巴黎石造圖書館 建築奇蹟

【In Libraries, Miracles of Stone／MICHAEL KIMMELMAN／陳世欽譯】

“Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light,” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is elegant and astringent, like Labrouste’s work. The name may not be familiar, but don’t let that stop you from seeing the show. It is gorgeous.

紐約現代藝術博物館正在舉行「亨利‧拉布魯斯特：揭開結構的面紗」特展，這次展覽既優雅且內斂，一如拉布魯斯特的作品。拉布魯斯特這個名字也許聽來並不耳熟，然而千萬不要因此而錯過了這項展覽。它非常值得一看。

Labrouste died in 1875, at 74, having left behind two of the great buildings of the 19th century, the Biblioth?que Ste.-Genevi?ve and the Biblioth?que Nationale, miracles of stone, iron and glass construction in Paris.

拉布魯斯特卒於1875年，在世74載，為世人留下二棟19世紀的偉大建築物，分別是巴黎的聖日內瓦圖書館，以及同樣在巴黎的國家圖書館。它們是結合石塊、鐵及玻璃的建築奇蹟。

There are wonderful touches , including the drafting tables, fashioned after Labrouste’s furniture designs at Ste.- Genevi?ve, on which drawings are displayed. They’re ideal for studying works on paper.

奇妙的觸感隨處可見，包括仿拉布魯斯特的聖日內瓦圖書館家具設計風格的草圖桌。這些桌子展示一些製圖，非常適合研究紙上作品。

I’m sorry we don’t see more in the way of buildings aside from the libraries. Labrouste designed private residences in various traditional styles. The implication of their absence — that, forced to earn a living, he took on commissions — would belie his reputation for intransigence. A sober and proud man, he bowed to nobody.

除了這兩座圖書館外，我們並沒有欣賞到什麼其他的建築，這一點讓我感到遺憾。拉布魯斯特曾經設計各具不同傳統風格的私人宅邸，展覽中少了這些作品（他迫於生計而接受了這些委託設計案），勢必會掩飾他絕不妥協的令譽。他冷靜而自持，從不向任何人屈服。

What we get at the Modern is pretty much the Labrouste whom the critic Sigfried Giedion identified the better part of a century ago as a proto-modernist engineer-architect, a pioneer of iron construction. While that resonates Labrouste seems at least as interesting today for the complexity of his thinking. In our era of starchitects he makes an instructive case for his unwillingness to compromise and his unorthodox hybrid aesthetic, which married industry to classicism.

我們在現代藝術館看到的拉布魯斯特，很像知名建築評論家吉迪恩在半個多世紀以前說的，是個原始現代主義者、工程師兼建築師，以及鐵結構建築的先驅。這會引起共鳴，而拉布魯斯特思考極為複雜這個特點，也使得他在今日至少同樣耐人尋味。在明星級建築師當道的今天，他不輕易妥協的性格，以及結合工業與古典風格的非傳統綜合美學觀，極具啟發性。

The gravity of Ste.-Genevi?ve’s exterior comes from the minimalism of its design: unbroken ledges run the length of the long facade at the cornice and between the two floors, with simple stone garlands seemingly strung from the lower ledge over iron roundels, or knobs. Unadorned arched windows make the only breaks in the wall along the ground floor, save for the front door.

聖日內瓦圖書館外表的莊嚴源自設計上的極簡風格：連續不間斷的壁架（窗台）沿著整個長立面的飛簷在二層樓之間展開，簡單的石質花冠看似掛在比較低的壁架，下面是鐵製小圓窗或圓形裝飾物。除了正門，無裝飾的拱窗在一樓的牆面構成僅有的缺口。

The facade’s upper story, predicting the architecture of the reading room that it encloses, presents a shallow arcade of arches containing a grid of plaques inscribed with the names of 810 writers. They are listed in rows beneath the large lunette windows, the reading room’s clerestories. Like those among the garlands below, the roundels in the spandrels between the windows are bolts and tie rods for the floor trusses and the vaults of the iron structure inside. Labrouste, in effect, makes the structural skeleton of the building its decorative motif.

立面的上面一層樓預示它所包圍的閱覽室的結構，同時呈現一些拱門共同構成的淺拱廊。它包含一些飾板，上面刻有810位作家的姓名。它們在巨大的半圓窗與閱覽室的高窗下成排列出。就像底下花冠之間的小圓窗，窗與窗之間的上下層窗間牆面小圓窗有如樓層桁架與內部鐵結構拱頂的螺栓桿。事實上，拉布魯斯特使整棟建築的結構骨架成為它的裝飾主題。

Achille Hermant, a young French architect, found the results cold. “The character of a building is not measured only by the use for which it is intended,” he wrote. “Everything that is true is not necessarily beautiful.”

