Therefore I don’t say inappropriate. I say improper — that is: something to be ashamed of. And at first this impression was confirmed by the obscurity in which the figure embodying5 this after all considerable fact had its being. The Censor of Plays! His name was not in the mouths of all men. Far from it. He seemed stealthy and remote. There was about that figure the scent6 of the far East, like the peculiar7 atmosphere of a Mandarin8’s back yard, and the mustiness of the Middle Ages, that epoch9 when mankind tried to stand still in a monstrous10 illusion of final certitude attained11 in morals, intellect and conscience.
It was a disagreeable impression. But I reflected that probably the censorship of plays was an inactive monstrosity; not exactly a survival, since it seemed obviously at variance12 with the genius of the people, but an heirloom of past ages, a bizarre and imported curiosity preserved because of that weakness one has for one’s old possessions apart from any intrinsic value; one more object of exotic virtu, an Oriental potiche, a Magot Chinois conceived by a childish and extravagant13 imagination, but allowed to stand in stolid14 impotence in the twilight15 of the upper shelf.
Thus I quieted my uneasy mind. Its uneasiness had nothing to do with the fate of my one-act play. The play was duly produced, and an exceptionally intelligent audience stared it coldly off the boards. It ceased to exist. It was a fair and open execution. But having survived the freezing atmosphere of that auditorium16 I continued to exist, labouring under no sense of wrong. I was not pleased, but I was content. I was content to accept the verdict of a free and independent public, judging after its conscience the work of its free, independent and conscientious17 servant — the artist.
Only thus can the dignity of artistic18 servitude be preserved — not to speak of the bare existence of the artist and the self-respect of the man. I shall say nothing of the self-respect of the public. To the self-respect of the public the present appeal against the censorship is being made and I join in it with all my heart.
For I have lived long enough to learn that the monstrous and outlandish figure, the Magot Chinois whom I believed to be but a memorial of our forefathers’ mental aberration19, that grotesque20 potiche, works! The absurd and hollow creature of clay seems to be alive with a sort of (surely) unconscious life worthy21 of its traditions. It heaves its stomach, it rolls its eyes, it brandishes22 a monstrous arm: and with the censorship, like a Bravo of old Venice with a more carnal weapon, stabs its victim from behind in the twilight of its upper shelf. Less picturesque23 than the Venetian in cloak and mask, less estimable, too, in this, that the assassin plied24 his moral trade at his own risk deriving25 no countenance26 from the powers of the Republic, it stands more malevolent27, inasmuch that the Bravo striking in the dusk killed but the body, whereas the grotesque thing nodding its mandarin head may in its absurd unconsciousness strike down at any time the spirit of an honest, of an artistic, perhaps of a sublime28 creation.
This Chinese monstrosity, disguised in the trousers of the Western Barbarian29 and provided by the State with the immortal30 Mr. Stiggins’s plug hat and umbrella, is with us. It is an office. An office of trust. And from time to time there is found an official to fill it. He is a public man. The least prominent of public men, the most unobtrusive, the most obscure if not the most modest.
But however obscure, a public man may be told the truth if only once in his life. His office flourishes in the shade; not in the rustic31 shade beloved of the violet but in the muddled32 twilight of mind, where tyranny of every sort flourishes. Its holder33 need not have either brain or heart, no sight, no taste, no imagination, not even bowels34 of compassion35. He needs not these things. He has power. He can kill thought, and incidentally truth, and incidentally beauty, providing they seek to live in a dramatic form. He can do it, without seeing, without understanding, without feeling anything; out of mere36 stupid suspicion, as an irresponsible Roman Caesar could kill a senator. He can do that and there is no one to say him nay37. He may call his cook (Moliere used to do that) from below and give her five acts to judge every morning as a matter of constant practice and still remain the unquestioned destroyer of men’s honest work. He may have a glass too much. This accident has happened to persons of unimpeachable38 morality — to gentlemen. He may suffer from spells of imbecility like Clodius. He may. .. what might he not do! I tell you he is the Caesar of the dramatic world. There has been since the Roman Principate nothing in the way of irresponsible power to compare with the office of the Censor of Plays.
Looked at in this way it has some grandeur39, something colossal40 in the odious41 and the absurd. This figure in whose power it is to suppress an intellectual conception — to kill thought (a dream for a mad brain, my masters!)— seems designed in a spirit of bitter comedy to bring out the greatness of a Philistine’s conceit42 and his moral cowardice43.
But this is England in the twentieth century, and one wonders that there can be found a man courageous44 enough to occupy the post. It is a matter for meditation45. Having given it a few minutes I come to the conclusion in the serenity46 of my heart and the peace of my conscience that he must be either an extreme megalomaniac or an utterly47 unconscious being.
