英文原文
Deep Underground, a Chinese Miner Discovered Poetry in the Toil
By Vivian Wang
More than three decades after scribbling his first poem as a teenager in the mountains of northern China, Chen Nianxi is living a literary dream. He has published two critically acclaimed books. He hobnobs with intellectuals around banquet tables. He tours the country promoting his writing, flitting between book fairs and university lecture halls.
Still, he often finds his joy tempered with a sense of alienation.
"I can't completely leave behind my old life. I also don't really know how to participate in this new life," said Mr. Chen.
The source of that tension is the vast gulf between his new circumstances and his old. For more than 15 years, he labored in gold, iron and zinc mines across China, detonating explosives by day and scrawling poems on the backs of newspapers at night.
His poems speak of the loneliness of the mines, the deaths of fellow workers and the distance between modern life and his work underground. They lament the toll of physical labor, while also valorizing its clarifying power.
Mr. Chen speaks of wanting to fill a gap in China's literary and pop culture. But he is also wary of being confined as a writer only to that gap—and to the accompanying low expectations.
"There will definitely be people who treat you as a spectacle: 'You're so underprivileged, your life is so distant from literature, and you actually wrote something,'" Mr. Chen said.
He insists on his work being judged on its artistic merits, not his hardscrabble background.
Critics have agreed. In a review in The Paper, Ma Zhen, a contemporary literature scholar, said there was a roughness to Mr. Chen's poems, but that they also carried "classical bloodlines," with frequent allusions to classical Chinese literature.
地下深处,一位中国矿工在劳作中发现诗意
十几岁时,陈年喜在中国北方山区匆匆写下了他的第一首诗。而在30多年后,他让文学梦想照进了自己的现实生活。他已经出版了两本备受好评的书,在宴会上与知识分子们相谈甚欢,他也走遍了全国推广自己的作品,穿梭于书展和大学讲堂之间。
尽管如此,他经常感觉自己的快乐中掺杂了一种疏离感。
陈年喜谈到:“我无法全然抛开过去的生活,也不知道该如何参与到当下的生活中。”
这种紧张感是源于他所处的新环境和旧环境之间的巨大鸿沟。15多年来,他在中国各地的金矿、铁矿和锌矿从事体力劳动,白天引爆炸药,晚上在报纸背面潦草写下几笔诗句。
他的诗讲述了矿山的孤独、工友的亡故、以及现代生活与他的地下工作之间的距离。这些诗哀叹体力劳动的沉重代价,同时也认可它让人觉醒的力量。
陈年喜谈到,他想填补中国严肃文学和通俗文化之间的空白。但他同时也担心,作为一名作家,他会被局限在这种空白(以及随之而来的低期望)之中。
陈年喜说:“肯定有一些人带着围观的眼光来看的,比如说,你是一个特别底层的人。你的生活和文学是非常遥远的。而你恰恰写出了作品。”
他坚持认为,评判他作品的标准应该是艺术价值,而不是他的贫困出身。
评论家们对此表示同意。当代文学学者马臻在“澎湃”上发表评论文章称,陈年喜的诗歌带有一些粗粝之感,但由于经常暗含中国古典文学典故,这些诗也承续着“古典气韵”。
我的初步版本:
在深地底下,一名中国矿工在劳作中发现了诗意。
一名中国矿工在矿地下发现了诗意。
自从三十年前,作为一名中国北方山区的青年,陈年喜写下第一首诗歌后,就活在了诗歌的梦里。
三十年前,他还是个北方山区里的青年,写下了第一首诗歌。从此他活在了诗歌里。
他已经出版了两本备受好评的书籍。
他在宴会桌上与有学识的人推杯换盏。
他在全国巡演,推销自己的写作,在书摊和大学讲座厅里来回跑。
然而,他依旧觉得他的快乐里有一丝的隔离感。
他说道:我不能完全放下我过去的生活,我也不知道如何融入新的生活。
这种紧张感的源自他新的生活环境和旧环境之间有着巨大隔阂。
他在中国的金矿、铁矿和锌矿地里工作了十五年以上,白天引爆炸药,晚上在报纸背面写诗歌。
他的诗歌流露出矿地里的孤独,同事的死亡和现代生活与矿地下的生活间的距离。
它们哀叹体力的痛苦,也认可挖矿的价值。
但是他也担心自己作为一个作家被限定在这样一种隔阂里,带着低的期望。
也有人把你看作一个奇迹,你生活在底层,生活里文学如此遥远,却又在写诗歌。
他坚称自己的作品应该被艺术特色所评判,而非他艰难的出身背景。
评论家同意这一点。在论文的一篇评论中,马振,一名当代的学者,说索然陈年喜的诗歌有些粗糙,但是他们都又古典的血脉,带着很多中国古典文学的隐喻。
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