爱伦坡：作家化身室内设计评论家
在短篇小说《兰多的小屋》中，作者埃德加·爱伦·坡描绘了在纽约拥有一个自己的小屋这样一幅理想的图景。他敬小慎微的细节描写有时甚至让人厌烦，但也有只用一个简短的段落来描写小屋的家具陈设：
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Landor’s Cottage,” the author paints an idealized picture of his own New York Cottage. He [describes the building] in painstaking--some might even say excruciating--detail, but Poe also devotes a short paragraph to cottage’s furnishings:
地板上铺着一块印染地毯，有着华丽的纹理，白色的底色上面装饰着一个个绿色的圆点。窗帘是一块雪白色薄纱:这块薄纱饱满工整的挂着，也许为了显得正统，窗帘的边缘刚刚到触及地面——与地板轻柔的交界。墙上的法国壁纸选用的很有品位——银色的壁纸上若隐若现的绿色细线交织相映。墙上显空的地方挂着的三幅朱利安所制的精美石版画…其中一幅图纸是东方的奢华场面,或者说是骄奢淫逸的场面；另一幅描绘了一个无比热闹的狂欢节；第三幅是一个希腊女性头像——她貌若天仙，但仔细观看时，她的表情却表现出一种痛苦与迷茫。
“On the floor was an ingrain carpet, of excellent texture - a white ground, spotted with small circular green figures. At the windows were curtains of snowy white jaconet muslin: they were tolerably full, and hung decisively, perhaps rather formally, in sharp, parallel plaits to the floor - just to the floor. The walls were papered with a French paper of great delicacy - a silver ground, with a faint green cord running zig-zag throughout. Its expanse was relieved merely by three of Julien’s exquisite lithographs….One of these drawings was a scene of Oriental luxury, or rather voluptuousness; another was a ‘carnival piece,’ spirited beyond compare; the third was a Greek female head - a face so divinely beautiful, and yet of an expression so provokingly indeterminate, never before arrested my attention.”
这段描写与爱伦坡小屋里实际拥有的斯巴达式的家具装饰不太相似，也不可能符合他那个时代室内装饰的潮流。然而，这段文字显示出了爱伦坡的个人品味和对室内设计独到的见解，并记录在了于1840年5月正式发行的《伯顿的绅士》杂志里，他那权威、幽默而又充满自信的设计评论版面”家具的哲学”中。
This description doesn’t exactly match with the spartan furnishings that currently fill Poe’s cottage, nor is it likely that it corresponds with its decoration during Poe’s residency. However, it does line up exactly with Poe’s personal tastes and his very strong opinions on interior design, which he described in his authoritative, humorous, and confidently written piece of design criticism “The Philosophy of Furniture,” originally published in the May 1840 issue of Burton’s Gentlemen’s Magazine.
在爱伦坡看来,英式公寓的内部装修才能显现真正的好品位。其他类型的装潢都是难以接受的。以极大的智慧,他谴责中国、俄国、西班牙、法国、以及意大利人的审美“除了对大理石和颜色的应用外没有任何可取之处。”对于荷兰风格，爱伦坡的意见是“他们似乎没有正确的意识到，窗帘布可不是卷心菜叶。”但是爱伦坡认为没有比美国人更糟的审美了。因为历史上缺乏贵族可以膜拜和模仿，美国人的家具陈设充满一股“拜金主义”的味道。
In Poe’s view, the interior of the English apartment is the pinnacle of good taste. Everything else is hardly tolerable. With great wit, Poe decries the aesthetic tastes of the Chinese, Russian, Spanish, French, Italians, who “have but little sentiment beyond marbles and colours and Dutch, who in Poe’s opinion, “ have merely a vague idea that a curtain is not a cabbage.” But no culture has worse taste than Americans. Poe believes that because there’s no aristocracy to imitate or aspire to, Americans created an “aristocracy of dollars” resulting in a display of wealth in lieu of a display of taste.
