Chapter Ⅳ 接过墨客的衣钵摇旗呐喊（23）（2/2）
《最震撼人心的声音》作者：姜宇 2017-02-11 10:27
rn Rhodesia, under the whites—the mission schools, the better schools. Writers are not made in Zimbabwe. Not easily, not under Mugabe.
所有的作家别说是当上作家，在识字的道路上都困难重重。我要说，印在果酱瓶上的字和别人扔掉的百科全书并不稀奇。我们在谈论人们渴望标准的教育，他们离这个标准还有很长的距离。一间小屋或里面有许多孩子的几间小屋——一个劳累过度的母亲，为吃为穿而苦苦挣扎。
All the writers had a difficult road to literacy, let alone being writers. I would say print on jam tins and discarded encyclopaedias were not uncommon. And we are talking about people hungering for standards of education they were a long way from. A hut or huts with many children—an overworked mother, a fight for food and clothing.
然而，尽管有这些困难，作家们还是诞生了，另外有一件事我们应该牢记在心。这是津巴布韦，实际上在不到一百年前被征服过。这些人的祖父祖母可能曾经是他们氏族的讲故事能手。口头文学的传统，经历了一代人或两代人，那些记住的故事传承下来，从口头过渡到印刷出来，印成了书。这是多么大的成就啊。
Yet despite these difficulties, writers came into being, and there is another thing we should remember. This was Zimbabwe, physically conquered less than a hundred years before. The grandfathers and grandmothers of these people might have been storytellers for their clan. The oral tradition. In one generation—two, the transition from stories remembered and passed on, to print, to books. What an achievement.
书籍，根本就是从垃圾堆和白人圈子风化的沙砾堆上捡来的。不过你可能有一捆稿纸(不是打字稿）——那是一部书稿——可是得找到一个出版商，出版商会向你支付稿酬，并有支付能力，而且发行书籍。我有好几个别人给我寄来的材料，讲到非洲的出版界。即使在像北非那些比较优越的地方，有着不同的传统，谈论出版界也只是一个可能性的梦想。
Books, literally wrested from rubbish heaps and the detritus of the white man’s world. But you may have a sheaf of paper (not typescript)—that is a book—but it has to find a publisher, who will then pay you, remain solvent, distribute the books. I have had several accounts sent to me of the publishing scene for Africa. Even in more privileged places like North Africa, with its different tradition, to talk of a publishing scene is a dream of possibilities.
所有的作家别说是当上作家，在识字的道路上都困难重重。我要说，印在果酱瓶上的字和别人扔掉的百科全书并不稀奇。我们在谈论人们渴望标准的教育，他们离这个标准还有很长的距离。一间小屋或里面有许多孩子的几间小屋——一个劳累过度的母亲，为吃为穿而苦苦挣扎。
All the writers had a difficult road to literacy, let alone being writers. I would say print on jam tins and discarded encyclopaedias were not uncommon. And we are talking about people hungering for standards of education they were a long way from. A hut or huts with many children—an overworked mother, a fight for food and clothing.
然而，尽管有这些困难，作家们还是诞生了，另外有一件事我们应该牢记在心。这是津巴布韦，实际上在不到一百年前被征服过。这些人的祖父祖母可能曾经是他们氏族的讲故事能手。口头文学的传统，经历了一代人或两代人，那些记住的故事传承下来，从口头过渡到印刷出来，印成了书。这是多么大的成就啊。
Yet despite these difficulties, writers came into being, and there is another thing we should remember. This was Zimbabwe, physically conquered less than a hundred years before. The grandfathers and grandmothers of these people might have been storytellers for their clan. The oral tradition. In one generation—two, the transition from stories remembered and passed on, to print, to books. What an achievement.
书籍，根本就是从垃圾堆和白人圈子风化的沙砾堆上捡来的。不过你可能有一捆稿纸(不是打字稿）——那是一部书稿——可是得找到一个出版商，出版商会向你支付稿酬，并有支付能力，而且发行书籍。我有好几个别人给我寄来的材料，讲到非洲的出版界。即使在像北非那些比较优越的地方，有着不同的传统，谈论出版界也只是一个可能性的梦想。
Books, literally wrested from rubbish heaps and the detritus of the white man’s world. But you may have a sheaf of paper (not typescript)—that is a book—but it has to find a publisher, who will then pay you, remain solvent, distribute the books. I have had several accounts sent to me of the publishing scene for Africa. Even in more privileged places like North Africa, with its different tradition, to talk of a publishing scene is a dream of possibilities.