董繼平

弗朗茨·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka，1883-1924），20世紀(jì)捷克小說(shuō)家和西方現(xiàn)代派文學(xué)的先驅(qū)、大師，生于布拉格的一個(gè)猶太商人家庭，自幼愛(ài)好文學(xué)、戲劇，18歲進(jìn)入布拉格大學(xué)，初習(xí)化學(xué)、文學(xué)，后習(xí)法律，獲博士學(xué)位，畢業(yè)后在保險(xiǎn)公司任職。他終生未娶，41歲時(shí)死于肺病。他用德語(yǔ)寫(xiě)作，代表作有長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)《美國(guó)》《審判》《城堡》，短篇小說(shuō)《變形記》《判決》《饑餓藝術(shù)家》等。其作品多用寓言體，想象奇詭，甚至荒誕不經(jīng)，卻揭示了人類(lèi)在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中的境遇，在世界各地產(chǎn)生了重大影響。

塞壬①的沉默

那種不恰當(dāng)甚至幼稚方法的證明，可以用來(lái)救人于危險(xiǎn)。

為了保護(hù)自己不受塞壬傷害，尤利西斯就用蠟塞住耳朵，讓人把自己綁在船桅上。除了塞壬甚至從很遠(yuǎn)的距離之外就誘惑的人，他之前的所有旅行者本來(lái)都可以這樣做，但全世界都知道這樣的事情毫無(wú)幫助。塞壬的歌聲可以穿透一切，她們所引誘的那些人的渴望，可以掙脫遠(yuǎn)比鏈條和桅桿牢固得多的東西。盡管尤利西斯很可能聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)，但他并沒(méi)有考慮那一點(diǎn)。他絕對(duì)信任他那一把蠟和他那一段鏈條，對(duì)于自己小小的計(jì)謀純真得興高采烈，他就航行出去跟塞壬相遇。

現(xiàn)在塞壬還擁有一件比她們的歌聲更致命的武器，即她們的沉默。盡管不可否認(rèn)地說(shuō)，這樣的事情從未發(fā)生，但人們依然可以想象有人可能會(huì)逃脫她們的歌唱，但無(wú)疑從未逃脫她們的沉默。違背那憑借一個(gè)人自己的力量戰(zhàn)勝了她們，擊敗前面的一切后隨之而來(lái)的興奮感，人世間沒(méi)有力量能夠保持完好無(wú)缺。

當(dāng)尤利西斯接近那些強(qiáng)有力的女歌手，她們實(shí)際上并沒(méi)歌唱，這不管是因?yàn)樗齻冋J(rèn)為僅僅憑借自己的沉默就可以征服這個(gè)敵人，還是因?yàn)槟侵幌胫灪玩湕l的尤利西斯的臉上狂喜的神情，使得她們忘記了歌唱。

但如果有人要這樣表達(dá)，尤利西斯沒(méi)有聽(tīng)見(jiàn)她們的沉默，他認(rèn)為她們?cè)诟璩€認(rèn)為唯獨(dú)他沒(méi)有聽(tīng)見(jiàn)她們的歌聲。短暫的片刻，他看見(jiàn)她們的喉嚨起伏，她們的胸膛鼓起，她們的眼睛噙滿淚水，她們的嘴唇半張開(kāi)，但他相信這些都是在他周?chē)鷽](méi)有聽(tīng)見(jiàn)就死去的空氣的伴隨之物。盡管如此，當(dāng)他舉目凝視遠(yuǎn)方之際，這一切很快就從他的視野中漸漸隱退了，塞壬簡(jiǎn)直是在他的決心前面消失了，就在她們最靠近他的那一刻，他就再也不了解她們了。

但她們比以往任何時(shí)候都可愛(ài)，拉長(zhǎng)了脖子轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)，讓冰冷的頭發(fā)在風(fēng)中自由舒展地飄揚(yáng)，忘記了一切，把爪子緊緊依附在巖石上。她們?cè)僖矝](méi)有去誘惑的絲毫欲望，只想盡可能長(zhǎng)久地抓住那從尤利西斯偉大的眼睛里落下的光輝。

