Now, I’d like to do some work with you.
就现在的情况而言 《啊 迷失》太过于冗长
In its current state, O Lost is simply too long for one volume.
我认为你可以适当的缩减一些内容
I think you could afford to shape it a bit…
截断一小部分“顶端的枝桠”
cut off a few of the “top branches.”
珀金斯先生
Mr. Perkins.
我知道你不是在寻我开心 因为你不是那样的人
I know you’re not fooling with me. You don’t look the type.
但是天啊 我快高兴得晕厥过去了
But my God, this is too much for me.
你根本不知道 你根本不知道 你根本不知道
You don’t know. You don’t know. You don’t know.
全纽约所有该死的出版商都讨厌我的书
Every son-of-a-bitch publisher in New York hates my book.
乌尔夫先生 坐下说好吗
Mr. Wolfe, if you could sit down.
– 汤姆 – 汤姆
– Tom. – Tom.
叫我汤姆就行
Tom, please.
汤姆
Tom.
我认为你的书 本质上是一本自传
I take it your book is autobiographical in nature.
这是写作的最好形式 不是吗?
No other way to write, is there?
尤金·甘特其实就是我!
Eugene Gant is me!
而我妈妈就是伊莱扎 我爸爸是奥利弗·甘特
And my mama is Eliza, and my papa is W.O. Gant.
这些我们以后再谈
We’ll get into all that.
文章太长了 这一点我知道
I know it’s too long. I know it’s too long.
天啊 你都不知道为了删减戈尔贡这个人物 我纠结了多久
My lord, you don’t know how I struggled to cut the gorgon down.
你根本不知道我有多不忍♥心
You don’t know how I fought with her.
但现在不管您说什么 我都愿意删减
But I’ll cut anything you say.
只需要您一句话
You just give me the word.
汤姆
Tom…
这是你的书
the book belongs to you.
我唯一想做的 就是将这本书以最好的形态
All I want to do is to bring your work to the public…
出版面世
in its best possible form.
我唯一的职责就是
My job, my only job…
将优秀的书交到读者手中
is to put good books into the hands of readers.
谢谢你 珀金斯先生
Thank you, Mr. Perkins.
现在 斯克里布纳已经同意
Now, Scribner’s has agreed to give you…
向你预付一部分稿酬的订金
our standard advance against royalties.
如果你满意的话 我们就可以
If this is satisfactory…
按照你喜欢的程序节奏 完成后面的出版工作
we can proceed at whatever pace is comfortable for you.
五百美元?
$500?
所有人都觉得我的作品一文不值
No one ever thought my writing was worth a dime.
我的天啊!
Oh, lord!
我们明天就开始 您介意吗?
Do you mind if we start tomorrow?
当然不介意
Of course.
我保证会好好表现的
I promise to work hard.
太棒了!
Yeah!
天啊!
Oh, lord!
我都不能…
I can barely…
天啊 真不敢相信
Oh, mighty. Oh, indeedy.
“乌尔夫先生 我们有意出版你的书”
“Mr. Wolfe, we intend to publish your book.”
不是吧!
No!
汤姆!
Tom!
噢 我的天使 谢谢 谢谢你
Oh, my angel, thank you. Thank you.
谢谢你 亲爱的
Thank you, my lover, my love.
我真是…
I’m so…
太为你高兴了 噢!
I’m so happy for you. Oh!
你觉得我们应该删减多少内容?
How much you figure we have to cut?
差不多三百页左右
I’m guessing around 300 pages.
一本书重要的不是写了多少页
It’s not the page count that’s important.
而是它本身的内容
It’s telling the story.
看啊 我整整四年的心血
There it is. Four years of my life.
剔除哪怕是一个字 都会让我心痛
My heart bleeds to see any of it go.
但我想舍不得孩子套不着狼 应该是这个道理吧
But I guess it’s die dog or eat the hatchet.
我正想说这句话
You took the words right out of my mouth.
前面几个星期和你一起探讨书的过程
The last few weeks working on the book…
是我整个寒碜的一生 所经历的
have been the most thunderingly thrilling…
最愉快的时光了
of my entire woebegone life.
很高兴听你这么说
Glad I could amuse you.
我们埋入书堆 把一生献给了文字
You spend your lifetime in the pages of books…
正是如此
as we do…
书中的人物才会像极了生活中的我们 反映我们的内心
and those characters emerge that speak to you deep…
我们的本质
to the marrow.
他们就像是一面镜子
They are your mirrors.
