狄更斯《雙城記》不朽的第ㄧ章開頭

The Beginning of Everlasting Beauty of A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens

    查爾斯‧狄更斯，最具影響力之十九世紀英國小說家(novelist)之一。極為多產，知名作品有《孤雛淚》(Oliver Twist，改編為音樂劇與電影多次)、《殷切期盼》(Great Expectations，多次改編為電影與影集)、《聖誕頌歌》(或譯為《小氣財神》A Christmas Carol，為狄氏最受歡迎之作品，改編為電影、影集數十次)、《小多麗》(Little Dorrit，亦多次改編為電影與影集)。狄更斯因家境貧窮，像當時絕大多數貧困家庭的孩子一樣，他僅有受兩三年的學校教育，之後都是已自學方式充實自己。而狄更斯是少數在世時就享譽國際、名利雙收的作家，他的作品在當時的歐陸及北美洲都有廣大的讀者群，也是少數獲邀至美國巡迴演講的歐洲作家。除了曲折且扣人心弦的情節與深入精細的人物刻劃外，狄氏更以創新多變的語言風格備受肯定，堪稱「現代英語的塑造者」(The shaping hand of the modern English language)。

    今日與讀者們分享狄氏另一名著《雙城記》當中第一章的前兩段，狄氏巧用排比句法 (parallel structure)，將互為矛盾的概念如過去與當下、智慧與愚昧、希望與絕望等兩兩對比，氣勢宏大，為這部大時代的悲劇烘托出劇力萬鈞的時代感，值得品味再三。另外，此兩段文字深具音樂性(musicality)，建議讀者可大聲朗讀，體會其如詩歌般優美的節奏。「這是個最好的時代，這也是最壞的時代，這是充滿智慧的時代，這也是充斥愚昧的時代……」，這樣的時代觀察對於在臺灣生活的我們似乎也不陌生？

註：

  1. 圖中房舍為狄更斯之出生地：位於英國普茲茅斯(Portsmouth)的房舍，現由政府保存。

  2. 引文來自古騰堡計畫(Project Gutenberg)的開放共享全文，無侵權之虞。

“The Period,”Book the First, A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way— in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.

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