要同意写一篇关于安妮·卡森作品的短文，简直是荒谬至极。这项任务几乎不可能完成，就像解决“零除以零”这样的数学难题一样。如果一个人真有办法解决这个问题，或许他才会对尝试撰写关于安妮·卡森作品的文章抱有一丝信心。我说的是“尝试”，而非“成功”。在尝试的过程中，我要强调的是：在极端情境下，所有语言都显得苍白无力——这些情境不仅包括难以承受的巨大损失（就我而言，是失去了孩子），也包括试图对安妮·卡森的作品做出任何描述。
It is preposterous to agree to write a short piece on Anne Carson’s work. The task is impossible, akin to that of solving the mathematical problem of dividing zero by zero. If one had the power to solve it, perhaps one would have some confidence in attempting to write about Anne Carson’s work. Attempting, I say, not succeeding. In attempting to do so, I shall emphasise that all words fall short in extreme situations, which not only include unfathomable losses (of children, in my case) but also include articulating anything about Anne Carson’s work.
人们或许可以从卡森自己的文字入手：“如果你允许词语自由发挥，它们就会去做自己想做的事，以及必须做的事。”（《红自传》）但要让词语按照自身的渴望、追求、挫败与困惑自由存在，让它们带着难以言喻的痛楚呐喊，带着狡黠的微笑抛出谜语，或彼此交媾——我们当中又有几人能达到这种对语言的掌控？不过，不，这里的“掌控”用词不当。
One could start with Carson’s words. “Words, if you let them, will do what they want to do and what they have to do.” (Autobiography of Red) But to let the words exist in their own desires and yearnings and frustrations and confusions, to let the words scream with inarticulable pain or tell a riddle with a twinkling smile or make love to one another – how many of us have achieved that kind of mastery of words? But, oh no, mastery is the wrong word here.
只有那些心胸狭隘、贪婪无度、渴求权力的作家，才想成为词语的主人。卡森从不驯服或操控她的词语。她让它们自由存在，也让自己被词语引领——无论是她自己的词语，还是那些被她翻译成令人难忘英文的古代文本中的词语。
Only the minor and the greedy and the power-thirsty writers want to be the masters of the words. Carson does not subjugate or manipulate her words. She lets them be; and lets herself be led by the words – hers, and the ancients’ translated into unforgettable English by her.
而这些词语，又是何等非凡！假设世界上每个人都可以被视作由某些词语构成的存在——一首诗、一个故事、一部戏剧、一部长篇小说、一篇真诚却思绪混乱的评论文章、一句响亮的口号，或一个被反复使用到陈词滥调的套话；又或者，仅仅是一串省略号，或一片留白（如果我们将词语纳入这场游戏，就必须同时把标点符号和沉默也包含在内）。
And what extraordinary words they are! Say, let’s suppose every person in the world could be viewed as a formation of some words – a poem, a story, a play, a novel, an earnest and muddle-minded op-ed, a loud slogan, or a much repeated and tired cliche, or, simply, a line of ellipses, or some white space (if we include words in this game, we must also include punctuations and silences).
在浩如烟海的文字作品中，安妮·卡森所写下的文字绝对极易被辨认出来。这些文字能够问世本身便是个奇迹，因为为了促成它们的诞生，许多规则都被打破或绕过了。不过，它们既非无政府主义者，亦非革命者。它们既是凡物又近乎不朽，因为它们清楚什么才是重要的——“爱并无条件。/ 生存却处处受条件制约。”（《丈夫之美》）它们令人着迷，是因为它们身不由己——“我知道/ 你觉得我的悲痛太过极端。/ 我承受着巨大的痛苦。/ 但我告诉你，我别无选择。/ 这一切迫使我如此。我行动，只因身不由己。”
In a gathering of a vast number of word formations, those written by Anne Carson would surely be easily recognisable. The fact that they exist at all is a miracle, because many rules have been bent or broken to make them possible. Nevertheless, they are not anarchists or revolutionaries. They are both mortal and immortal because they know their priorities (“Love is not conditional. / Living is very conditional.”– The Beauty of the Husband). They are compelling because they are compelled (“I know / you find me extreme / in my grief. / I bear it hard. / But I tell you I have no choice. / It compels. I act because it compels” – Elektra, translated by Carson).
