The longing one day to turn out a book, probably a novel or, less likely, an autobiography, lies close to the center of contemporary aspirations.

渴望有一天出版一本書，無論是小說或較難實現的自傳，成了當代的最大冀望。

This is, at one level, a hugely welcome development, a consequence of widespread literacy, higher educational standards and a proper focus on the power of books to change lives.

在某種程度上，這是我們相當樂見的發展，象徵文學拓展的成果、更高的教育程度，以及相信書本可以改變生活的意識。

But looked at from another angle, it may also, in private, be the result of something more desultory: an epidemic of isolation and loneliness.

但從另一個角度來看，這背後代表的意義也有可能極為荒謬：普遍的孤立與孤獨感。

The army of literary agents, scouts, editors and writing coaches testifies not only to our love of literature, but also, less intentionally, to an unaddressed groundswell of painful solitude.

由文學代理人、書探、編輯和寫作指導組成的軍隊，不僅證明我們對文學的喜愛，也不經意地證明難以言喻的痛苦孤獨。

Reasons for wanting to write are multiple of course, but the structurally simplest option may also be the most pervasive: we write because there is no one in the vicinity who will listen.

當然，想成為作家的理由千百種，但從結構上來說，最直接了當的原因可能是：因為我們身邊沒有人願意傾聽。

We start to long to set down our memories and emotions on a page and to send them out into the wider world because our friends can't be bothered to hear us, because our partners are preoccupied and because it's been agonizingly long since anyone gave us an uninterrupted stretch of time, in which we could be attended to with respect and attention – in short, because we are very lonely.

我們開始渴望在紙上紀錄自己的回憶與情感，散播到寬廣的世界中，因為我們的朋友懶得聽我們說，因為我們的伴侶專心於事業，因為我們對於長時間以來沒有得到全心全意的關注感到苦惱 — 簡單來說，因為我們非常孤單。

Writing, for all that it might begin with experiences of joy or disinterested intellectual fascination, also owes its origins to despair, shame and a lack of someone to cry with.

寫作，雖然可能始於有趣的體驗或對知識的著迷，也可能源於絕望、羞愧或缺乏傾訴對象。

It's when we've screamed a long time for help, and no one came, that we may begin quietly to burn to write a novel instead.

當我們長期大聲求救而沒人協助時，我們可能會默默地埋首於小說寫作中。

Writing can be the presenting solution to a more poignant ambition beneath: to be heard, to be held, to be respected, to have our feelings interpreted and soothed, to be known and appreciated.

寫作可以解決劇烈的潛在渴望：被聆聽、被支持、被尊重、讓我們的感受被解讀與被撫慰或被知曉與被感激。

The French writer, Gustave Flaubert, put it at its simplest: if he had been happy in love at eighteen, he wrote, he would never have wanted to become a writer.

法國作家 Gustave Flaubert 簡單地道出：如果在 18 歲時因被愛圍繞而感到開心，他寫道，他絕對不會想成為作家。

At the start of the West's journey into self-awareness, we meet the figure of Socrates, who puts forward a striking proposition: writing is not what thoughtful people should ideally be doing with their time, he suggests.

在西方探索自我的旅途之初，出現了蘇格拉底這號人物，他提出了令人注目的命題：寫作不是有想法的人該從事的事情，他寫道。

For Socrates, writing is a pale imitation of and replacement for our true vocation, which is that of talking to our fellow human beings, in the flesh, in real time, often with a glass of wine on the table, or while walking to the harbour or doing some exercise in the gym, talking about what really matters.

對蘇格拉底來說，寫作是我們真正職業的膚淺模仿與替代品，模仿在現實生活中與同好拿著酒杯在桌邊相談、在港口散步或在健身房運動時，談論著真正重要的人、事、物。

The birth of literature is, in the Socratic worldview, simply a symptom of social isolation and an indictment of our communities.

蘇格拉底認為，文學的誕生只是社會孤立的象徵及對社會的控訴。

Even if we find literature the finest of substitutes, infinitely better than anything else yet invented, it still pays to recognize that substitute is what it might primarily be, that writing is, in certain ways, an act of very polite and artful revenge on a world too busy to listen, and that we would never develop such fierce, bookish ambitions, if we had not first been let down by those we needed so much to rely upon.

即使我們發現文學是最佳的替代品，勝過其他的發明，仍舊得認清替代品的真正功能，即寫作就某種層面而言，是對對無暇聆聽的世界所採取的有教養且有格調的復仇手段，而且如果我們沒有對仰賴的人失望，我們不會發展出如此強烈的寫作慾望。

A slightly more conscious awareness of writing as compensation may lend us energy to acknowledge our unrequited ache for more visceral forms of contact.

稍微意識到寫作是一種補償，可能會讓我們有勇氣正視我們內心對真心的接觸的渴望。

Whatever the satisfactions of writing alone in bed, we should perhaps not cease so easily to give up on the ecstasies of mutual understanding and sympathy.

無論多喜歡獨自寫作，我們都不該輕易放棄相互理解與憐憫帶來的歡喜。

It's far from easy to write a decent novel. It may be even harder, yet ultimately more rewarding, to learn to locate a circle of true friends.

寫一本不錯的小說並非易事。學習找到真正的朋友圈可能更困難，但長久來說卻更有價值。

A better world might, from this perspective, be one in which we wanted a little less ardently to be writers because we had collectively grown, ever so slightly, better at listening and making ourselves heard.

從這種觀點來看，沒有那麼熱烈地作家慾的世界，可能是更好的世界，因為這表示我們普遍地成為更懂得傾聽和傾訴的人。

Literature's loss might, in the end, be humanity's gain.

文學之失，最終可能是人類之得。

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感謝收看，請訂閱我們的頻道並點擊小鈴鐺以接收通知。

Our book "What is Culture For ?" helps us find compassion, hope and perspective in the arts.

我們出版的《What is Culture For？》可協助我們找到對藝術的同理心、冀望與視角。