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Salinger Detested Technology. Now His Books Will Be Digital.
塞林格厌恶技术 然其作品即将发行电子版。
By Alexandra Alter
文/亚历山德拉·奥尔特
In the five decades since J. D. Salinger published his final short story, “Hapworth 16, 1924,”
J·D·塞林格最后一部短篇小说《哈普沃兹16,1924》付梓出版距今已有50年之久，
his small, revered body of work has stayed static, practically suspended in amber.
他那袖珍但备受尊敬的作品库却一直没有动静，也一直悬于琥珀般的迷雾之中。
Even as publishers and consumers adopted e-books and digital audio,
出版商和消费者都已陆陆续续转向电子书和数字音频，
Salinger’s books remained defiantly offline,
塞林格的作品却依然倔强地守在线下，
a consequence of the writer’s distaste for computers and technology.
而这一切都要归因于作者对计算机和技术的厌恶。
And while Salinger kept writing until his death nearly 10 years ago, not a word has been published since 1965.
塞林格离世距今已近十年，尽管离世前他从未停止写作，但自1965年以来，塞林格未曾发表过一个字。
That is partly because of his son, Matt Salinger,
而这部分得益于其子，J·D·塞林格文学信托基金负责人马特·塞林格
who helps run the J. D. Salinger Literary Trust and is a vigilant guardian of his father’s legacy and privacy.
在保护父亲的遗产和隐私上颇为谨慎。
But now, in an effort to keep his father’s books in front of a new generation of readers,
但现在，为了让父亲的作品在新一代读者中间继续流传，
the younger Mr. Salinger is beginning to ease up,
年轻的塞林格的立场已经有所松动，
gradually lifting a cloud of secrecy that has obscured the life and work of one of America’s most influential and enigmatic writers.
笼罩在这位堪称美国最具影响力也最神秘的作家的生平及作品之上的神秘面纱亦被慢慢揭开。
This week, in the first step of a broader revival that could reshape the world’s understanding of Salinger and his writing,
本周，小塞林格就迈出了或将重塑外界对塞林格及其作品的理解，使其作品重新焕发出活力的第一步：
Little, Brown is publishing digital editions of his four books,
利特尔&布朗出版社即将出版四部塞林格作品的电子书，
making him perhaps the last 20th-century literary icon to surrender to the digital revolution.
这样一来，塞林格或将成为最后一位屈服于数字革命的20世纪文学泰斗。
Then this fall, with Mr. Salinger’s help, the New York Public Library will host the first public exhibition from Salinger’s personal archives,
在小塞林格的帮助下，今年秋天，纽约公共图书馆也将首次公开展出塞林格的个人档案，
which will feature letters, family photographs and the typescript for “The Catcher in the Rye”
其中包括信件、家庭照片，《麦田里的守望者》的打字稿，
with the author’s handwritten edits, along with about 160 other items.
还有作者的手迹连同其他大约160个物品。
And before long, decades worth of Salinger’s unpublished writing will be released,
不久之后，塞林格积累数十年未曾发表的作品都将陆续出版，
a project Mr. Salinger estimated will take another five to seven years to complete.
小塞林格估计，这一项目还需五到七年才能完成。
Combing through his father’s manuscripts and letters has been both enlightening and emotionally taxing,
塞林格在推广电子版作品时接受记者采访表示，梳理父亲的手稿和信件让他深受启发，
Mr. Salinger said in an interview to promote the digital editions.
也给他带来了感情上的负担。
“It’s kept him very much alive for me,” he said during an interview at the New York Public Library.
“会让我觉得他还在我身边一样，”他在纽约公共图书馆接受采访时说道。
“It’s been fascinating and joyful and moving and sad.”
“我既着迷，又开心，又感动，又难过。”
It’s also put him in the awkward position of becoming a de facto public face for an author
这一工作也将他推入了颇为尴尬的处境，因为他要充当这位作家的代言人，
who detested publicity and once told an interviewer that “publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy.”
而作家本人十分厌恶宣传，还曾在采访中表示，“出版严重侵犯了我的隐私。”
“It’s weird, because I’ve spent my whole life protecting him and not talking about him,” Mr. Salinger said.
“感觉很不可思议，因为我一辈子都在保护他的隐私，避免谈论他，”小塞林格说。
The question of what Salinger left behind when he died in 2010 at the age of 91
老塞林格已于2010年离开了人世，享年91岁，有关他留下的文学遗产的问题
remains one of the most tantalizing mysteries in American literature.
至今仍是美国文学中最引人入胜的谜团之一。
His son has the answers but is not revealing much for now,
小塞林格知道答案，但目前并没有透露太多，
apart from the fact that there is more writing — a lot of it — and that he is preparing to release it.
只表示作者还有更多作品——为数不少的作品——没有面世，他准备将它们都发表出来。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
