Biblioholism： The Literary Addiction

湯姆·拉伯（Tom Raabe），美國人，一位執(zhí)著的愛書之人，曾在報社工作，近年來在丹佛擔任自由編輯與自由撰稿人，平時喜愛旅行，足跡遍及印尼、新加坡、印度、尼泊爾、阿富汗、伊朗與歐洲各地?！妒葧a君子》（Biblioholism： The Literary Addiction）是其發(fā)表于1991年的一部作品。在書中，湯姆·拉伯以幽默詼諧的筆法描寫了愛書人對書籍的癡迷，同時帶領讀者回顧了圖書的歷史、風格等。這本書深受世界各地愛書人的喜愛。

Excerpts1）

Do not be fooled， fellow sufferers， biblioholism2） can be a happy disease. Lifted to rapturous3） heights with the purchase of thousands of books， lingering over the same while lolling in studied ease in our favorite chair， we exult4） in their presence as they accumulate on our shelves and floor. There’s a lot to be said for it in its early stages. After all， we’re probably getting smarter. We’re broadening our horizons， expanding our purview， becoming all that we can be in an intellectual way. Why， with books we can tie one on5） fiercely and， not only will we not feel it in the morning， we’ll feel better in the morning.

But that’s early on， when the disease is in its incipient6） stages. As the disease runs its course， the trail of devastation it leaves in its wake can send our lives reeling7）. Its ravages can be irreversible. Maybe it’s bowing to the allure of an unneeded volume while roaming the bookstore stacks one day. Maybe it’s getting into that John Grisham8） thumb-wetter for a few beneficent hours of retreat from the harried life society requires us to lead. If we get locked into it and emerge with our hearts sprouting wings， then we endanger ourselves with the hook that is biblioholism. For we will return to it whenever times get tough. It is a crucial element of the addictive process. Retreat. Escape. Indeed， one of the surest ways of determining if someone is biblioholic is to test his or her reaction to pressure. When the going gets tough， does the biblioholic get going？ Or does he or she read？ Or embark upon other bookish behavior？ Do we react to domestic strife9） by retiring to the study or the library to read？ Do we walk through the door at the end of a particularly tough workday with six or seven new books under our arm？ Do normally routine tasks about the home—like mowing the lawn， vacuuming the carpets， conversing with spouse and children—become so onerous10） to us that we read instead？

If so， we who once considered ourselves mere casual bookophiles may soon find ourselves embroiled11） in a cyclic inferno12） of reaction. We flee to the refuge when tension descends on us， and yet the relief we find there is evanescent13）. The nagging nanny of shame makes its initial appearance in our book life and accuses us of reneging14） on our responsibilities. We seek to ease the pain in reading or book buying， and yet the guilt and shame we experience because of our very flight is of such potency that we require relief from that as well， to which end we again seek the healing waters of books.

As the cycle deepens and we biblioholics spin ever more vulnerably within its vortex15）， we begin to withdraw into ourselves. This is one of the reasons biblioholics have few friends. Oh certainly， much of this is due to an innocent forgetfulness on our part. We get wrapped up in the tome of the day， we forget to call friends we had previously agreed to call， we don’t remember appointments， we don’t return phone calls. Sometimes we’ll even let the phone ring， and not always when we’re at a “good part.”

And as for dating， well， we can write courtship off altogether， the trouble with it being， of course， that in order to make it work， we must actually be bodily present with the person we are dating. That means dinner， movies， concerts， cocktails， museums， miniature golf， and all sorts of other activities， all of which consume precious time， and some of which even cost money. Normal people don’t seem to get off on our idea of a perfect date： sitting on two couches some feet apart with two separate lamps shining into our laps， reading two different books.

We could take our date into a bookstore with us， but then our behavior， not books， becomes the topic of conversation. And when that happens， Cupid goes on walkabout. Because， chances are， we’re going to do what we normally do in a bookstore： buy books. And whoever we drag to the bookstore with us is going to get in our face for what we consider very normal behavior. Questions like， “Are you going to read all those？” “You’ve got to have five thousand books at home and you’re going to buy more？” “How come you can drop seventy bucks on books for yourself， but when you take me to Denny’s we have to go Dutch16）？” will come up， you can count on that. The fact is， whoever we take with us will think we’re weird and abhorrent17）. We’d much rather go alone.