法國的年輕建築師艾爾曼認為，如此呈現的效果極為冰冷。他在一篇評論文章中指出：「一棟建築物的特色不只根據它的用途評斷。一切真實的事物不見得都美麗。」

After Ste.-Genevi?ve, Labrouste labored for the last 21 years of his life on the Biblioth?que Nationale, its square reading room a light-bathed hive of nine domes hovering atop a forest of 10-meter-high thin iron columns. Where windows don’t pierce the upper walls, painted landscapes elaborate on the pastoral theme, with the iron vault of the book stacks, also skylighted, visible to readers through a tall glass wall and separated by a monumental archway.

結束聖日內瓦圖書館的設計工作之後，拉布魯斯特在他生前最後21年的歲月中潛心設計國家圖書館。它的正方形閱覽室有9個浸在光線中的圓頂，底下有許多高度各是10公尺的薄鐵柱。在窗戶並未穿過上層牆壁的部位，風景畫生動呈現田園的主題。閱覽的民眾可以透過一道以一條巨大拱廊區隔的玻璃高牆，清楚看到同樣有天窗的大書架上方鐵製拱形天花板。

Labrouste dedicated most of his working life, on a government wage, to works of public architecture. He transcended materials to arrive at functional buildings of an ethereal delicacy. Nothing was too small for his attention. After 12 years Ste.- Genevi?ve came in under budget. Labrouste told the minister in charge the news and won permission to switch out the castiron front door for a bronze one. A perfectionist to the last.

拉布魯斯特領官方薪俸，把他畢生的多數工作生命投注於設計公共建築物。他超越有形的材料，創造具有飄逸精緻特質的功能性建築物。任何細節都逃不過他銳利的雙眼。聖日內瓦圖書館歷12年完工，預算還有剩餘。拉布魯斯特向主管的部長級官員說明這件事，最後獲准換掉鑄鐵大門，改用銅質大門。他自始至終都是一位完美主義者。

【2013-03-26/聯合報】

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分手的痛 app幫你療癒

【By NATALIE KITROEFF／陳世欽譯】

At least in the old days lovers could split, move on and retain their dignity. Now, in the age of social media, extrication is nearly impossible. The pain of a breakup is nourished by an endless realtime stream of Facebook status updates, Instagram photos and tweets about one’s ex.

至少在以往，情侶分手後，還可以繼續過自己的生活，並且保有尊嚴。然而在當今這個社群媒體當道的時代，徹底解脫卻幾乎是不可能的事。分手的痛苦因為無止盡的臉書即時狀況更新、Instagram照片及有關當事人前情侶的推文而揮之不去。

Until recently, anyone with two fingers and a smartphone was subjected to this kind of self-torture. But new apps and Web sites created to ease the pain of breakups may be changing that.

直到不久之前，任何人只要有2根手指及一支智慧手機，就都難逃這種自找的折磨。然而可用於紓解分手痛苦的新興應用程式及網站可能已經開始改變這種局面。

One is Killswitch, a mobile app that promises to “seamlessly and discreetly remove all traces of your ex from your Facebook.”

其中之一是手機應用程式Killswitch。它號稱可以「天衣無縫且謹慎地清除個人臉書帳戶中前情侶的一切痕跡」。

Erica Mannherz, 28, who created the app with her friend, Clara de Soto, 27, said the app reduces the bitter taste of a breakup. The two women, who live in New York, came up with the idea after seeing a friend go through breakup after breakup online.

28歲的艾莉卡‧曼赫茲與她27歲的好友卡蕾拉‧迪索托共同設計了這個應用程式。她說，這個應用程式能夠減輕分手產生的痛苦。住在紐約的她倆目睹一名友人一再與網路情人分手，情緒隨即陷入低潮後，想到了這個點子。

“The poor girl, her Facebook profile was a minefield of elements of her defunct relationship,” Ms. de Soto said.

迪索托說：「可憐的女孩。她的臉書檔案是她那段已終結關係的點點滴滴構成的地雷區。」

Ms. de Soto said the app is the digital version of throwing an ex’s gifts and belongings into the trash, something she has her fair share of experience with. “I’ve seen Clara’s ex-boyfriend boxes, and they aren’t pretty,” Ms. Mannherz confirmed.

