同庆兼反思：《哈利·波特》二十载 [英国媒体]

The twentieth anniversary celebrations of the highest-selling book series of all time are now coming to a close. 2017 has been a milestone year for Harry Potter fans in their twenties and thirties, who spent much of their youth in anticipation of the release of each new book or film.

古往今来销量最高的系列图书，其二十周年的庆祝活动现在进入了尾声。2017年对于步入二十和三十几岁的哈迷来说是一个里程碑，这部分人群把大量的青春时光花在了对每本新书和每部新电影发行的期盼中。

Last week’s Wheeler Centre event Harry Who? The True Heroes of Hogwarts brought together writers, comedians and musicians to celebrate the series. While Harry and his broken glasses predominate at most Potter tourist sites and film screenings, Harry Who? asked the audience to consider who really is the true hero of J.K. Rowling’s stories.

在上周惠勒中心（译者注：位于墨尔本的一家文艺中心）举办的主题为“哪个哈利？霍格沃兹真正的英雄”的活动中，请来了作家、喜剧演员和音乐家们一道庆祝这个系列。当哈利和他（标志性）的破眼镜占据了大多数的哈利波特旅游景点和影片放映，哪个哈利活动询问了观众谁才是他们心目中J.K.罗琳系列故事中真正的英雄。

As readers contemplate the long-term legacy of the Potter universe and whether it will endure, it’s also important to consider the overarching messages of Rowling’s series as the most popular example of children’s literature to date.

当读者们探讨着长存的哈利波特宇宙以及是否它还会延续时，也尤为重要的是：去思考一下迄今最受欢迎的儿童文学作品-罗琳系列带给我们最重要的启示。 

Harry embodies the key characteristic of some of the most memorable protagonists of classic children’s literature. From centuries-old stories of Cinderella onwards, child and youth characters who are orphans not only foster the reader’s empathy, but are also freed from the expectations and restrictions that biological parents impose.

哈利身上体现出了那些最让人难忘的经典儿童文学主人公的关键特征。历史悠久的辛德瑞拉故事珠玉在前，其中那些均为孤儿的孩子和年轻角色培育出读者的同情心，同时也不用考虑生身父母加诸的期待和管束。

Melanie A. Kimball explains the twin effects of child orphans in literature:

Melanie A. Kimball这样解释文学中孤儿间的双胞胎效应：

Orphans are at once pitiable and noble. They are a manifestation of loneliness, but they also represent the possibility for humans to reinvent themselves.

孤儿的身上兼备着可怜和高贵。他们是孤独本身的示现，但他们同时也代表了人类自我革新的可能性。

Without the tragedy of Harry’s parents being violently killed by the evil Lord Voldemort, Harry would have had no compulsion to go beyond the “typical” experience of a child with a witch and a wizard for parents.

如果没有哈利父母被邪恶伏地魔残杀的这场悲剧，哈利也许就不会逼着自己去超越一个拥有女巫母亲和男巫父亲的孩子惯常会有的经历。

At Harry Who?, writer Ben Pobjie pointed out that Harry is not exceptional, but that it is his nemesis, Voldemort, who propels Harry to importance. With reference to his dubious celebrity, Pobjie joked that if Voldemort was in Australia, he would “be on Sunrise every morning”. As with the importance of Harry’s lack of parental influence and constraint, the extreme adversity of being Voldemort’s inadvertent nemesis establishes a heroic scenario for Harry to inhabit.

在活动中作家Ben Pobjie指出，哈利本不是出类拔萃的，是他的死对头伏地魔，激励着哈利去出人头地。关于他那可疑的名气，Pobjie调笑说如果伏地魔在澳大利亚，他会“每早都上Sunrise节目(译者注：一档略有名的澳洲歌唱类节目)”。因为哈利并未受父母影响和束缚这层重要因素在，无意间成为伏地魔死对头而带来的极端逆境打造出一个能让哈利去入主的英雄主义场景。 

One of the repeated claims throughout the event was that Harry is not much of a hero at all, particularly as he relies on other people to succeed. In the first book of the series especially, Hermione Granger possesses most of the personal attributes and knowledge required to defeat the ever-present threat posed by Voldemort. She is clearly the most intelligent of the Harry, Ron and Hermione trio, and works hard where her male counterparts often attempt to shirk the effort required.