如果塞壬擁有意識(shí)，那么她們就很可能在那一刻被消滅。但她們依然保持著原樣，而發(fā)生的一切，就是尤利西斯逃避了她們。

對(duì)于上述事情，還有一則附錄也流傳了下來(lái)。據(jù)說(shuō)，尤利西斯簡(jiǎn)直是狐貍，心懷那么多奸滑之術(shù)，因此就連命運(yùn)女神都無(wú)法穿透他的鎧甲。盡管人類(lèi)的理解力在這里超越了其深度，也許他真的注意到了那些塞壬是沉默的，而且向她們和僅僅作為一種盾牌的眾神強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)上述借口。

注：①希臘神話中人身鳥(niǎo)足的海妖，常常用美妙的歌聲引誘航海者觸礁毀滅，傳說(shuō)唯有英雄奧德修斯讓水手把自己綁在桅桿上，并讓水手用蠟塞住耳朵，這樣既聽(tīng)到了美妙的歌聲，又避免了毀滅。

THE SILENCE OF THE SIRENS

Proof that inadequate， even childish measures， may serve to rescue one from peril.

To protect himself from the Sirens Ulysses stopped his ears with wax and had himself bound to the mast of his ship.Naturally any and ever traveller before him could have done the same， except those whom the Sirens allured even from a great distance， but it was known to all the world that such things were of no help whatever.The song of the Sirens could pierce through everything， and the longing of those they seduced would have broken far stronger bonds than chains and masts. But Ulysses did not think of that， although he had probably heard of it.He trusted absolutely to his handful of wax andhis fathom of chain， and in innocent elation over his little stratagemsailed out to meet the Sirens.

Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song，namely their silence. And though admittedly such a thing has never happened， still it is conceivable that someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence certainly never.Against the feeling of having triumphed over them by ones own strength， and the consequent exaltation that bears down everything before it， no earthly powers could have remained intact.

And when Ulysses approached them the potent songstresses actually did not sing，whether because they thought that this enemy could be vanquished only by their silence，or because of the look of bliss on the face of Ulysses， who was thinking of nothing but his wax and his chains，made them forget their singing.

But Ulysses， if one may so express it， did not hear their silence；he thought they were singing and that he alone did not hear them. For a fleeting moment he saw their throats rising and falling，their breasts lifting， their eyes filled with tears， their lips half-parted， but believed that these were accompaniments to the airs which died unheard around him. Soon， however， all this faded from his sight as he fixed his gaze on the distance， the Sirens literally vanished before his resolution， and at the very moment when they were nearest to him he knew of them no longer.

But they--lovelier than ever--stretched their necks and turned，let their cold hair flutter free in the wind， and forgetting everything clung with their claws to the rocks. They no longer had any desire to allure， all that they wanted was to hold as long as they could the radiance that fell from Ulysses'great eyes.

If the Sirens had possessed consciousness they would have been annihilated at that moment.But they remained as they had been;all that had happened was that Ulysses had escaped them.

A codicil to the foregoing has also been handed down.Ulysses，it is said， was so full of guile， was such afox， that not even the goddess of fate could pierce his armor. Perhaps he had really noticed，although here the human understanding is beyond its depths， that the Sirens were silent，and opposed the afore-mentioned pretense to them and the gods merely as a sort of shield.

塞壬

這些是夜間誘惑的嗓音，塞壬也那樣歌唱。認(rèn)為她們想誘惑，對(duì)于她們則是不公平的。她們知道自己有爪子和無(wú)法生育的子宮，她們高聲哀嘆這一事實(shí)。如果她們的哀嘆聽(tīng)起來(lái)如此之美，那么她們就會(huì)禁不住哀嘆。

THE SIRENS

These are the seductive voices of the night; the Sirens， too，sang that way. It would be doing them an injustice to think that they wanted to seduce; they knew they had claws and sterile wombs， and they lamented this aloud. They could not help it if their laments sounded so beautiful.