阿加莎·克里斯蒂的谜样人生

What the publisher wanted was to take the cover more seriously,
而我读这本书
and I’d read the book
至少读过三次
at least three times.
我做过笔记 画过草图 勾划过段落
I would make notes, do sketches, underline certain passages.
如果能有些东西
Certain objects which, if possible,
与小说相一致
would be true to the story,
又不会完全说明这个故事
but not necessarily illustrate the story.
这些东西就能作为这本书主题的象征
Objects which would symbolise or represent a theme in the book.
我画的第一张封面
And so, the first one I did was
是1962年的《谋杀启事》
A Murder Is Announced. That was in 1962,
之后一直画到最后一本
and I’ve been doing them up to the last one,
《马普尔小姐完结篇》 那是二十年之后了
Miss Marple’s Final Cases, about 20 years later.
你显然乐在其中
Wow. But you obviously love it.
确实乐在其中 最棒的是
I do love it, and the extraordinary is
我热爱阿加莎·克里斯蒂的作品
that I really love Agatha Christie’s work.
当我刚开始为她画封面时
When I first started doing her covers,
就像其他人一样
like everybody else, we all
我们都读过一些阿加莎的小说
had read Agatha Christie from time to time.
但我并没有想太多
But I didn’t think too much about it.
她自己也没说过那些是文学佳作
She herself never claimed they were great works of literature.
越来越多地拜读她的小说之后
But as I got to read more and more of them,
我才意识到她是个多么卓越的作家
I realised what in fact, what a great writer she is.
你见过阿加莎·克里斯蒂吗
Did you ever meet Agatha Christie?
没见过 但回想起来
No, I didn’t, but in retrospect,
我很庆幸没有见过她
I’m quite glad I didn’t meet her,
因为这样我才能通过作品更深入地了解她
because I then got to know her more intimately through her work.
如果我们见面 她可能会说
If I’d met her, she would have had to say,
“我不怎么喜欢这个封面”
“Well, I don’t like this cover very much!”
这样一来我要么会为自己辩解
And I would have had to either defend it
要么就得担心她不喜欢其他的封面
or else be worried that she didn’t like some of them.
所以我觉得不见她也挺好的
So, I think it was quite a good thing that I didn’t meet her.
我的想法跟你很像
I think I have a very similar reaction.
我总是说希望自己见过她
I’ve always said I wished I had met her,
在很多层面上讲 我真心希望能见到她
and on so many levels, I do wish I’d met her,
但如果她告诉我 “我不喜欢你的表演”
but my own vanity as an actor would have been terrified
我一定会万般沮丧
and most upset to have been told,
作为演员的虚荣心也会受到伤害
“Oh, I didn’t like you in that story.”
我觉得你一定会发现
Well, I think you would have found
她对你饰演的大侦探波洛
that she would have been absolutely amazed
深表赞叹 褒扬不已
and in great wonder at your interpretation of Poirot.
毫无疑问
No question about that.
这真是美好的经历 画封面是如此
It’s been a wonderful experience, not only to do the covers,
跟你聊天也是
but to talk to you,
你我都与这位伟大女性有着密切的联♥系♥
who has intimately connected to this grand old lady as I am.
-我们也有紧密的联♥系♥ -当然
– Well, we’re very linked. – Indeed, yeah.
阿加莎·克里斯蒂的谜样人生
汤姆·亚当斯 2013年
自从第一本书于1920年出版
Since the publication of her first book back in 1920,
阿加莎·克里斯蒂这个名字就长盛不衰
Agatha Christie has remained enduringly popular,
我很好奇
so I wondered finally
她名盛全球 经久不衰的秘诀是什么
what might have been the secret of her continuing success.
答案或许就在于
The answer may lie in the
她用来构思情节的笔记本上
notebooks that she used to plot her stories,
这些笔记直到2005年才被人发现
books that were only discovered in 2005.
为了找出其中的秘密 我打算去博格岛
To find out their secrets, I’m going to Burgh Island,
拜访一位对笔记内容了解甚深的先生
to meet the man who has a detailed knowledge of their contents –
终生研究阿加莎的约翰·卡兰
lifelong Agatha Christie devotee John Curran.
约翰 经过对这些笔记极为严谨地研究
John, having studied these books in such a forensic manner,
你说你会带一本来让我看看
you told me you’d bring one for me to see.
-没错 -带了吗
– I did. – Have you?
作家
这是最令我印象深刻的笔记之一
Now, this is one of the more impressive notebooks.
如你所见 它的质地很好
As you can see, because it’s quite substantial,
还有着黑色硬皮封面
and it has a black, hard cover.
