葉星辰?徐賢飛
詩歌是一種世界語言,讓人類靈魂相通。
9月17日,十位來自中國與美國的詩人齊聚金華金東區(qū),走進艾青故鄉(xiāng),進行第二屆中美詩學對話。這是詩歌領域的文化碰撞,中美兩國詩人從自身生活背景、寫作的心得體會等方面共同討論兩國詩歌現(xiàn)狀與歷史,促進兩國詩歌的交流互動。
中美詩學對話由中國詩歌學會發(fā)起,由中國和美國學術機構定期組織?;顒油ㄟ^兩國詩歌對話,用詩歌的語言,向美國詩人、學者及美國社會講好中國故事。
中美詩學對話每年舉辦一次,第一屆在美國俄克拉荷馬大學舉行。今年是第二屆,邀請了包括漢芝·庫克、貝內(nèi)特·沃頓、勞拉·穆倫、金詠梅、石江山在內(nèi)的美國主流詩人,以及王光明、王小妮、孫曉婭、黃亞洲、臧棣在內(nèi)的中國著名詩人。
為走近艾青、紀念艾青,主辦方在詩學對話之前,特意組織10位中美詩人參觀艾青家鄉(xiāng)畈田蔣村,并把詩學對話的地點放在該村,讓詩人們有更多的時間感受艾青的故鄉(xiāng)以及艾青詩里的土地、人物、草木。
艾青故居是一座坐北朝南五開兩廂的樓房,門口還立著艾青的半身雕像,滿臉滄桑卻目光炯炯,嘴巴微張著,似乎正對著廣場、對著河塘、對著滿山的松林吟誦詩歌:“打開你的窗子吧,打開你的板門吧,讓我進去,讓我進去,進到你們的小屋里……”
看著當年的土木家具上陳列著的艾青著作,以及艾青生前活動和寫作的圖片、資料,美國詩人庫克激動地表示:“I love it(我愛這里)!”
當天,詩人們還走入畈田蔣村的居家養(yǎng)老中心。美國詩人石江山和金詠梅看著老人們在這悠閑地聊著天、吃著香噴噴熱騰騰的午飯,連連感嘆,“我希望這是我的家。”在他們的身后,低矮、局促的艾青保姆大堰河的故居依然保留著,“一家六口人擠在一張床上”的介紹,讓兩位美國詩人印象深刻。
“變化太大了!大堰河那首詩和她的家都是那樣讓人悲傷。而現(xiàn)在村里的老人跟朋友在一起吃飯、聊天,環(huán)境這么好,我們都羨慕了?!笔秸f。
行走在艾青家鄉(xiāng)的小巷里,美國詩人時常會被這里的老人拉住,或是問句“你好”,或是直接拉住他們的手,要求合影留念。
72歲的傅素云拉著美國詩人勞拉·穆倫拍照,她說:“艾青是我們的驕傲,有客人來了我們當然要熱情接待。”傅素云在退休前是一位老師,以前在課堂上她也曾教過學生艾青的詩歌,每當這時,她總是會特別驕傲的對學生說,“艾青就是我們村中的人?!?/p>
當美國詩人來到保存下來的大堰河家,回顧著百年前的中國,再到如今的村居家養(yǎng)老中心,感受老人們的幸福生活,他們感慨萬千?!斑@樣的生活,是每個人的夢想?!笔秸f,每個人都希望有個很好的老年生活。
詩人王光明說,艾青故居的獨特之處,就是把詩人和詩作的主人公結合在一起,一同紀念,這讓讀者更好地了解艾青以及他創(chuàng)作詩歌的情境。
“春眠不覺曉,處處蚊子咬”。美國詩人勞拉·穆倫一開始便說出了一句改編自中國古詩《春曉》的詩句,讓在場詩人會心一笑。就這樣,在一片融洽的氛圍中,第二屆中美詩學對話開始了。
在這場對話中,詩人們圍繞新詩,從歷史語境、詩歌創(chuàng)作、中美詩歌的互相影響等多個維度,暢所欲言,深入研討。
中國詩人代表孫曉婭首先圍繞詩人奧登對19世紀40年代的九葉派詩人杜運燮的影響進行闡述,并從歌唱無名英雄、開闊的生命意識、諷刺中的悲憫三個方面進行佐證,“正是對奧登的學習,使杜運燮成為奧登詩歌在國內(nèi)最大的實踐者?!?/p>
因為詩學對話中涉及到很多學術性的專業(yè)用詞,在場的翻譯們偶爾會停頓一下。不過來自美國的詩人石江山順便說起了詩歌的翻譯問題,化解了這小小的尷尬,“其實詩歌的翻譯不僅僅是簡單地將中文翻譯成法文,或者將英文翻譯成中文,這其中有很多文字的纏繞,有文字的韻味在其中,要把文字的含義都要表現(xiàn)出來?!?/p>
這個說法讓著名文學評論家王光明非常贊同,他說:“詩歌的翻譯是很特殊的,也叫作譯寫,詩歌的翻譯也是一個再創(chuàng)作的過程。”
詩人王小妮說,自己寫詩的時候不會特別去設計,跟守株待兔一樣,等著它自己上門,而且會選擇最先沖進腦海中的意象,因為它是第一念頭,“以前寫詩的時候,從來沒有想過現(xiàn)代性的問題。不過現(xiàn)在回想起來,過去30年、20年、10年,我們把詩歌一首一首寫出來。其實在這個過程中,有一個社會變遷的過程。一個生命的過程,都是自然而然發(fā)生的,詩歌的現(xiàn)代性也是一樣?!?/p>
美國詩人貝內(nèi)特·沃頓也提到了現(xiàn)代性這個說法,他說:“現(xiàn)代性是一個時代的標記,將來也會有比現(xiàn)在的現(xiàn)代性更現(xiàn)代性的東西。”
美國詩人勞拉·穆倫緊隨其后,就杜運燮及當時的詩歌互譯,討論了中國詩歌的運用以及中國年輕人如何玩轉(zhuǎn)古典詩歌。勞拉說,“春眠不覺曉、處處蚊子咬”,是中國網(wǎng)絡上對于古詩的一次改編,從她的角度來看,這樣改編古詩其實也是挺好玩的,“年輕人如何玩轉(zhuǎn)古詩,也是我們現(xiàn)在需要探討的一個問題?!?/p>
她還提到了現(xiàn)在詩歌中的一個意象的問題,“很多人在寫詩的時候,關注的都是比較‘大的東西,但是我覺得我們寫詩的時候,也可以從小處入手,比如昆蟲,一些身邊比較容易忽視的小東西……”
詩言志,歌詠言,美妙的詩歌,能夠跨越時間,跨越國界。雖然雙方的語言不通,但是因為詩歌,讓兩個國家的詩人可以坐下來,一起暢談詩學。即使隔洋相望,也彼此深深地眷顧和影響著,這就是詩歌的生命與意義。
Chinese and America Poets meet in Home Village of Ai Qing in Jinhua
By Ye Xingchen, Xu Xianfei
On September 17, ten Chinese and American poets met in Jinhua and visited Fantianjiang Village where Ai Qing (1910-1996), a famous 20th-century Chinese poet, was born and brought up. The China-USA dialogue on poetry is an annual event jointly organized by academic institutions in China and USA to promote poetry and cultural exchanges. The first dialogue was held in 2017 at University of Oklahoma. This event is also an opportunity to expose China to American poets and for American poets to hear stories China tells in poetry and beyond.
The ten poets engaged at the second dialogue were Hedge Coke, Berrett Watten, Laura Mullen, Myong Mi Kim, Jonathan Stalling and their Chinese counterparts Wang Guangming, Wang Xiaoni, Sun Xiaoya, Huang Yazhou and Zang Di.
The poets visited the village and did sightseeing around before they sat down and started a dialogue on poetry.
