“From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked… but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.” In this passage from Sylvia Plath’s "The Bell Jar," a young woman imagines an uncertain future– and speaks to the universal fear of becoming paralyzed by the prospect of making the wrong choice.
「從每一個枝頭, 就像一個豐滿的紫色無花果, 一個美好的未來在招手和眨眼…… 但,選擇其一, 就表示失去所有其他的, 我坐在這裡,無法決定, 無花果開始皺起來且變黑, 一個接著一個, 它們落在我的腳邊。」 這段文字出自希薇亞 普拉斯的《瓶中美人》, 一位年輕女子想像著 一個不確定的未來—— 說出了普遍的恐懼, 害怕有可能因為做出 錯誤選擇而陷於癱瘓。 雖然普拉斯也有考慮其他職涯,
Although she considered other careers, Plath chose the artist’s way. Poetry was her calling. Under her shrewd eye and pen, everyday objects became haunting images: a “new statue in a drafty museum,” a shadow in a mirror, a slab of soap. Fiercely intelligent, penetrating and witty, Plath was also diagnosed with clinical depression. She used poetry to explore her own states of mind in the most intimate terms, and her breathtaking perspectives on emotion, nature and art continue to captivate and resonate.
但她選擇走上藝術家之路。 詩作是她的天職使命。 在她機靈的洞察和筆觸之下, 日常物品也會變成 揮之不去的影像: 「通風良好的 博物館中的新雕像」、 鏡中的影子、厚片肥皂。 普拉斯非常聰明、敏銳,且機智, 她也被診斷出重度憂鬱症。 透過詩作,她用最親密的方式 來探索她自己的心境, 對於情緒、自然,以及藝術, 她那驚人的觀點 持續讓人著迷、共鳴。
In her first collection of poems, "The Colossus," she wrote of a feeling of nothingness: "white: it is a complexion of the mind.” At the same time, she found solace in nature, from “a blue mist” “dragging the lake,” to white flowers that “tower and topple,” to blue mussels “clumped like bulbs.”
在她的第一部詩集《巨神像》中, 她寫下了關於「無」的感受: 「白:它是心靈的膚色。」 同時,她在自然中找到慰藉, 從「藍霧」「拖著湖泊」, 到白花「高聳且搖搖欲墜」, 到藍蚌「像球莖般結集在一起」。 在《巨神像》之後,她又出版了 她唯一的小說《瓶中美人》,
After "The Colossus" she published "The Bell Jar," her only novel, which fictionalizes the time she spent working for Mademoiselle magazine in New York during college. The novel follows its heroine, Esther, as she slides into a severe depressive episode, but also includes wickedly funny and shrewd depictions of snobby fashion parties and dates with dull men.
這本小說取材自她大學時期在紐約 為《佳人》雜誌工作的日子。 小說的主線劇情 是女主角艾絲瑟的故事, 她遭遇嚴重的憂鬱症發作, 但同時也納入了 怪異的趣味和精明的敘述, 描繪勢利的派對 以及跟無趣男人約會。 在《瓶中美人》出版後沒多久,
Shortly after the publication of "The Bell Jar," Plath died by suicide at age 30. Two years later, the collection of poems she wrote in a burst of creative energy during the months before her death was published under the title "Ariel." Widely considered her masterpiece, Ariel exemplifies the honesty and imagination Plath harnessed to capture her pain.
普拉斯自殺身亡,享年三十歲。 兩年後,她在過世前幾個月 文思泉湧寫下的詩作被集結成冊, 以《精靈》作為書名出版。 《精靈》被廣泛認可為她的傑作, 普拉斯用這本詩集中 所例示的誠實和想像, 來捕捉她的痛苦。
In one of "Ariel's" most forceful poems, "Lady Lazarus," she explores her attempts to take her own life through Lazarus, the biblical figure who rose from the dead. She writes, “and I a smiling woman/ I am only thirty/ And like the cat I have nine times to die.” But the poem is also a testament to survival: “I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air.” This unflinching language has made Plath an important touchstone for countless other readers and writers who sought to break the silence surrounding issues of trauma, frustration, and sexuality.
在《精靈》中最有力的 詩作之一「拉撒若夫人」中, 她透過拉撒若來探究 她自己試圖自殺的嘗試, 拉撒若是名死而復活的聖經人物。 她寫到:「而我, 微笑的女人/我只有三十歲/ 和貓一樣,我可以死九次。」 但這首詩也是生存的證明: 「我帶著一頭紅髮復活/ 我把男人當空氣來吃。」 這種堅定的表達方式, 讓普拉斯成為很重要的試金石, 讓無數其他讀者及作家當作標準, 尋求打破沉默, 談論關於創傷、挫折, 以及性慾的相關議題。
"Ariel" is also filled with moving meditations on heartbreak and creativity. The title poem begins “Stasis in darkness/ Then the substanceless blue/ Pour of tor and distances.” This sets the scene for a naked ride on horseback in the early morning— one of Plath’s most memorable expressions of the elation of creative freedom. But it is also full of foreboding imagery, such as “a child's cry” that “melts in the wall” and a “red/eye, the cauldron of morning.”
《精靈》也充滿了關於 心碎以及創意的動人沉思。 詩集中的同名詩作 開頭寫著「靜止在黑暗中/ 接著,沒有實體的藍色/ 傾瀉出多岩的山以及距離。」 這段文字描繪的, 是清晨裸體騎馬背的場景—— 對於創意自由帶來的興高采烈, 普拉斯的這種表述方式讓人難忘。 但它也充滿了預示性的意象, 比如「一個孩子的哭泣」 「融化了牆壁」, 及「紅色/眼睛,早晨的大鍋」。
This darkness is echoed throughout the collection, which includes controversial references to the holocaust and the Kamikazes. Even the relics of seemingly happier times are described as crucifying the author: “My husband and child smiling out of the family photo; Their smiles catch onto my skin, little smiling hooks.”
這種黑暗迴蕩在整部詩集當中。 詩集也因為提及了大屠殺 以及神風特攻隊而引起爭議。 即使看似比較開心的時代的遺跡, 也被描述成將作者釘上十字架: 「我的先生和孩子 從家庭合照中微笑; 他們的微笑勾住我的皮膚, 小小的微笑勾子。」
Her domestic dissatisfaction and her husband’s mistreatment of her are constant themes in her later poetry. After her death, he inherited her estate, and has been accused of excluding some of her work from publication.
她在家中的不滿 及她先生對她的不當對待, 常常出現在她後期的詩作當中。 在她死後,他繼承了她的遺產, 且被控告刻意不讓 她的一些作品出版。
Despite these possible omissions and her untimely death, what survives is one of the most extraordinary bodies of work by a twentieth century poet. While her work can be shocking in its rage and trauma, Plath casts her readers as witnesses– not only to the truth of her psychological life, but to her astounding ability to express what often remains inexpressible.
儘管可能有些她的詩被遺漏了, 且她又過早過世, 但她留存下來的作品, 屬於二十世紀詩人最不凡的詩作。 雖然她的作品在憤怒 以及創傷上十分驚人, 普拉斯讓她的讀者 扮演目擊證人—— 不僅見證她真正的精神生活, 也見證她將一般無法表述之事物 表述出來的驚人能力。