其中有一个反复出现的主张贯穿着整个活动，说的是哈利根本不能算是英雄，尤其因为他总是依靠别人来取得成功。这在全系列第一本书中尤为明显，郝敏·格兰杰占据着个人贡献的头名，也提供了最多的挫败伏地魔威胁所需的知识。显然她是哈利罗恩郝敏三人组中最智慧的一位，而且当她的男性小伙伴往往在需要付出努力的关头偷懒时，她总是努力下功夫。    


  
While Hermione’s heroism is important, she clearly plays a supporting role to Harry: the series is, after all, named after him. The emphasis on Harry is reflective of the deep gender bias in children’s literature throughout the past century.

尽管郝敏的英雄主义至关重要，她分明是在充当哈利的配角，毕竟整个系列以他命名。强调和凸显哈利反映出贯穿上世纪儿童文学中深重的性别偏见。

A 2011 study of twentieth-century children’s books found that, on average, in each year, no more than a third of children’s books featured central characters who were adult women or female animals. In contrast, adult men and male animals usually featured in 100 per cent of children’s books.

在2011年的一个关于二十世纪儿童书籍的研究发现，平均下来，每年由成年女性或雌性动物充当核心角色的书籍不超过三分之一。相比之下，儿童书籍的主人公通常百分之百都是成年男性和雄性动物。

Though the Harry Potter series does depict some strong and beloved female characters including Professor Minerva McGonagall, it is reflective of an era in which protagonists in children’s literature are usually male unless a book is specifically marketed at a girl readership. In addition, the series is also lacking in the depiction of queer characters, regardless of J.K. Rowling’s post-book declaration that Hogwarts’ headmaster Professor Albus Dumbledore is gay.

尽管哈利波特系列确实刻画了一些包括米勒娃·麦格教授在内的强悍而被爱戴的女性角色，它仍反照出了一个除非特设女孩为市场受众不然儿童文学中的主角通常都是男性的时代。此外，该系列也缺少对同性恋角色的刻画，哪怕在J.K.罗琳的演员岗位名册中声明了霍格沃兹校长阿尔布思邓布利多教授其实是基佬。

With the rapid changes in attitudes toward social and cultural issues including same-sex marriage and children with non-normative gender and sexual identities, the Harry Potter series — as a product of the 1990s and early 2000s – might not endure as well as some might imagine.

由于（社会大众）对于包含同性婚姻、不合规范的性别身份和性身份等社会文化议题的立场看法变化得很快，哈利波特系列作为九十年代至零零年代早期的产物，（其影响力）可能不会如一些人想象的那样绵延久远。

Indeed, the issue of changing social norms means that very few children’s “classics” continue to be read by children as decades and even centuries pass. It could be that the series is eventually understood as somewhat outdated and more about producing nostalgia for adults in the same way as the once ubiquitous books of Enid Blyton are viewed today.

实际上，社会常规不断变化带来的问题意味着只有极少的儿童“经典着作”会继续被几十年甚至几百年后的儿童阅读。可能这个系列最终会被认作是过时的东西，反而更多是为了让成年人怀怀旧了，就像曾经铺天盖地的伊妮德·布莱顿的书，在今天也是被这样评价。

（译者注：伊妮德·布莱顿，活跃在20世纪上半页的英国国宝级儿童文学作家，其人高产，作品极为畅销，写作风格浅白而庸俗，也曾是J.K.罗琳的启蒙读物。因被认为思想过时、艺术价值不高而被今天的图书界嫌弃。本文作者选取她的案例来比照哈利波特系列，似对J.K.罗琳和哈利波特现象有所不忿。）


  
One crucial part of the Harry Potter legacy, however, is its effectiveness in encouraging readers, viewers, and now theatre goers with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, to embrace fantastic stories about young people once again.

然而，哈利波特遗产中一个极为重要的部分是它以新书《哈利波特和被诅咒的孩子》高效地鼓动了读者、观众和戏迷，去再一次拥抱关于年轻人的神奇故事。

Adults in the late 19th and early 20th centuries delighted in children’s stories and made up a significant segment of the audience for plays such as Peter Pan. The dual audience of children’s literature, for both adults and children, was once the norm and one that did not bring any shame or embarrassment with it.

19世纪晚期和20世纪早期的成年人，曾因在阅读儿童书籍中得到欢愉而组成了诸如戏剧《彼得潘》观众中的重要部分。儿童文学作品的观众二元化为成人和儿童是曾经的社会常态，任何人都不会觉得丢脸也不会为之感到尴尬。

Twenty years on, today’s adults are still gathering to talk about and celebrate the Potter novels they enjoyed as children and have continued to re-read. In addition, other series such as Twilight, The Hunger Games and Riverdale, show the continuing popularity of stories about young people for adults. In 2037 we will be able to tell if the Potter-effect has lasted or if its magic only worked for a brief spell.

