诺贝尔文学奖得主马里奥·巴尔加斯·略萨语录

武夷山

今天是2010年诺贝尔文学奖得主马里奥·巴尔加斯·略萨（Mario Vargas Llosa）的82岁生日。他拥有秘鲁与西班牙双重国籍，创作过小说、剧本、散文随笔、诗歌、文学评论、政论杂文，也曾导演过舞台剧和电影，主持过广播电视节目，还从事过政治工作。

在我2015年编译的一篇博文“有史以来最佳小说100种” （http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1557-919261.html）中，略萨的Conversation in the Cathedral（教堂里的对话）上榜。

下面翻译一些他的语录，以此向这位文学家致敬。

Literature is dangerous: it awakens a rebellious attitude in us.

文学是危险的；它会唤醒我们体内的反叛态度。

You cannot teach creativity - how to become a good writer. But you can help a young writer discover within himself what kind of writer he would like to be.

创造力----如何成为一名优秀作家----是无法讲授的。但是，你可以帮助年轻作家自我发现，他到底想成为一名什么样的作家。

Reality is the richest thing there is, the most important thing there is. Our imagination allows us to live an artificial life that is wonderful, extremely rich, but I don't believe any artist would dare to say that artifice is better than real life.

现实是最丰富多彩、最重要的事物。我们的想象使我们能过上一种美好的、极其丰富多彩的虚构生活，但我不相信有哪个艺术家敢声称，虚构事物比现实生活更美好。

The novels that have fascinated me most are the ones that have reached me less through the channels of the intellect or reason than bewitched me.

最吸引我的小说，不太可能是通过智力或理性的渠道影响到我的，而更可能是使我入迷的。

Since it is impossible to know what's really happening, we Peruvians lie, invent, dream and take refuge in illusion. Because of these strange circumstances, Peruvian life, a life in which so few actually do read, has become literary.

由于我们秘鲁人无法弄清到底发生了什么，于是我们就说谎，虚构，梦想，在幻觉中寻求安慰。由于这些古怪的境遇，秘鲁人的人生就成了文学性的人生，尽管没有多少秘鲁人真的在阅读东西。

If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect, you know.

你知道吧，如果你因为身为作家而被砍了头，那就说明你受到了至高无上的尊重。

It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.

说囚犯过着像动物一样的生活是不准确的，因为动物的活动空间要大得多。

Good literature is absolutely necessary for a society that wants to be free.

对于一个渴望自由的社会，优秀文学是绝对不可缺少的。

No matter how ephemeral it is, a novel is something, while despair is nothing.

不管小说的生命多么短暂，它总是个东西，而绝望则是空无。

Good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is, without a doubt, hard work. There are many things behind a good novel, but in particular, there is a lot of work - a lot of patience, a lot of stubbornness, and a critical spirit.

好小说是许多因素造成的，最主要的一条，毫无疑问就是艰苦的努力。好小说的背后有很多东西，但是尤其值得一提的是，其背后有很多努力----很多的耐心，很多的倔强，还有批评精神。

One can't fight with oneself, for this battle has only one loser.

人无法与自己作战，因为这场战斗的输方永远不会有第二个。

Memory is a snare, pure and simple; it alters, it subtly rearranges the past to fit the present.

回忆是一张罗网，纯净而简单；它在改变，微妙地重新安排过去以适应当今。

Life is a shitstorm, in which art is our only umbrella

生活是乱糟糟的暴风雨，艺术是生活中唯一的伞。（这是略萨小说中的人物说的话）