我之前的写作
In my time…
受到了悉尼·卡尔顿
I aspired to Sydney Carton.
皮埃尔
Or Pierre…
还有托尔斯泰的启发
from the Tolstoy.
纵使我喜欢那时的文字 但我深知这样的写作 不是真实的自我
But I know that’s not who I am, much as I would have it so.
书中的人物不应该表现 我们想成为的那种人
We are not those characters we want to be.
而应该表现 我们自己是怎样的人
We’re those characters we are.
我就好比卡利班
[卡利班:莎士比亚《暴风城》中半人半兽的怪物]
I’m Caliban.
那个小岛上的生物
That island creature…
畸形而丑陋的卡利班
monstrous and deformed. Caliban.
很难看
So ugly.
很奇怪
So alien.
对于诗歌♥ 规避而不忍♥触碰
Hurt and shunned into poetry.
为什么不是曼哈顿而是一座小岛 处处充满着嘈杂?
What is Manhattan but an isle full of noises?
“这岛上充满了各种声音 使人听了愉快 不会伤害人”
“Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not?”
“有时成千的叮叮咚咚的乐器”
“Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments…
“在我耳边鸣响”
“will hum about mine ears…
“有时在我”
“and sometimes voices…
“酣睡醒来的时候 听到了这种歌♥声”
“that, if I then had waked after long sleep…
“又会使我沉沉睡去”
“will make me sleep again.”
对于你的书《啊 迷失》 我有一个想法
I have a thought about the book, O Lost.
我觉得我们应该斟酌一下书名
I think we should discuss the title.
在我看来 它并不能很好地反映 你书中想要表达的内容
I don’t know that it truly captures the meat of your book.
这样 想象一下你是一位读者
Here, imagine you’re a reader.
你在一家书店闲逛 眼前是玲琅满目的书籍
You’re wandering through a bookstore and lots of books…
然后你看见一本名为《西卵的特里马尔乔》
and you see a book titled Trimalchio in West Egg…
和一本名为《伟大的盖茨比》的书
and you see one titled The Great Gatsby.
你会选择哪一本?
Which are you going to pick up?
《盖茨比》
Gatsby.
这就是为什么斯科特 当时要改掉书名的原因
That’s why Scott changed his original title.
他知道书名要取得更能吸睛
He knew it needed a bit more meat.
但这是你的书 你自己考虑拿主意吧
It’s your book. Just give it a think.
我们到了
Here we are.
天啊 麦克斯!
My God, Max!
真是个豪♥宅♥
It’s a mansion.
终于和你见面了 乌尔夫先生 真是太高兴了
It is so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Wolfe.
麦克斯常常提起你
Max has told us so much.
汤姆!叫我汤姆就行
Tom! It’s Tom. Please.
也很高兴能来到这里 和你们每一个人见面
And nice to meet you. Every man jack of you.
应该是每一个女人
Or “girl jack,” I should say.
麦克斯常常提起 他的这些漂亮的女儿们
Max has been circumspect about all these beautiful daughters.
放眼望去 真是让人赏心悦目
A bounteous sea of loveliness.
麦克斯告诉我们 你正在写一本新书
Max tells us you’re working on a new book.
说到底 我其实就是一只大章鱼
I’m nothing if not a big old octopus.
大章鱼
An octopus.
一只触手还忙于修改《啊 迷失》
One arm still wrapped around O Lost…
另一只触手就已经偷偷探出去
while another one sneaks over here through the briny deep…
想要开始写新书了
to write the new book.
所以我觉得…我跟章鱼挺像的
I guess you could say I’m… I’m tentacular.
那新书是关于什么内容的?
What’s the new one about?
关于美国
It’s about America.
我想试着囊括美国的方方面面
All of it. I’m trying to capture everything.
每一座城市 村庄
Every city and village…
每一块石头 每一片树叶 每一个大人和小孩
and stone and leaf and man and child.
每一座农场 每一朵花 每一条河流
And every farm and flower, every river.
是关于那朵能够照亮
It’s about the one acetylene torch…
整个国家每一个人内心的 圣洁而明亮的火焰的
white, bright truth that burns in the heart of every man in this country.
是对父亲真正意义上的探寻
And that is the search for a true father.
我不是指给予你生命的父亲
I don’t mean biological father.
也不是在谈论精♥子♥
I’m not talking about sperm.
而是说 我们需要寻找精神层面父亲的意义
I mean, I search for the need of a father of our spirit.
这本书是关于每一件 能够让这个国家变得更为美好的事
It’s about every single thing that makes this country great.

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