The former residence of Ai Qing is a two-story house. In front of it stands a bust of Ai Qing. The house is like a museum displaying photos and objects which combine to relate the life story of the poet. During the sightseeing trip around the village, the poets visited the center for senior villagers and saw people having lunch at the dining hall. At the back of where these old people were sitting stands the former residence of Dayanhe, a nanny who took care of Ai Qing until the boy was 7 years old and went to school. Ai Qing wrote a long poem about the woman while he was in jail in 1933 for taking part in revolution. The poem made the poet and his nanny famous. Jonathan Stalling commented that the nannys house there reminded him of the long poem in which Ai Qing said the family of the six slept on the same bed because the poor family had only one bed. “What a change! The poem describes Dayanhe and her family in a bad sad situation. Now the seniors have dinner at the center and chat with friends. Such a beautiful village makes us envious!” said Stalling.
While strolling through lanes, the American poets were frequently approached by senior villagers to pose for a photo. Some senior villagers simply said Ni Hao.
Seventy-two-year-old Fu Suyun, a retired teacher in the village, posed for a picture with Laura Mullen. Before her retirement, she was a language teacher. She taught Ai Qings poems to her students and proudly announced that Ai Qing was from her village.
Wang Guangming commented that the former residence of Ai Qing was unique because it memorialized both the poets works and the poet, which made it possible for a reader to understand the poet and his inspiration.
At the dialogue, the poets addressed a series of issues about the new poetry, a new style adopted by Chinese poets in the early 20th century, when the vernacular Chinese became the mainstream of the written form. The poets explored the historical context, creativity, mutual influence of Chinese and American poetries.
Sun Yaoya, a Chinese poet, talked about W. H. Audens influence on Chinese poet Du Yunxie in the 1940s. She discussed the influence and concluded that Du became the biggest follower of Audens poetry in China.
As many academic terms and phrases popped up in the dialogue, interpreters were having a hard time. While interpreters were bogged down in some key words, Stalling talked about the translation of poetry. His comment on the challenges translators faced and the standard that should apply to translations led to another discussion. Wang Guangming agreed with Stalling, saying that translating a poem was rewriting the source poem in nature.
The poet Wang Xiaoni said that she didnt have any plan to follow while composing a poem. She would wait for a poem to appear by itself. “When I first wrote poems, I even never thought about modernity. Now looking back how poems came out one by one in the last 30 years, last 20 years, last ten years, they just kept coming. This process goes with the evolution of the society. A life happens in a natural way. So does the modernity of poetry,” reasoned Wang.
Berrett Watten observed that modernity was just a mark of an era and that the modernity of the future would be more modern than the modernity of today.
Laura Mullen discussed how a poet would handle topics. “Many poets concern themselves with big things, but I feel we may as well start with something small. An insect, for example. Small things around us often go unnoticed,” said the poet.