Contradictory Narrators · 矛盾的叙述者
Different narrators know different things
- Some narrators or speakers may provide details and information that others do not or cannot provide.
- Do not and cannot are different: one is a choice, the other a limit.
- So when a detail is missing from one account, ask which of the two it is.
A narrator may omit the missing letter because they never saw it—or because they did.
不同的叙述者知道不同的事
- 有些叙述者或说话者可以提供另一些人不提供、或无法提供的细节与信息。
- "不提供"与"无法提供"是不同的:一个是选择,另一个是限度。
- 因此当某个细节在一份讲述中缺失时,要问它属于哪一种。
叙述者不提那封失踪的信，可能是因为从没见过，也可能恰恰是见过。
"Do not" and "cannot" differ because... · “不会”和“不能”的区别在于……
So when a detail is missing, ask which of the two it is. · 因此，当一个细节缺失时，要问它是上述两种情况中的哪一种。
They may contradict each other
- Multiple narrators or speakers may provide contradictory information in a text.
- Not merely different emphases — contradictory, meaning both cannot be true.
- So a multi-narrator text hands the reader a decision the text itself may decline to make.
他们可能彼此矛盾
- 文本中的多位叙述者或说话者,可能提供彼此矛盾的信息。
- 不只是侧重不同——而是矛盾,意即两者不可能都为真。
- 因此多叙述者的文本,把一个它自己可能拒绝作出的判断交给了读者。
Do not always pick a winner
- The reflex is to decide which narrator is right; often the text has arranged for you not to be able to.
- Where the evidence genuinely does not settle it, saying so is the stronger answer.
- Where it does settle it, say what tipped it — and then say why the other account was told at all.
不要总是评出胜者
- 下意识的反应是判定哪位叙述者说得对;而文本往往有意让你判不出来。
- 在证据确实无法定论之处,把这一点说出来才是更有力的答案。
- 在证据能够定论之处,要说出是什么使天平倾斜——然后说出另一份讲述究竟为何被讲出来。
Cannot, does not, or a contradiction? · 不能、不会还是矛盾？
Sort each gap between two accounts. · 对两个叙述之间的每一个空白处进行排序。
When two narrators contradict each other, you must decide which is right. · 当两个叙述者相互矛盾时，你必须决定哪一方是正确的。
Often the text has arranged for you not to be able to — and saying so is stronger. · 文本通常已经安排好了让你无法做出决定——指出这一点反而更有力量。
Deciding which narrator is right is often the wrong move. Where a text arranges two accounts that cannot both be true and gives you no way to settle it, that undecidability is the design — and a contradiction is evidence about both narrators whether or not the facts are ever resolved.
判定哪位叙述者说得对,往往是错误的一步。当文本安排了两份不可能都为真的讲述、又不给你判定的办法时,这种不可判定正是设计——而无论事实是否被解决,一处矛盾都是关于两位叙述者的证据。
A contradiction is evidence about ____ accounts, whichever turns out to be true. · 矛盾是关于____叙述的证据，无论最终谁是对的。
It tells you what each narrator needed to believe, or needed you to believe. · 它告诉你每个叙述者需要相信什么，或者需要你相信什么。
Use the contradiction to read both narrators
- A contradiction is evidence about both accounts, whichever is true.
- It tells you what each narrator needed to believe, or needed you to believe.
- That is available even when the facts remain undecidable, which is why it is the safer analysis.
用这处矛盾去读两位叙述者
- 无论哪一方为真,一处矛盾都是关于两份讲述的证据。
- 它告诉你每位叙述者需要相信什么,或需要你相信什么。
- 即便事实始终无法判定,这一点依然成立,这正是它是更稳妥之分析的原因。
Select all · 所有 the steps of the multi-narrator pass. · 选择多叙述者分析步骤中的所有项。
Likeability is not evidence. · 讨人喜欢不是证据。
Match each version to what it requires. · 将每个版本与其所需内容进行匹配。
The story is about which version each of them needed. · 这个故事关于他们各自需要的是哪个版本。
A multi-narrator pass
- List what each narrator provides that the other does not, and mark cannot versus does not.
- Find any point where the two contradict.
- Then say what each account's version reveals about the one telling it.
多叙述者检查
- 列出每位叙述者提供了什么而另一位没有,并标出是"无法"还是"不去"。
- 找出两者相互矛盾的任何一处。
- 然后说出每份讲述的版本,揭示了讲述者本人什么。
He says she left without a word; she says she wrote twice. Both cannot be true, and the story never adjudicates. But it does not need to: his version requires her to have been careless, and hers requires him to have been unreachable — and the story is about which of those each of them needed.
他说她一句话也没留就走了;她说她写过两封信。两者不可能都为真,而这个故事从不裁决。但它也不需要:他的版本要求她曾是粗心的,她的版本要求他曾是联系不上的——而这个故事讲的,正是他们各自需要哪一种说法。
Some narrators provide details others do not or cannot — a choice versus a limit. Multiple narrators may provide contradictory information. Do not always pick a winner: a contradiction is evidence about both accounts, revealing what each narrator needed to believe.
有些叙述者提供另一些人不提供、或无法提供的细节——选择与限度之别。多位叙述者可能提供彼此矛盾的信息。不要总是评出胜者:一处矛盾是关于两份讲述的证据,揭示每位叙述者需要相信什么。