琼瑶的梦与真
Chiung Yao: Truth and Dreams
作者：程筱轩
译者：Peter Hill
中英文来源：光华杂志
日期：1986年10月
每天晚上八点，全台湾有百分之四十二的电视机准时转到这个频道，萤幕前的观众也随剧
中人的恩怨缠绵，而情绪起伏。电视剧的受欢迎，使琼瑶同名的原著“烟雨濛濛”，在出
版廿二年后，又登上畅销书排行榜，一个星期就销出万本。
Every evening at eight o'clock, 42 percent of the television sets on Taiwan
are tuned in to "Misty Rain." This romantic drama is based on the novel of
the same name by Chiung Yao; a novel which, although written 20 years ago, is
presently on the best seller list and sells around 10,000 copies per week.
“琼瑶热”再度烧到沸点。
"Chiung Yao fever" is again at the boiling point.
从民国五十二年发表长篇小说“窗外”，并就此成名后，琼瑶稳固地筑起自己的文学堡垒
；现在十五岁到四十岁之间的人，很少没有看过她的小说。
Since the appearance of the novel Beyond the Window in 1963, Chiung Yao has
been steadily, book by book, building her literary castle.
至今，她共出过四十二本书，内容全不出一个“情”字；然而，本本畅销，还有三本被翻
成日文；她的小说被拍成五十几部电影，是国内作家中最多的；她在香港和南洋一带的名
声，不逊于电影界的任何一个大明星；最近，她的魅力席卷大陆，在海峡对岸风靡了无数
年轻人。
So far she has published 42 books, of which three have been translated into
Japanese; over 50 films have been made from her works. Her popularity extends
beyond Taiwan to young people in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and, recently,
the Chinese mainland.
＠最喜欢“陆依萍”
而对赋予这些人物生命的琼瑶来说，在创造过的几百个人中，她自己最喜欢那一个？
Among the hundreds of characters she has created, who does she like best?
“‘窗外’中有最多自己的影子，早期的我，还有我对人生的看法、心态；不过，论人物
，我还是最喜欢‘烟雨濛濛’里的陆依萍；”
"Beyond the Window contained the most of me, as well as the most of my
philosophy of life. Still, I think my favorite character is Lu I-ping from
Misty Rain."
琼瑶笑着说：“她尖锐、敢爱敢恨、敢说敢做，我心里想却不敢说的话她都说出来了！”
She laughs: "She is very straightforward, and dares to love, to hate, to say,
to do. She'll say many things that I don't dare say myself!"
像她笔下曾经令无数情窦初开的少男少女，为之痴狂心醉的女主角一样，琼瑶本人也有一
种悠闲梦幻的气质。她说话的语调轻柔和缓，带种素净端庄的神韵，配上披肩长发，虽已
年过四十，见到她，还是不免令人想起她小说中常用的形容——不食人间烟火。
Like many of her young heroines, Chiung Yao has the temperament of a carefree
dreamer. Her manner befits a common description in her novels: "in, but not
of, this world."
可是，当话匣子打开，谈到她的写作、日常生活，甚至外界对她的赞誉与批评时；眼前的
琼瑶，原本淡漠的眉宇刹时化成炽热的坦然，眼神里也流露出童稚捉狭的笑意，声调、语
气都不自觉地急促活络起来。轻柔似水、礼貌而拘谨的琼瑶，变成了会自嘲、会讲笑话、
开朗活泼的另一个人。
Yet when the topic turns to her writing, her life, or the views others have
of her work, the gentle, polite, soft-spoken women becomes like another
person: lively, joke-cracking, vigorous.
＠梦的爱好者
在平常的日子里，琼瑶“只有写作时最严肃”——她的一个朋友形容。
According to a friend, Chiung Yao is only serious when she is writing.
写作时，她整天关在书房内，不见访客、不接电话，把自己埋进故事中；除了吃饭、睡觉
，彻日彻夜地写，直到作品完成。通常，在她“闭关”二、三十天后，一本小说诞生了，
她的体重也减轻了几公斤。
When working on a novel she will close herself in her study, taking neither
visitors nor phone calls, for 20 to 30 days, and do nothing but write, sleep,
and eat. Then she'll emerge, usually a few pounds lighter, and usually with a
completed novel.
