《少年维特的烦恼·第二部·1771 年 10 月至 1772 年 12 月》第45节
DECEMBER 6. How her image haunts me! Waking or asleep, she fills my entire soul! Soon as I close my eyes, here, in my brain, where all the nerves of vision are concentrated, her dark eyes are imprinted. Here—I do not know how to describe it; but, if I shut my eyes, hers are immediately before me: dark as an abyss they open upon me, and absorb my senses. And what is man—that boasted demigod? Do not his powers fail when he most requires their use? And whether he soar in joy, or sink in sorrow, is not his career in both inevitably arrested? And, whilst he fondly dreams that he is grasping at infinity, does he not feel compelled to return to a consciousness of his cold, monotonous existence?
注释摘要
十二月六日这封信很短，但它的每一个句子都像是一道收紧的绳索。维特在这里写的不是思念，而是被占据——绿蒂的形象已经不再是他主动去回忆的对象，而是彻底接管了他内在的视觉机制。他说，只要一闭上眼，她的黑眼睛就在“所有视觉神经汇聚之处”印刻下来。这个生理学的措辞是十八世纪的写法，但它的效果远比“我忘不了她”强烈：爱欲在这里变成了一种神经性的、不由自主的现象，像疾病…