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The Remains of the Day |  |
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The Remains of the Day | |
Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. He is the author of five novels, including The Remains of the Day, an international bestseller that won the Booker Prize and was adapted into an award-winning film. Ishiguro's work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. In 1995, he received an Order of the British Empire for service to literature, and in 1998 was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.
文摘PROLOGUE • JULY 1956
Darlington Hall
It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been preoccupying my imagination now for some days. An expedition, I should say, which I will undertake alone, in the comfort of Mr Farraday's Ford; an expedition which, as I foresee it, will take me through much of the finest countryside of England to the West Country, and may keep me away from Darlington Hall for as much as five or six days. The idea of such a journey came about, I should point out, from a most kind suggestion put to me by Mr Farraday himself one afternoon almost a fortnight ago, when I had been dusting the portraits in the library. In fact, as I recall, I was up on the step-ladder dusting the portrait of Viscount Wetherby when my employer had entered carrying a few volumes which he presumably wished returned to the shelves. On seeing my person, he took the opportunity to inform me that he had just that moment finalized plans to return to the United States for a period of five weeks between August and September. Having made this announcement, my employer put his volumes down on a table, seated himself on the chaise-longue, and stretched out his legs. It was then, gazing up at me, that he said:
'You realize, Stevens, I don't expect you to be locked up here in this house all the time Γm away. Why don't you take the car and drive off somewhere for a few days? You look like you could make good use of a break.'
Coming out of the blue as it did, I did not quite know how to reply to such a suggestion. I recall thanking him for his consideration, but quite probably I said nothing very definite, for my employer went on:
'I'm serious, Stevens. I really think you should take a break. I'll foot the bill for the gas. You fellows, you're always locked up in these big houses helping out, how do you ever get to see around this beautiful country of yours?'
This was not the first time my employer had raised such a question; indeed, it seems to be something which genuinely troubles him. On this occasion, in fact, a reply of sorts did occur to me as I stood up there on the ladder; a reply to the effect that those of our profession, although we did not see a great deal of the country in the sense of touring the countryside and visiting picturesque sites, did actually 'see' more of England than most, placed as we were in houses where the greatest ladies and gentlemen of the land gathered. Of course, I could not have expressed this view to Mr Farraday without embarking upon what might have seemed a presumptuous speech. I thus contented myself by saying simply:
'It has been my privilege to see the best of England over the years, sir, within these very walls.'
Mr Farraday did not seem to understand this statement, for he merely went on: Ί mean it, Stevens. It's wrong that a man can't get to see around his own country. Take my advice, get out of the house for a few days.'
As you might expect, I did not take Mr Farraday's suggestion at all seriously that afternoon, regarding it as just another instance of an American gentleman's unfamiliarity with what was and what was not commonly done in England. The fact that my attitude to this same suggestion underwent a change over the following days — indeed, that the notion of a trip to the West Country took an ever-increasing hold on my thoughts — is no doubt substantially attributable to — and why should I hide it? — the arrival of Miss Kenton's letter, her first in almost seven years if one discounts the Christmas cards. But let me make it immediately clear what I mean by this; what I mean to say is that Miss Kenton's letter set off a certain chain of ideas to do with professional matters here at Darlington Hall, and I would underline that it was a preoccupation with these very same professional matters that led me to consider anew my employer's kindly meant suggestion. But let me explain further.
The fact is, over the past few months, I have been responsible for a series of small errors in the carrying out of my duties. I should say that these errors have all been without exception quite trivial in themselves. Nevertheless,I think you will understand that to one not accustomed to committing such errors, this development was rather disturbing, and I did in fact begin to entertain all sorts of alarmist theories as to their cause. As so often occurs in these situations, I had become blind to the obvious — that is, until my pondering over the implications of Miss Kenton's letter finally opened my eyes to the simple truth: that these small errors of recent months have derived from nothing more sinister than a faulty staff plan.
