2016年諾貝爾獎頒獎儀式10日在瑞典首都斯德哥爾摩（Stockholm, Sweden）舉行。

令人遺憾的是，萬眾期待的文學獎得主鮑勃?迪倫上臺領獎發表感言的畫面并沒有出現。

雖然缺席典禮，但他親筆寫了一篇演講稿，由美國駐瑞典大使（US ambassador to Sweden）代為朗讀。

今年10月，瑞典皇家學院宣布鮑勃?迪倫獲得諾貝爾文學獎，引來一片喝彩聲和質疑聲，很多人都問：

"Is Bob Dylan literature?"
“鮑勃?迪倫寫的東西算文學嗎？”

在獲獎感言中，冷靜的迪倫直面了這個質疑，以同樣為舞臺寫作（writing for the stage）的莎士比亞為例，做了類比：

When he was writing Hamlet, I’m sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: ‘Who’re the right actors for these roles? How should this be staged? Do I really want to set this in Denmark?’ ... I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question: ‘Is this literature?’
當他在寫《哈姆雷特》時候，他一定在想這些問題，“誰適合演這些角色？”“這段要怎么在舞臺上展現出來？”“故事背景真的應該設在丹麥嗎？”……我打賭莎士比亞最不可能思考的問題就是：“這是文學嗎？”

鮑勃?迪倫獲獎感言全文，來感受一下。

Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.
各位晚上好。我向瑞典學院的成員和今晚所有出席宴會的尊貴來賓致以最熱烈的問候。

I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming.
很抱歉我沒能到現場與諸位共享此刻，但請相信，在精神上，我絕對與你們同在，我深感榮幸能獲得如此聲望卓著的獎項。 被授予諾貝爾文學獎，是我從未想象過也沒有預見到的事情。

From an early age, I've been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.
從小，我就熟悉、閱讀并充分汲取那些被認為值得獲得該項殊榮的人的作品，如吉卜林、蕭伯納、托馬斯?曼、賽珍珠、加繆、海明威。這些文學巨匠的著作在學堂上被講授、在世界各地圖書館中陳列、被被人們虔誠地談論著，它們給我留下了深刻的印象。如今能加入這樣的名列，我的心情無以言表。

I don't know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It's probably buried so deep that they don't even know it's there.
我不知道，這些作家是否想過自己能獲得諾獎，但我猜想世界上任何一個著書寫詩、或創作戲劇的人，內心深處都懷揣著這個秘密的夢想。這夢想埋藏得如此之深以至于他們自己都沒意識到它的存在。

If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few years after, there wasn't anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least.
如果有人告訴我，我有那么一絲希望能獲得諾獎，那我會認為這跟我能站在月球上的概率差不多。事實上，我出生的那一年和隨后的那些年，世界上幾乎沒有人是完全值得諾貝爾獎的，所以，我想，至少可以說我現在屬于一個非常少數的群體。

I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn't have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read.
我是在世界巡演的過程中得知這一令人驚訝的消息的，我花了好一會兒去消化它。然后，我聯想到了莎士比亞這位文學偉人。我想他是把自己當一個寫劇本的來看待的，他怎么也不會想到自己是在創作文學。他的文字是為舞臺而生的，是為了言說而不是閱讀。

When he was writing Hamlet, I'm sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: "Who're the right actors for these roles?" "How should this be staged?" "Do I really want to set this in Denmark?" His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. "Is the financing in place?" "Are there enough good seats for my patrons?" "Where am I going to get a human skull?" I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare's mind was the question "Is this literature?"
在寫《哈姆雷特》的時候，他一定在想這些問題，“誰適合演這些角色？”“這段要怎么在舞臺上展現出來？”“故事背景真的要設在丹麥嗎？”他富于創造的想象與野心毫無疑問是他思維最活躍的部分，但也有很多世俗瑣事要考慮和處理。 “資金到位了嗎？”“贊助人都能安排到好座位嗎？”“到哪里能弄到人的頭骨啊？”我打賭莎士比亞最不可能思考的問題就是：“這是文學嗎？”

When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big, maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio. That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.
我少年時代開始寫歌時，甚至當我因自己的才能而小有知名度時，我對這些歌曲的期待都十分很有限。我希望它們能在咖啡廳或酒吧被人聽到，或者將來能在卡內基音樂廳，倫敦帕拉斯劇院這些地方被演唱。如果夢做得再大膽些，我希望我的音樂能被制作成唱片在電臺播放，這真是我心目中最好的獎賞了。錄唱片在電臺播放意味著你能接觸到更龐大的聽眾群體，而你也能按照自己的理想繼續走下去。

Well, I've been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I've made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it's my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I'm grateful for that.
現在，我已經朝著自己規劃的路走了很久了。我發行了幾十張唱片，在全球舉辦了上千場演唱會。但我的歌曲才是我所做一切的核心，它們似乎在不同文化的各類人群中產生了影響，對此我無限感激。