20年过去了，今天的成年人们仍在扎堆讨论乃至庆祝他们还是孩子时喜欢的哈利波特小说，并仍旧回过头去重读。此外，别的系列像是暮光之城、饥饿游戏和河谷镇，都显示出那些为成人而写的年轻人故事会持续地受到欢迎。2037年（译者注：第二个20年）的时候，我们将能知道哈利波特效应是一直在持续，还是，它的魔力只能维持一小段时间。



Nial Wheate 
Interesting article. And while I agree that Hermione is the hero of the series, I don’t agree that these books will not endure. They are far more like The Chronicles of Narnia (which remain very popular) than they are like Enid’s books.

有趣的文章。在我同意郝敏是全系列的英雄同时，我不同意这些书无法绵延下去。它们更像是《纳尼亚传奇》（仍广受欢迎）而不是伊妮德的书。

Rachel Davies
I don’t think they will last well because they are written for children of very different reading ages. When they were first published children grew up with them, but now a child who loves reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone cannot read through the series and cope with the reading age required for the later books.  I have actually seen a child who had read and enjoyed Philosopher’s Stone insist he ‘could read’ Hary Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ when all he could actually manage was deciphering the words with no comprehension of the story.

（回复楼上层主）我不认为它们能得到很好地绵延，因为它们是给阅读年龄各异的小孩子写的。首次出版时，孩子们在阅读的同时人会长大，但当时一个喜欢读《哈利波特与魔法石》的孩子无法读遍整个系列，那以后也不再能够和后续新书所要求的阅读年龄吻合了。我真见过一个小孩，他读过魔法石那本，喜欢得很，并坚持他能够读懂《哈利波特与火焰杯》，然后他能做的所有只是勉强地辨认那些词汇而理解不了故事。

conor king
Hence people dont read the Lord of the Rings because they first read The Hobbit?  I did move to the LotR soon after the Hobbit at around 10, certainly missed much of it but then read it many more times over following years.
It is more relevant question whether the historic aspects of a book hinder later readers.  Harry Potter reflects a backward nostalgia even in the time it was written - did it little harm.

（回复楼上）所以人们不会去读《指环王》因为他们先读了《霍比特人》？我确实在读到霍比特人差不多第十页以后，很快转去看指环王了，当然确实错过了这本书的许多内容，但是在之后的一些年中读它读了更多遍数。
更扯得上干系的问题是，一本书的年代感是否阻碍了后来的读者。甚至在哈利波特被写出来的时候，它已然反映出一种怀旧的背景，但这无损于它的延续。

I AM THE REAL
I read the first harry potter book when I was 8, but I couldn’t understand the fourth book until I was 10, but that was mostly because I didn’t know what a prologue was. After I turned 10 I had no difficulty reading any of them,

（回复楼上）八岁时我读了哈利波特系列的第一本书，但我直到十岁才能够理解第四本书，但那主要是因为我不知道序言是啥。一过十岁，阅读系列中的任何一本都没有困难了。

Andy Saunders
“all he could actually manage was deciphering the words”
Most teachers and parents would say that getting a child to read any book is the major hurdle, comprehension can come later as long as they have the enthusiasm.
There have been many (most?) books I’ve read that I didn’t fully understand the first time through!

（回复楼上的楼上的楼上）“他能做的所有只是勉强地辨认那些词汇”===大多数老师和父母会说能驱使孩子去读任何一本书才是主要的障碍，只要他们有了阅读热情可以日后再提高理解水平。
我读过的许多书（也许是大部分？）在通读第一遍时我都无法理解透彻。

iaen james
Another attempt to find gender bias where there isn’t any. 
Hermione was the brains. But Harry had to do the killing.

在不存在任何性别歧视之处乱套性别歧视的又一次尝试。

Frank O'Connor
The Harry Potter series (and J.K. Rowling) pretty much ensured that a generation I had imagined lost to literature took up reading with a vengeance.
And they are now the readers that the current generation of authors cater to.
Not great literature … but good enough to fire the imaginations of a whole new generation that would otherwise have been lost to Twitter, Facebook and other digital pursuits requiring a less than stellar attention span.

