The author, most recently, of “Nora Webster” and “Brooklyn,” soon to be adapted to film, wishes he were Leopold Bloom: “I envy all the fun he had when he went to Nighttown and got involved in gender-bendering.”

科尔姆·托宾最近的作品是《诺拉·韦伯斯特》(Nora Webster)和即将改编成电影的《布鲁克林》(Brooklyn)，这位作家希望自己是列奥波德·布鲁姆：“我羡慕他去“夜城”玩得那么开心，嫉妒他参与的变装游戏。”

What books are currently on your night stand?

问：你的床头柜上现在放着什么书？

“Torpor,” by Chris Kraus; “Selected Poems of Fulke Greville,” edited by Thom Gunn; “A Journey With Two Maps,” by Eavan Boland; Toni Morrison’s “God Help the Child.” Tessa Hadley’s “Married Love,” Patrick McGrath’s “Constance” and Lynne Tillman’s “What Would Lynne Tillman Do?”

答：克里斯·克劳斯(Chris Kraus)的《麻痹》(Torpor)；托姆·冈恩(Thom Gunn)编的《福尔克·格雷维尔诗选》(Selected Poems of Fulke Greville)；伊温·博兰(Eavan Boland)的《带着两张地图的旅程》(A Journey With Two Maps)；托妮·莫里森(Toni Morrison)的《上帝保佑孩子》(God Help the Child)；特莎·哈德莉(Tessa Hadley)的《婚后的爱》(Married Love)；帕特里克·麦克格拉斯(Patrick McGrath)的《康丝坦斯》(Constance)和琳恩·提尔曼(Lynne Tillman)的《琳恩·提尔曼怎么办？》(What Would Lynne Tillman Do?)。

Who is your favorite novelist of all time?

问：你一直以来最喜欢的小说家是谁？

Henry James, for the range of his sympathy and the quality of his prose. For the way in which he dramatizes moral issues while all the time attending to sensuous and stylish questions. For his seriousness about form in his fiction and the way in which he refuses to allow the reader to make easy judgments, for his insisting on nuance, half-light and suggestion, and for his deep understanding of the strangeness and the wavering nature of motive and feeling in human relationships.

答：亨利·詹姆斯，因为他有宽广的同情心，卓越的文采。我喜欢他戏剧化地表现道德话题，但同时又关注感官和时髦的问题。我喜欢他对小说形式的严肃态度，以及他拒绝让读者妄下判断的方式。我喜欢他在写作中坚持微言大义、晦暗含蓄。我喜欢他对人类关系中动机和情感的奇特性、摇摆性的深刻理解。

Whom do you consider the best writers — novelists, essayists, critics, journalists, poets — working today?

问：你认为现在仍在写作的作家（小说家、散文家、批评家、新闻记者、诗人）中谁最好？

Novelists: Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Don DeLillo, Marilynne Robinson, John Banville, Javier Marías.

答：小说家是拉斯洛·卡撒兹纳霍凯(Laszlo Krasznahorkai)、唐·德里罗(Don DeLillo)、玛丽莲·罗宾逊(Marilynne Robinson)、约翰·班维尔(John Banville)、哈维尔·马里亚斯(Javier Marías)。

Essayists: Richard Rodriguez, Joan Didion, Pankaj Mishra.

散文家是理查德·罗德里格斯(Richard Rodriguez)、琼·迪迪恩(Joan Didion)、潘卡吉·米舍尔(Pankaj Mishra)。

Critics: Denis Donoghue, Marjorie Perloff, Helen Vendler, Christopher Ricks, Stephen Burt.

批评家是丹尼斯·多诺霍(Denis Donoghue)、玛乔瑞·帕洛夫(Marjorie Perloff)、海伦·文德勒(Helen Vendler)、克里斯托弗·里克斯(Christopher Ricks)和斯蒂芬·伯特(Stephen Burt)。

Journalists: Perry Anderson, Jane Kramer, Fintan O’Toole.

新闻记者是佩里·安德森(Perry Anderson)、简·克莱默(Jane Kramer)、芬坦·奥图尔(Fintan O’Toole)。

Poets: John Ashbery, Yves Bonnefoy, Louise Glück, Adam Zagajewski, Paul Muldoon.

诗人是约翰·阿什贝利(John Ashbery)、伊夫·博纳富瓦(Yves Bonnefoy)、路易斯·格吕克(Louise Glück)、亚当·扎加耶夫斯基(Adam Zagajewski)、保罗·马尔登(Paul Muldoon)。

What genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?

问：你特别喜欢读什么体裁？不读什么样的书？

I am normal. I read poetry and fiction and biography and history and books about landscape and painting. I avoid crime novels and thrillers and spy books and books about philosophy (especially metaphysics and ethics), self-help books or books that might have happy endings, or books that are long-winded.