迪索托指出，這個應用程式有如「把前情人贈送的禮物及他的個人物品丟入垃圾桶」的數位版。她個人也有過相同的經驗。曼赫茲說：「我看過克蕾拉的前男友訊息視窗。還真不好看。」

But being connected to so many people across a web of overlapping social networks means that “defriending” or “unfollowing” people rarely removes them completely from your virtual world.

然而在重疊的社群網絡與這麼多人連結意味的是，將某人「從好友名單刪除 」或「取消對他的關注」其實很難把對方完全逐出妳的虛擬世界。

“It was a lot easier before because you could actually achieve out of sight, out of mind,” Ms. de Soto said, “but you can’t do that online.” For proof that the need is real, walk into any bar and listen in on a conversation between 20-somethings. It’s almost certain that at some point, the fateful question will be asked aloud: “Should I text him?”

迪索托說：「以前事情容易得多，因為妳可以真正做到眼不見，心不煩。在網路上這可辦不到。」若想證明這種需求千真萬確，不妨走進一家酒吧，聽聽20來歲年輕人之間的對話。幾乎可以確定，在某一時刻一定會有人大聲問道：「我是不是該傳個簡訊給他？」

For extra support, an app developed by the Brazilian soft drink company Guaran? Antarctica called the Ex-Lover Blocker, also tries to tackle the impulse to reconnect. Anytime you try to call an ex, the app sends a text message to your closest friends so they can come to your rescue before you make a tragic mistake. The app also posts an update on Facebook alerting the world of your imminent transgression.

巴西瓜納拉飲料公司推出的應用程式Ex-Lover Blocker（舊愛阻絕者）會設法消弭用戶再與前情人連絡的衝動。每當妳打算連絡前男友時，它就會傳簡訊給妳幾個最要好的朋友，使她們得以在妳鑄下大錯之前，及時拉妳一把。它也會在臉書張貼更新訊息，針對妳可能越界的狀況示警。

“It’s kind of like, hey, if you call him everyone is going to see on Facebook how weak you were,” said Marco Versolato, 46, of DDB Brasil, the S?o Paulo-based advertising agency that created the app . “Self-control depends on the person but when you’re not emotionally stable you can use the Ex-Lover Blocker’s help as friend.”

這個應用程式由聖保羅的DDB巴西廣告公司研發，該公司的46歲創意總監維爾索拉托說：「這有點像，嘿，如果妳連絡他，大家都會在臉書上看到妳是何其軟弱。自制繫於個人，然而如果妳情緒處於不穩定狀態，可以借助於Ex-Lover Blocker。」

Annabel Acton, 29, had a different approach in mind when she started Never Liked It Anyway, a Web site on which spurned lovers can sell gifts from their exes that are too painful to keep. “I think it’s very cathartic,” said Ms. Acton, who lives in New York.

網站Never Liked It Anyway（反正從來就不喜歡它）專供網友拍賣留在身邊徒增痛苦的前情人禮物。29歲的安娜貝兒‧艾克頓開辦它時，想法不同。住在紐約的艾克頓說：「我認為，它很有宣洩淨化的作用。」

Bettye Dewey, 29, of Euclid, Ohio, needed to move on after divorcing her multimillionaire husband two years ago. She had discovered that he was having an affair — and buying another woman duplicates of gifts he bought for Ms. Dewey.

29歲的貝蒂‧杜威住在俄亥俄州尤克里德，2年前與富豪丈夫離婚後，必須繼續如常生活。她發現他有外遇，而且為另一個女人購買的禮物與送給她的一模一樣。

After they split, Ms. Dewey was left with a pile of Louis Vuitton purses, Dolce and Gabbana dresses and Chanel jewelry that she didn’t want to throw away, but couldn’t bear to look at. So when she found Never Liked It Anyway, she was thrilled.

離婚後的杜威留有一堆路易威登錢包、Dolce & Gabbana洋裝與香奈兒珠寶。她不想丟掉，睹之又情無以堪。發現Never Liked It Anyway時她很興奮。

“I mean, cathartic isn’t even the word,” she said. “I feel like I am puking this stuff out of my life.”

她說：「我的意思是，『宣洩淨化』還不足以形容那種感覺。我感覺好像已經把這些東西嘔出自己的生命之外。」

【2013-03-26/聯合報】

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