《拥有黄金打字机的男人》

By Jennifer Senior

女人、豪车、高尔夫、马丁尼酒、纸牌……如果你想在弗莱明的书信集里看到这些纸醉金迷、花天酒地的故事，可能会大失所望。不过，凡是跟书打过交道的人，一定会因为这本书而心花怒放。为什么？看完下面这篇文章，或许你就明白了。

Fleming adored women， fast cars， golf， martinis and cards， and he cheerfully assigned these same hobbies to his most famous fictional creation， Agent 007.2 But The Man with the Golden Typewriter： Ian Flemings James Bond Letters is much less about Flemings glamorous cavorting than it is about his brazen hustle to become a famous commercial novelist.3 This will come as a disappointment， perhaps， to anyone who dives into this collection and expects an orgy of vice.4 But to anyone who has ever worked on a book—writing one， editing one， marketing one， publishing one—or even just read one， this volume is a giant stalk of catnip.5

Open to almost any page and youll find something irresistible6. My favourite exchanges are those between Fleming and two of his most trusted readers， William Plomer and Daniel George， to whom he sent early drafts of each Bond instalment.7 While they almost always found something wonderful to say—“I got so fond of Dr. No I was quite sorry to see him vanish under a mound of excreta，” Plomer wrote in 1957—they were positively unsparing in their critiques of Flemings stylistic tics and idiosyncrasies.8 There isnt space to list them all， but heres a modest sampling：9

“I dont think M ought so often to speak ‘drily. ”10

“Shoulder-shrugging11， I regret to say， is too much in evidence.”

“On some pages the sentences all begin with ‘And. I cant see the point of this. Presumably you are aiming at producing an effect of panting continuity.12 Take out all the ‘Ands and see if it makes any difference.”

The letters in The Man with the Golden Typewriter are for the most part organised chronologically， with each batch corresponding to the evolution and reception of a different Bond novel.13 （Fleming wrote these Bond books with depressing rapidity， in just two-month spurts at his Jamaican retreat，14 Goldeneye.）

From the start， the reader knows that Fleming will not be an easy customer. After one of his earliest meetings with his publisher， Jonathan Cape， Fleming sent him a note hinting that higher royalty rates than theyd discussed might be nice， as would a first print run of 10，000 copies15—an awfully high number for a first-time author. His postscript16： “I return Williams report which doesnt give me many hints on improving my style. Presumably this means it is already impeccable17.”

Cape should have expected it. Fleming was both the foreign manager of The Sunday Times of London and the director of Queen Anne Press at the time. He was， to a publisher， what Philip Roth would likely be to a psychoanalyst： the nightmare client who knows the tricks of the trade better than the experts.18

Time would， of course， prove Fleming right. His publishers should have backed him heavily from the start. As his fame waxed， his correspondents grew more diverse， including not just his editors and literary friends， but also legions of critics， fans， nit-pickers and self-appointed fact checkers.19

The fact-checking notes are a revelation20. Before the hawk-eyed age of the Internet， readers had to use snail-mail for their chiding missives pointing out an authors mistakes， and Fleming received some lulus.21 Several women rebuked Fleming for incorrectly attributing the manufacture of Vent Vert perfume to Dior， rather than Balmain.22 Some fellow censured him for outfitting the Orient Express with hydraulic brakes， rather than vacuum ones.23 French speakers wrote to correct his French； German speakers wrote to correct his German； Herman W. Liebert， a librarian at Yale， complained hed implausibly stuffed Anglicisms into the mouths of Americans： “A list of alternate readings is enclosed.24 A few are optional， most are not.”

Then came the letter about the gun. In his first Bond books， Fleming had armed 007 with a .25 Beretta25. “This sort of gun is really a ladys gun，” wrote one Geoffrey Boothroyd of Glasgow in 1956， “and not a really nice lady at that.” It turns out that Boothroyd knew his stuff； he and Fleming became friends； and Bond was promptly re-equipped with his famous Walther PPK.26

To his admirers and even his scalding critics， Fleming was unfailingly charming and assured.27 Occasionally， though， Flemings notes to his friends contained more than a whiff of self-doubt， which lends this lively and entertaining collection more poignancy than you might expect.28

“Probably the fault of my books is that I dont take them seriously enough and meekly accept having my head ragged off about them，”29 he wrote to Chandler in April 1956. “If one has a grain of30 intelligence it is difficult to go on being serious about a character like James Bond. You after all write ‘novels of suspense—if not sociological studies—whereas my books are straight pillow fantasies of the bang-bang， kiss-kiss variety.”31

These doubts， alas， fitfully haunted Fleming until he died of a heart attack in 1964 at the age of 56.32 But his admirers should know he remained a sybarite even in his waning days.33 After his first heart attack in 1961， he wrote to Christopher Soames， Britains minister of agriculture， hoping to determine “the finest liquor obtainable in England，” now that he was condemned to a mere three ounces a day.34 “I am so sorry to bother you with this picayune enquiry，” he closed， “but it is just conceivable that you may also be interested in the reply.”35