答：我就是正常口味。我读诗歌、小说、传记、历史以及关于风景与绘画的书。我不读犯罪小说、惊悚小说、间谍小说、与哲学有关的书（尤其是形而上学和伦理学）、自学类书籍以及那些可能是大团圆结尾或唠唠叨叨的书。

What’s the last book that made you laugh?

问：上一本让你发笑的书是什么？

In Princeton a few years ago I was lying in bed alone on a Monday night reading Leo Bersani’s “Is the Rectum a Grave?” Outside was the deep dark New Jersey night. It was winter. I gazed around my sublet bedroom; I looked at the title of the book. Then I stood up and went to the full-length mirror and peered into it. I thought: You are one sad man. And I laughed so much at that thought that I began to cry.

答：几年前在普林斯顿，有个礼拜一的晚上，我躺在床上读里奥·博萨尼(Leo Bersani)的《直肠是坟墓吗？》(Is the Rectum a Grave?)。屋外是新泽西沉沉的黑夜。那时是冬天。我环顾自己从别人手中转租的这间卧室；我看着书的标题。然后，我站起身，走向穿衣镜，照了照镜子。我当时想：你是一个悲伤的男人。然后，我就为这个想法而笑得哭了起来。

The last book that made you cry?

问：上一本让你哭的书？

See above.

答：参见上文。

The last book that made you furious?

问：上一本让你愤怒的书？

I don’t do fury. (I mean, where would it end?) But I do wonder was George Eliot wise to spell out what happened later to the main characters in the afterword of her novel “Middlemarch.”

答：我不会愤怒。（我的意思是，那样就没完没了了。）但是我确实有些怀疑乔治·艾略特在其小说《米德尔马契》后记中的做法是否明智，她将主要人物日后的遭遇都一一说了出来。

Whom do you consider the most underrated or unappreciated writers, past and present?

问：你认为过去和现在最被低估或最不受重视的作家是谁？

George Moore from the past (“Esther Waters” is his masterpiece); Eugene McCabe from the present (“Death and Nightingales” is his masterpiece).

答：过去是乔治·摩尔(George Moore)，最好的作品是《伊斯特·沃特斯》(Esther Waters)；现在是尤金·麦克卡比(Eugene McCabe)，最好的作品是《死亡和夜莺》(Death and Nightingales)。

Do you read different kinds of books depending on where you are living at the time?

问：你会因为居住在不同地方而读不同的书吗？

In the summer I try and finish one long story or short novel a day, usually ones I have read before. For example: Tolstoy’s “Hadji Murad,” James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” Joyce’s “The Dead,” Samuel Beckett’s “Company,” Nadine Gordimer’s “The Late Bourgeois World,” Juan Goytisolo’s “The Blind Rider,” Philip Roth’s “Everyman,” John McGahern’s “The Country Funeral,” David Malouf’s “The Valley of Lagoons,” Tobias Wolff’s “Old School,” Richard Ford’s “Rock Springs,” Don DeLillo’s “Cosmopolis.”

答：今年夏天我尝试每天读完一个长的短篇小说或短的长篇小说，通常都是我以前读过的。比如说：托尔斯泰的《哈吉穆拉特》(Hadji Murad)、詹姆斯的《螺丝在拧紧》、康拉德的《黑暗的心》、乔伊斯的《死者》、萨缪尔·贝克特的《陪伴》(Company)、纳丁·戈迪默(Nadine Gordimer)的《资产阶级世界的末日》(The Late Bourgeois Word)、胡安·戈伊蒂索洛(Juan Goytisolo)的《盲骑手》(The Blind Rider)、菲利普·罗斯的《凡人》(Everyman)、约翰·麦克葛汉(John McGahern)的《乡村葬礼》(The Country Funeral)、大卫·马洛夫(David Malouf)的《环礁湖河谷》(The Valley of Lagoons)、托拜厄斯·沃尔夫(Tobias Wolff)的《老学校》(Old School)、理查德·福特(Richard Ford)的《石泉城》(Rock Springs)和唐·德里罗的《大都会》(Cosmopolis)。

Who are your favorite Irish writers? And what are the best books about Ireland?

问：你最喜欢的爱尔兰作家是谁？关于爱尔兰最好的书有哪些？

I love Tim Robinson’s books on the Irish landscape and heritage — especially “Stones of Aran” and his trilogy of books about Connemara — for the depth of his knowledge and the way he makes sentences. The other books I would suggest to anyone who wanted to make sense of Ireland over the past hundred years or so are the poems of Paul Durcan, the plays of Tom Murphy, the novels of Anne Enright and Roy Foster’s two-volume biography of Yeats.

