How Britain’s Public-School Tradition Shaped Christopher Hitchens
A Reading Note on the Two Chapters 《教育的碎片》 and 《剑桥》 in 《希钦斯回忆录》(Hitch-22)
The far-right headmaster gave Hitchens Lytton Strachey’s 《维多利亚名人传》 and Marx and Engels’s 《共产党宣言》, hoping that after reading them he would become “immune” to radical ideas. The headmaster believed that reading could be directed toward a predetermined conclusion, but things turned out otherwise. Some of the books that later helped Hitchens understand war and politics were in fact ones he had read at public school. When writing about the origins of his own thought, he could not leave this period of public-school life out.
那位立场极右的校长把利顿·斯特雷奇的《维多利亚名人传》和马克思、恩格斯的《共产党宣言》交给希钦斯，希望他读过以后能对激进思想产生“免疫”。校长相信阅读可以被引向预定的结论，结果却事与愿违。后来帮助希钦斯理解战争和政治的书，有些恰是在公学里读到的。写自己的思想来历，他没法绕过这段公学生活。
The library at The Leys subscribed to 《新政治家》 and also displayed a Fabian Society pamphlet advocating the abolition of public schools. Hitchens also borrowed Hanged by the Neck, a work opposing capital punishment co-authored by Koestler and C. H. Rolph, from the small library in his boarding house; it was this book that led him to seek out more of Koestler, and before long he was reading 《正午的黑暗》 repeatedly. During the same period, Owen changed his view of war, while the anxieties of family life in Orwell’s writing made him recognize the environment in which he had grown up. The school offered more than books. During the mock election, the school still allowed a Labour Party representative to attend and also allowed a communist to stand as a candidate, although most students at the school supported the Conservatives. The school also held writing competitions. Hitchens won the Thomas Essay Prize and had hopes of entering Oxford. In addition, he and his friends set up 《评论》 themselves. Taking advantage of The Leys’s proximity to Cambridge, they took off their school ties to attend lectures, read, and discuss. The public-school environment made it possible for him to experience university life before formally leaving school.
Get Rolando Alex’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
莱斯的图书馆订有《新政治家》，还陈列着一册主张废除公学的费边社小册子。希钦斯又从宿舍的小图书室借到凯斯特勒与 C. H. 罗尔夫合著的反死刑著作 Hanged by the Neck；正是这本书使他开始追读凯斯特勒，不久便反复阅读《正午的黑暗》。同一时期，欧文改变了他对战争的看法，奥威尔笔下的家庭焦虑则使他感受到了自己的成长环境。学校提供的也不止书本。模拟选举时，学校仍允许工党代表到场，也让一名共产主义者参加竞选，但是校内多数学生支持保守党。学校还举办写作比赛，希钦斯拿到托马斯论文奖，有望进入牛津。此外，他和朋友自己办起来了《评论》。他们利用莱斯紧邻剑桥的便利，摘掉校领带去听课、去阅读、去讨论。公学的环境给他提供了，在正式离校前先体验大学生活的可能。
Public school had its limits too. When Hitchens wanted to withdraw from the cadet corps, he first had to obtain his housemaster’s permission. He explained his reasons to the housemaster and also promised that no other students would follow his example, after which he was permitted to do community service instead. If others had actually followed his example and refused, would the school still have allowed them to withdraw? When his relationship with Guy was exposed, the two of them might, under the old rules, have faced public scandal and expulsion. Their teachers pleaded on their behalf on the grounds that they had hopes of entering Oxford, and they were ultimately allowed to remain at school. Here one can also see a division within public school: the literary standing of Owen and Auden could be acknowledged, while the homosexuality of the two poets had to be kept out of the classroom; same-sex behavior between students could occur only in secret, and they could not openly acknowledge their identities and relationships. Years later, Hitchens used “Athens” and “Jerusalem” to explain this conflict. In his explanation, “Athens” could accommodate the complexities of love and desire, while “Jerusalem” demanded abstinence, obedience, and sacrifice. Hitchens was not always the rebel. At an earlier school, he had fended off bullying with words but, in order to escape, pushed a weaker, odder child in front of the bullies. He later felt ashamed of this. This process showed both how his environment shaped him and how he grew.
公学也有自己的边际。当希钦斯想要退出少年军训团，必须先得到舍监同意。他向舍监说明理由，还保证不会有其他学生跟着效仿，随后获准改做社会服务。假如当时真有人跟着拒绝，学校是否还会准许他们退出呢？当他和盖伊的关系暴露后，按照过去的规矩，两人可能面对公开丑闻和开除。教师以他们有望进入牛津为由求情，他们最终得以留校。这里也能看出公学里的分割：欧文和奥登的文学地位可以得到承认，两位诗人的同性恋身份需要被排除在课堂之外；学生之间的同性行为只能秘密发生，他们也不能公开承认自己的身份与关系。多年后，希钦斯用“雅典”与“耶路撒冷”来解释这种冲突。在他的解释中，“雅典”容得下爱与欲望的复杂，“耶路撒冷”要求禁欲、服从和牺牲。希钦斯没有一直站在反抗者的位置上。在更早的学校里，他曾靠语言抵挡欺凌，又为了脱身，把一个更弱、更怪的孩子推到霸凌者面前。他后来为此羞愧。这一路，见证了环境对他的塑造，也见证了他的成长。
Years later, Hitchens learned from the school website that Mount House Preparatory School had abolished corporal punishment, admitted girls, offered vegetarian food, and provided support for students with learning disabilities. He welcomed these changes but worried that the school might now reward only “self-esteem.” He opposed corporal punishment and compulsory worship and refused to bow to authority, but he was also wary of going to the other extreme – in an environment without challenges, the qualities of endurance, courage, and perseverance might be lost. He believed that an educated person should be able to withstand pressure and judge independently.
多年后，希钦斯从学校网站得知，芒特豪斯预备学校已经取消体罚、接纳女生、提供素食，也照顾有学习障碍的学生。他欢迎这些变化，又担心学校如今可能只会奖赏“自尊”。他反对体罚和强制礼拜，拒绝对权威低头，但是又警惕走向另一个极端 – —缺乏磨炼的环境，丢失了忍耐、勇敢、坚持到底这些品质。他认为一个受过教育者的人，要经得起压力，能够独自判断。
Through life at public school and preparatory school, Hitchens had, before he actually entered university, become accustomed to understanding society, the world, and politics through reading, and had learned to write down his own judgments and explain them clearly; this paved his way to Oxford. This was probably the intellectual source of his later opposition to war, his questioning of religion, and his arguments with authority.
公学及预备学校的生活使希钦斯在真正进入大学以前便习惯从阅读中理解社会、世界与政治，学着把自己的判断写出来、说清楚，为希钦斯铺好了通往牛津的路。这大概是他后来反对战争、质疑宗教、同权威争辩的思想来源吧。