1. glamour： 魅力，吸引力。

2. 弗莱明喜欢女人、飙车、高尔夫、马丁尼酒和纸牌，于是他欣然地将这些爱好都赋予了他笔下最著名的虚构人物：特工007。Fleming： 伊恩·弗莱明（Ian Fleming， 1908—1964），英国小说家，以詹姆斯·邦德系列作品而闻名；assign： 给予，分配；martini： 马丁尼酒，一种鸡尾酒；agent： 特工。

3. glamorous： 富于刺激的；cavorting： 嬉戏，寻欢作乐；brazen： 厚颜无耻的，肆无忌惮的；hustle： 忙碌，奔忙。

4. dive into： 一心投入，钻研；orgy： 放纵，无节制；vice： 犯罪活动，恶行。

5. 不过，但凡跟书打过交道的人，不论是写过书还是做过图书编辑、营销、出版，甚至只是读过书，都会为这本书信集而疯狂。volume： 书，书籍；stalk： 茎，柄；catnip： 猫薄荷，是一种草本植物，可以让猫咪疯狂甚至产生幻觉，所以被戏称为“猫毒品”。

6. irresistible： 无法抗拒的，富有诱惑力的。

7. draft： 草稿；instalment： （故事、计划等的）部分。

8. Dr. No： 诺博士，007中的反派人物；vanish： 消失，消亡；mound： 堆，垛；excreta： 排泄物；unsparing： 严厉的，不留情的；stylistic： 文体上的，风格上的；tic： 不自觉的习惯，口头语； idiosyncrasy：（某人特有的）癖好，嗜好。

9. modest： 适度的，适中的；sampling： 样本，样品。

10. M： 是007系列作品中詹姆斯·邦德的上司，军情六处的首脑；drily：（为达到幽默效果而说话）一本正经地，不形于色地。

11. shrug： 耸肩。

12. presumably： 大概，也许；pant： 气喘吁吁地说话； continuity： 连续性。

13. chronologically： 按时间顺序地，按先后次序地；batch： 一批，一组；correspond to： 对应；reception： 反应，感受。

14. rapidity： 迅速，速度；spurt：（行动、努力、感情的）迸发；Jamaican： 牙买加的；retreat： 隐居地，静养所。

15. publisher： 出版商；royalty rate： 版税率；print run： 印数。

16. postscript： 附言，补充说明。

17. impeccable： 无瑕疵的，无可挑剔的。

18. Philip Roth： 菲利普·罗斯，美国当今文坛地位最高的作家之一，曾多次提名诺贝尔文学奖；psychoanalyst： 精神分析学家，心理分析学家；nightmare： 可怕的，噩梦般的。

19. 他的名声越来越响，通信对象也越来越多样，除了他的编辑和文友，还有一群批评家、粉丝，找茬儿的和自封为事实核查者的人。wax： 变大，增加；correspondent： 通信者；legions of： 众多的，大批的；nit-picker： 挑刺的人。

20. revelation：（出人意料的）被揭示的情况， （对过去事件的）惊人的新发现。

21. hawk-eyed： 目光锐利的；snail-mail： 传统信件；chiding： 斥责的，责备的；missive： 信件，书信；lulu： 出众的人或物。

22. 一些女士指责弗莱明错误地认为绿风香水（Vent Vert）是迪奥（Dior）的产品，而实际它属于巴尔曼（Balmain）。rebuke： 指责，非难；perfume： 香水。

23. censure： 严厉批评，指责；outfit： 装备，配备；Orient Express： 东方快车，世界上首班横跨大洲的火车，在很多书中、电影中都有记录；hydraulic brake： 液压制动器；vacuum： 真空的。

24. librarian： 图书管理员；implausibly： 难以置信地，不真实地；Anglicism： 英式英语用词；enclose： 随信附上。

25. .25 Beretta： 0.25英寸（6.35毫米）口径的贝雷塔手枪。

26. promptly： 立即，马上；Walther PPK： 瓦尔特PPK手枪，在电影和虚构的小说中屡见不鲜，更是詹姆斯·邦德的随身装备之一。

27. scalding： 严厉的，尖锐的；unfailingly： 始终如一地；assured： 自信的，有把握的。

28. a whiff of： 一点点，些许；poignancy： 辛酸，惨痛。

29. meekly： 温顺地，顺从地；ragged： 筋疲力尽的。

30. a grain of： 一点儿，些微。

31. 毕竟你写的是“悬疑小说”——若不能称之为社会学研究的话——而我的书完全是些打打杀杀、你侬我侬的枕边幻想罢了。suspense： 悬疑；sociological： 社会学的；pillow： 枕头；fantasy： 幻想，想象；bang-bang： 砰砰的枪声，枪战；variety： 种类。

32. alas：（表示悲伤、怜悯等）哎呀，唉； fitfully： 断断续续地，间歇性地； haunt： 长期困扰。

33. sybarite： 好享受的人，贪图安逸的人； waning： 衰落的，渐亏的。

34. liquor： 烈性酒；condemn： 迫使……陷于不利（或不愉快）的境地；ounce： 盎司（英制重量单位，1盎司等于28.35克）。

35. picayune： 微不足道的，无关紧要的； enquiry： 询问，打听；conceivable： 可想到的，可想象的。