223 Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s enduring San Francisco

Hi, welcome to English Journal 365.

This is Hu Yuxi.

I will read the 223rd English journal for you.

It’s about a bookstore.


Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s enduring San Francisco
劳伦斯·费林盖蒂心中的旧金山，历久弥新


Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher, painter, social activist and bookstore owner, has been San Francisco’s de facto poet laureate and literary Pied Piper for seven decades. He turns 100 this month, and the city is making preparations to celebrate him in style. Readings and performances and an open house will take place at City Lights, the venerable bookstore he co-founded in 1953.
劳伦斯·费林盖蒂是美国诗人、出版商、画家、社会活动家和书店老板。七十年来，他一直是旧金山名副其实的桂冠诗人和文学界的“花衣魔笛手”。就在本月，费林盖蒂迎来了他的百岁寿辰，整座城市都在为他准备一场盛大的庆祝活动。城市之光书店将举办阅读活动、演出和开放参观活动。这家历史悠久的书店是费林盖蒂于 1953 年与他人共同创建的。
City Lights is almost certainly the best bookstore in the United States. It’s so dense with serious world literature of every stripe that it’s a Platonic ideal. It can inspire something close to religious awe.
城市之光书店几乎可以说是美国最好的书店。这里密密麻麻地排列着各种各样严肃的世界文学作品，是一个柏拉图式的理想书店。它能让人产生一种近乎宗教信仰般的敬畏之情。
The store survived an obscenity trial in 1957 after its publishing arm issued Allen Ginsberg’s ary “Howl and Other Poems.” The trial made Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti internationally famous almost overnight.
这家书店的出版部门发行了艾伦·金斯伯格的革命性作品《嚎叫及其他诗歌》，由于该诗集有语言淫秽之嫌，书店被卷入了一场官司。1957 年，书店挺过了这场官司风波，这场审判让金斯伯格和费林盖蒂几乎一夜之间闻名于世。
City Lights became a nerve center for the Beats and other writers. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other writers from that era were Easterners who dropped into San Francisco for a spell.
城市之光书店成为了“垮掉的一代”及其他流派作家的大本营。艾伦·金斯伯格、杰克·凯鲁亚克以及其他那个时期的作家都来自美国东海岸，他们曾来到旧金山并在此逗留了一段时间。
If City Lights is a San Francisco institution, Ferlinghetti himself is as much of one. He has loomed over the city’s literary life. As a poet, he’s never been a critical favorite. But his flexible and plain-spoken and often lusty work—he has published more than 50 volumes—has found a wide audience. His collection “A Coney Island of the Mind” （1958） has sold more than 1 million copies, making it one of the best-selling American poetry books ever published.
如果说，城市之光书店在旧金山无人不知，那么，费林盖蒂本人在旧金山也同样无人不晓。在这座城市的文学生活中，他的身影无处不在。作为一名诗人，他从来都不是评论界的宠儿。但他灵活、直白且常常充满活力的作品为他赢得了广泛的读者，而他已经出版了 50 多本书。他 1958 年出版的诗集《心灵的科尼岛》已售出超过一百万册，成为有史以来最畅销的美国诗集之一。


Well, this is the end of my English speech today.

Do you want to visit the City Lights?

Thanks for your listening.

Goodbye and good luck.