It is, of course, the responsibility of every butler to devote his utmost care in the devising of a staff plan. Who knows how many quarrels, false accusations, unnecessary dismissals, how many promising careers cut short can be attributed to a butler's slovenliness at the stage of drawing up the staff plan? Indeed, I can say I am in agreement with those who say that the ability to draw up a good staff plan is the cornerstone of any decent butler's skills. I have myself devised many staff plans over the years, and I do not believe I am being unduly boastful if I say that very few ever needed amendment. And if in the present case the staff plan is at fault, blame can be laid at no one's door but my own. At the same time, it is only fair to point out that my task in this instance had been of an unusually difficult order.
What had occurred was this. Once the transactions were over — transactions which had taken this house out of the hands of the Darlington family after two centuries — Mr Farraday let it be known that he would not be taking up immediate residence here, but would spend a further four months concluding matters in the United States. In the meantime, however, he was most keen that the staff of his predecessor — a staff of which he had heard high praise — be retained at Darlington Hall. This 'staff' he referred to was, of course, nothing more than the skeleton team of six kept on by Lord Darlington's relatives to administer to the house up to and throughout the transactions; and I regret to report that once the purchase had been completed, there was little I could do for Mr Farraday to prevent all but Mrs Clements leaving for other employment. When I wrote to my new employer conveying my regrets at the situation, I received by reply from America instructions to recruit a new staff 'worthy of a grand old English house'. I immediately set about trying to fulfil Mr Farraday's wishes, but as you know, finding recruits of a satisfactory standard is no easy task nowadays, and although I was pleased to hire Rosemary and Agnes on Mrs Clements's recommendation, I had got no further by the time I came to have my first business meeting with Mr Farraday during the short preliminary visit he made to our shores in the spring of last year. It was on that occasion — in the strangely bare study of Darlington Hall — that Mr Farraday shook my hand for the first time, but by then we were hardly strangers to each other; quite aside from the matter of the staff, my new employer in several other instances had had occasion to call upon such qualities as it may be my good fortune to possess and found them to be, I would venture, dependable. So it was, I assume, that he felt immediately able to talk to me in a businesslike and trusting way, and by the end of our meeting, he had left me with the administration of a not inconsiderable sum to meet the costs of a wide range of preparations for his coming residency. In any case, my point is that it was during the course of this interview, when I raised the question of the difficulty of recruiting suitable staff in these times, that Mr Farraday, after a moment's reflection, made his request of me; that I do my best to draw up a staff plan — "some sort of servants' rota' as he put it — by which this house might be run on the present staff of four — that is to say, Mrs Clements, the two young girls, and myself. This might, he appreciated, mean putting sections of the house 'under wraps', but would I bring all my experience and expertise to bear to ensure such losses were kept to a minimum? Recalling a time when I had had a staff of seventeen under me, and knowing how not so long ago a staff of twenty-eight had been employed here at Darlington Hall, the idea of devising a staff plan by which the same house would be run on a staff of four seemed, to say the least, daunting. Although I did my best not to, something of my scepticism must have betrayed itself, for Mr Farraday then added, as though for reassurance, that were it to prove necessary, then an additional member of staff could be hired. But he would be much obliged, he repeated, if I could 'give it a go with four'.
Now naturally, like many of us, I have a reluctance to change too much of the old ways. But there is no virtue at all in clinging as some do to tradition merely for its own sake. In this age of electricity and modern heating systems, there is no need at all to employ the sorts of numbers necessary even a generation ago. Indeed, it has actually been an idea of mine for some time that the retaining of unnecessary numbers simply for tradition's sake — resulting in employees having an unhealthy amount of time on their hands — has been an important factor in the sharp decline in professional standards. Furthermore, Mr Farraday had made it clear that he planned to hold only very rarely the sort of large social occasions Darlington Hall had seen frequently in the past. I did then go about the task Mr Farraday had set me with some dedication; I spent many hours working on the staff plan, and at least as many hours again thinking about it as I went about other duties or as I lay awake after retiring. Whenever I believed I had come up with something, I probed it for every sort of oversight, tested it through from all angles. Finally, I came up with a plan which, while perhaps not exactly as Mr Farraday had requested, was the best, I felt sure, that was humanly possible. Almost all the attractive parts of the house could remain operative: the extensive servants' quarters — including the back corridor, the two still rooms and the old laundry — and the guest corridor up on the second floor would be dust-sheeted, leaving all the main ground-floor rooms and a generous number of guest rooms. Admittedly, our present team of four would manage this programme only with reinforcement from some daily workers; my staff plan therefore took in the services of a gardener, to visit once a week, twice in the summer, and two cleaners, each to visit twice a week. The staff plan would, furthermore, for each of the four resident employees mean a radical altering of our respective customary duties. The two young girls, I predicted, would not find such changes so difficult to accommodate, but I did all I could to see that Mrs Clements suffered the least adjustments, to the extent that I undertook for myself a number of duties which you may consider most broad-minded of a butler to do.