Not that we’re not weird and abhorrent. We are. We just don’t want to admit it. It becomes paramount18） for us to justify our behavior. As we do this， another process rears its ugly head. Innate good sense—stilled though it may be—still packs enough credibility to make plain to us certain undeniable truths： that people who can hardly walk around their apartment without crashing into a stack of books have somehow meandered from the mainstream of society; that someone who hasn’t bought a new dress or pair of shoes for a year but has every edition and printing of Mrs. Dalloway19） ever published has somehow transcended normalcy. And yet we must defend such excessive behavior; we must rationalize it away.

1. 節(jié)選部分主要描寫了“嗜書癮”末期病狀的種種表現(xiàn)。

2. biblioholism：嗜書癮

3. rapturous [?r?pt??r?s] adj. 欣喜若狂的;狂喜的

4. exult [?ɡ?z?lt] vi. 歡欣鼓舞，興高采烈

5. tie one on：鬧飲;喝得大醉

6. incipient [?n?s?pi?nt] adj. 剛開始的;早期的

7. reel [ri?l] vi. 蹣跚;搖搖晃晃地挪動

8. John Grisham：約翰·格里森姆（1955～），美國知名暢銷小說作家，他的作品絕大多數(shù)是情節(jié)緊張、結(jié)局出人意料但又不失深度的法律懸念小說。

9. strife [stra?f] n. 沖突;糾紛;爭吵

10. onerous [???n?r?s] adj. 繁重的;麻煩的

11. embroil [?m?br??l] vt. 使卷入;使陷入

12. inferno [?n?f??（r）n??] n. 地獄;地獄般的地方

13. evanescent [?ev??nes（?）nt] adj. 短暫的，轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的;

14. renege [r??ne?ɡ] vi. 違背（諾言）;違約

15. vortex [?v??（r）teks] n. 旋渦;渦流

16. go Dutch：平攤費用;各付各的賬

17. abhorrent [?b?h?r?nt] adj. 令人憎惡的;使人厭惡的

18. paramount [?p?r?ma?nt] adj. 至上的，首要的

19. Mrs. Dalloway：《達洛維夫人》，是英國女作家弗吉尼亞·伍爾芙（Virginia Woolf， 1882～1941）在1925年發(fā)表的一部長篇意識流小說。

作品賞析

在《嗜書癮君子》中，作者湯姆·拉伯將人們對書籍的迷戀行為粗略地分成兩種：“書之愛”（bibliophilia）與“書之癡”（bibliomania）。前者“用心在求取書中的知識與智能”，而后者則“竭力于搜書、藏書”。在作者看來，兩者之間的界限并不分明，“滿腔的書之愛一旦亂了方寸，自然而然就演化成書癡”。然而，“書之愛”也好，“書之癡”也罷，凡是對書籍表現(xiàn)出“超乎尋常的愛好或占有欲”，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)都可以被稱作“嗜書成癮”（biblioholic）。在書中，作者將人們對書籍的搜訪、閱讀與收藏的“成癮”行為，與酒癮、煙癮、咖啡癮、購物癮、工作癮歸為一類，以詼諧的語調(diào)細致展示了“書癮”給“嗜書癮君子”的生活所帶來的巨大危害。掩卷之際，不禁引人沉思：在書籍問題上，如果不是占有得越多越好，也不是不分良莠地讀得越多越好，那么我們應該怎樣來合理使用書籍呢？

如果將“嗜書成癮”當做一種疾病，將“嗜書癮君子”視為病人，那么這部《嗜書癮君子》可謂一份令人觸目驚心的病歷表：“患者”身無分文，所有錢財基本都投入到與書籍相關的購置與收藏上去了;“患者”容貌駭人，將添置衣物、美容美發(fā)這些“小事”拋諸腦后，一來沒有閑錢，二來沒有閑心，甚至因“書癮”而落得身體殘疾、一命嗚呼也是有的;“患者”眾叛親離，一旦身患書癮，不僅戀情告急，夫妻反目，就連往昔好友也都變得無法近身。久而久之，“嗜書癮君子”因?qū)母冻鰪牟挥嬢^而變得對人吝嗇，因?qū)暮亲o備至而變得對人刻薄，終于淪為無論進餐、如廁、坐臥、行進、外出以及歸家都時刻心系書本的“書奴”一個。