同其他优秀的批评家一样，爱伦坡不光光批判，还会提供具体的改进方案。他描述了理想中的房间里，每一件家具，每幅画，每块布都能共同创造出和谐的空间感。而一切的起始点源于地毯。地毯的选择是非常重要的。它是房间的灵魂，它的颜色，厚度和设计影响一切 —— 他认为“普通人也能当法官，但是，只有天才才能正确的评判地毯选择的对错。”当然，一个完美的房间不仅仅光靠块好地毯。这块地毯还必须承担起“能最好的适应家具的调整与变化。”爱伦坡喜欢能看向阳台上的整面墙的大落地窗，下面一段就能简单的体现出爱伦坡对“家具哲学“的见解：
Like any good critic, Poe doesn’t just condemn, he offers solutions. He describes his ideal room, a place where every piece of furniture, every painting, and every fabric work together to create a harmonic space. And it all begins with the carpet. Carpet selection is of paramount importance. It is the soul of the room, for its color, thickness, and design influence everything else - “A judge at common law may be an ordinary man,” says Poe, “a good judge of a carpet must be a genius.” But an ideal room is more than just carpet of course. It must be shaped to afford “the best (ordinary opportunities for the adjustment of furniture.” Poe prefers “massive” floor- to-ceiling windows that open onto a veranda. What follows is a slightly abbreviated version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Philosophy of Furniture”:
窗户是深红色的有色玻璃，镶嵌在花梨木做成的骨架式结构内，比一般的窗户做的大一些。窗帘内轨道上装饰着按窗户大小；量体裁制的银色窗帘，折叠成一小块松散地悬挂着。外轨道则是一个色彩极其醒目的绯红色丝绸窗帘，搭配以流苏与黄金色网络花纹，和小窗帘同样材质的银色线条。窗帘没有做檐口，但整个结构（用简洁的小窗而不是大窗户，且便于通风） ，镀金材料环绕在房间天花板与地面的交界处。层叠的小窗帘的放开和收起，靠的是一条的黄金线条围绕着的粗绳子，也解决了本身容易打结的问题，没有用到针或其他类似的设备是显而易见的。深红色和金色的色彩 - - 窗帘和条纹的色彩到处丛生，也确立了房间的格调。萨克森羊毛制成的地毯有半英寸厚，并且是相同的绯红色....墙壁上准备了银灰色色调光面纸的，点缀着流行的深红暗色小蔓藤花纹。
Their panes are of a crimson-tinted glass, set in rose-wood framings, more massive than usual. They are curtained within the recess, by a thick silver tissue adapted to the shape of the window, and hanging loosely in small volumes. Without the recess are curtains of an exceedingly rich crimson silk, fringed with a deep network of gold, and lined with silver tissue, which is the material of the exterior blind. There are no cornices; but the folds of the whole fabric (which are sharp rather than massive, and have an airy appearance), issue from beneath a broad entablature of rich gilt-work, which encircles the room at the junction of the ceiling and walls. The drapery is thrown open also, or closed, by means of a thick rope of gold loosely enveloping it, and resolving itself readily into a knot; no pins or other such devices are apparent. The colours of the curtains and their fringe — the tints of crimson and gold — appear everywhere in profusion, and determine the character of the room. The carpet — of Saxony material — is quite half an inch thick, and is of the same crimson ground….The walls are prepared with a glossy paper of a silver gray tint, spotted with small Arabesque devices of a fainter hue of the prevalent crimson.
墙上挂着许多画来减轻空荡感。这些画映射出想象中的场景-—— 如斯坦菲尔德的洞府，或忧郁沼泽的湖泊。当然也少不了三个或四个女性头像所表现出的空灵之美。每张照片的色调都是温暖不黑暗的。没有“令人惊叹的效果。 ”只是让人感觉放松。体积都很小巧。这些小巧的画作给予了房间错落有致的观感，这是许多大型艺术品都不能达到的效果。画框很宽，但不厚，上面有丰富的雕刻，没有金边银边之类的东西。它们本身整个光泽就是金而透亮的，平挂在墙壁上，没有用绳子挂。设计者往为了便于日后使用，令破坏房间整体效果。但一面镜子 —— 不是很大的镜子—— 是可以接受的。几乎是圆形的 造型挂在墙面上，这样的人们在无处可坐的情况下可以站着整理仪表。
Many paintings relieve the expanse of paper. These are chiefly landscapes of an imaginative cast — such as the fairy grottoes of Stanfield, or the lake of the Dismal Swamp of Chapman. There are, nevertheless, three or four female heads, of an ethereal beauty — portraits in the manner of Sully. The tone of each picture is warm, but dark. There are no “brilliant effects.” Repose speaks in all. Not one is of small size. Diminutive paintings give that spotty look to a room, which is the blemish of so many a fine work of Art overtouched. The frames are broad but not deep, and richly carved, without being dulled or filagreed. They have the whole lustre of burnished gold. They lie flat on the walls, and do not hang off with cords. The designs themselves are often seen to better advantage in this latter position, but the general appearance of the chamber is injured. But one mirror — and this not a very large one — is visible. In shape it is nearly circular — and it is hung so that a reflection of the person can be obtained from it in none of the ordinary sitting-places of the room.
两个铺有深红色丝绸的大型花梨木矮沙发上面装饰着黄金花纹，另外两个谈话椅子也是花梨木。有一个钢琴（还是花梨木做的） ，没盖琴键盖，后盖也敞开着。一个八角形的表，装饰有丰富的黄金线条和大理石面板，放在靠近沙发的墙面上。这也是无盖 - 窗帘的布料一直被认为足够。四大而华丽的塞弗尔花瓶，其中一个绽放的甜蜜和生动的花朵，占据了房间的略显局促的角度。一个高大的烛台，承载着盛放着灯油的小古董灯，放在靠近我熟睡了的朋友的头边不远。轻盈曼妙且有着金色的边缘和深红色的丝绸线与金流苏装饰的书架上，放着两三百本精装书。除了这些东西，没有别的家具了，除非把一个阿尔干灯也计算在内，灯壳是普通的深红色调的毛玻璃，用一根金色铁链吊在拱形天花板上，为房间洒下安静而神奇的光芒。
Two large low sofas of rosewood and crimson silk, gold-flowered, form the only seats, with the exception of two light conversation chairs, also of rose-wood. There is a pianoforte (rose-wood, also), without cover, and thrown open. An octagonal table, formed altogether of the richest gold-threaded marble, is placed near one of the sofas. This is also without cover — the drapery of the curtains has been thought sufficient.. Four large and gorgeous Sevres vases, in which bloom a profusion of sweet and vivid flowers, occupy the slightly rounded angles of the room. A tall candelabrum, bearing a small antique lamp with highly perfumed oil, is standing near the head of my sleeping friend. Some light and graceful hanging shelves, with golden edges and crimson silk cords with gold tassels, sustain two or three hundred magnificently bound books. Beyond these things, there is no furniture, if we except an Argand lamp, with a plain crimson-tinted ground glass shade, which depends from the lofty vaulted ceiling by a single slender gold chain, and throws a tranquil but magical radiance over all.
摘自译言：http://select.yeeyan.org/view/177445/397893
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