He must be unconscious. It is one of the qualifications for his magistracy. Other qualifications are equally easy. He must have done nothing, expressed nothing, imagined nothing. He must be obscure, insignificant48 and mediocre49 — in thought, act, speech and sympathy. He must know nothing of art, of life — and of himself. For if he did he would not dare to be what he is. Like that much questioned and mysterious bird, the phoenix50, he sits amongst the cold ashes of his predecessor51 upon the altar of morality, alone of his kind in the sight of wondering generations.
And I will end with a quotation52 reproducing not perhaps the exact words but the true spirit of a lofty conscience.
“Often when sitting down to write the notice of a play, especially when I felt it antagonistic53 to my canons of art, to my tastes or my convictions, I hesitated in the fear lest my conscientious blame might check the development of a great talent, my sincere judgment54 condemn55 a worthy mind. With the pen poised56 in my hand I hesitated, whispering to myself ‘What if I were perchance doing my part in killing57 a masterpiece.’”
Such were the lofty scruples58 of M. Jules Lemaitre — dramatist and dramatic critic, a great citizen and a high magistrate59 in the Republic of Letters; a Censor of Plays exercising his august office openly in the light of day, with the authority of a European reputation. But then M. Jules Lemaitre is a man possessed60 of wisdom, of great fame, of a fine conscience — not an obscure hollow Chinese monstrosity ornamented61 with Mr. Stiggins’s plug hat and cotton umbrella by its anxious grandmother — the State.
Frankly62, is it not time to knock the improper object off its shelf? It has stood too long there. Hatched in Pekin (I should say) by some Board of Respectable Rites63, the little caravan64 monster has come to us by way of Moscow — I suppose. It is outlandish. It is not venerable. It does not belong here. Is it not time to knock it off its dark shelf with some implement65 appropriate to its worth and status? With an old broom handle for instance.
点击收听单词发音
1 licensed | |
adj.得到许可的v.许可,颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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2 censor | |
n./vt.审查,审查员;删改 | |
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3 improper | |
adj.不适当的,不合适的,不正确的,不合礼仪的 | |
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4 scrupulously | |
adv.一丝不苟地;小心翼翼地,多顾虑地 | |
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5 embodying | |
v.表现( embody的现在分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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6 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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7 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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8 Mandarin | |
n.中国官话,国语,满清官吏;adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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9 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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10 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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11 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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12 variance | |
n.矛盾,不同 | |
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13 extravagant | |
adj.奢侈的;过分的;(言行等)放肆的 | |
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14 stolid | |
adj.无动于衷的,感情麻木的 | |
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15 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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16 auditorium | |
n.观众席,听众席;会堂,礼堂 | |
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17 conscientious | |
adj.审慎正直的,认真的,本着良心的 | |
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18 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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19 aberration | |
n.离开正路,脱离常规,色差 | |
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20 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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21 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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22 brandishes | |
v.挥舞( brandish的第三人称单数 );炫耀 | |
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23 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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24 plied | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的过去式和过去分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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25 deriving | |
v.得到( derive的现在分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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26 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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27 malevolent | |
adj.有恶意的,恶毒的 | |
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28 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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29 barbarian | |
n.野蛮人;adj.野蛮(人)的;未开化的 | |
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30 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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31 rustic | |
adj.乡村的,有乡村特色的;n.乡下人,乡巴佬 | |
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32 muddled | |
adj.混乱的;糊涂的;头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱,弄糟( muddle的过去式);使糊涂;对付,混日子 | |
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33 holder | |
n.持有者,占有者;(台,架等)支持物 | |
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34 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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35 compassion | |
n.同情,怜悯 | |
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36 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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37 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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38 unimpeachable | |
adj.无可指责的;adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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39 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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40 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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41 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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42 conceit | |
n.自负,自高自大 | |
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43 cowardice | |
n.胆小,怯懦 | |
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44 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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45 meditation | |
n.熟虑,(尤指宗教的)默想,沉思,(pl.)冥想录 | |
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46 serenity | |
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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47 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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48 insignificant | |
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的 | |
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49 mediocre | |
adj.平常的,普通的 | |
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50 phoenix | |
n.凤凰,长生(不死)鸟;引申为重生 | |
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51 predecessor | |
n.前辈,前任 | |
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52 quotation | |
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情 | |
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53 antagonistic | |
adj.敌对的 | |
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54 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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55 condemn | |
vt.谴责,指责;宣判(罪犯),判刑 | |
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56 poised | |
a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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57 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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58 scruples | |
n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 );顾虑,顾忌v.感到于心不安,有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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59 magistrate | |
n.地方行政官,地方法官,治安官 | |
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60 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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61 ornamented | |
adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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63 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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64 caravan | |
n.大蓬车;活动房屋 | |
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65 implement | |
n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行 | |
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