I just finished watching 84 Charing Cross Road in 1987. The process of watching it is intermittent, sometimes I stop to do something else, it's not that the plot is not attractive (although I did read the Chinese and English versions of the original) , but there are some accumulated emotions in my heart that need to be eased and digested. I think, this is a movie that is especially suitable for me to watch slowly and intermittently, watching their day-to-day life, listening to their letter after letter A letter about buying and selling books, slowly dispelling those words that you want to gulp out but take back when you get to your lips. Even one of Frank's eyes, I can find exactly the same correspondence, yes, their eyes are so similar! He twice asked me if the book 84 Charing Cross Road was good, should I recommend him? What should I say?
Maybe many Chinese people know this book just because they read "Beijing meets Seattle" back then. I don't remember the story of Beijing meeting Seattle. I just remember that 84 Charing Cross Road is regarded as a book lover. The Bible was once popular in China for a while. The Chinese translation I read at the time. The feeling of reading the Chinese translation is a bit like reading an old translation. It has a strange tone, but it seems to be translated like this on purpose, including Helene's sense of humor, which is a foreigner's humor. In addition, it discusses some English literature, which seems to be extraordinarily lively. I should have read half of the book in a hurry and didn't particularly like it.
B asked me for the first time why he happened to be on vacation in Vienna when he was reading the original English version of this book, and his vacation also felt a little different to me than usual. Maybe it's suddenly not the familiar environment we were in class, maybe he doesn't look so serious with a beard, maybe I also think it's a vacation to temporarily break away from the framework of his work and my study. To find a light excuse, it may just be that thunderstorm night in Vienna, the rumble of thunder connected us together, as if across most of the earth, we were spending the same night.
84 Charing Cross Road is a restrained book, probably because it's a true story. The contents of the book are merely correspondence between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, a clerk at the Marks & Co. bookstore, and Frank's wife, Nora. Helene Hanff is a poor American writer who loves books, and Frank Doel is the manager of a second-hand bookstore in the UK. Although he wrote letters for 20 years, most of them are actually about buying and selling books. Readers may be eager to find clues in this novel to prove their love, but they may only be disappointed again and again. Most of the time, they are more like friends. Helene's gift to the clerk of the Marks & Co. bookstore during the material difficulties in Britain after World War II was only her kindness and generosity. Some of the coquettishness and jokes in the letter to Frank sounded just by nature, and she herself is a writer, More of a coat of writing skills. Frank is a typical British gentleman, serious and decent. The changes in his inner emotions may only be seen from the signature, from FPD For MARKS& CO. to Frank Doel to Frank, until the last letter, "Love, Frank." This book has no climax, no ups and downs, no emotional catharsis, and it seems that each of us has a bland and trivial day with the passage of letters. But there is a bit of expectation in this blandness because of the existence of special people and things, just like Helene is always waiting for the money to go to London, her London friends always write to her to tell her that they are looking forward to seeing her, they To arrange the room.
B is my English teacher. I came to the United States from China, looking for a local to practice speaking, and I met him randomly on the Internet, but this American lives in Paris. I forgot it was in the first few lessons, we talked about Japanese literature, that day we talked about Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, "Snow Country", "The Ancient Capital", "Kinkakuji"... Later I translated it again A travel note about Kyoto that he wrote himself was actually a very restrained article, but he told me that he was sorry to hear such a sad story. "Can you feel the sadness inside? I feel like I haven't written anything." "Of course, I can." Slowly, the topic seemed to expand. We talked about trivial life, about marriage and family, about current affairs and politics, and about religion. Philosophy... I wonder how my English level covers all of these areas. Gradually, B became a part of my life. We are still talking about what we have and what we have not. Maybe it’s just what we ate and did today, or one day we suddenly find out that we all like Lost In Translation Excited to discuss the bridges inside. I am reminded of the book 84 Charing Cross Road, people from two different countries with different cultural backgrounds, living on opposite ends of the Atlantic Ocean, connecting only because of work, and only allow themselves because of work. B asked me why I read the original book after reading the Chinese translation, "Do you particularly like this book? Would you recommend me to read it?" "I don't particularly like it, maybe it's just because I think it's filled with letters, which are relatively simple and suitable for use in learn English."
84 Charing Cross Road's movie and book look and feel different, and the movie is directly archived in "biographical drama love". I'm not sure if it's expressed this way accurately, and it's possible that the way the movie is expressed is different from the book. The movie needs a clearer theme and needs to tell the audience a clear story. The book dilutes the background of the times and the personalities of the characters. All our imaginations about Helene and Frank can only be based on those letters. We can only become the protagonists of the story and experience the emotions from the perspective of the parties. But we know that the fans of the authorities, those hidden feelings, those who want to say but can't say it, those who don't know whether it is or not, those who do not know whether it is or not. But the film opens up the audience to God's perspective, to see them as a bystander. I saw Frank's eyes in the movie, and I seem to have seen exactly the same in real life! The only dramatic effect in the movie and book is a letter written by Frank's wife Nora to Helene after Frank's death, "At times I don't mind telling you I was very jealous of you, as Frank so enjoyed your letters and they or some were so like his sense of humor. Also, I envied your writing ability… I miss him so, life was so interesting, he always explaining and trying to teach me something of books. My girls are wonderful and in this I am lucky. I suppose so many like me are all alone." And Helene, finally, came to London after the book 84 Charing Cross Road was published. She and Frank never met, she didn't even see Marks & Co., which was still in business. bookstore. The last letter of the book was written by her to her friend Katherine, "Probably because I have long longed to set foot on that land...I used to watch a lot of British films just to see the streets of London....Selling these The kind person who gave me the good book passed away a few months ago, and the owner of the bookstore, Mr. Marks, is no longer in this world. But the bookstore is still there. If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Street, please bring me one Kiss, I owe it a lot..."
I told B that I had finished watching the English version of 84 Charing Cross Road. "Do you recommend it? Maybe I should check it out too, I know you read a lot, and we read a lot of the same books. I should like what you like." "Maybe. You If you have a chance, you can watch it." I don't know how to answer this question, do I recommend him to watch it? What should I say?
There is a short book review on the back cover of 84 Charing Cross Road. I think it is difficult to find a corresponding translation in Chinese, or like Lost In Translation, when we use the language filter, we may be able to better express our thoughts. "Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a winsome, sentimental friendship based on their mutual love for books."
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