夏目漱石(1867年2月9日—1916年12月9日),本名夏目金之助,日本作家,代表作有《我是猫》和《心》等。
1967年,夏目漱石出生在日本江户的一个落魄小贵族家中,作为家中幺子,他并不受家中待见,两岁时被父母过继给朋友。十岁的夏目漱石因养父母离婚重新回到夏目家。
但他的生活并没有多大的改观,在生母去世后的几年,与父兄的矛盾不断激化,他便离家求学了。这样曲折坎坷的身世经历对他的创作产生了巨大影响。
夏目漱石一直以来都酷爱汉学,并立志以汉文出世。他的名字中“漱石”一词便是出自中国古籍《晋书》,代表他洁身自爱、不与世俗同流合污的人格追求。
他的代表作品《我是猫》奠定了他的文学地位。书中,他通过猫的视角来观察人的心理,有辛辣的讽刺,也有身不由己的无奈,揭示人心的自私与残酷、社会的黑暗和丑陋。
夏目漱石在文学创作上独树一帜,他有自己的文学理念,不屈服也不附和,坚持写自己认为正确的东西。他善用讽刺,语言风趣幽默,却一语中的。他的作品大胆地揭露了“现代文明”下日本社会丑陋黑暗的现实,将人的自私自利毫不留情地戳破。
关于夏目漱石,大家第一印象可能是日本千元钞票的夏目漱石头像,亦或是他将“I love you”译成“今夜月色真美啊”,而忽略他的文学造诣。他被誉为“国民大作家”,在日本近代文学史上地位极高,同时也是中国人最熟知的日本作家之一。鲁迅先生评价他为“当世无与匹者”。
以下句子来自夏目漱石的经典作品:
It is not you in particular that I distrust, but the whole of humanity.
我不信任的不单单是你,而是整个人类。
There is no such thing as a stereotype bad man in this world. Under normal conditions, everybody is more or less good, or, at least, ordinary. But tempt them, and they may suddenly change. That is what is so frightening about men.
世界上没有所谓的像模子里刻出来一样的恶人。正常情况下,人人都是善人,至少大家都是普通人。但一旦有所诱惑,他们就突然变了一个人一样。这就是人的可怕之处。
I do not want your admiration now, because I do not want your insults in the future. I bear with my loneliness now, in order to avoid greater loneliness in the years ahead.
我现在不需要你的赞美,因为我不想有一天被你侮辱。我现在承受着孤独,是为了来年不必忍受更大的孤独。
Living as I do with human beings, the more that I observe them, the more I am forced to conclude that they are selfish.
像我这样和人类生活,观察他们越久,我越不得不说人类是自私的。
You don't really become a finer person just by reading lots of books.
仅仅通过阅读大量书籍,你是无法真的变优秀的。
Desire is a frightening thing.
欲望是个可怕的东西。
You'd better watch out—life can be dangerous.
你最好小心点——生活可能很危险。
Of all the tribulations in this world, boredom is the one most hard to bear.
在这个世界上一切苦难中,我最难忍受的就是无聊。
I am an honest man by nature, but as I live in society I try not to arouse anyone's resentment and sometimes I am compelled to lie in this endeavour.
我生来诚实,但活在这个社会里,我尽量避免遭人怨恨,为此有时我不得不撒谎。
Or perhaps, after all, our differences spring form the individual natures we were born with
毕竟,也许我们的差异是源于与生俱来的个性。
The trouble with women is that they talk too much. It would be good if human beings would keep as silent as this cat.
女子的问题在于说的太多。要是人类可以和这只猫一样安静就好了。
People may make fun of me because I’m wearing something odd, but it’s still good to be alive.
人们可能会因为我着装怪异而取笑我,但活着仍是件好事。
The memory of having sat at someone's feet will later make you want to trample him underfoot.
如果你记得从前曾跪在那人面前,总有一天,你要让他匍匐在你脚下。
When people who have been close don't see each other for a time, they become strangers. But when two people live together, no matter how bad things may get between them, they somehow manage to stay close.
亲密友人一段时间不见面,便形同陌路。但当两个人生活在一起,无论二人之间发生过什么,最终也变得亲密无间。
I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and said to him, ‘If there’s any fault in me, then please tell me honestly. If I can correct it, I will.’ And he replied, ‘You don’t have any fault. The fault is in me.’ When I heard that, it made me unbearably sad. It made me cry. And I longed more than ever to know how I might be to blame.
我再也受不了了,对他说:“如果我有什么错,就请你诚实地告诉我。只要我能改,我就会改的。”但他说:“你没有错,错的是我。”我听到他这么说,悲伤之感油然而生,这让我很想哭。这时,我比任何时候都更想知道自己错在哪里。