身體的文化價(jià)值

Host： The human body is a wonder of physics and function. It is also， and has been for a long time， a playground for the human imagination. To nearly every part and 1）orb and expanse of our anatomy we attach stories， fables， idioms， meaning.

We are navigating a cultural history of the human body， how our bits and pieces， heart and head and 2）sinew and bone and how we think of them， have thought of them through time.

Before science really got engaged here， what did you find most compelling in the poets， in the writers， in the mystics’ view of the body？

Hugh Aldersey

Williams： I think， um， before the scientists got stuck into the body， as it were， these poetic ideas held sway， and so we have all these old stories about， talking about the heart， and then to go， and in Medieval custom we have the idea of the heart being the sort of seat of love and also actually of reason， which is an idea we’ve somewhat…somewhat shared. We now think the brain is where reason happens， but we still often think that love is where， happens in the heart. And other major parts， the liver and so on， kind of have had these stories and these have been sustained， if you like， in sort of medical ignorance through poetry and through imagemaking， painting and so on.

Host： I mean， there’s just so much here. You look at hair， the simple thing of hair， and you’ve got all these narrative tapestries around that. Think of just hair and cutting it off and growing； Samson and Rapunzel and Sinead O’Connor， and Britney Spears， for that matter. You talk about long flowing hair as an indication of 3）wantonness.

Hugh： That’s a very good illustration of how body parts have meaning， so long hair signifies certain things， and a shaved head signifies other things， and so on. And so these actions of growing one’s hair or losing one’s hair have cultural value. And also the hair has literal value.

Host： Yeah.

Hugh： Yeah， I tell the stories of this…the price that was got for people’s hair in Little Women and Les Miserables and…

Host： Yes，…

Hugh：. …other books.

Host： …or just that long flowing hair you call it“our guilty culture’s imaginative 4）extrapolation from nature’s gift of hair at 5）puberty，” and here we have Botticelli’s Venus， and Mary Magdalene in La Belle Dames sans Mercie. Just hair. Take us on down. I mean you’ve got head， face， brain， heart， face. You remind us that certain things come into， so much comes into our language.

The head. You’ve got a whole chapter on here， and it’s a lot of modern attention， the head， but what about the head through history？

Hugh： Well， I think the…the point about the head is that it often stands for the whole body. Host： A lot of idioms that take off from the head and its parts. We “nose around in other peoples’ business，” we “put somebody’s nose out of joint，” or “cut off our own nose just to spite our face.”

Hugh： That’s right， and…and…and within the head often the nose is kind of the stands in for the whole head.

主持人：人體是物理學(xué)與機(jī)能完美結(jié)合的奇跡。長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)，它也是人類揮灑想象力的對(duì)象。我們幾乎給人體的每一處構(gòu)造、每一個(gè)零件都賦予了故事、寓言、俗語(yǔ)及寓意。

我們正在探索人體的文化淵源。我們現(xiàn)在怎么看待身體大大小小的部件，心與頭、肉與骨，在過(guò)去又是怎樣想的。

在科學(xué)家研究人體以前，你認(rèn)為在詩(shī)人、作家及神秘主義者眼里什么是最有意思的？

休·奧爾德斯-威

廉姆斯：我認(rèn)為在科學(xué)家關(guān)注人體以前，一些詩(shī)意十足的觀點(diǎn)是占主導(dǎo)地位的，所以我們才有這些描述“心”的古老故事流傳下來(lái)。在中世紀(jì)，人們認(rèn)為心既掌管著情感，又控制著理智，這一觀點(diǎn)一直以來(lái)都在某種程度上得到了普遍的認(rèn)可。現(xiàn)在我們認(rèn)為大腦才是控制理智的中樞，但仍常常覺得情感歸屬于心。其他一些主要器官，像肝臟之類，也有類似的說(shuō)法，這些說(shuō)法雖然無(wú)視了醫(yī)學(xué)常識(shí)，但直至今天還是會(huì)通過(guò)詩(shī)歌、形象塑造、繪畫等表現(xiàn)出來(lái)。主持人：我想說(shuō)的是，這類說(shuō)法非常多。比如說(shuō)頭發(fā)，僅僅是頭發(fā)，就有如此多繁復(fù)精彩的故事，關(guān)于蓄發(fā)和剪發(fā)，像大力士參孫、長(zhǎng)發(fā)姑娘，還有歌手西尼德·奧康娜和布蘭妮·斯皮爾斯，都屬于這一類。你書中提到飄逸長(zhǎng)發(fā)是水性楊花的象征。

休：這正是人們賦予身體部位不同含義的好例子。長(zhǎng)發(fā)代表了一些東西，光頭又有另外的含義，諸如此類。因此留發(fā)或剪發(fā)都有各自的文化深意。當(dāng)然，頭發(fā)本身也有真正意義上的價(jià)值。……