I never had any intention of becoming a novelist — at least not until I turned 29. This is absolutely true.

我一直無意當小說家，至少在我滿29歲之前。這絕對是真的。

I read a lot from the time I was a little kid, and I got so deeply into the worlds of the novels I was reading that it would be a lie if I said I never felt like writing anything. But I never believed I had the talent to write fiction.

從小，我博覽群籍，而且常不自覺深入我所讀小說的世界。如果說，我從來不想寫任何東西，那是騙人的，但我從不相信，我有任何天分可寫小說。

In my teens I loved writers like Dostoyevsky, Kafka and Balzac, but I never imagined I could write anything that would measure up to the works they left us. And so, at an early age, I simply gave up any hope of writing fiction. I would continue to read books as a hobby, I decided, and look elsewhere for a way to make a living.

我十來歲時喜歡杜斯妥也夫斯基、卡夫卡和巴爾札克等作家，但我從不敢想像，我能寫出一些東西，和他們傳世之作媲美。因此，在我早年，根本對寫小說不抱任何希望。但我繼續看書，把它當成一種嗜好，我當時決定另闢蹊徑謀生。

The professional area I settled on was music. I worked hard, saved my money, borrowed a lot from friends and relatives, and shortly after leaving the university I opened a little jazz club in Tokyo. We served coffee in the daytime and drinks at night. We also served a few simple dishes. We had records playing constantly, and young musicians performing live jazz on weekends. I kept this up for seven years. Why For one simple reason: It enabled me to listen to jazz from morning to night.

我相中的職業是音樂。我努力工作存錢，還向親朋好友借了不少錢。大學畢業後不久，我在東京開了一家小爵士樂俱樂部，白天賣咖啡，晚上賣飲料，另外供應幾樣便餐。我們常放唱片，周末還請年輕音樂家現場演奏。店開了七年，為什麼？只為一個簡單的理由：我可以從早到晚聽爵士樂。

I had my first encounter with jazz in 1964 when I was 15. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers performed in Kobe in January that year, and I got a ticket for a birthday present. This was the first time I really listened to jazz, and it bowled me over. I was thunderstruck. I think it was one of the strongest units in jazz history. I had never heard such amazing music, and I was hooked.

1964年，我第一次接觸爵士樂，當時我15歲。那年一月，由亞特．布雷基所領導的「爵士使者」樂團到神戶演奏，有人送我一張入場券當生日禮物。那是我第一次認真聽爵士樂，我完全被征服了。我如遭雷殛，呆若木雞。我認為，這是爵士史上最強的樂團，我從沒聽過這麼棒的音樂，我深深著迷。

When I turned 29, all of a sudden out of nowhere I got this feeling that I wanted to write a novel — that I could do it. I couldn't write anything that measured up to Dostoyevsky or Balzac, of course, but I told myself it didn't matter. I didn't have to become a literary giant.

我滿29歲那年，忽然沒來由的，我覺得，我很想寫一本小說，而且我可以辦到。當然，我不可能寫出杜斯妥也夫斯基或巴爾札克那種水平的東西，但我告訴自己，沒關係，我不一定要當文學巨擘。

Still, I had no idea how to go about writing a novel or what to write about. I had absolutely no experience, after all, and no ready-made style at my disposal. I didn't know anyone who could teach me how to do it, or even friends I could talk with about literature. My only thought at that point was how wonderful it would be if I could write like playing an instrument.

但我對如何開始下筆寫小說，或寫些什麼題材，毫無概念。畢竟，我壓根兒沒經驗，也沒有現成的風格可茲運用。我不認識任何人可以教我怎麼寫，甚至也沒有朋友可以談談文學。當時我唯一的想法是：如果可以像玩一種樂器那樣寫作該有多棒。

I had practiced the piano as a kid, and I could read enough music to pick out a simple melody, but I didn't have the kind of technique it takes to become a professional musician. Inside my head, though, I did often feel as though something like my own music was swirling around in a rich, strong surge. I wondered if it might be possible for me to transfer that music into writing. That was how my style got started.

小時，我曾學鋼琴，我可以讀譜，哼哼簡單的旋律，但我欠缺那種成為職業音樂家的技巧。但在我腦海中，我常常覺得好像有某種類似我自己的音樂，正豐富多采強力的湧現打轉。我常想，可不可能把那種音樂轉化為文學創作，我的風格也因此有了雛形。

Whether in music or in fiction, the most basic thing is rhythm. Your style needs to have good, natural, steady rhythm, or people won't keep reading your work. I learned the importance of rhythm from music — and mainly from jazz. Next comes melody — which, in literature, means the appropriate arrangement of the words to match the rhythm. If the way the words fit the rhythm is smooth and beautiful, you can't ask for anything more. Next is harmony — the internal mental sounds that support the words. Then comes the part I like best: free improvisation. Through some special channel, the story comes welling out freely from inside. All I have to do is get into the flow. Finally comes what may be the most important thing: that high you experience upon completing a work — upon ending your "performance" and feeling you have succeeded in reaching a place that is new and meaningful. And if all goes well, you get to share that sense of elevation with your readers (your audience). That is a marvelous culmination that can be achieved in no other way.

不管是音樂或小說，最根本的是節奏。你的風格要有優質、自然、穩定的節奏，否則別人不會一直讀你的作品。我從音樂，尤其是爵士樂上學會節奏的重要性。其次是旋律，在文學上意指文字的適當安排以產生節奏感。如果文學的節奏平順優美，你就別無他求了。其次是和諧，也就是可以撐起文字的心智內部的聲音。接著是我最愛的部分：自由即興創作。透過某種特定的管道，故事從內心深處自然湧現，我只要跟著律動走。最後也許是最重要的東西：那種完成一件作品時的亢奮情緒，在完成你的「演奏」，同時覺得你已經成功達到一個有意義的新境界。而如果一切進行順利，你可以和讀者（或聽眾）分享那種昇華的感覺，那是一種無與倫比的高潮，不可能以其他方式完成。

Practically everything I know about writing, then, I learned from music. It may sound paradoxical to say so, but if I had not been so obsessed with music, I might not have become a novelist. Even now, almost 30 years later, I continue to learn a great deal about writing from good music.

我對寫作所知的一切，幾乎全部都學自音樂。這麼說，聽來好像自相矛盾，似是而非，但如果不是這麼迷音樂，我也許就當不了小說家。即使是30年後的今天，我仍然從好音樂學到很多。


《詞解》
bowled over 征服
thunderstruck 驚呆了
hooked 深深著迷
out of nowhere 沒來由的
literary giant 文學巨擘
ready-made 現成的
swirling around 打轉
improvisation 即興創作
levation 昇華
culmination 高潮
paradoxical 似是而非
obsessed with 著迷
overtones 言外之意
reassuring 令人欣慰
fertile territories 沃土