科比vs詹姆斯一对一:奥斯卡·王尔德：《道林·格雷的画像》

The Preface

The artist is the creator of beautiful things.  To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.  The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.  Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming.  This is a fault.

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated.  For these there is hope.  They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.  Books are well written, or badly written.  That is all.

The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.

The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. 

The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. 

No artist desires to prove anything.  Even things that are true can be proved. 

No artist has ethical sympathies.  An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.

No artist is ever morbid. 

The artist can express everything. 

Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.  Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art. 

From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician.  From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. 

All art is at once surface and symbol. 

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.  Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. 

When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. 

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. 

The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

《道林·格雷的画像》

序言

艺术家是美丽事物的创造者，艺术的目标是在揭示艺术的同时隐匿艺术家。批评家是这样一个人，他可以把其对美丽事物的印象译为另一种形式或材料。

最低级的批评形式中，自传是其最高的表达模式。那些在美丽事物里找出丑恶意义的人，不但腐朽，而且没有动人之力。这是一个缺陷。

那些在美丽事物中看到美丽意义的，是有涵养的人。对于他们，存在着希望。对这些少数中选者而言，美丽事物只意味着美。

合乎道德的书籍，不合乎道德的书籍，世界上根本没有那样的东西。书籍只分两种；写得好的，与写得糟的，仅此而已。

憎恶现实主义的十九世纪，是在镜子里看见自己面孔的卡力斑的狂怒。

憎恶浪漫主义的十九世纪，是在镜子里看不见自己面孔的卡力斑的狂怒。

人的道德生活，是艺术家主体素材的一部分，但是艺术的道德成就于对不完美素材的完美运用之中。

艺术家没有证明什么的欲望，尽管真实的事物可以得到证明。

艺术家没有对伦理的同情。艺术家体现出的伦理同情心，不过是风格上的装腔作势，不可饶恕。

艺术家绝不会对伤残病腐津津乐道。

艺术家可以表现一切事物。

思想和语言是艺术家的艺术工具。恶习与美德是艺术家的素材。

从形式的观点，音乐家的艺术是所有艺术的典范；从情感的观点，演员的技巧是所有艺术的典范。

所有的艺术，既是表面，也是符号。

那些深入到表面之下的，请自担风险；那些解读符号的，也请自担风险。

艺术不是生活的镜像，而是观者的镜像。

一件艺术作品激起了各式各样的意见，表明这个作品具有新颖性、多重性、和关键性。

批评家意见不能同一的时候，正是艺术家与其自我相谐的时候。

我们可以原谅一个人制造一件有用的物件，只要他不去欣赏爱慕那个物件。

而制造无用物件的唯一借口，就是那个物件令人极其欣赏爱慕。

所有的艺术都十分没用。

奥斯卡·王尔德写于1891年3月，顾晓澄译于2011年1月3日。