"I began to meditate on the writer's life. It is full of tribulation. First he must endure poverty and the world's indifference; then, having achieved a measure of success, he must submit with a good grace to its hazards. He depends upon a fickle public. He is at the mercy of journalists who want to interview him and photographers who want to take his picture, of editors who harry him for copy and tax gatherers who harry him for income tax ... of agents, publishers, managers, bores, admirers, critics, and his own conscience. But he has one compensation. Whenever he has anything on his mind, whether it be a harassing reflection, grief at the death of a friend, unrequited love, wounded pride, anger at the treachery of someone to whom he has shown kindness, in short any emotion or any perplexing thought, he has only to put down in black and white, using it as the theme of a story or the decoration of an essay, to forget all about it. He is the only free man."
--from "Cakes and Ale" by W. Somerset Maugham
--from "Cakes and Ale" by W. Somerset Maugham
Cakes and Ale is a delicious satire of London literary society between the Wars. Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward Driffield's wife to pen the official biography of her lionized novelist husband, and determined to write a bestseller. But then Kear discovers the great novelist's voluptuous muse (and unlikely first wife), Rosie. The lively, loving heroine once gave Driffield enough material to last a lifetime, but now her memory casts an embarrissing shadow over his career and respectable image.
一九一五年的《人性枷鎖》與一九一九年的《月亮與六便士》，則更確立他在文壇的地位。其他著作有《剃刀邊緣》、《餅與酒》--台灣1960s 有譯本、《書與你》、《毛姆寫作回憶錄》等。 ...
《尋歡作樂》翻譯過份:
毛姆的《餅與酒/尋歡作樂》（Cakes and Ale）就常被认为是讽刺哈代与他第二任妻子的小说，传言如此之盛，使毛姆 ...
上海譯文版 翻譯成 尋歡作樂
Cakes and Ale: or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930) is a novel by British author William Somerset Maugham. It is often alleged to be a thinly-veiled roman à clef examining contemporary novelists Thomas Hardy (as Edward Driffield) and Hugh Walpole (as Alroy Kear)[citation needed] -— though Maugham maintained he had created both characters as composites and in fact explicitly denies any connection to Hardy in his own introduction to later editions of the novel. Maugham exposes the misguided social snobbery leveled at the character Rosie Driffield (Edward's first wife), whose frankness, honesty and sexual freedom make her a target of conservative propriety. Her character is treated favorably by the book's narrator, Ashenden, who understands her sexual energy to be a muse to the many artists who surround her.
Maugham drew his title from the remark of Sir Toby Belch to Malvolio in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" Cakes and ale are the emblems of the good life in the tagline to the fable attributed to Aesop, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse": "Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear".
Interestingly, it is one of two books to take the same quote for a title, the other being by Edward Spencer aka Edward Spencer Mott aka Nathaniel Gubbins.
Contents
[hide]“It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.”
“The ideal has many names and beauty is but one of them.”
“It must be that there is something naturally absurd in a sincere emotion, though why there should be I cannot imagine, unless it is that man, the ephemeral inhabitant of an insignificant planet, with all his pain and all his striving is but a jest in an eternal mind. ”
“The Americans, who are the most efficient people on the earth, have carried [phrase-making] to such a height of perfection and have invented so wide a range of pithy and hackneyed phrases that they can carry on an amusing and animated conversation without giving a moment’s reflection to what they are saying and so leave their minds free to consider the more important matters of big business and fornication.”
“As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that offers for the middle-aged or elderly writer, whose thoughts should more properly be turned to graver matters, occupying himself with the trivial concerns of imaginary people. For if the proper study of mankind is man it is evidently more sensible to occupy yourself with the coherent, substantial, and significant creatures of fiction than with the irrational and shadowy figures of real life.”
“It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer. ”
“A man who is a politician at forty is a statesman at three score and ten. It is at this age, when he would be too old to be a clerk or a gardener or a police-court magistrate, that he is ripe to govern a country. This is not so strange when you reflect that from the earliest times the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser than they, and before the young had discovered what nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture...”
“I had not then acquired the technique that I flatter myself now enables me to deal competently with the works of modern artist. If this were the place I could write a very neat little guide to enable the amateur of pictures to deal to the satisfaction of their painters with the most diverse manifestations of the creative instinct. There is the intense ‘By God!’ that acknowledges the power of the ruthless realist, the ‘It’s so awfully sincere’ that covers your embarrassment when you are shown the coloured photograph of an alderman’s widow, the low whistle that exhibits your admiration for the post-impressionist, the ‘Terribly amusing’ that expresses what you feel about the cubist, the ‘Oh!’ of one who is overcome, the ‘Ah!’ of him
whose breath is taken away.”
『餅與酒』與『尋歡作樂』的故事
whose breath is taken away.”
『餅與酒』與『尋歡作樂』的故事
約1965-56年，我經常讀我小阿姨買的『文壇』，它的社長是穆中南先生。
我印象很深的一則書籍廣告：餅與酒/毛姆著/沙 夷譯……..
幾十年過去，我知道這本書的書名可能錯誤，因為『餅與酒』是基督教的主題*，毛姆(Somerset Maugham)先生會用它嗎？
今天買毛姆『尋歡作樂』（Cakes and Ale）南京：譯林，2006，從書後之資料知道，書名取自莎士比亞的『第十二夜』：「你以為自己道德高尚，人家就不能尋歡作樂了嗎？」
我找一下：
Cakes and Ale: or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930) is a novel by British author William Somerset Maugham. It is a thinly veiled roman à clef satirizing contemporary novelists Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole.