Even now, I would not go so far as to say it is a bad staff plan; after all, it enables a staff of four to cover an unexpected amount of ground. But you will no doubt agree that the very best staff plans are those which give clear margins of error to allow for those days when an employee is ill or for one reason or another below par. In this particular case, of course, I had been set a slightly extraordinary task, but I had nevertheless not been neglectful to incorporate 'margins' wherever possible. I was especially conscious that any resistance there may be on the part of Mrs Clements, or the two girls, to the taking on of duties beyond their traditional boundaries would be compounded by any notion that their workloads had greatly increased. I had then, over those days of struggling with the staff plan, expended a significant amount of thought to ensuring that Mrs Clements and the girls, once they had got over their aversion to adopting these more 'eclectic' roles, would find the division of duties stimulating and unburdensome.
I fear, however, that in my anxiety to win the support of Mrs Clements and the girls, I did not perhaps assess quite as stringently my own limitations; and although my experience and customary caution in such matters prevented my giving myself more than I could actually carry out, I was perhaps negligent over this question of allowing myself a margin. It is not surprising then, if over several months, this oversight should reveal itself in these small but telling ways. In the end, I believe the matter to be no more complicated than this: I had given myself too much to do.
网友对The Remains of the Day的评论
自从读完这部书之后我就一直在想, “The Remains of the Day”译为“长日留痕”固然诗意，但只怕译为“白昼余晖”更为贴切。 这是一部怀念过去的书。节制地、理智地、小心翼翼地选用着词句，怀念自己，一个完美的老式男管家的黄金岁月，以及一个曾经号称“日不落”的国家的严谨而典雅的黄金年代。小说以第一人称“我”展开叙述，其中的文字大都隐含晦涩，需仔细品读方知其中真意。这恰恰正是本文主人公性格的写照。作为一个有严格自律精神的“杰出”男管家，史蒂文斯在任何人面前都只会以“男管家”这一形象出现，永远克制着自己的感情，并以此为荣。在他看来，这是杰出男管家必须具备的素质——尊严。他说，尊严，“归结起来无非是别在大庭广众面前脱掉衣服”。就连英格兰乡村的风景在史蒂文斯的眼里也是因为“严谨”和“静默”而显得“伟大绝伦”。 情感的节制，或者说压抑，是这部小说最大的特点。整部小说没有出现任何直接描写情感起伏的段落。有的只是平白的叙事。我们不得不通过别人的眼睛才得略略窥知他真实的感受。
