The Moon And Sixpence 3.3

Some of them weredressed fashionably, and they said they couldn't for the life of them see whyyou should be dowdy just because you had written a novel; if you had a neatfigure you might as well make the most of it, and a smart shoe on a small foothad never prevented an editor from taking your "stuff. " But othersthought this frivolous, and they wore "art fabrics" and barbaricjewelry. The men were seldom eccentric in appearance. They tried to look aslittle like authors as possible. They wished to be taken for men of the world,and could have passed anywhere for the managing clerks of a city firm. Theyalways seemed a little tired. I had never known writers before, and I foundthem very strange, but I do not think they ever seemed to me quite real.

I remember thatI thought their conversation brilliant, and I used to listen with astonishmentto the stinging humour with which they would tear a brother-author to piecesthe moment that his back was turned. The artist has this advantage over therest of the world, that his friends offer not only their appearance and theircharacter to his satire, but also their work. I despaired of ever expressingmyself with such aptness or with such fluency. In those days conversation wasstill cultivated as an art; a neat repartee was more highly valued than thecrackling of thorns under a pot; and the epigram, not yet a mechanicalappliance by which the dull may achieve a semblance of wit, gave sprightlinessto the small talk of the urbane.

这些女人有的衣着入时，她们说她们无论如何也看不出一个人为什么只因为写了一本小说就要穿得邋里邋遢。如果你的身段苗条为什么不能尽量把它显示出来呢？俊俏的小脚穿上时髦的鞋子绝不会妨碍编辑采用你的稿件。但是也有一些人认为这样不够庄重，这些人穿的是艺术性的纺织品，戴着具有蛮荒色调的珠宝装饰。男士们的衣着一般却很少有怪里怪气的。他们尽量不让人看出自己是作家，总希望别人把他们当作是老于世故的人。不论到什么地方，人们都会以为他们是一家大公司的高级办事员。这些人总显出有些劳累的样子。我过去同作家从来没有接触，我发现他们挺奇怪，但是我总觉得这些人不象真实的人物。

我还记得，我总觉得他们的谈话富于机智。他们中的一个同行刚一转身，他们就会把他批评得体无完肤；我总是惊讶不置地听着他们那辛辣刻毒的幽默话。艺术家较之其他行业的人有一个有利的地方，他们不仅可以讥笑朋友们的性格和仪表，而且可以嘲弄他们的著作。他们的评论恰到好处，话语滔滔不绝，我实在望尘莫及。在那个时代谈话仍然被看作是一种需要下功夫陶冶的艺术，一句巧妙的对答比锅子底下噼啪爆响的荆棘①更受人赏识，格言警句当时还不是痴笨的人利用来冒充聪敏的工具，风雅人物的闲谈中随便使用几句会使得谈话妙趣横生。遗憾的是，这些妙言隽语我现在都回忆不起来了。