今回は、村上春樹の『1973年のピンボール』の名言です。
全部で14個あります。
短い小説なのに、名言21個も集めてしまったわ……。
底本は。翻訳はTed Goossenです。
1
見知らぬ土地の話を聞くのが病的に好きだった。
I enjoyed listening to stories about faraway places so much that it became a kind of sickness.
I enjoyed listening to stories about faraway places so much that it became a kind of sickness.
2
それはまったくのところ、労多くして得るところの少ない作業であった。
Truth be told, it was a laborious task, with little reward.
Truth be told, it was a laborious task, with little reward.
3
もしその年に「他人の話を熱心に聞く世界コンクール」が開かれていたら、僕は文句なしにチャンピオンに選ばれていたことだろう。
Had a contest been held that year to determine the World’s Best Listener, I would have won hands down.
Had a contest been held that year to determine the World’s Best Listener, I would have won hands down.
4
とにかく遠く離れた街の話を聞くのが好きだ。そういった街を、僕は冬眠前の熊のようにいくつもため込んでいる。
Anyway, I just love stories about faraway towns. I stash some of them away in my mind, like a bear preparing for hibernation.
Anyway, I just love stories about faraway towns. I stash some of them away in my mind, like a bear preparing for hibernation.
5
おそろしく退屈な街よ。いったいどんな目的であれほど退屈な街ができたのか想像もつかないわ。
It’s a nowhere kind of town. why any place so boring was put on this earth is beyond me.
It’s a nowhere kind of town. why any place so boring was put on this earth is beyond me.
6
神は様々な形にその姿を現される。
God reveals himself in many forms.
God reveals himself in many forms.
7
成績表にずらりとAを並べた女子学生がよくやる笑い方だったが、それは奇妙に長い間僕の心に残った。まるで「不思議の国のアリス」に出てくるチェシャ猫のように、彼女が消えた後もその笑いだけが残っていた。
It was a regular sort of laugh, the kind you’d expect from a girl who had received straight A’s in school; yet for some strange reason it lingered long after she had left, like the grin of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.
It was a regular sort of laugh, the kind you’d expect from a girl who had received straight A’s in school; yet for some strange reason it lingered long after she had left, like the grin of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.
8
目を覚ました時、両脇に双子の女の子がいた。
今までに何度も経験したことではあったが、両脇に双子の女の子というのはさすがに初めてだった。
When I opened my eyes this time, there were two girls, twins, in bed with me, one on each side.
今までに何度も経験したことではあったが、両脇に双子の女の子というのはさすがに初めてだった。
When I opened my eyes this time, there were two girls, twins, in bed with me, one on each side.
I had awakened to a girl beside me many times before, but needless to say, this was the first time I had found myself next to twins.
9
入口があって出口がある。大抵のものはそんな風にできている。
郵便ポスト、電気掃除機、動物園、ソースさし。
もちろんそうでないものもある。例えば鼠取り。
Where there is an entrance, there is usually an exit. That’s the way things are made.
Mailboxes, vacuum cleaners, zoos, salt shakers.
Of course, there are exceptions. Mousetraps, for instance.
郵便ポスト、電気掃除機、動物園、ソースさし。
もちろんそうでないものもある。例えば鼠取り。
Where there is an entrance, there is usually an exit. That’s the way things are made.
Mailboxes, vacuum cleaners, zoos, salt shakers.
Of course, there are exceptions. Mousetraps, for instance.
10
彼の姿は僕に1つの教訓を残してくれた。
物事には必ず入口と出口がなくてはならない。そういうことだ。
As I looked at its body, I realized one of life’s important lessons.
All things should have both an entrance and an exit. That’s just the way it is.
物事には必ず入口と出口がなくてはならない。そういうことだ。
As I looked at its body, I realized one of life’s important lessons.
All things should have both an entrance and an exit. That’s just the way it is.
11
1973年9月、この小説はそこから始まる。それが入口だ。出口があればいいと思う。
もしなければ、文章を書く意味なんて何もない。
My novel begins in September 1973. That’s the entrance. Sure hope there’s an exit.
Not much point in writing all this if there isn’t .
