A Rose For Emily

?？思{的短篇小說<紀(jì)念愛米麗的一朵玫瑰花>講述的是一個孤癬、傲慢的南方貴族后裔的人生悲劇.從社會心理學(xué)角度分析其悲劇成因有二:一,南方貴族的末落和留給后裔的負擔(dān);二,未婚夫荷默·伯隆的背叛--貴族虛榮的徹底叛碎,進而試圖論證愛米麗的去世是"倒下的南方貴族紀(jì)念碑"這一深遠主題意義.作品同時隱含著對人類自身悲劇的深入思考和揭露,以及對人類未來的震憾和啟發(fā).

When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant---a combined gardener and cook-had seen in at least ten years.

It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But arages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedarbemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

愛米麗?格里爾生小姐過世了，全鎮(zhèn)的人都去送喪：男子們是出于敬慕之情，因為一個紀(jì)念碑倒下了：婦女們呢，則大多數(shù)出于好奇心，想看看她屋子的內(nèi)部。除了一個花匠兼廚師的老仆人之外，至少已有十年光景誰也沒進去看看這幢房子了。

那是一幢過去漆成白色的四方形大木屋，坐落在當(dāng)年一條最考究的街道上，還裝點著有十九世紀(jì)七十年代風(fēng)味的圓形屋頂、尖塔和渦形花紋的陽臺，帶有濃厚的輕盈氣息?？墒瞧囬g和軋棉機之類的東西侵犯了這一帶莊嚴(yán)的名字，把它們涂抹得一干二凈。只有愛米麗小姐的屋子巋然獨存，四周簇擁著棉花車和汽油泵。房子雖已破敗，卻還是執(zhí)拗不馴，裝模作樣，真是丑中之丑?，F(xiàn)在愛米麗小姐已經(jīng)加入了那些名字莊嚴(yán)的代表人物的行列，他們沉睡在雪松環(huán)繞的墓園之中，那里盡是一排排在南北戰(zhàn)爭時期杰斐遜戰(zhàn)役中陣亡的南方和北方的無名軍人墓。

Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor-he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-- remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity. Not that Miss’ Emily would have accepted charity. Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying. Only a man of Colonel Sartoris’ generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it.

When the next generation, with its more modem ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction. On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. February came, and here was no reply. They wrote her a formal letter, asking her to call at the sheriff s office at her convenience. A week later the mayor wrote her himself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that she no longer went out at all.The tax notice was also enclosed, without comment.

They called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. A deputation waited upon her, knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier. They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall from which a staircase mounted into still more shadow. It smelled of dust and disuse-a close, dank smell. The Negro led them into the parlor. It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture. Then the Negro opened the blinds of one window, they could see that the leather was cracked; and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggisl7dv about their thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sunray. On a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emily’s father.

愛米麗小姐在世時，始終是一個傳統(tǒng)的化身，是義務(wù)的象征，也是人們關(guān)注的對象。打一八九四年某日鎮(zhèn)長沙多里斯上校——也就是他下了一道黑人婦女不系圍裙不得上街的命令——豁免了她一切應(yīng)納的稅款起，期限從她父親去世之日開始，一直到她去世為止，這是全鎮(zhèn)沿襲下來對她的一種義務(wù)。這也并非說愛米麗甘愿接受施舍，原來是沙多里斯上校編造了一大套無中生有的話，說是愛米麗的父親曾經(jīng)貸款給鎮(zhèn)政府，因此，鎮(zhèn)政府作為一種交易，寧愿以這種方式償還。這一套話，只有沙多里斯一代的人以及像沙多里斯一樣頭腦的人才能編得出來，也只有婦道人家才會相信。

等到思想更為開明的第二代人當(dāng)了鎮(zhèn)長和參議員時，這項安排引起了一些小小的不滿。那年元旦，他們便給她寄去了一張納稅通知單。二月份到了，還是杳無音信。他們發(fā)去一封公函，要她便中到司法長官辦公處去一趟。一周之后，鎮(zhèn)長親自寫信給愛米麗，表示愿意登門訪問，或派車迎接她，而所得回信卻是一張便條，寫在古色古香的信箋上，書法流利，字跡細小，但墨水已不鮮艷，信的大意是說她已根本不外出。納稅通知附還，沒有表示意見。

參議員們開了個特別會議，派出一個代表團對她進行了訪問。他們敲敲門，自從八年或者十年前她停止開授瓷器彩繪課以來，誰也沒有從這大門出入過。那個上了年紀(jì)的黑人男仆把他們接待進陰暗的門廳，從那里再由樓梯上去，光線就更暗了。一股塵封的氣味撲鼻而來，空氣陰濕而又不透氣，這屋子長久沒有人住了。黑人領(lǐng)他們到客廳里，里面擺設(shè)的笨重家具全都包著皮套子。黑人打開了一扇百葉窗，這時，便更可看出皮套子已經(jīng)坼裂;等他們坐了下來，大腿兩邊就有一陣灰塵冉冉上升，塵粒在那一縷陽光中緩緩旋轉(zhuǎn)。壁爐前已經(jīng)失去金色光澤的畫架上面放著愛米麗父親的炭筆畫像。

They rose when she entered-a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand.

She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt. Then they could hear the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain.

Her voice was dry and cold. ’I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselves.’ but we have. We are the city authorities. Miss Emily. Didn’t you get notice from the sheriff, signed by him?"

"I received a paper, yes,’ Miss Emily said. ’Perhaps he considers he self the sheriff... I have no taxes in Jefferson.”

"But there is nothing on the books to show that, you see. We must go, by the-"

"See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.”

"But, Miss Emily---"

"See Colonel Sartoris.’ (Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years.) I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!” The Negro appeared. "Show these gentlemen out.”

她一進屋，他們?nèi)颊玖似饋?。一個小模小樣，腰圓體胖的女人，穿了一身黑服，一條細細的金表鏈拖到腰部，落到腰帶里去了，一根烏木拐杖支撐著她的身體，拐杖頭的鑲金已經(jīng)失去光澤。她的身架矮小，也許正因為這個緣故，在別的女人身上顯得不過是豐滿，而她卻給人以肥大的感覺。她看上去像長久泡在死水中的一具死尸，腫脹發(fā)白。當(dāng)客人說明來意時，她那雙凹陷在一臉隆起的肥肉之中，活像揉在一團生面中的兩個小煤球似的眼睛不住地移動著，時而瞧瞧這張面孔，時而打量那張面孔。

她沒有請他們坐下來。她只是站在門口，靜靜地聽著，直到發(fā)言的代表結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說完，他們這時才聽到那塊隱在金鏈子那一端的掛表嘀嗒作響。

她的聲調(diào)冷酷無情?！拔以诮莒尺d無稅可納。沙多里斯上校早就向我交代過了。或許你們有誰可以去查一查鎮(zhèn)政府檔案，就可以把事情弄清楚?！?/p>

“我們已經(jīng)查過檔案，愛米麗小姐，我們就是政府當(dāng)局。難道你沒有收到過司法長官親手簽署的通知嗎?”

“不錯，我收到過一份通知，”愛米麗小姐說道，“也許他自封為司法長官……可是我在杰斐遜無稅可交。”

“可是納稅冊上并沒有如此說明，你明白吧。我們應(yīng)根據(jù)……”

“你們?nèi)フ疑扯嗬锼股闲?。我在杰斐遜無稅可交?！?/p>

“可是，愛米麗小姐——”

“你們?nèi)フ疑扯嗬锼股闲＃?沙多里斯上校死了將近十年了)我在杰斐遜無稅可納。托比!”黑人應(yīng)聲而來。“把這些先生們請出去?！?/p>