一位彷徨的年輕詩人Franz Kappus把自己的詩交給一位他認可的詩人Rilke，希望Rilke能夠給他一些建議。 在他們的書信往來里，可以發(fā)現(xiàn)這是在詩人路上有經(jīng)歷的長輩對于剛踏入這圈子的年輕人給予的一些建言，我發(fā)現(xiàn)里爾克并不是針對細微末節(jié)的書寫問題給意見，而是站在朋友的立場，在處事、思考上給原則性的指標。 兩人在五年間的書信往來一共有十封，當時的Rilke正值27歲，而Franz是剛成年的19歲青年詩人，對于想成為藝術家的人，或是想在忙碌生活中保有自己的人，這些信是很不錯的參考讀物。
在信的一開始，Rilke感謝年青人對他的信任，把自己寫的作品寄給他評論。 接下來他說，我不能討論你的詩，原因是這樣的：
Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings.
因為批評本身并不能觸及藝術的核心，同時也可能產(chǎn)生誤解。 Rilke繼續(xù)寫道：事物并不總是有形并能用言語表達的，很多時候這些只可意會的經(jīng)驗存在于我們的日常生活里。
有了這個大前提，接下來他指出年青人作品里沒有他自己的個人特色，雖然試著加入技巧，讓詩本身有旋律，但內(nèi)容本身是不足的。
Your kind letter, which accompanied them managed to make clear to me various faults that I felt in reading your verses, though I am not able to name them specifically.
看到這里我想，Rilke寫過詩集并出版，當時卻說自己不能具體指出他在年輕人的詩里看到的錯誤，那么接下來他還要寫什么內(nèi)容呢？ 為什么他要這樣說？ 繼續(xù)往下看，他寫：年青人阿，你問我你的詩有什么好的地方，你送詩到出版社被拒絕時你很難過，甚至和其他詩比較。 我請求你一件事情， 觀照你自己的內(nèi)心 。 沒有人可以建議你或幫忙你，向外求答案是你最該避免的。
You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself.
那我們要怎么去深入觀察自己呢？ Rilke給我們一個方向：
This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must", then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.
在夜深人靜的時候詢問自己，我必須做這件事嗎？ 如果答案是簡單而堅毅的 “I must"，那么就把自己的所有投注在這件事上，即便是在最尋常及最瑣碎的時候也要充分體現(xiàn)這樣的決心。
有了這樣的決心，接下來還需要什么來充實詩的內(nèi)容，也就是說，怎么表達個人的特色呢？
Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose. Don't write love poems; avoid those forms that are too facile and ordinary: they are the hardest to work with, and it takes a great, fully ripened power to create something individual where good, even glorious, traditions exist in abundance. So rescue yourself from these general themes and write about what your everyday life offers you; describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty Describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember.
試著去寫所見所聞，所愛的，以及失去的。 不要寫愛情詩，去避免太流行與普通的格式，這是最困難的，因為你需要強大而熟練的能力在已經(jīng)有許多佳作的領域里去表達個人的想法。 所以試著讓自己從這樣的境地解脫：去寫你的悲傷和渴望，那些在你腦海里流動的思想，和你對美的一種信仰。 所有這些都打自內(nèi)心，寂靜謙卑的真誠，當你表達自己的時候，使用圍繞在你周遭的東西，在夢里出現(xiàn)的影像，還有你記憶里的事物。
如果生活真的沒什么可寫了，要怎么辦？ 還是有些可以挖掘的地方，不要去責怪為什么生活如此貧瘠，對創(chuàng)造者而言沒有所謂貧乏與貧瘠，那是自己還不足以成為一個詩人去發(fā)現(xiàn)生活的豐盛。
If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
即便你在遠離喧囂的監(jiān)獄里，可我們?nèi)匀挥腥缯鋵毎愕耐?，回憶的寶庫，把思緒轉(zhuǎn)向這里。 將過往潛伏已久的情緒喚醒，你的性格會成長茁壯，你的孤獨會擴張成一個讓你能生活在暮光之下的地方，在那里，其他人的喧囂只是在遠處經(jīng)過而已。
And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in none of the world's sound – wouldn't you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attention to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance.
從自己內(nèi)心世界產(chǎn)出的，這樣來的詩，你不會去想問任何人它好或不好。 你不會試著用這些詩讓雜志社感興趣，因為你會看到它們是你親愛的天然產(chǎn)物，是你生活的一部份，也是來自里面的聲音。 一件藝術品如果是從必要性產(chǎn)出的，那就是好的，這是我們唯一可以判別的方法。 （這里的必要來自于先前向自我尋求解答時得到的 “I must" ）
And if out of , this turning within, out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest magazines in these works: for you will see them as your dear natural possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it. A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.
事情回到了源頭，Rilke又說了一次，他只能建議年青人不斷探索內(nèi)心深處，認識自己，找到只有自己才知道的答案，然后：
Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside. For the creator must be a world for himself and must find everything in himself and in Nature, to whom his whole life is devoted.
接受這個答案，如同它給你的，不要試著干預它。 或許你會發(fā)現(xiàn)你是天生要做藝術家的人，那就接受你的命運，去承接它的重負和偉大。 永不去追求可能會從外界來的獎項。 對一個奉獻一生的創(chuàng)造者而言，自我即成世界，在他和他所連接的自然里可以得到任何東西。 不過Rilke并不假設年青人會是詩人，他說，如果你問自己之后覺得不是的話，那我請你探索自己也并非是徒勞，你仍然可以為自己的生命找到出口。 并祝福年青人之后的路更好，更豐盛，更寬廣。
But after this descent into yourself and into your solitude, perhaps you will have to renounce becoming a poet (if, as I have said, one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn't write at all). Nevertheless, even then , this self searching that I ask of you will not have been for nothing. Your life will still find its own paths from there, and that they may be good, rich, and wide is what I wish for you, more than I can say .
還有什么可以寫的呢？ 還有一個建議，在你的發(fā)展過程中安靜地，認真地持續(xù)成長。 沒有比向外看和等待外來的答案更能傷害自己的，你的問題，在你最深處的情感，在你最沉靜的時刻，也許可以給你解答。
What else can I tell you? It seems to me that everything has its proper emphasis; and finally I want to add just one more bit of advice: to keep growing, silently and earnestly, through your whole development ; you couldn't disturb it any more violently than by looking outside and waiting for outside answers to questions that only your innermost feeling, in your quietest hour, can perhaps answer.
我們會好奇，年青人怎么會想要找Rilke尋求建議，往下看可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，原來是因為教授Horacek在中間引線。 教授看到年青人閱讀Rilke的詩集，告訴了他一些關于他曾經(jīng)的學生的故事，于是自然而然地這位面對未來職涯還不確定的年青人將詩寄給了前輩，請他提點。 幸運地我們才看到了這十封信，雖然篇幅短，卻能打中人心的文章。
It was a pleasure for me to find in your letter the name of Professor Horacek; I have great reverence for that kind, learned man, and a gratitude that has lasted through the years. Will you please tell him how I feel; it is very good of him to still think of me, and I appreciate it.
Dennis Hopper曾經(jīng)為這封信朗讀，是我在Youtube眾多版本里很喜歡的，分享給大家：
自己也用零碎時間錄了這封信，以上面為目標，希望自己念的有情感些，還有可以加強的地方，但想分享給大家： Click here。
這一封信到這里結(jié)束啦，咱們下一封信再見。
