Question

A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH怎么样

Answer 1

如果不是因为刚读完Brideshead Revisited,想再找几本Evelyn Waugh的书来看,我恐怕永远没有机会读到《走过兴都库什山》.图书馆的书目显示这本书由Eyelyn Waugh作序.Evelyn Waugh喜欢的书会是什么样的呢?纯粹出于好奇,我才翻开这本国内没有翻译出版,也几乎无人提到过的游记（台湾曾经出版中译本）,很快就随着作者 Eric Newby（1919-2006）进入了一个完全不同的世界.本书无关Evelyn Waugh笔下温文尔雅的英国绅士的生活,也并非Paul Theroux那样轻松悠闲唠唠叨叨的火车旅行游记,而是叙述了两个英国人如何徒步深入“文明人”极少涉足的阿富汗内陆,走过蛮荒之地的冒险经历.37岁的Eric Newby厌倦了时尚界的生活,突然决定与外交部的好友Hugh Carless出去旅行,目的地是兴都库什山的努里斯坦地区（Nuristan）.为了获得阿富汗内陆旅行许可和资助,两人用登山做借口（就像此前很多旅行家冒险家用测绘地图作借口一样）.作者并没有任何登山经验,只是在威尔士某地接受了短暂的攀岩训练,就踏上了旅途.此行登山似乎是目的,其实“重在过程”.我们读到了两个业余爱好者如何攀登雪峰,体会得更多的却是兴都库什山间的异族生活和异域风情.正如Evelyn Waugh指出,作者最显著的文笔风格就是understatement,一切艰难困苦在他自嘲的笔下似乎都是家常便饭.作者同好友漫不经心地攀上了6千米的高峰,在我们看来简直不可思议.事实当然并非如此,只需读这一段描写就知道他们有过何种险恶的经历：We had been on the march for a month.We were all rather jaded; the horses were galled because the drivers were careless of them,and their ribs stood out because they had been in places only fit for mules and forded innumerable torrents filled with slippery rocks as big as footballs; the drivers had run out of tobacco and were pining for their wives; there was no more sugar to put in the tea,no more jam,no more cigarettes and I was reading The Hound of the Baskervilles for the third time; all of us suffered from a persistent dysentery.这两人是那些时常想要离开英国出外历险的whimsical tradition的代表,他们克服了常人难以想象的困难,然而,仅仅因为临睡前打开了睡袋,另一位长年在外飘泊的旅行家Thesiger（阿拉伯沙漠跋涉是他的专长）就轻蔑地说,“you must be a couple of pansies”,可见不怕吃苦喜爱冒险的一直大有人在.我注意到作者多次提到满山遍野的桑树和甜美的桑椹,后来又发现桑树竟然是阿富汗的国树.阿富汗位于丝绸之路上,但为什么没有自己养蚕纺丝的传统呢?我还注意到早在50年代,人们就开始制造仿冒品,包括枪支.山区人个个持枪,枪支有完全正确的英国正规制造系列号码,但是除了保险栓外,其余全是本地厂家出品.读那个年代的书,感觉比较随意.那时没有现在到处泛滥的political correctness,作者不必在乎遣词造句是否带有“种族偏见”,madness大约是他用得最为频繁的形容当地人的词.这些年来,阿富汗战乱不断,外人很难再深入内陆.要想通过他人的眼光来了解阿富汗本地居民的生活,这本书当是首选之一.