Letter Two
Viareggio, near Pisa (Italy)
April 5, 1903
You must pardon me, dear Sir, for waiting until today to gratefully remember your letter of February 24: I have been unwell all this time, not really sick, but oppressed by an influenza-like debility, which has made me incapable of doing anything. And finally, since it just didn't want to improve, I came to this southern sea, whose beneficence helped me once before. But I am still not well, writing is difficult, and so you must accept these few lines instead of your letter I would have liked to send.
Of course, you must know that every letter of yours will always give me pleasure, and you must be indulgent with the answer, which will perhaps often leave you empty-handed; for ultimately, and precisely in the deepest and most important matters, we are unspeakably alone;最深层最重要的，反倒是不可说，不能说，也说不清的--说了就是错，道如此，爱也如此。那种隔断之下，不死的是千古不懈的冲动和努力，欲冲破那孤城的束缚，得片刻完全的会意。and many things must happen, many things must go right, a whole constellation of events must be fulfilled, for one human being to successfully advise or help another. 因缘和合的道理，千丝万缕的线索，少了哪一条都不能成就，我们所睹所臆有多少都被忽略，当然就更没能妥当感恩--成了，以为自己是个啥，败了，怪上天造化上帝佛真主生活爸妈妻子丈夫老板同事朋友或路人甲乙丙--作人要厚道阿，我们对生活很多时候是多么不公平。
Today I would like to tell you just two more things:
Irony: Don't let yourself be controlled by it, especially during uncreative moments. When you are fully creative, try to use it, as one more way to take hold of life. Used purely, it too is pure, and one needn't be ashamed of it; 以赤子之心使用任何工具，都是纯的吧。工具没有好坏善恶高下，而是使用时的意图和目的，如刀可以杀人或是雕出美丽的萝卜花来。but if you feel yourself becoming too familiar with it, if you are afraid of this growing familiarity, then turn to great and serious objects, in front of which it becomes small and helpless. Search into the depths of Things: there, irony never descends - and when you arrive at the edge of greatness, find out whether this way of perceiving the world arises from a necessity of your being. For under the influence of serious Things it will either fall away from you (if it is something accidental), or else (if it is really innate and belongs to you) it will grow strong, and become a serious tool and take its place among the instruments which you can form your art with. 源泉和风格都来自于内部，源自a necessity of one's being, 存在的一部分。不是自己的一部分终究如过眼烟云漂去。
And the second thing I want to tell you today is this:
Of all my books, I find only a few indispensable, and two of them are always with me, wherever I am. They are here, by my side: the Bible, and the books of the great Danish poet Jens Peter Jacobsen. 他推荐的两本不可或缺的书，圣经和Danish poet Jens Peter Jacobsen的书。评价之高，让人震惊，下文将他与罗丹并称为最伟大的艺术家。惭愧无比，Danish poet Jens Peter Jacobsen的作品却是没有读过。Do you know his works? It is easy to find them, since some have been published in Reclam's Universal Library, in a very good translation. Get the little volume of Six Stories by J. P. Jacobsen and his novel Niels Lyhne, and begin with the first story in the former, which is called "Mogens." A whole world will envelop you, the happiness, the abundance, the inconceivable vastness of a world. Live for a while in these books, learn from them what you feel is worth learning, but most of all love them. This love will be returned to you thousands upon thousands of times, whatever your life may become - it will, I am sure go through the while fabric of your becoming, as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys. 他推介的读书方法，浸淫，学习，最重要的是热爱这些书--而这些爱会千百倍回馈。离题一点的感悟是，一切的一切，我们有什么高论高见谁对谁错，有何重要，重要的是“爱", 于人于事于物，无不如此。而凡人如我常常不能忍受矛盾对立同时并存的张力，难敌微妙的“控制”欲望，会投降于矛破盾或盾锉矛的结局。那时“爱”就被意志的或是权力的或是体力或是美貌或是金钱或是其他形式的“实力”争斗所替代--你死我活，你赢我输。“爱”是如此统一的力量，为两极分化的凡人终究不能及，不能领悟受持。
If I were to say who has given me the greatest experience of the essence of creativity, its depths and eternity, there are just two names I would mention: Jacobsen, that great, great poet, and Auguste Rodin, the sculptor, who is without peer among all artists who are alive today. - 那时。现在对Jacobsen无限好奇阿。
And all success upon your path!
Yours,
Rainer Marie Rilke作者: mu 时间: 2006-3-29 17:23
今天才看到..惭愧..
他对Jens Peter Jacobsen评价极高，不知道Jacobsen的中文译名是什么呢？作者: 小香可 时间: 2006-3-31 15:30
冯至译为雅阔布生（印象中）。里尔克对他的书评价极高。可惜不容易找到。
