咱捷克暂卡夫卡作品

弗朗茨·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka，1883-1924），20世纪捷克小说家和西方现代派文学的先驱、大师，生于布拉格的一个犹太商人家庭，自幼爱好文学、戏剧，18岁进入布拉格大学，初习化学、文学，后习法律，获博士学位，毕业后在保险公司任职。他终生未娶，41岁时死于肺病。他用德语写作，代表作有长篇小说《美国》《审判》《城堡》，短篇小说《变形记》《判决》《饥饿艺术家》等。其作品多用寓言体，想象奇诡，甚至荒诞不经，却揭示了人类在现代社会中的境遇，在世界各地产生了重大影响。

塞壬①的沉默

那种不恰当甚至幼稚方法的证明，可以用来救人于危险。

为了保护自己不受塞壬伤害，尤利西斯就用蜡塞住耳朵，让人把自己绑在船桅上。除了塞壬甚至从很远的距离之外就诱惑的人，他之前的所有旅行者本来都可以这样做，但全世界都知道这样的事情毫无帮助。塞壬的歌声可以穿透一切，她们所引诱的那些人的渴望，可以挣脱远比链条和桅杆牢固得多的东西。尽管尤利西斯很可能听说过，但他并没有考虑那一点。他绝对信任他那一把蜡和他那一段链条，对于自己小小的计谋纯真得兴高采烈，他就航行出去跟塞壬相遇。

现在塞壬还拥有一件比她们的歌声更致命的武器，即她们的沉默。尽管不可否认地说，这样的事情从未发生，但人们依然可以想象有人可能会逃脱她们的歌唱，但无疑从未逃脱她们的沉默。违背那凭借一个人自己的力量战胜了她们，击败前面的一切后随之而来的兴奋感，人世间没有力量能够保持完好无缺。

当尤利西斯接近那些强有力的女歌手，她们实际上并没歌唱，这不管是因为她们认为仅仅凭借自己的沉默就可以征服这个敌人，还是因为那只想着蜡和链条的尤利西斯的脸上狂喜的神情，使得她们忘记了歌唱。

但如果有人要这样表达，尤利西斯没有听见她们的沉默，他认为她们在歌唱，还认为唯独他没有听见她们的歌声。短暂的片刻，他看见她们的喉咙起伏，她们的胸膛鼓起，她们的眼睛噙满泪水，她们的嘴唇半张开，但他相信这些都是在他周围没有听见就死去的空气的伴随之物。尽管如此，当他举目凝视远方之际，这一切很快就从他的视野中渐渐隐退了，塞壬简直是在他的决心前面消失了，就在她们最靠近他的那一刻，他就再也不了解她们了。

但她们比以往任何时候都可爱，拉长了脖子转动，让冰冷的头发在风中自由舒展地飘扬，忘记了一切，把爪子紧紧依附在岩石上。她们再也没有去诱惑的丝毫欲望，只想尽可能长久地抓住那从尤利西斯伟大的眼睛里落下的光辉。

如果塞壬拥有意识，那么她们就很可能在那一刻被消灭。但她们依然保持着原样，而发生的一切，就是尤利西斯逃避了她们。

对于上述事情，还有一则附录也流传了下来。据说，尤利西斯简直是狐狸，心怀那么多奸滑之术，因此就连命运女神都无法穿透他的铠甲。尽管人类的理解力在这里超越了其深度，也许他真的注意到了那些塞壬是沉默的，而且向她们和仅仅作为一种盾牌的众神强烈反对上述借口。

注：①希腊神话中人身鸟足的海妖，常常用美妙的歌声引诱航海者触礁毁灭，传说唯有英雄奥德修斯让水手把自己绑在桅杆上，并让水手用蜡塞住耳朵，这样既听到了美妙的歌声，又避免了毁灭。

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

这些是夜间诱惑的嗓音，塞壬也那样歌唱。认为她们想诱惑，对于她们则是不公平的。她们知道自己有爪子和无法生育的子宫，她们高声哀叹这一事实。如果她们的哀叹听起来如此之美，那么她们就会禁不住哀叹。

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.