But there's one thing I must say. As a performer I've played for 50,000 people and I've played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on me.
但有件事我必須要說，作為一個表演者，我為5萬人演唱過，也為50人演唱過，而為50個人表演難度更高。因為5萬人會融成單一人格，但50人不會。他們每個人都是一個鮮明的個體，不同的身份，自成一體。他們能更加清晰地感知事物。你的真誠以及它如何反應出你的才華和深度，都在經受考驗。諾獎評委會的人數之少，我是清楚的。

But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life's mundane matters. "Who are the best musicians for these songs?" "Am I recording in the right studio?" "Is this song in the right key?" Some things never change, even in 400 years.
然而，與莎士比亞一樣，我常常被音樂創作和日常雜事占據了大部分時間精力，“誰最適合演唱這些歌？”“這個錄音室錄音效果好嗎？”“這首歌的調子定對了嗎？”就算過了400年，有些事也不會變的。

Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, "Are my songs literature?"
但我從來沒有時間問過自己：“我的歌算文學嗎？”

So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.
所以，我真的要感謝瑞典文學院，不僅花時間思考這個問題，還最終給出了一個精彩的回答。

My best wishes to you all,
致以最好的祝福，

Bob Dylan
鮑勃?迪倫

迪倫沒時間考慮自己的創作是否算是文學，所以只能由諾貝爾官方來為他辯護了。

在頒獎詞中，諾貝爾皇家學院的Horace Engdahl教授用一篇充滿力量、極盡贊譽的演講回擊了那些批評質疑的聲音。

不愧是諾貝爾文學獎的頒獎詞！這篇演講稿文采斐然，如詩一般的語言，讀來極有韻味，值得細品。

What brings about the great shifts in the world of literature? Often it is when someone seizes upon a simple, overlooked form, discounted as art in the higher sense, and makes it mutate.
什么會帶來文學世界的巨變？通常，是一種簡單、被人忽視，從更高意義來說被貶低為技藝的一種形式被某個人所掌握，并令其蛻變的時候。

Thus, at one point, emerged the modern novel from anecdote and letter, thus arose drama in a new age from high jinx on planks placed on barrels in a marketplace, thus songs in the vernacular dethroned learned Latin poetry, thus too did La Fontaine take animal fables and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales from the nursery to Parnassian heights. Each time this occurs, our idea of literature changes.
于是，當代小說從奇聞軼事與日常通信脫穎而出，戲劇從站在市集木桶板上表演的雜耍發軔，拉丁詩文漸被方言歌謠取代，同樣地，拉?方丹將動物寓言、安徒生把童話，從育嬰室升華到高蹈派詩歌的高度。每一次變化的出現，我們對于文學的看法就隨之發生改變。

In itself, it ought not to be a sensation that a singer/songwriter now stands recipient of the literary Nobel Prize. In a distant past, all poetry was sung or tunefully recited, poets were rhapsodes, bards, troubadours; 'lyrics' comes from 'lyre'.
本來，一位歌手或作曲家成為諾貝爾文學獎得主并不應該成為一個聳人聽聞的事件。在久遠的過去，所有的詩都是唱出來或是帶著音調起伏誦讀出來的。史詩吟誦者、游吟詩人、行吟詩人，他們就是詩人；而“歌詞”一詞就來源于“里爾琴”。

But what Bob Dylan did was not to return to the Greeks or the Proven?als. Instead, he dedicated himself body and soul to 20th century American popular music, the kind played on radio stations and gramophone records for ordinary people, white and black: protest songs, country, blues, early rock, gospel, mainstream music. He listened day and night, testing the stuff on his instruments, trying to learn. But when he started to write similar songs, they came out differently.
但鮑勃?迪倫所做的并非要回到古希臘或中古的普羅旺斯。相反，他全身心地投入于20世紀的美國流行音樂中，這些都是為普通人創作的音樂，不分人種，它們在廣播電臺和留聲機唱片中播放：抗議歌曲、鄉村音樂、藍調、早期搖滾樂、福音音樂和主流音樂……他日夜聆聽，用樂器彈奏，試著學習創作。當他開始寫出類似的歌曲時，它們呈現出來的卻是另一片天地。

In his hands, the material changed. From what he discovered in heirloom and scrap, in banal rhyme and quick wit, in curses and pious prayers, sweet nothings and crude jokes, he panned poetry gold, whether on purpose or by accident is irrelevant; all creativity begins in imitation.
在他的手中，這些素材發生了變化。從別人的傳家寶與廢棄之物中、從陳腐的韻律與機靈妙語中、從邪惡的詛咒和虔誠的禱告中、從甜言蜜語和粗鄙玩笑中，他淘出了詩歌的黃金。是有心還是無意，都無關緊要。所有的創作都始于模仿。