もしなければ、文章を書く意味なんて何もない。
My novel begins in September 1973. That’s the entrance. Sure hope there’s an exit.
Not much point in writing all this if there isn’t .
12
それぞれに迷惑をかけあっていた。1970年、そういった年だ。
もし人間が本当に弁証法的に自らを高めるべく作られた生物であるとすれば、その年もやはり教訓の年であった。
And we gave each other a hell of a lot of trouble. Nineteen seventy was that kind of year.
Yet if you cling to the belief that the human organism is made to improve itself through some sort of dialectical process, a year as awful as 1970 can teach you something.
もし人間が本当に弁証法的に自らを高めるべく作られた生物であるとすれば、その年もやはり教訓の年であった。
And we gave each other a hell of a lot of trouble. Nineteen seventy was that kind of year.
Yet if you cling to the belief that the human organism is made to improve itself through some sort of dialectical process, a year as awful as 1970 can teach you something.
13
同じ1日の同じ繰り返しだった。
どこかに折り返しでもつけておかなければ間違えてしまいそうなほどの1日だ。
Each day was a carbon copy of the last.
You needed a bookmark to tell one from the other.
どこかに折り返しでもつけておかなければ間違えてしまいそうなほどの1日だ。
Each day was a carbon copy of the last.
You needed a bookmark to tell one from the other.
14
僕たちの心にはいくつもの井戸が掘られている。そしてその井戸の上を鳥がよぎる。
There are wells, deep wells, dug in our hearts. Birds fly over them.
There are wells, deep wells, dug in our hearts. Birds fly over them.
15
大学でスペイン語を教えています。砂漠に水を撒くような仕事です。
I teach Spanish. It’s like sprinkling water in the desert.
I teach Spanish. It’s like sprinkling water in the desert.
16
何もかもが永遠にその姿を留めるようにも思える、素晴らしい1週間だった。
A wonderful week that lulled us into believing things might stay that way forever.
A wonderful week that lulled us into believing things might stay that way forever.
17
そしてこう思った。
どんな進歩もどんな変化も結局は崩壊の過程に過ぎないじゃないかってね。違うかい?
So here’s my conclusion.
Whatever changes they go through, whatever progress they make, in the end it’s only a step on the road to decay. Am I wrong?
どんな進歩もどんな変化も結局は崩壊の過程に過ぎないじゃないかってね。違うかい?
So here’s my conclusion.
Whatever changes they go through, whatever progress they make, in the end it’s only a step on the road to decay. Am I wrong?
18
いつかは失われるものにたいした意味はない。
失われるべきものの栄光は真の栄光にあらず、ってね。
There can be no meaning in what will someday be lost.
Passing glory is not true glory at all.
失われるべきものの栄光は真の栄光にあらず、ってね。
There can be no meaning in what will someday be lost.
Passing glory is not true glory at all.
19
おそらく誇りなしに人は生きてはいけないだろう。
でもそれだけでは暗すぎる。あまりにも暗すぎる。
It seemed that no one could live without pride.
If that was all one had left, though, it was too dark. Way too dark.
でもそれだけでは暗すぎる。あまりにも暗すぎる。
It seemed that no one could live without pride.
If that was all one had left, though, it was too dark. Way too dark.
20
そして海の底はどんな町よりも暖かく、そして安らぎと静けさに満ちているだろうと思う。
いや、もう何も考えたくない。もう何も……
How much more warm and peaceful and quiet the bottom of the sea might be than any of those towns.
But enough thinking. Enough.
いや、もう何も考えたくない。もう何も……
How much more warm and peaceful and quiet the bottom of the sea might be than any of those towns.
But enough thinking. Enough.
21
テネシー・ウィリアムズがこう書いている。
現在についてはこのとおり。未来については「おそらく」である、と。
Tennessee Williams once wrote:
“so much for the past and present. The future is called ’perhaps,’ which is the only possible thing to call the future.”
現在についてはこのとおり。未来については「おそらく」である、と。
Tennessee Williams once wrote:
“so much for the past and present. The future is called ’perhaps,’ which is the only possible thing to call the future.”
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