答：我喜欢提姆·罗宾逊(Tim Robinson)写的关于爱尔兰风景和历史的书——尤其是《阿兰群岛的石头》(Stones of Aran)，以及他关于康尼马拉(Connemara)的三部曲——因为他知识渊博，句子优美。对那些想了解爱尔兰近百年历史的人，我推荐另一些书，它们是保罗·德尔坎(Paul Durcan)的诗，汤姆·墨菲(Tom Murphy)的戏剧，安妮·恩莱特(Anne Enright)的小说，以及罗伊·福斯特(Roy Foster)的两卷本叶芝传。

Who’s your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

问：你最喜欢的小说男女主人公是谁？你最喜欢的反英雄角色或坏人角色是谁？

I wish I was Leopold Bloom, the man who wanders Dublin in “Ulysses.” I love the way he notices and registers things, his wit, his sensuous good humor. I envy all the fun he had when he went to Nighttown and got involved in gender-bendering. The villain I like best is Casaubon in “Middlemarch.” Since I am aging, solitary and bookish myself, I feel real sympathy for him and am sure that Dorothea, whom he marries, could not have been a bundle of laughs. Casaubon is given a raw deal in the book, and readers like to dislike him, but the older I get the more sympathy I have for him as he tries to finish an unfinishable book and then is brave enough to get married to a young woman. I feel sorry when he dies.

答：我希望自己是列奥波德·布鲁姆，那个在《尤利西斯》中漫游都柏林的男人。我喜欢他留意和观察事物的方式，喜欢他的机智，以及他诱人的幽默感。我羡慕他去“夜城”玩得那么开心，嫉妒他参与的变装游戏。我最喜欢的反面角色是《米德尔马契》中的卡苏朋。因为我自己也上了年纪，是个孤单的书呆子，所以我挺同情他的，也确信他娶的多萝西娅不可能是个幽默风趣之人。卡苏朋在书里被描写得不太公正，读者都讨厌他，但当我年岁越大，就愈发同情他，因为他试图去完成一本不可能完成的书，然后又勇敢地和一个年轻女子结婚。我对他的死感到难受。

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

问：你小时候是一个什么样的读者？你印象最深的童年读物和作家有哪些？

I could not read until I was 9, by which time I had developed a serious stammer. Although my mother once warned me that being a dimwit was likely to have dire consequences, my parents were sweet enough not to mention my stammer or my non-reading much and were smart enough not to seek professional help. They left me to myself. Thus I have no childhood books or authors, but I had plenty of time to think and also to study things and people. I did then learn to read, and I think I disturbed the folks more when I became addicted to poetry and, as a teenager, learned Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” by heart. It took me a bit longer to get rid of the stammer. Even still, in leading a mystery of the rosary, I have no problem with “Our Father” since it begins with a vowel, or “Hail Mary” since it starts with a soft H, but I have to do a hell of a lot of light and heavy breathing as I approach the hard consonant start of “Glory be to the Father.”

答：我9岁才会阅读，那时我有严重的口吃。虽然我妈妈曾警告我，当个傻子可能会有严重的后果，但我父母人很好，并不是总提我口吃或阅读障碍这些事，而且他们很聪明的一点是，没有去寻求专业人士的帮助。他们就让我一个人呆着。所以，我没有喜欢的童年读物或作家，但我有很多时间去思考，去学习人和事。我后来才学会了阅读，可当我开始沉迷于诗歌，并且十几岁时就会背诵希薇亚·普拉斯(Sylvia Plath)的那首《爸爸》时，家人反而更替我担心了。我又花了更长一点的时间才克服了口吃。即便如此，在领颂《玫瑰经的奥迹》时，我读“我们的天父”并不费力，因为第一个音节是元音，或者读“万福玛利亚”也没问题，因为它开头是一个轻读的/h/。但当我开始读那个需要硬辅音开头的“愿光荣归于父”时，就需要大动干戈地调整一番呼吸。

If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?

问：如果让你说出一本书，正是它让你成为了现在的你，那会是哪本？

“Hamlet” gave me permission to mourn my father’s death, to make smart remarks to teachers, to make fun of my betters, to procrastinate, to keep my best lines for my conversations with myself, to enjoy the theater, to do whatever I pleased, to view all forms of authority with sourness. I would never have been able to do any of these things with the same intensity had I not read that book when I was 15.

答：《哈姆莱特》让我可以去哀悼父亲的死，对老师做出俏皮的点评，揶揄那些比我好的人，拖延时间，把最好的台词留给与自己的对话，享受戏剧，做我任何喜欢的事情，蔑视一切的权威。假如我没有在15岁那年读这本书，就不可能如此激烈地做出所有这些事。

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

问：假如你能让总统读一本书，你想是哪一本？

Anyone in power, including the president, would benefit from Jaroslav Hasek’s “The Good Soldier Svejk,” which is set during the First World War in Austria-Hungary. First because it would make them laugh, and then because it is the best antiwar novel I know, hilariously dramatizing the pointlessness of empires and the foolishness of military goals and the sheer absurdity and cruelty of people waging war on each other.

