宗白华《歌德之人生启示》 -英语翻译文学-中英双语赏析

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歌德之人生启示

宗白华

人生是什么？人生的真相如何？人生的意义何在？人生的目的是何？这些人生最重大最中心的问题，不只是古来一切大宗教家哲学家所殚精竭虑以求解答的。世界上第一流的大诗人凝神冥想，深入灵魂的幽邃，或纵身大化中，于一朵花中窥见天国，一滴露水参<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml” />悟生命，然后用他们生花之笔，幻现层层世界，幕幕人生，归根也不外乎启示这生命的真相与意义。宗教家对这些问题的方法与态度是预言的说教的，哲学家是解释的说明的，诗人文豪是表现的启示的。荷马的长歌启示了希腊艺术文明幻美的人生与理想，但丁的神曲启示了中古基督教文化心灵的生活与信仰，莎士比亚的剧本表现了文艺复兴时人们的生活矛盾与权力意志。至于近代的，建筑于这三种文明精神之上而同时开展一个新时代，所谓近代人生，则由伟大的歌德以他的人格，生活，作品表现出它的特殊意义与内在的问题。

歌德对人生的启示有几层意义，几种方面。就人类全体讲，他的人格与生活可谓极尽了人类的可能性。他同时是诗人，科学家，政治家，思想家，他也是近代泛神论信仰的一个伟大的代表。他表现了西方文明自强不息的精神，又同时具有东方乐天知命宁静致远的智慧。德国哲学家息默尔（Simmel）说：“歌德的人生所以给我们以无穷兴奋与深沉的安慰的，就是他只是一个人，他只是极尽了人性，但却如此伟大，使我们对人类感到有希望，鼓动我们努力向前做一个人。“我们可以说歌德是世界一扇明窗，我们由他窥见了人生生命永恒幽邃奇丽广大的天空！

再狭小范围，就欧洲文化的观点说，歌德确是代表文艺复兴以后近代人的心灵生活及其内在的问题。近代人失去了基督教对一超越上帝虔诚的信仰。人类精神上获得了解放，得到了自由；但也就同时失所依傍，彷徨摸索，苦闷，追求，欲在生活本身的努力中寻得人生的意义与价值。歌德是这时代精神伟大的代表，他的主著《浮士德》是这人生全部的反映与其问题的解决。歌德与其替身浮士德一生生活的内容就是尽量体验这近代人生特殊的精神意义，了解其悲剧而努力以解决其问题，指出解救之道。所以有人称他的浮士德是近代人的圣经。

但歌德与但丁莎士比亚不同的地方，就是他不单是由作品里启示我们人生真相，尤其在他自己的人格与生活中表现了人生广大精微的义谛。

译文

What Goethe’s Life Reveals by Zong Baihua

What is life? What are the true nature, meaning and purpose of life? Since ancient times, great philosophers and scholars of religion have strained their energy and intellect to the limit for an answer to these crucial and central questions in a person’s life. But they are not alone. First-rate poets in the world have done the same by contemplating and pondering over the questions—now delving into the depth of their souls—now communing with Nature. They envision Paradise through a flower and see the meaning of life in a dewdrop. Then, with their gifted pens, they picture a kaleidoscopic world and act upon act of the drama of life. In the end their works serve no other purpose than revealing the truth and meaning of life. Faced with these questions, scholars of religion adopt the attitude and approach of trying to prophesy and exhort; philosophers to explain and expound; poets and men of letters to portray and reveal. Homer’s epics enlighten us about the kind of refined, colorful life and ideal in Greek art. Dante’s Divina Comedia reveals people’s minds and faith in the Christian culture of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare’s plays reflect the contradictions in men’s lives and the “will to power” during the Renaissance. As to the kind of life in modern times, which derives from the three civilizations mentioned above and heralds a new age, it is the great Goethe who, through his personal character, life and works, demonstrates its special meaning and innate problems.

Goethe reveals to us different layers and aspects of the meaning of life. Taking the human race as a whole, we may say that Goethe’s personality and life represent the best possible in man. He is at once a poet, scientist, statesman, thinker and an outstanding representative of pantheistic faiths of modern times. He is the embodiment of both the spirit of unremitting endeavor in western civilization and the oriental wisdom of easy contentment and internal peace with foresight. Simmel the German philosopher once said, “The reason that Goethe can give us infinite excitement and deep solace is that he is but a human being, and he does nothing more than bringing out the best in human nature. Yet he is so great, and his greatness makes one see the hope in mankind’s future and serves to encourage everyone of us to forge ahead and be a worthy man.” We may say that Goethe is like a window on the world, through which we can see the eternal, serene, uniquely beautiful and boundless skies of life.

In a narrower sense, viewed in the perspective of European culture, Goethe indeed represents people of the post-Renaissance period in terms of their intellectual life and their inner problems. In modern times people have abandoned their strong Christian faith in an omnipotent God. Their spirit has been emancipated and they have acquired freedom. Yet, on the other hand, they have lost what gave them strength. They are nervously groping in the dark; they are spiritually tormented; they engage in a quest, trying to find the true meaning and value of life through their mundane efforts. Goethe is a great representative of our Zeitgeist. His most important work, Faust, is a reflection of everything in this kind of life and a solution to its problems. All that Goethe and Dr Faust, his stand-in, do throughout their lives is to experience to the fullest the peculiar spirit and meaning of life in modern times, try to understand its tragedy, strive to solve its problems and show people the way of deliverance. This is why his Faust is deemed the Bible of modern times.

But Goethe is different from Dante and Shakespeare, in that he does not merely enlighten us about the true meaning of life through his works. His personal character and behavior does even more in demonstrating the great and subtle truth of life.

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