既然“嗜書成癮”是如此害人害己的一種“病”，那么到底如何才能得到治愈呢？雖然作者專門用一章的篇幅討論這個問題，然而出路似乎并不樂觀?！皵夭莩狈ǎㄖ干砼圆辉儆腥魏螘荆┍徽J為太過極端;“移情別戀”法（指染上其他癮）被認為有飲鴆止渴之嫌;“男婚女嫁”法（指和非嗜書癮君子結(jié)合）被認為太似兒戲;“引蟲入室”法（指把咬書的書蟲引進來）被認為見效太慢。而最后似乎只剩下一個不是辦法的辦法：“買到手軟”法，即盡管買，用力買。但與其說這是解決之道，倒不如說是破罐子破摔了。

作為一種歷史悠久、流行區(qū)域廣、危害性顯著的“疾病”，“嗜書成癮”的癥狀及危害歷來受到人們的矚目。美國思想家拉爾夫·愛默生（Ralph Emerson）在其1837年發(fā)表的演說《論美國學者》（The American Scholar）中也曾提到過“書癡”（bibliomaniac）這類人：“于是，我們沒有思考著的人（Man Thinking），卻有了蛀書蟲（編注：指愛讀書的人）。于是，才有了飽覽群書的階層，他們重視書籍，但這種重視并不是為了探求它與自然或人類社會制度的關聯(lián)，而是將書籍變成存在于自然和人類社會之外的第三種不動產(chǎn)。于是，產(chǎn)生了各種層次的修訂者、校注者和愛書癡。”

在愛默生眼中，真正的“美國學者”應是一個“思考著的人”，而書癡則恰恰是這一理想狀態(tài)的對立面，代表了對書籍的誤用。關于書籍的正確使用方式，愛默生談道：“如能善加使用，書是眾物中最好的一種;若被濫用，則會變成最壞的一種。怎樣使用才算是好的？盡管方法和途徑各不相同，但讀書唯一的目的是什么？書籍是為了啟發(fā)心智，除此以外，別無他用。如果我的思想因為書本的吸引被完全束縛，無法循著自我的軌道運行，淪為他人思想的衛(wèi)星，而不能自成體系，我寧愿一本書也不讀。在這個世界上最有價值的莫過于一個活躍的靈魂。”對愛默生而言，書籍之所以重要，是因為它充當了“往昔”（the Past）的最佳承載物。除了通過文學、藝術及制度了解往昔以外，愛默生在演講中還主張要體悟“自然”（nature），更要勇于“行動”（action），只有如此，人的靈魂才能變得活躍，從而成為一個“思考著的人”。

若以愛默生“自然、往昔、行動”的“三味藥方”診治“嗜書成癮”患者的諸多癥狀，似乎也頗為契合。對于身患書癮的“末期癥狀”，《嗜書癮君子》中這樣寫道：“退縮、遁逃。沒錯，要檢驗一個人是否患了嗜書癮，最保險的方法便是看他（或她）面對壓力的反應?！辈还苁巧畈豁樞?，工作有壓力，人際關系緊張，或是日常事務繁多，“癮君子”總是以書為擋箭牌或避風港，得過且過。如果讀書使人遠離了自然，架空了當下，擱置了作為，頭腦因此放棄了思考，靈魂因此停止了躍動，那這實在可以看做是對書籍的最壞誤用了。

《嗜書癮君子》出版于1991年，2001年再版時作者附上了“后話”一章。在這一章中，作者對書籍的電子化在書籍生產(chǎn)、購買、閱讀以及貯藏方面所帶來的變化進行了展望，得出的似乎依然是一個“不知悔改”的結(jié)論：“放眼未來，我們依然會繼續(xù)看書;我們依然會繼續(xù)買書（就算買得太兇）;我們依然會繼續(xù)愛書（即使愛得過火）?！比欢凑找陨蠍勰恼f法，書籍并非是愛的對象，而只應是愛的媒介。透過好書，我們的愛被引向沉思、行動以及靈魂的躍動。