（《厄勒克特拉》，安妮·卡森译）作为独立的存在，它们又充满反抗精神——“那些已被知晓、已获得、已占有的事物，便不再能成为渴望的对象。”（《苦乐参半的厄洛斯》）它们的主题广阔而难以界定；若用“哲学的”“形而上的”“悲剧的”或“戏剧性的”这类词汇来形容，反倒显得肤浅。
They, beings unto themselves, are defiant (“That which is known, attained, possessed, cannot be an object of desire.” – Eros, the Bittersweet). Their concerns are vast and undefinable; one blunders if one uses words like philosophical or metaphysical, tragical or dramatic.
至于那些出自平庸之辈之手、缺乏灵气的文字，倒也无需担忧——因为只要接触安妮·卡森的作品，我们的心智便会得到拓展、深化、启迪与澄明；读上她的一段文字，便足以让我们在鲜有人涉足的精神领域中徜徉良久；仅读上一行，也能让我们更深刻地认识自我。
For those who were less fortunate, written by a lesser mind, there is no worry because any encounter with Anne Carson’s creations expands, deepens, mystifies and clarifies our minds; a paragraph from her is enough for a long meandering in a less visited landscape, a line is enough for one to understand oneself better.
我偶尔也会向学生讲授安妮·卡森的作品，但说“能教会安妮·卡森”显然荒谬至极。我们只是将她的作品传递给下一代，相信其中定会有志趣相投之人。二十年来我一直如此，也乐于见证那些充满好奇心的年轻心灵初次邂逅安妮·卡森作品时的情景。他们当中，有些人会像我一样，成为她终生的读者；还有些人则会在人生最艰难的时刻，发现唯有她的文字能真正抚慰心灵。
I teach Anne Carson from time to time, but to say one can teach Anne Carson is also preposterous. One hands her work to the next generation, trusting that there are bound to be kindred spirits among them. I have done this for the past 20 years, and like to watch the first encounter of young, inquisitive minds with Anne Carson. Some of them, like me, will remain her lifelong readers. Some will find her work the only words to read in life’s extremities.
今天清晨，当得知安妮·卡森荣获诺贝尔奖的消息后，我立刻把她所有的书从书架上取下，摆到书桌上，打算花一整个上午来品读。可随后我发现，对我而言最重要的一本书——《悲伤的启示》，即她对欧里庇得斯四部戏剧的译本，却不见了。这本书很可能是被我错放到了别处，毕竟最近一个学期我还用它来授课。2017年，我们的长子文森特离世后，我整个冬天都在读这本书；次子詹姆斯去世后，我又重读了一遍。
This morning, when the news came out that Anne Carson is the newest Nobel Laureate, I immediately moved all of Anne Carson’s books from my bookcase to my desk, intending to spend a morning with them. Then I realised that the most important book of hers for me – Grief Lessons, her translation of four Euripides plays – was missing. It was likely misplaced because I taught it in a recent semester. After our older son Vincent died in 2017, I spent a winter reading that book. Then I read it again after our younger son James died.
说安妮·卡森的文字能支撑人活下去，其实还远远不够。无穷大除以无穷大等于多少？无穷大减去无穷大又是多少？零乘以无穷大又是什么结果？读她的作品，能让人获得一种视角与勇气，去面对这个常常难以理解的世间。
To say Carson’s words are life-sustaining is an understatement. What is infinity divided by infinity? Or, infinity subtracted by infinity? Or, zero multiplied by infinity? Reading Carson gives one the perspective and the courage to live in an often inexplicable life.
安妮·卡森获诺奖，实在是个令人欣喜的好消息。偶尔也会出现这种合情合理、大快人心的好消息。不过这种喜悦其实就像“一加一等于二”那样简单明了。这一荣誉印证了安妮·卡森才华的无穷无尽；而若想真正领略她的才华，只需翻开她任何一本书的任意一页即可。
It is joyful news to see Anne Carson recognised with the Nobel prize. Sometimes there comes the good news that is right and just. But that is only as simple as knowing one plus one makes two. The recognition underlines the infiniteness of Anne Carson’s genius, but to get a better sense of that genius, one only needs to turn to any page of any one of her books.