 狄更斯轶事  英国伦敦的查尔斯·狄更斯博物馆（Charles Dickens Museum）计划在疫情好转重新开放时展出八幅加彩的狄更斯照片。以上是其中一幅，狄更斯47岁时的容貌。 01 狄更斯主要小说  A Tale of Two Cities《双城记》 Bleak House《荒凉山庄》 Barnaby Rudge《巴纳比·拉奇 David Copperfield《大卫·科波菲尔》 Dombey and Son《董贝父子》 Great Expectations《远大前程》 Hard Times《艰难时世》 Little Dorrit《小杜丽》 Martin Chuzzlewit《马丁·翟述伟》 Nicholas Nickleby《尼古拉斯·尼克贝》 Oliver Twist《雾都孤儿》 Our Mutual Friend《我们共同的朋友》 The Old Curiosity Shop《老古玩店》 The Mystery of Edwin Drood《艾德温·德鲁德之谜》 The Pickwick Papers《匹克威克外传》 狄更斯圣诞题材的小说 A Christmas Carol《圣诞颂歌》 The Battle of Life《生活的斗争》 The Chimes《钟声》 The Cricket on the Hearth《灶上蟋蟀》 The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain《神缠身的人》 狄更斯的美国之行 狄更斯的美国之行并没有给他留下什么好的印象。1842年，他以著名作家的身份第一次访美，去了东海岸的波士顿和纽约。他在旅记中写道，“我在这里做不了我喜欢做的事情，去不了我想去的地方，看不了我想看的东西。如果我上街，立马就会被人群包围。” 狄更斯—天才的语言大师  如同莎士比亚，狄更斯也以自创独特的词语和短语而出名。英语中的butter-fingers, flummox, the creeps, dustbin, ugsome, slangular都是他的发明。 狄更斯语录 Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess! -《董贝父子》(Dombey and Son) 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. -《双城记》(A Tale of Two Cities) It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing so irresistibly contagious as laughter. -《圣诞颂歌》(A Christmas Carol) You do not know...what men have done to win it (gold), and how they have found, too late, that it glitters brightest at a distance, and turns quite dim and dull when handled.
I love these little people (children); and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.
The children of the very poor are not brought up, but dragged up.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.
Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.
Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. Fill your glass again, with a merry face and contented heart. Our life on it, but your Christmas shall be merry, and your new year a happy one!
There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas.
狄更斯和圣诞节  英国维多利亚时代初期，盛行于中世纪的圣诞节的庆祝逐渐被人们淡漠。一方面的原因是17世纪以奥利弗·克伦威尔 (Oliver Cromwell) 为代表的清教排斥圣诞庆典, 另一方面的原因是工业革命的迅速发展，使得劳动阶级也不再有时间来庆祝圣诞。 狄更斯的小说《圣诞颂歌》对圣诞节的浪漫复兴起了重要的作用。作者在书中是如此描写圣诞节的，“一个美好的节日，一个善良的，宽容的，仁爱的节日。我想像不出在漫长的一年里的其他时间，人们会像这样地敞开心怀，去帮助那些比自己更不幸的人。”余生中，狄更斯称这是他的“颂歌思想”。 维多利亚时代的英国民众把圣诞节与狄更斯的名字紧密地联系在一起。就连在伦敦一个菜市卖蔬菜水果的小女孩在听到狄更斯死讯时也说““Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”（狄更斯死了？那圣诞爸爸也会死吗？） 狄更斯的死因  狄更斯死于1870年6月9日。跟他书中描写的很多人物一样，他是“死于非命”。当年上半年他如连轴转，在英国各地巡回演讲87场，结果中风而逝。他的最后一句话是“On the ground” （ “在地上”），可能是他精疲力竭想躺在地上休息。他是具体在哪儿去世的至今还是个谜。当时官方公布的是他死于他在肯特郡Gads Hill Place的乡间别墅，但最近他的一位传记作者克莱尔·托马林（Claire Tomalin）说狄更斯实际上是死在他18岁小情人Ellen Ternan的家中。当时狄更斯与他的太太处分居状况。 毫无争议的是狄更斯现葬于西敏寺的诗人角，与乔叟、莎士比亚、简.奥斯汀、勃朗特三姊妹、拜伦、哈代等一百余位英文文学伟人长眠一处。但这并不是他的遗愿。狄更斯在他的遗嘱中对他的葬礼是这样指示的： Buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner; that no public announcement be made of the time or place of my burial; that at the utmost not more than three plain mourning coaches be employed; and that those who attend my funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hat-band, or other such revolting absurdity. （丧事从简、绝不公开；不可公布我的葬礼的时间和地点；灵车最多不能超过三辆；参加葬礼的人不得戴围巾、披风、黑领结、长发带或其他诸如此类的令人作呕的的荒诞之物。） 但从下面到绘图可见狄更斯在西敏寺的葬礼盛况空前，完全违背了他的遗愿。英国政府的解释是这是“人民的意愿”（will of the people）。 老书推介 Our Mutual Friend 《我们共同的朋友》 英国卫报（Guardian）把《我们共同的朋友》选为今年6月卫报读书会的唯一阅读书目。狄更斯的这部鸿篇巨作有800多页，50个主要人物，详尽地描写了1860年代伦敦的贫穷、腐败、时尚和众多的荒诞。去年BBC公布了一份“影响世界的一百本书”，《我们共同的朋友》名列其中。此书的第一句是： “In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.” 新书推介  狄更斯一生中有很多谜，有兴趣探索的读者可参阅即将出版的The Mystery of Charles Dickens（《狄更斯之谜》）一书。亚马逊已接受预定。 伦敦一处  |
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