在一次勋爵家中重大国际会议期间，史蒂文斯的父亲病重，他上楼探望时父亲脸色已呈暗红，“在任何活物身上都不曾见过类似的颜色”。面对这一切，他说，“这是令人最悲伤的事，但我现在必须回到楼下去了”。他如常与客人闲谈，微笑，斟酒，这时，他“感到有什么东西轻轻碰了一下我的胳膊肘，转脸一看，竟是达林顿勋爵。 ‘史"rest":"蒂文斯，你没事吧？’ ‘没事，老爷。真的没事.’ ‘你看起来好像在哭泣。’ 我笑了笑，掏出了一块手绢，迅速擦了擦脸。“十分对不起，老爷。那是劳累一天极度紧张的痕迹。’” 这是一部需要慢慢阅读的小说，但绝不是一部沉闷的小说。它就像底下有火山正欲喷发的海面，看似平静无波，实则深处热浪翻滚。<br /> 史蒂文斯和女管家肯顿小姐的关系就像是这样的海面。他们在工作中互生好感，但是史蒂文斯囿于男管家的职责和身份，即使面对肯顿小姐的屡次暗示也始终对以外交辞令般无可挑剔却毫无感情的答话。当心爱的女管家肯顿小姐赌气答应了别人的求婚时，他唯一能允许自己表露的方式就是对她表示最热忱的祝贺，尔后端着酒，在她房门口呆呆站几秒钟，望着里面透出来的光线。直到最后，他和肯顿小姐（现在的贝恩夫人）在二十年后再次见面，听到她亲口说出自己曾经构想过，能和他共有更美好的生活，他才第一次承认自己的感情：“她那些话所暗含的意思已足以在我胸中激起一定程度的悲伤。说实话——我为何不应该承认呢？——在那一刻，我的心行将破碎。不久以后，我还是朝她转过身来，微笑着说道：‘你是非常正确的，贝恩夫人。正如你所说，要使时钟倒转确实太晚了……请务必照料好你自己……你务必尽自己所能是你和你丈夫在这些年过得愉快。我们也许将永远不再见面了，贝恩夫人，那么我想请你留意我说的话。’”一直绷紧的感情终于有了一个小小的出口。读文至此，不免唏嘘。<br /> 史蒂文斯个人的转折点似乎总是和发生在达林顿府的重大事件重合。上面说过，他父亲去世时，达林顿勋爵在自己家召集了一次由各国重要人物参加的，旨在消除一战后的凡尔赛条约对德国的严厉惩罚的非正式国际会议；而当肯顿小姐决定另嫁他人的这一夜，达林顿勋爵正被纳粹利用，邀请英国首相和德国大使会谈，帮助德国取得英国的信任。正因为此，达林顿勋爵在二战后被判通敌罪，郁郁而亡。 达林顿勋爵的错误直接导致了在小说的最后，当史蒂文斯在海边总结自己三十年的职业生涯时，悲观地认为自己虽然始终忠心尽责，信赖勋爵，一直坚信自己做的是有价值的事，但“我甚至不敢承认我自己曾犯了些错误。真的——人需自省——那样做又有什么尊严可言呢？”“我已经没有更多的尚待奉献了。”但一个萍水相逢的陌生人却劝慰他：“你必须朝前看……夜晚是一天中最美好的部分。你已干完了白天的工作。现在你能够双腿搁平来休息了，而且要享受人生。”史蒂文斯于是决定不再留恋于过去，而是充分利用自己生命的日暮时分。这一章也是全书最温暖的部分—— 一个饱经沧桑的老人默然独坐，海边码头华灯初燃，身后陌生的人们的欢声笑语让他重拾对生活的希望……这也正呼应了“白昼余晖”这个题目。 这部小说获1989年的布克奖。"
也许是因为90年出版的缘故吧，书的装帧和印刷显得古朴了些，可并不影响阅读，相反个人反而更喜欢这种味道。《长日留痕》的叙事角度很独特，它所设定的场景不大，但从字里行间的描述，石黑一雄却在其中巧妙委婉地呈现了关乎战争，关乎人性，关乎尊严，关乎道德等问题。简洁的文字串成的流畅的文章，其间渗透着细腻的情感，让人的思绪也跟着走，一路或凝重思考，或一声叹息，也许很多事情就因为错过，便是一生，像是史蒂文森的感情。这本书是值得反复阅读和咀嚼的，我亦相信，每个人可以从中寻得不一样的体会。读下来，在想，也许“The evening's the best part of the day.''
Everyman's library 精装：与描述不符，这本人人文库并非毛边本。
A book of nostalgia and I cannot even rid myself of the touch of melancholia during reading. Depicting a perfect picture of English splendour as well as the demonsration of English values.
英国作家石黑一雄最受好评的作品
这个价位是有些贵了，可能是英文原版，而且作者是当代的，所以比较贵些。书不是很厚，也不是精装，但如果对石黑一雄感兴趣，可以一看
從前我買的是英國原本書皮，因為很喜歡這本書，所以看見這封皮很想買來收藏。值得一讀的回憶小說。
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