你为什么要读詹姆斯·乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》

James Joyce's "Ulysses" is widely considered to be both a literary masterpiece and one of the hardest works of literature to read.

詹姆斯·乔伊斯的“尤利西斯”被广泛认为是一部文学杰作，也是最难读的文学作品之一。

It inspires such devotion that once a year on a day called Bloomsday, thousands of people all over the world dress up like the characters,

它激发了人们的热忱，每年有这么一天，世界各地成千上万的人会打扮成书中角色的样子，

take to the streets, and read the book aloud.

走上街头，大声朗读这本书。

And some even make a pilgrimage to Dublin just to visit the places so vividly depicted in Joyce's opus.

有些人甚至去都柏林朝圣，只是为了参观乔伊斯的作品中生动描绘过的地方。

So what is it about this famously difficult novel that inspires so many people?

那么，这部著名的“困难”小说到底凭什么激励了这么多人呢？

There's no one simple answer to that question, but there are a few remarkable things about the book that keep people coming back.

这个问题没有一个简单的答案，但这本书有几个不同寻常的地方，吸引人们反复阅读。

The plot, which transpires over the course of a single day, is a story of three characters: Stephen Dedalus, reprised from Joyce's earlier novel,

剧情发生在某一天里，讲述了这三个人物的故事：斯蒂芬·迪达罗斯(Stephen Dedalus)，改编自乔伊斯早期的小说，

"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"; Leopold Bloom, a half-Jewish advertising canvasser for a Dublin newspaper; and Bloom's wife Molly,

“年轻艺术家的肖像”；利奥波德·布鲁姆(Leopold Bloom)，一家都柏林报纸的半犹太人广告商；以及布鲁姆的妻子莫莉(Molly)，

who is about to embark on an affair.

她即将开始一段风流韵事。

Stephen is depressed because of his mother's recent death.

斯蒂芬因为他母亲最近去世而情绪低落。

Meanwhile, Bloom wanders throughout the city.

与此同时，布鲁姆游荡在整个城市。

He goes to a funeral, his work, a pub, and so on, avoiding going home because Molly is about to begin her affair.

他去参加葬礼，去工作，去酒吧等等，避免回家，因为莫莉即将开始她的婚外情。

Where it really starts to get interesting, though, is how the story's told.

然而，真正开始变得有趣的，是讲述故事的方式。

Each chapter is written in a different style.

每一章都是用不同的风格写的。

15 is a play, 13 is like a cheesy romance novel, 12 is a story with bizarre, exaggerated interruptions, 11 uses techniques, like onomatopoeia,

15章是一部戏剧，13章是一部俗气的爱情小说，12章是一个故事，有离奇的，夸张的插曲，11章使用拟声等技巧，

repetitions, and alliteration to imitate music, and 14 reproduces the evolution of English literary prose style,

重复，并模仿音乐的头韵，14章再现了英国文学散文风格的演变，

from its beginnings in Anglo-Saxon right up to the 20th century.

从盎格鲁-撒克逊开始一直到20世纪。

That all culminates in the final chapter which follows Molly's stream of consciousness as it spools out in just eight long paragraphs with almost no punctuation.

这一切在最后一章达到了高潮，跟随着莫莉的意识流，它只有八个长段落，几乎没有标点符号。

The range of styles Joyce uses in "Ulysses" is one of the things that makes it so difficult, but it also helps make it enjoyable.

乔伊斯在“尤利西斯”中使用的一系列风格是让这本书变得如此困难的原因之一，但它也让故事变得有趣。

And it's one of the reasons that the book is held up as one of the key texts of literary modernism,

这也是本书被认为是文学现代主义的重要作品的原因，

a movement characterized by overturning traditional modes of writing.

也是一场以颠覆传统写作模式为特征的运动。

Joyce fills his narrative gymnastic routines with some of the most imaginative use of language you'll find anywhere.

乔伊斯用一些你在任何地方都能找到的最具想象力的语言来填充他的叙事套路。

Take, for instance,

举个例子，

"The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freelyfreckled shaggybearded widemouthed largenosed longheaded deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairlegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero.

“坐在圆塔脚下一块大石头上的那个人是一个宽肩、深胸、四肢结实、红眼、雀斑、毛发蓬松、宽嘴、体形粗壮、长首、嗓音低沉、赤膝、肌肉强健、长腿、红脸、肌肉结实的英雄。

" Here, Joyce exaggerates the description of a mangy old man in a pub to make him seem like an improbably gigantesque hero.

“在这里，乔伊斯夸大了对酒吧里一位满身脏兮兮的老人的描述，使他看起来像一个不可思议的伟岸英雄。

It's true that some sections are impenetrably dense at first glance,

的确，有些区域乍一看密密麻麻，

but it's up to the reader to let their eyes skim over them or break out a shovel and dig in.

但这取决于读者是让他们的眼睛掠过他们，还是拿出一把铲子，挖洞进去。

And once you start excavating the text, you'll find the book to be an encyclopedic treasure trove.

一旦你开始挖掘文本，你会发现这本书是百科全书般的宝库。

It's filled with all manner of references and allusions from medieval philosophy to the symbolism of tattoos, and from Dante to Dublin slang.

书中充斥着从中世纪哲学到纹身象征，从但丁到都柏林俚语的各种参考和典故。

As suggested by the title, some of these allusions revolve around Homer's "Odyssey.

正如书名所暗示的，其中一些典故是围绕荷马的“奥德赛”展开的。

" Each chapter is named after a character or episode from the "Odyssey," but the literary references are often coy, debatable, sarcastic, or disguised.

每一章都是以“奥德赛”中的一个人物或插曲命名的，但文学上的提法通常是含蓄的、有争议的、讽刺的或伪装的。

For example, Homer's Odysseus, after an epic 20-year-long journey, returns home to Ithaca and reunites with his faithful wife.

例如，荷马笔下的奥德修斯在经历了20年的史诗般的漫长旅程后，回到了伊萨卡的家中，并与他忠实的妻子团聚。

In contrast, Joyce's Bloom wanders around Dublin for a day and returns home to his unfaithful wife.

相比之下，乔伊斯饰演的布鲁姆在都柏林游荡了一天，然后回到不忠的妻子身边。

It's a very funny book.

这是一本非常有趣的书。

It has highbrow intellectual humor, if you have the patience to track down Joyce's references, and more lowbrow dirty jokes.

如果你有耐心追查乔伊斯的推荐信，它有高雅的知识幽默，还有更低俗的下流笑话。

Those, and other sexual references, were too much for some