Twelfth Night Act 2…..「你以為自己道德高尚，人家就不能尋歡作樂了嗎？」（…..because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? .）
我再查從少年起深植記憶中的書：某家圖書館有資料：
餅與酒/毛姆(Somerset Maugham)著/沙 夷譯 , 臺北縣永和鎮/文壇社/民52. 234面/19公分. 文壇每月文叢;
---
*「聖餐的意義～保羅強調主祝謝了餅與酒後，都重複說明我們如此行事為了紀念主。 紀念是保存歷史和傳承信仰的重要活動。 ... 藉餅與酒，領主體血，養我靈魂，堅我信德。 中懷自覺感謝不盡，蒙恩既大，沾惠亦深，. 有主在心，勝獲至寶，我等喜樂難以言告 ... 」
林前 11：24-25
11:24 [hb5] 祝謝了、就擘開、說、這是我的身體、為你們捨的．〔捨有古卷作擘開〕你們應當如此行、為的是記念我。
[lb5] 祝謝擘開說︰「這是我的身體，是為了你們而舍的﹔你們要這樣行，來記念我。」
[nb5] 祝謝了，就擘開，說：“這是我的身體，為你們擘開的；你們應當這樣行，為的是記念我。”
[asv] and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me.
[kjv] And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
[bbe] And when it had been broken with an act of praise, he said, This is my body which is for you: do this in memory of me.
11:25 [hb5] 飯後、也照樣拿起杯來、說、這杯是用我的血所立的新約．你們每逢喝的時候、要如此行、為的是記念我。
[lb5] 吃了餅以后，拿杯也照樣子﹔他說︰「這杯是新的約，用我的血立的﹔你們每逢喝的時候，總要這樣行，來記念我。」
[nb5] 飯後，照樣拿起杯來，說：“這杯是用我的血所立的新約，你們每逢喝的時候，應當這樣行，為的是記念我。”
[asv] In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.
[kjv] After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
[bbe] In the same way, with the cup, after the meal, he said, This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, whenever you take it, in memory of me.
11:26 [hb5] 你們每逢吃這餅、喝這杯、是表明主的死、直等到他來。
[lb5] 你們每逢吃這餅喝這杯的時候，總是傳揚主的死，直到他來。
[nb5] 你們每逢吃這餅，喝這杯，就是宣揚主的死，直等到他來。
[asv] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.
[kjv] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
[bbe] For whenever you take the bread and the cup you give witness to the Lord’s death till he comes.
我印象很深的一則書籍廣告：餅與酒/毛姆著/沙 夷譯……..
幾十年過去，我知道這本書的書名可能錯誤，因為『餅與酒』是基督教的主題*，毛姆(Somerset Maugham)先生會用它嗎？
今天買毛姆『尋歡作樂』（Cakes and Ale）南京：譯林，2006，從書後之資料知道，書名取自莎士比亞的『第十二夜』：「你以為自己道德高尚，人家就不能尋歡作樂了嗎？」
我找一下：
Cakes and Ale: or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930) is a novel by British author William Somerset Maugham. It is a thinly veiled roman à clef satirizing contemporary novelists Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole.
Twelfth Night Act 2…..「你以為自己道德高尚，人家就不能尋歡作樂了嗎？」（…..because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? .）
我再查從少年起深植記憶中的書：某家圖書館有資料：
餅與酒/毛姆(Somerset Maugham)著/沙 夷譯 , 臺北縣永和鎮/文壇社/民52. 234面/19公分. 文壇每月文叢;
---
*「聖餐的意義～保羅強調主祝謝了餅與酒後，都重複說明我們如此行事為了紀念主。 紀念是保存歷史和傳承信仰的重要活動。 ... 藉餅與酒，領主體血，養我靈魂，堅我信德。 中懷自覺感謝不盡，蒙恩既大，沾惠亦深，. 有主在心，勝獲至寶，我等喜樂難以言告 ... 」
林前 11：24-25
11:24 [hb5] 祝謝了、就擘開、說、這是我的身體、為你們捨的．〔捨有古卷作擘開〕你們應當如此行、為的是記念我。
[lb5] 祝謝擘開說︰「這是我的身體，是為了你們而舍的﹔你們要這樣行，來記念我。」
[nb5] 祝謝了，就擘開，說：“這是我的身體，為你們擘開的；你們應當這樣行，為的是記念我。”
[asv] and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me.
[kjv] And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
[bbe] And when it had been broken with an act of praise, he said, This is my body which is for you: do this in memory of me.
11:25 [hb5] 飯後、也照樣拿起杯來、說、這杯是用我的血所立的新約．你們每逢喝的時候、要如此行、為的是記念我。
[lb5] 吃了餅以后，拿杯也照樣子﹔他說︰「這杯是新的約，用我的血立的﹔你們每逢喝的時候，總要這樣行，來記念我。」
[nb5] 飯後，照樣拿起杯來，說：“這杯是用我的血所立的新約，你們每逢喝的時候，應當這樣行，為的是記念我。”
[asv] In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.
[kjv] After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
[bbe] In the same way, with the cup, after the meal, he said, This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, whenever you take it, in memory of me.
11:26 [hb5] 你們每逢吃這餅、喝這杯、是表明主的死、直等到他來。
[lb5] 你們每逢吃這餅喝這杯的時候，總是傳揚主的死，直到他來。
[nb5] 你們每逢吃這餅，喝這杯，就是宣揚主的死，直等到他來。
[asv] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.
[kjv] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
[bbe] For whenever you take the bread and the cup you give witness to the Lord’s death till he comes.