除了写作，琼瑶还喜欢绣花、弹电子琴、画国画。她是那种充满狂热，兴致一来，可以一
头栽进去的人。沉迷于绣花时，家里的餐巾、椅垫都是自己绣的；学电子琴时，每天练习
时间超过九小时；最近她热中于国画，家里到处挂满她的习作。
Besides writing, she enjoys embroidery, playing the organ, and painting.
Whatever she does, she immerses herself completely in it. When it's
organ-playing, she'll practice nine hours a day. Most recently it has been
painting, so her studies are hung up all over the house.
对琼瑶来说，这些都和写作一样，是创造一种美。一字字的写、一针针的绣、一个个音符
的流泻、一笔笔的描绘；“当完成时，你就会体验到，美，就是快乐”，她说。
Whatever she does, it is just another way of creating beauty. As she says,
"Beauty is just happiness."
对琼瑶的描述，或许她的先生——皇冠杂志社发行人平鑫涛所说的最为贴切。“琼瑶是梦
的爱好者”，他说：“而我当然就是这些梦的执行者。”
Her husband, Crown magazine publisher Ping Hsin-tao, puts it another way:
"Chiung Yao likes to dream; I like to make them come true."
对于休闲活动，琼瑶说：“真正的休闲”是出国旅行；“日常的休闲”是吃过晚饭后和平
鑫涛聊天，一起看录影带，当然还有看小说。
Her favorite leisure activity, she says, is travelling abroad. But on a
day-to-day basis, she enjoys talking with her husband after dinner, watching
video tapes, and, of course, reading novels.
“有一次鑫涛看我那么辛苦地找各种中外小说来看，干脆就为我出版了一套‘当代文学名
著’系列。”琼瑶笑着表示，现在这套书每周出版一本，使她马上可以看到最新的当代翻
译名著。
"When my husband saw how hard I was looking for foreign novels, he started
publishing a collection of contemporary foreign works." Now she has a new
volume to look at each week.
“从没有看过一个丈夫，这样把太太捧在手心上”，他们的一位熟朋友说。
Says one friend, "I've never seen a husband take such care of his wife."
@愈来愈多“有情人终成眷属”
写了廿多年，都是惊心动魄的爱情故事，但琼瑶小说的结局，似乎已渐从早期的“此情可
待成追忆”，转变成后来的“有情人终成眷属”。“那表示我的心越来越柔软了啊”，琼
瑶表示，生活境遇的转换，不自觉地会发抒在笔下。
Over the years, the outcomes of her novels have changed from "this passion
we'll remember" to "'till death do us part," "That's because my heart has
softened.'" she says. It also has something to do with an early unhappy
marriage. "At that time I was too young," she explains. "Now I know how to
cherish, how to love for good."
写“窗外”时，正是她最失意的时候。她带着一岁多的儿子，过著情感孤寂、物质匮乏的
生活，一切情绪尽入笔下，演化成一对对痴情儿女、一段段锥心刺骨的恋情。
At the time of the writing of Beyond the Window, she had a year-old child,
was lonely and poor, and all of her disappointment came out through her pen.
The result was a story of senseless passion, a story which many readers found
unrealistic, but which made them very curious about Chiung's own marriage and
love life.
"Love is a beautiful thing, but marriage is a practical affair," she says.
"They're different. Of course, love should continue after marriage, but it
must be a different love from the mad, passionate kind. Discovering that love
is the only way to be happy in marriage.
“爱情是很美的东西，但婚姻却是实际的生活；真正的爱情绝对存在，只是并非人人都能
拥有。我觉得爱情和婚姻是不同的，结婚以后也应该继续爱；虽然这种爱没有那么狂热，
但却要追求另一种‘情趣’，这样才能得到真正的幸福。”
Before, my novels were about love only. But in fact, real love starts with
marriage. So in the future I'm going to write some novels about marriage."
“以前我的小说总是写到爱情为止，其实真正的爱情，应该从结婚开始”，她认真地说：
“以后我想写些谈结婚以后的小说。”
With fame, of course, comes criticism. "Empty," "weak," "gloomy," are among
the criticisms that have been leveled at her work.
不可否认，琼瑶小说风靡海内外廿多年，但却是“誉之所至，谤亦随之”，“虚幻”、“
不健康”、“灰色”等，都是常见的批评。
"Some say my works are "parlor novels;" that's true, but I think they reflect
contemporary society.
