送交者: ocean 于 November 30, 2018 04:16:05:[新观察/xgc2000.org]
回答: 说钱钟书的英文不如纳博科夫，这是批评还是吹捧？ 由 城邦 于 November 30, 2018 02:20:05:
纳博科夫"对英语不熟练"。 ^_^ 请看: 纳博科夫访谈①
http://www.zgnfys.com/a/nfwx-48695.shtml
无论是文学成就, 还是英文水平, 钱钟书当然远远不如纳博科夫。
纳博科夫说他自己的英文只能算是二流("a second-rate brand of English")。请看:
"My private tragedy, which cannot, and indeed should not, be anybody's concern, is that I had to abandon my natural idiom, my untrammeled, rich, and infinitely docile Russian tongue for a second-rate brand of English, devoid of any of those apparatuses - the baffling mirror, the black velvet backdrop, the implied associations and traditions - which the native illusionist, frac-tails flying, can magically use to transcend the heritage in his own way."
而钱钟书却自视甚高:
"钱钟书曾大力赞扬林同济的parliamentary English（议会式雄辩英语），称泱泱中国真正精通英文的仅一人半，他本人算一人，剩下的半个就是长江以南的林同济。"
实际上, 根据陆谷孙的评价, 钱钟书的英文最多只是三流。