"I automatically gave low marks when a student used the dreadful phrase 'sincere and simple' -- 'Flaubert writes with a style which is always simple and sincere' -- under the impression that this was the greatest compliment payable to prose or poetry. When I struck the phrase out, which I did with such rage in my pencil that it ripped the paper, the student complained that this was what teachers had always taught him: 'Art is simple, art is sincere.' Someday I must trace this vulgar absurdity to its source. A schoolmarm in Ohio? A progressive ass in New York? Because, of course, art at its greatest is fantastically deceitful and complex." (《Strong Opinions》, pp. 32-33)
「每逢學生祭出『真摯平易』那可怕的辭語——『福樓拜總以平易真摯的風格寫作』——還以為在對散文或詩歌致最大敬禮的時候，我一貫是以低分侍候。當我懷著力破紙背的滿腔義憤，將這辭語以鉛筆勾銷的時候，學生會口出怨言，說老師們向來就是如此教導：『藝術是平易的，藝術是真摯的。』有朝一日我得找出這個粗俗謬論的罪魁禍首。是俄亥俄的一個冬烘塾師？是紐約的一隻進步蠢驢？因為，至精之藝當然是奇妙地狡詐而複雜的。」*
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" Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the brain -- the brain, that stomach of the soul. Literature must be taken and broken into bits, pulled apart, squashed -- then its lovely reek will be smelt in the hollow of the palm, it will be munched and rolled upon the tongue with relish; then, and only then, its rare flavor will be appreciated at its true worth and the broken and crushed bits will again come together in your mind and disclose the beauty of a unity to which you have contributed something of your own blood." (《Lectures on Russian Literature》)
「我們絕不能將文學——真正的文學——當成可以強心或是健腦（也就是靈魂的胃部）的補藥來狼吞牛飲。文學必須用手掰撕、拆解、擠壓，然後才能在掌心的凹處嗅得它美妙的薰蒸，才能入口咀嚼，用舌翻捲，細細品味。此時，也唯有此時，才能真正欣賞而不至辜負了它珍奇的風味，而那破裂糜爛的碎屑也才會在你腦中，摻合著你自己貢獻的一點鮮血，再次凝聚起來，披露出整體之美。」
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* 潘小松《固執己見》（吉林長春：時代文藝出版社，1998）譯本中作「當某個學生用冷冷的短句如 "忠誠樸實" —— "福樓拜總是用忠誠樸實的風格寫作" 時，我不自覺地會給他低分，因為我有印象，這是散文和詩歌領域最偉大的讚譽……」稍一扭擰，「忠誠樸實」的文學便又從糞土變成了黃金。
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