“有人说我写的都是客厅、餐厅、咖啡厅的‘三厅’作品，但事实上这跟社会背景有关；
现代人的生活原本如此，故意逃开这些，反而不写实”，
琼瑶委屈地说：“有人问我为什么不去描写同性恋、妓女，乃至军人跟国家，事实上这些
都超脱于我的经验范围，我写不出来。”
Others ask me why I don't write about homosexuality or prostitution. I don't
because I can't; such things are outside the scope of my experience.
“我的小说其实也不全写爱情，像‘人在天涯’描写的是兄弟之爱，‘烟雨濛濛’描写的
是父女之爱，都不止于男女之爱。”
Anyway, not all of my novels are about love affairs. For example, Misty Rain
is about the love between a father and his daughter."
“我觉得自己很渺小，只希望随心所欲的写作，过一种没有压力的生活。我的小说至今也
无定论，甚至可能以后一点份量也没有，但我希望大家不要对我期望过高；
"I feel very insignificant, actually. I like to live without pressure, to
write what I want to write. I can't satisfy everyone's tastes, but there are
many good writers on Taiwan, so no one should have to bear that burden."
无论对她的小说有多少批评，但几乎没有人不肯定她文笔的流畅、幽雅与生动。在通俗文
学的作家中，琼瑶大概是最擅于引用古诗词的一个，她许多小说的书名，也由此而来。
Everyone, critics and fans alike, agrees that her writing is fluid, refined,
and full of vitality. Among non-literary writers, Chiung Yao probably uses
the most classical verse in her works, often as the titles of her novels.
“我倒没有刻意去经营对白，只是恋爱中的男女常常会变成诗人；就像‘聚散两依依’里
有一句：‘你的过去我来不及加入，你的未来必须是我的！’这句话后来拍成电影时，觉
得演员说得有点肉麻，可是我还是很为这句话骄傲”，琼瑶说。
"The speech of lovers is often naturally poetic, as when one of my characters
says, 'It's too late for me to enter your past; but your future must be
mine!' I'm rather proud of that line."
对于近来大陆上流行她的小说，琼瑶觉得得惊奇，她不解，大陆上怎么会出版她的书？
She is a little surprised by the popularity of her books on the Chinese
mainland.
“也许是我的小说都很温馨，多数描写男女之爱，而这些正是人性的基本需求。”
"Perhaps," she says, "it's because my books are about love, something common
to all people."
有位女作家曾说，她小时候是个标准的“琼瑶迷”，但是后来“我长大了，琼瑶没有跟着
一起长大，就不爱看了。”这或许也是许多琼瑶读者的心路历程；但在一代“长大”后，
新的一代马上填补空缺，世间永远有对爱情充满憧憬的少年男女。
One woman writer has said that when she was young she was a big fan of Chiung
Yao, but that she seemed to outgrow her. That is perhaps a common feeling;
but there is always a new generation of young readers thirsting for romance.
为什么琼瑶的作品那么受人们欢迎？女作家夏祖丽说得好：“主要是她抓住了年轻人的心
理。年轻人是最爱幻想的，她书中的女主角都有一种娇美、柔弱动人的样子，都很任性，
有强烈的自尊和相当自负的性格，都有一段神秘曲折而不平凡的身世和生活，这也是许多
年轻人向往的。”
As Hsia Tsu-li, another writer, says: "Chiung Yao's books are popular because
she speaks the hearts and minds of young people. Her heroines are charming,
tender, yet strong-willed and self respecting, and they lead interesting
lives. Such are the dreams of youth."
从“窗外”，一直到她最新的作品“冰儿”，都普受年轻人欢迎，
All of her books, from Beyond the Window to her latest work, Ping Er, have
been very popular with younger readers.
但琼瑶却说：“我发现自己真的老了，最近我儿子和我聊天，我连他们的语言都不懂了；
而且我觉得现在好像每个人都失去了一份‘闲情’。有一天或许我会再写点不同的东西。
”
But, she says, "I've realized I'm getting old. I don't even understand the
language my children speak. Also, I think the attitudes of young people are
different. They're less carefree. Someday, I may write something a little
different."
这会不会是琼瑶风格的转变？内容会是“写实”还是仍旧“梦幻”？只有时间和琼瑶自己
能解答。
Is that an indication there will be a change in Chiung Yao's style? Only
time, and Chiung Yao, can answer that question.
(全文完)
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