这本笔记的内容
This is the notebook for the
现在的名字叫做《无人生还》
book that we now know as And Then There Were None,
这本书因为政♥治♥原因
because it went through quite a few title changes,
标题几经更改
before the age of political correctness.
我认为这本笔记就是个很好的例子
And this is an example of one where
证明她在下笔前就仔细斟酌过情节
I think she did a lot of the plotting beforehand,
因为书中的情节发展十分流畅
because the plot runs quite smoothly.
这里的维拉·克莱索恩是书中的人物
Here we have Vera Claythorne, she’s a character in the book.
法官也是书中人物 还有医生
We have the judge. He’s a character. We have a doctor.
还有船长和林亚德太太
And here we have Captain and Mrs Linyard.
他们其实并没有出现在书里
Now, they’re not in the book,
所以只是她随手写在笔记里的
so they were a couple that she toyed with including in the book.
有趣的是 众所周知
And the interesting about this, because everybody knows,
这本书里一共有十个人物
there are ten characters in this book,
可在这本笔记上的某些地方
but at some stage in the notebook,
出于某种原因 她塑造了八个或十二个人物
she has either eight or 12 characters, for whatever reason.
不过书里的情节
But the plot of the book is
和这本笔记中的情节相差无几
followed fairly closely by the plot in the notebook.
之后她会将每本笔记翻个面
Then she turned every notebook upside down
再从后往前写
and wrote from the back.
这儿写了她的日常开支
So, here we have household accounts,
你可以看到
and as you can see,
这里记着她的开支 公交地铁 置装费
she has more household accounts: “Bus and Tube, clothes.”
这里又是她写书的笔记
And then we have more notes for books.
事实上 这是
This is actually part of
《名苑猎凶》的一部分剧本
the dramatisation of The Secret Of Chimneys.
所以她写笔记是完全随性的
So, the notebooks were completely random.
我想她的笔记之所以如此随意潦草
I think the reason for the random notes and illegibility
是因为她脑中涌现的想法实在太多
was because she had so many ideas running through her mind.
她唯有尽力捕捉并尽快将之记录下来
She just had to get them down as fast as she could.
这让我意识到
And it made me realise:
这个女人
this woman who wrote all
写了那么多通俗易懂的书
these books that everybody finds so easy to read
可事实上她却是呕心沥血地
actually worked really hard
在创作这些简单易明的故事
to create books that are simple to read.
她完美地诠释了隐而不露的艺术
She’s the perfect example of the art that conceals art.
那么 为什么她能令同一时期
Why, then, does she outshine
几乎所有推理小说家都黯然失色呢
nearly every single other contemporary crime writer?
我想你可以去掉”几乎”二字
Well, I think you can kind of omit “nearly”.
她确实让所有人黯然失色了
She does outshine.
如果要概括起来
And I think, if you have to boil it down it down
只用一个词来说明
and just confine it to one word,
我想是因为情节分♥析♥起来都很简单
I think it’s because her plots, when you analyze them, are simple.
所有人都能理解
Everybody can understand them.
不论你受过多少教育
It doesn’t matter about your level of education.
十四岁辍学也好
Whether you left school at 14
核物理学家也罢
or whether you’re a nuclear physicist,
都能看懂她讲述的故事
you can understand where she’s coming from,
所以我想 这就是她成功的秘诀
and I think that is really the secret of her success –
她的简单
her simplicity.
阿加莎·克里斯蒂女爵
Dame Agatha Christie died
1976年在家中安然离世 享年85岁
peacefully at home in 1976, at the age of 85.
作为赫尔克里·波洛
As Hercule Poirot,
我解开过她笔下的无数谜团
I’ve solved many of her mysteries.
可她自己的人生篇章也是谜团重重
But there are so many conundrums in her own story…
因此对我来说
that she’s been the most
她才是最让人捉摸不透的角色
difficult of characters for me to unravel.
当提起阿加莎·克里斯蒂时
When most people think of Agatha Christie,
浮现在多数人脑海中的印象
what comes to their mind
就是英国历史上最成功的侦探小说作家
is one of the most successful English crime writers in history,
她的著作销往百余个国家
whose books are sold in over a hundred countries,
被搬上银幕 改编成电视剧等等
films made, television series made, and so forth.
但制♥作♥这期节目
But making this programme
让我走进了…用我的话来说 后台
has allowed me to go, in my own terms, backstage,
进入了一个全新的世界
and enter another world.
那么我认识了一个怎样的人呢
So, what do I come away with?
一个非常温暖的人
A very warm person,
她深爱自己的家庭
who loved her family,