答：任何当权者，包括总统，都会从雅洛斯拉夫·哈谢克(Jaroslav Hasek)写的《好兵帅克》中受益。这本书背景是第一次世界大战期间的奥匈帝国。首先，这本书会逗乐他们，而且这是我所知道的最佳反战小说，风趣幽默地表现了帝国的无意义，军事目标的愚蠢，以及交战各方纯粹的荒谬和残忍。

You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?

问：假如你要举办一个文学晚餐派对。会邀请哪三个作家？

James Baldwin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Marlowe. After dinner we would do a spliced reading of Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room,” Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Marlowe’s “Edward II.” We would also have fun, I hope, making sly and suggestive comments to Stevenson about his sexuality. I would also enjoy listening to Marlowe reading aloud his poem “Hero and Leander,” which is one of my favorite poems. And I bet Baldwin would enjoy the reading too, not to speak of Stevenson.

答：詹姆斯·鲍德温(James Baldwin)、罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森(Robert Louis Stevenson)、克里斯托弗·马洛(Christopher Marlowe)。晚餐之后，我们会做一次串读，读鲍德温的《乔万尼的房间》(Giovanni’s Room)，史蒂文森的《化身博士》(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)和马洛的《爱德华二世》(Edward II)。我希望能含沙射影谈谈史蒂文森的性取向，让大伙儿逗逗乐。我还会喜欢听马洛高声朗读他的诗《希洛与勒安得耳》(Hero and Leander)，这是我最喜欢的一首诗。我相信鲍德温也会喜欢这种朗读活动，史蒂文森就更不用说了。

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

问：令人失望，评价过高，根本就不好：什么书是你觉得应该喜欢，但却并不喜欢的？你还记得上一本无法卒读的书吗？

Oh yes, I do remember the last book I put down without finishing it. It was the Old Testament. I wonder if I am alone in thinking it slightly overrated, or “just not good,” as you phrase it? Some of it is nice, but very little of it seems to be true, at least to me, and much of it is repetitive and overwritten, and some of it is plain dumb and quite foolish and offensive. (I like the New Testament, however, or most of it, especially St. John’s Gospel, and finish it regularly.)

答：哦，是的，我的确记得上一本没读完就放下的书。那是《旧约》。我怀疑是不是只有我一个人觉得这本书有些被抬得太高了，或者正如你说的，它“根本就不好”？这本书有些地方还行，但大部分都不足信，至少对我而言是如此，很多地方重复、夸张，有些地方干脆就又傻又蠢，让人不舒服。（但是我喜欢《新约》，或者说，大部分章节都喜欢，尤其是《约翰福音》，我经常会重读。）

Whom would you want to write your life story?

问：你想让谁来写你的传记？

Lyndall Gordon or maybe Janet Malcolm.

答：林德尔·戈登(Lyndall Gordon)，或者珍妮特·马尔科姆(Janet Malcolm)也可以。

What books do you find yourself returning to again and again?

问：有哪些书是你会不断重读的？

At Columbia, I teach books that I care about, and always reread them in the week before the class. This means that every year I get to revisit 19th-century novels such as “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Portrait of a Lady” and “Middlemarch,” and then Irish classics such as “The Tain,” “Dubliners,” Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Last September,” Flann O’Brien’s “At Swim-Two-Birds” and Beckett’s “Molloy.”

答：我在哥伦比亚教的都是我喜欢的书，并且在上课前一周总会重读一遍。这意味着每年我都会重返那些19世纪的小说，比如《傲慢与偏见》、《贵妇画像》、《米德尔马契》，然后就是爱尔兰文学经典，比如《夺牛记》(The Tain)、《都柏林人》(Dubliners)、伊丽莎白·鲍恩(Elizabeth Bowen)的《最后的九月》(The Last September)、弗兰恩·奥布莱恩(Flann O’Brien)的《双鸟戏水》(At Swim-Two-Birds)、贝克特的《莫洛伊》(Molloy)。

What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?

问：你为自己尚未读过哪些书而感到难为情？

I still have not read Thomas Mann’s tetralogy “Joseph and His Brothers.”

答：我还没读过托马斯·曼的四部曲《约瑟夫和他的兄弟们》。

What do you plan to read next?

问：你接下来打算读什么？

Gary Indiana’s new memoir, “I Can Give You Anything but Love.”

答：嘉里·印迪安纳(Gary Indiana)的最新自传，《我能给你除了爱的一切》(I Can Give You Anything but Love)。