣人心弦的）故事；奇谈

6. muckraker [?m?kre?k?（r）] n. 喜欢揭露名人丑闻的人

7. gnome [n??m] n. （儿童故事中生活在地下的）地精；小矮人

8. moralize [?m?r?la?z] vi. （就……）进行训诫，进行说教

9. adios [??di??s] int. <西> （美国西南部用语）再见

10. parody [?p?r?di] n. （讽喻性）模仿诗文（或戏剧）

11. bullfighting [?b?lfa?t??] n. 斗牛

12. matador [?m?t?d??（r）] n. 斗牛士