10 Famous Writers’ Houses Worth Visiting 推开作家的门：值得探访的十大文学故居

文玮

作家，又称“坐家”。不论是执笔手写，还是敲键盘码字，都需要坐在房子里写作品。作家的房子犹如一部自传，暴露出游离在他们文字之外的另一面，平淡现实可触及，却不流于浅俗。跟随本文的脚步，一起来探访十大著名作家的故居，看看这些创作灵魂的所在，究竟是怎样的地方，讲述了怎样的故事呢？

A writers home is a kind of autobiography1， and visiting the place where a great work of literature was written gives you a deeper understanding of both the book and the person who wrote it. Here are some notable writers houses to check out.

1. Jack London （杰克·伦敦，美国现实主义作家，代表作《野性的呼唤》）

Besides being one of the most successful writers of his day， Jack London was also a dedicated rancher.2 London bought 1，400 acres3 near Sonoma， California and set up an experimental farm. He planted spineless cacti to feed his livestock， put in grain silos， and built a piggery so grand he called it the “pig palace.”4 You can visit the house where London lived and died， as well as the ruins of the three-story mansion5 that burned down just before he was set to move in. （The rock walls still stand in a redwood grove， not far from Londons grave.） 6

2. John Steinbeck（约翰·斯坦贝克，20世纪美国重要作家之一，代表作《愤怒的葡萄》）

Steinbeck grew up in this Victorian home and lived here as an adult in 1934 to care for his ailing mother.7 During that time， his successful novella The Red Pony was published.8 A restless child， Steinbeck never seemed comfortable with his middle-class upbringing and empathized with the migrant workers he saw in the vegetable fields around Salinas， California.9 The town appeared as the setting in many of his works， most notably East of Eden.10 Today， in addition to taking a tour， you can eat lunch in a restaurant located in what used to be Steinbecks parlor11.

3. Mark Twain（马克·吐温，美国著名作家，代表作《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》）

Twain spent the happiest years of his life in his house in Hartford， Connecticut， with his wife and three daughters. He wrote seven major works here， including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The house， which feels reminiscent of a Mississippi steamboat，12 cost a great deal of money and contributed to Twains financial problems late in life. The interior was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and has more than 10，000 objects from the Victorian era.13 Theres even a pool table14 in the study， right by Twains writing desk.

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson（拉尔夫·沃尔多· 爱默生，美国思想家、作家，代表作《论自然》）

Emerson lived in this house in Concord， Massachusetts for 46 years until his death in 1882， and it acted as a transcendentalist headquarters.15 Visitors like Henry David Thoreau went in and out， sometimes staying in the guest room nicknamed the “Pilgrims Chamber.”16 Emerson wrote his essays “Nature and Self-Reliance” in a study on the first floor， although his son later said that Emersons “real study” was nearby Walden Woods.17

5. Emily Dickinson（艾米莉·狄金森，美国女诗人，代表作《艾米莉·狄金森诗集》）

Emily Dickinson was known as a recluse18 whose poetry was largely discovered after her death. But the house where she spent her life in Amherst， Massachusetts is a pleasant and bright one， with big windows and high ceilings19. While most of the poets activities remain a mystery even today， you can see her bedroom where she wrote many of her nearly 2，000 poems.

6. Edith Wharton （伊迪丝·华顿，美国女作家，代表作《纯真年代》）

Edith Wharton was rich. Very rich. The Mount， her palatial home in Lenox， Massachusetts， has 35 rooms， four floors， and acres of lush gardens.20 Wharton designed the house herself according to the principles she laid out in her best-selling book The Decoration of Houses. Her good friend Henry James21 was a frequent guest. Wharton wrote The House of Mirth22 at The Mount， usually working in the morning while lying in bed.

7. Margaret Mitchell（玛格丽特·米切尔，美国女作家，代表作《飘》）

The ultimate pilgrimage for Gone with the Wind fans has to be Margaret Mitchells house in Atlanta， Georgia.23 Mitchell moved into Apartment Number 1 of this building—which she called “The Dump”—as a newlywed in 1926 and lived there for six years.24 She worked on her epic novel on a table in the living room alcove that overlooks Crescent Avenue.25 Few people knew she was writing a book， which she considered a personal project. She worked on it sporadically26 until it was accepted for publication in 1935， forcing her to finish it up. The novel was a runaway hit27.

8. Flannery OConnor（弗兰纳里· 奥康纳，美国作家、评论家，代表作《好人难寻》）

Flannery OConnor wanted to move away from the South， but when she was diagnosed with lupus， she moved to her mothers dairy farm in Milledgeville，28 Georgia in 1951 and lived there until her death in 1964 at age 39. Since it was difficult for her to climb stairs， she slept in the downstairs living room， where she also wrote most of her published work. You can still see her manual typewriter and her crutches in the house.29 The 544 acres， with their ever-present peacocks，30 served as the setting for many of her short stories.