哈利波特系列（连同J.K.罗琳）几乎使得我能想到的对文学作品漠不关心的一代人复仇一般重又捡起了阅读。
他们现在成了现今一代作家们要去迎合的读者。
也不是说多么伟大的文学，，，但已经好到足以点亮整整一代新人的想象力，他们本会完全沦落在推特、脸书和其他不需要那么多专致注意力的数码追求上。

Janet Russell
Not sure about 2037, but Harry Potter is still one of the most borrowed and read series in 2017. We have multiple copies of all books, and even so there is still often a wait for them. Regarding the fact that it was written over 10 years for varying levels of maturity, you do see some able readers making a few goes at it: first in grade ¾ then again in 5/6 or even 7/8 - students are very different. However, many of them do read all the way through the series, and then say that it is their favourite, on one of their favourite series. It’s also interesting how many popular culture references there are to Harry Potter, so I don’t think the magic is likely to fade anytime soon. Students also still read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, various versions of the Odyssey and many other books which have been around for a while (and not because we only have old titles in the library: we stock lots of current titles). These older titles were written with very different world views. Students, including primary students, understand attitudes change over time, and between cultures. That a book is of its time, or written for a different culture, can add an additional layer of interest.

2037年的事没法确定，但哈利波特仍然是2017年度被借阅最多的图书系列。我们（馆）拥有所有书册的多份拷贝，尽管如此也仍常需等待。考虑到这个为不同成熟等级读者而写的系列已被写成超过10年，你真的会看到一些能力高强的读者们把它读穿了好几遍：第一遍在三四年级，然后在五六或甚至七八年级再整个看一遍。学生们可是很不同的。
然而，他们中的许多确实一口气读完了整个系列，然后说这是他们的最爱系列中最爱的一本。看到有那么多受欢迎的文化借鉴自哈利波特也非常有趣，所以我不认为魔法会在不久之后褪去。学生们也仍然阅读《霍比特人》、《指环王》、《绿山墙的安妮》、《秘密花园》、不同版本的《奥德赛》以及其他许多有年头了的书（这不是因为我们只有老书，我们也进很多新书）。这些更古老的书以非常不同的世界观写成。学生们
学生们，包括小学生，他们明白看法随着时间变化，也在文化间变化。他们也明白一本属于它所在时代或为另一种文化而写就的书，是会添上一层额外的趣味。

Bruce Cumming
It seems to me more complex than this. The hero of any book is identified by the individual reader, through his or her resonance with any character or characters.

在我看来，事情比这复杂。任何一本书中，谁是英雄都是由个体读者来确定的，通过他或她与任何一个或一些角色的共鸣。

Andrew Waugh
One of the repeated claims throughout the event was that Harry is not much of a hero at all, particularly as he relies on other people to succeed.
I find this a really peculiar statement; it’s as if notable children’s literature is to be judged against the standard that Marvel comics set.
IMHO, one of the strengths of the series is that it is quite clear that one reason Harry succeeds is because he is a leader. He’s not necessarily the best at anything, but he can bring together a team of people with skills he doesn’t have to achieve a goal. Interestingly, it is also clear that Harry is operating in a framework of teams and leaders and this is why Voldemort is defeated. Dumbledore is also a leader, and Harry learns from him. In turn, Harry inspires others to take positions of leadership - such as Neville.

“其中有一个反复出现的主张贯穿着整个活动，说的是哈利根本不能算是英雄，尤其因为他总是依靠别人来取得成功。”======我发现这真是个非常奇怪的论断，像是通过对着名儿童文学的裁定，来跟漫威漫画设定的标准对着干。
以我浅见看来，这个系列的其中一个长处就是，非常明显哈利能成功的一个原因是：他是一个领导者型。他不一定最擅长所有东西，但他可以把一队拥有他没有技能的人员团结起来并达到目标。有趣的是，显然哈利是在一系列团队和领导者的架构内进行操作，这也是为什么伏地魔能被击败。邓布利多也是一个领导者，而哈利从他身上学习。反过来，哈利鼓舞其他人去发挥领导力，比如纳威（译者注：即最终砍下蛇头的纳威·隆巴顿）。

Patrina K Birt
Why can a story not just be enjoyed for a story? Why does it have to be pulled apart piece by piece and analysed for all that it did not say or do? Any why on earth does gender and homosexuality have to even figure it in that analysis. Simply ridiculous.

为什么一个故事不能只是作为一个故事来享受呢？为什么要把它抽丝剥茧逐条分析它表明了什么没有表明什么？到底是为什么连性别和同性恋都要在那份分析中出现？单纯是可笑至极。