Even after fifty years of uninterrupted exposure, we are yet to absorb music's equivalent of the fable's Flying Dutchman. He makes good rhymes, said a critic, explaining greatness. And it is true. His rhyming is an alchemical substance that dissolves contexts to create new ones, scarcely containable by the human brain.
即使在50年的不斷聆聽之后，我們還未能完全領悟迪倫那些在音樂領域能與《漂泊的荷蘭人》相媲美的歌曲。“他的旋律朗朗上口，”一位評論家如是解釋他的偉大。沒錯。他的韻律就像是一劑煉金秘方，溶解現有的語境創造出人類大腦所難以容納的新內容。

It was a shock. With the public expecting poppy folk songs, there stood a young man with a guitar, fusing the languages of the street and the bible into a compound that would have made the end of the world seem a superfluous replay.
多么震撼。當大眾在期待著流行民謠的時候，一個年輕人手持吉他站在那兒，把街頭俗語與圣經語言熔在一起，讓世界末日看起來都像是多余的再現。

At the same time, he sang of love with a power of conviction everyone wants to own. All of a sudden, much of the bookish poetry in our world felt anaemic, and the routine song lyrics his colleagues continued to write were like old-fashioned gunpowder following the invention of dynamite. Soon, people stopped comparing him to Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams and turned instead to Blake, Rimbaud, Whitman, Shakespeare.
與此同時，他以一種人人想擁有的、令人信服的力量來歌頌愛。突然間，世間那些書面的詩詞變得如此蒼白無力，而他的同行們那些按部就班創作的詞曲也仿佛成了隨著炸藥誕生而過時了的火器。很快，人們不再把他與伍迪?格思里和漢克?威廉姆斯這些音樂人相比，而是將他與威廉?布萊克（英國浪漫主義詩人）、阿蒂爾?蘭波（法國象征主義詩人）、沃爾特?惠特曼（美國世人）和莎士比亞相提并論。

In the most unlikely setting of all - the commercial gramophone record - he gave back to the language of poetry its elevated style, lost since the Romantics. Not to sing of eternities, but to speak of what was happening around us. As if the oracle of Delphi were reading the evening news.
在商業化的黑膠唱片這一最不可能的條件中，他重新賦予詩歌語言以高昂的姿態，這是自浪漫主義時代之后便已失掉的風格。不為歌頌永恒，只在敘述我們的日常，好似德爾斐的神諭正向我們播報著晚間新聞。

Recognising that revolution by awarding Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize was a decision that seemed daring only beforehand and already seems obvious. But does he get the prize for upsetting the system of literature? Not really. There is a simpler explanation, one that we share with all those who stand with beating hearts in front of the stage at one of the venues on his never-ending tour, waiting for that magical voice.
通過授予鮑勃?迪倫諾獎來認可這一革命，初時似乎會覺得過于大膽，但現在已然覺得理所應當。但他獲得文學獎是因為顛覆了文學系統嗎？并不是。還有個更簡單的解釋，這個解釋所有看過迪倫演出的觀眾都懂，他們都懷著一顆跳動的心站在迪倫那永不停歇的巡演舞臺前，等待著那魔力般的聲音響起。

Chamfort made the observation that when a master such as La Fontaine appears, the hierarchy of genres - the estimation of what is great and small, high and low in literature - is nullified. “What matter the rank of a work when its beauty is of the highest rank?" he wrote. That is the straight answer to the question of how Bob Dylan belongs in literature: as the beauty of his songs is of the highest rank.
法國劇作家尚福爾評論說，當諸如拉?方丹這類文學巨擘誕生時，文學類型的等級——對文學高低貴賤的價值估量——便再無約束力。他曾寫到：“當一部作品自身的美達到了巔峰時，等級還有什么意義呢？”這也是對鮑勃?迪倫如何屬于文學范疇這一問題最直白的解答：他的音樂之美已達到最崇高的地位。

By means of his oeuvre, Bob Dylan has changed our idea of what poetry can be and how it can work. He is a singer worthy of a place beside the Greeks' ?οιδ?ι, beside Ovid, beside the Romantic visionaries, beside the kings and queens of the Blues, beside the forgotten masters of brilliant standards. If people in the literary world groan, one must remind them that the gods don't write, they dance and they sing. The good wishes of the Swedish Academy follow Mr. Dylan on his way to coming bandstands.
迪倫的畢生作品已經改變了我們對詩的認知——詩是什么，該如何創作。鮑勃?迪倫作為一名歌手，值得與希臘聲樂家、古羅馬的奧維德、浪漫主義空想家、藍調歌王歌后、和以及諸多以高標準來衡量而被遺忘的大師共享盛名。如果文學界的人對此不滿，那他應該記得：神并不寫作，他們只歌唱舞蹈。瑞典學院的美好祝愿將一路跟隨迪倫先生的音樂之路前行。

（來源：中國日報網雙語新聞微信，編輯：左卓 唐曉敏）