9. William Faulkner（威廉·福克纳，美国著名作家，代表作《喧哗与骚动》）

Few authors are as known for evoking place as Faulkner is for writing about Oxford， Mississippi.31 Rowan Oak， his home for over 30 years， is where he wrote many of his major works， including Light in August.32 When Faulkner bought the house， it didnt have running water or electricity. He spent many afternoons on home improvement projects， wiring the house himself and building the brick terrace outside.33 In his study， he sometimes wrote his complicated plot structures on the wall， then painted over them when he finished the book. In fact， you can still see the plot for his novel A Fable 34 penciled on the wall right where he left it.

10. Ernest Hemingway（欧内斯特·海明威，著名美国作家和记者，代表作《老人与海》）

Ernest Hemingway lived in the house in Key West， Florida from the time he married his second wife， Pauline， to when he ran off to Cuba35 with his third wife， Martha. It was the most productive eight years of his life. He wrote most of his major works in his office， which you could only get to by walking across a bridge that extended from the upstairs bedroom. Almost everything in the house had a story， from the urinal garden fountain to the monastery gate he used as a headboard to the six-toed cats he collected because he thought they were good luck.36 Today， over 40 cats still live on the estate， all descendants of Hemingways original pets.37

1. autobiography： 自传。

2. dedicated： 满腔热忱的，有奉献精神的；rancher： 牧场主。

3. acre： 英亩。

4. spineless： 无脊柱的； cacti： cactus的复数形式，仙人掌；livestock： 牲畜，家畜；grain silo： 谷粮仓；piggery： 猪舍，猪圈。

5. three-story mansion： 三层小楼。

6. redwood： 红杉木；grove： 小树林；grave： 墓地。

7. Victorian： 维多利亚时代的；ailing： 生病的，身患痼疾的。

8. novella： 短篇小说；The Red Pony： 《小红马》（1933）。

9. 斯坦贝克从小就是个不安分的孩子，对自己中产阶级的出身总是感到不自在，反倒对他在加利福尼亚州萨利纳斯菜地上看到的外来工人感同身受。restless： 不安定的，不满足现状的；upbringing： 抚养，养育； empathize with： 对……有同感；migrant： 移居的。

10. setting： 背景；most notably： 特别是，尤其是；East of Eden： 《伊甸之东》（1952）。

11. parlor： 起居室，客厅。

12. reminiscent of： 使人想起某种事物； steamboat： 汽船。

13. interior： 室内；Louis Comfort Tiffany： 路易斯·康福特·蒂芙尼（1848—1933），美国艺术家，以制造装饰性彩绘玻璃而闻名。他是蒂芙尼珠宝公司创办者查尔斯·蒂芙尼的儿子。

14. pool table： 台球桌。

15. transcendentalist： 先验论者的，简单来说，先验论者认为无需通过实践经验，只凭研究思想即可获得知识；headquarter： 总部。

16. 像亨利·戴维·梭罗这样的访客进进出出，有时会在名为“朝圣者之室”的客房里过夜。Henry David Thoreau： 亨利·戴维·梭罗（1817—1862），美国作家、哲学家、先验主义代表人物，代表作为《瓦尔登湖》；pilgrim： 朝圣者，香客。

17. self-reliance： 自主，自立；study： 书房； Walden Woods： 指瓦尔登湖畔的林地。

18. recluse： 隐居者，遁世者。

19. ceiling： 天花板。

20. palatial： 富丽堂皇的，宫殿似的；lush： 郁郁葱葱的，植物繁茂的。

21. Henry James： 亨利·詹姆斯（1843—1916），著名美国小说家、文学批评家，被认为是20世纪小说意识流写作技巧的先驱，代表作为《一位女士的画像》和《鸽翼》等。

22. The House of Mirth： 《欢乐之家》（1905），是伊迪丝·华顿的成名作。

23. ultimate： （同类中）最出色的，最大的；pilgrimage： （去与名人或有名之物有关的地方）旅行，朝圣。

24. dump： 脏乱的地方，垃圾堆； newly-wed： 新婚夫妇。

25. epic：（作品）史诗般的；alcove： 凹室，壁龛；overlook： 俯视，俯瞰； Crescent Avenue： 新月步行街。

26. sporadically： 不时发生地，零星地。

27. runaway hit： 一炮而红。

28. lupus： 狼疮；dairy farm： 奶牛场。

29. manual typewriter： 手动打字机； crutch： 拐杖。

30. ever-present： 始终存在的；peacock： （雄）孔雀。

31. 福克纳的作品大多以密西西比州的牛津为背景，很少有作家像他这样擅长描写某个地方并因此闻名的。evoke： 使再现，描绘出。

32. Light in August：《八月之光》，福克的代表作之一。

33. home improvement： 家居装修，家庭改建；wire： 给……接上电线； terrace：（供人在室外吃喝、休息等的）露天平台。

34. A Fable：《寓言》（1954），曾获普利策小说奖。

35. Cuba： 古巴。

36. 在这座屋子里，从男用小便器模样的花园喷泉、被用作床头板的修道院院门到海明威认为是好运象征的六趾猫收藏，几乎每一件器物的背后都有一个故事。urinal：（通常指固定在墙上的）男用小便器；monastery： 寺院，修道院；headboard： 床头板。

37. estate： 庄园，住宅区；descendant： 后代。