纽约举办《毛主席语录》50周年展

"QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN MAO" is the book that gave new meaning to the term "must-read." First published in 1964, and distributed by the hundreds of millions, it was the catechism of the Cultural Revolution, a compendium of snippets from speeches and writings by Mao Zedong that each and every Chinese citizen was expected not just to flip through, but also to study, memorize and recite.

《毛主席语录》为“必读”一词赋予了新的涵义。该书于1964年首版，发行了上亿本，堪称“文化大革命”的教义手册。它是毛泽东的讲话与文章的片段摘要，每个中国人都应当阅读，不是草草翻阅，而是仔细研究和背诵，脱口就能引用。

Pop quizzes separated the good students from the bad, with the threat of serious consequences. Shoppers who turned up at the state food stores, for example, could expect a thorough grilling before they were waved through — or not.

对《语录》的突击测验能把毛主席的好学生与坏学生区分开来，坏学生会面临很严重的后果。比如说，去国营食品店买东西的顾客就会遭到详细的盘问，之后才能获准购物——也许还会被拒之门外。

"The Little Red Book," as it came to be known outside China, a reference to its red binding, is the subject of "Quotations of Chairman Mao: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, 1964-2017," at the Grolier Club, where it opened on Wednesday. The exhibition puts on display books and propaganda material from the collection of Justin G. Schiller, an antiquarian book seller who, with his partner, Dennis M. V. David, runs Battledore Ltd. in Kingston, N.Y.

在中国以外的地方，这本书因其红色装帧被称为“小红书”。星期三，一场名为“毛主席语录：50周年展，1964-2017”在格罗列尔俱乐部举行，主题正是“小红书”。该展览将展出贾斯汀·G·希勒(Justin G. Schiller)收集的书籍和宣传材料，他是一位古董书商，与合作伙伴丹尼斯·M·V·大卫(Dennis M. V. David)共同在纽约州金斯顿经营“板羽球”有限公司。

Mr. Schiller, known as a specialist in children's books, especially the work of Maurice Sendak, developed his somewhat unusual fixation on a trip to China in 1998, when he visited the National Library in Beijing and asked how to identify a first edition of the "Quotations.”

希勒是童书专家，特别精通莫里斯·桑达克(Maurice Sendak)的书籍，1998年他访问中国期间才开始有了这个多少有些不同寻常的爱好。当时他去北京的国家图书馆，想问如何鉴别第一版的《语录》。

The complicated answer led him down a winding trail. He got his hands on a first edition, but soon became intrigued by the Cultural Revolution and Mao worship, epitomized in the "Quotations" and its myriad spinoffs: propaganda posters, toys, decorated mirrors, carafes, tea trays and lapel pins, all represented in the Grolier exhibition.

这个复杂的问题引着他走上了一条曲折的道路。他搞到了一本初版《语录》，《语录》所代表的“文化大革命”和对毛的个人崇拜很快就激起了他的强烈兴趣，此外《语录》还有无数衍生品：政治宣传画、玩具、用语录装饰的镜子、玻璃水瓶、茶碟和像章，这些物品都在格罗列尔的展览上展出。

"I became interested in the whole pattern of how the book grew and developed," Mr. Schiller said. “Ultimately, my interest grew into a collection."

“我开始对这本书的整个发展方式感兴趣，”希勒说，“最终，我的兴趣进一步发展成为收藏。”

The exhibition begins at the beginning, and even before, with several precursor anthologies that can be seen as steppingstones to the "Quotations," first issued with a white paper cover in spring 1964. Vinyl bindings in three shades of blue were tried out, but within a few months, the red vinyl cover with an incised red star in the center, now familiar, appeared, and red it remained, all over the world. One of the more arresting display cases includes nearly identical copies of the “Quotations” in dozens of languages, from Albanian to Uighur.

展览以《语录》的开端作为开始，甚至可以说更早——它们是若干早期选集，于1964年春出版，可以被视为《语录》的铺路石。它们是白色的平装封面，还有塑胶外封，尝试了三种色调的蓝色。但是几个月后，正中雕有立体红星的红色塑封版就出炉了，这个红色的版本如今已经为人们所熟悉，一直保留下来，传遍全球。一个更引人瞩目的展柜中放着《语录》的数十个不同语言版本，从阿尔巴尼亚语到维吾尔语，它们看上去几乎一模一样。

It was Lin Biao, Mao's minister of defense and, for a time, his designated successor, who hit on the idea of presenting the leader's thoughts in an easily digested format. Aware that the often poorly educated soldiers of the People's Liberation Army had, at best, a rudimentary understanding of Mao's political ideas, Lin ordered the army newspaper to publish brief excerpts from Mao every day. These could be absorbed in bite-size pieces and then analyzed by each brigade in evening study sessions guided by superior officers.

林彪是毛的国防部长，也一度是他钦点的接班人。正是林彪想出了把领袖的观点编纂成容易理解的形式。林彪知道中国人民解放军的士兵大都没受过良好教育，至多也只能粗略理解毛的政治观点，便要求解放军的报纸每天配发毛的简短语录。这些语录应当被浓缩为格言的长度，然后在部队军官组织的晚间学习中进行分析。

The newspaper feature proved so successful that the army's General Political Department put together a book, with Mao's thoughts organized by topic into 30 chapters. By the time the canonical third edition came out in 1965, the anthology ran to 270 pages, with 33 chapters and 427 quotations. The presses ran overtime to churn out enough copies to put in the hands of every Chinese citizen.

报纸登出的语录大受欢迎，于是解放军总政治部将它们集结成册，把毛的思想按主题编纂为30章。1965年出版了权威的第三版，页数是270页，共有33章，收录427条语录。印刷厂加班加点，让中国人可以人手拥有一册。

By 1967, about 700 million books had been printed, and it has been estimated that five billion copies had been printed by the end of the 20th century, with editions in 52 languages. Mr. Schiller has copies in all but two of them, Pashto and Turkish. A Braille edition is included in the exhibition.

1967年，《语录》的印数已经达到7亿本，到20世纪末，总印数估计在50万册，共有52个语言的版本，希勒先生手中只差普什图语版和土耳其语版，展览中还收录有盲文版。

Many copies ended up being a few pages shorter. In 1971, Lin, rumored to be plotting against Mao, fled China and died when his airplane crashed in Mongolia. A Party decree required anyone who had the "Quotations" to rip out from the book's opening pages Lin's endorsement, in his reproduced calligraphy, and, where applicable, a preface he wrote in December 1966.

很多版本都缺少几页。1971年，被传阴谋反毛的林彪逃离中国，因飞机失事死于蒙古境内。一项党的命令要求所有人把《语录》扉页的林彪毛笔书法题词撕去，此外还有他在1966年12月写的序言。

The prose of the "Quotations" was prosaic — "The masses have a potentially inexhaustible enthusiasm for socialism," one typical excerpt begins — and at times baffling. It is hard to know what lesson even the most ardent Communist might have drawn from this: "One can get a grip on something only when it is grasped firmly, without the slightest slackening. Not to grasp firmly is not to grasp at all. Naturally, one cannot get a grip on something with an open hand. When the hand is clenched as if grasping something but is not clenched tightly, there is still no grip."

《语录》中有的句子很乏味——“群众中蕴藏了一种极大的社会主义的积极性”——其中典型的一段是这么开始的；有时也让人困惑。“什么东西只有抓得很紧，毫不放松，才能抓住。抓而不紧，等于不抓。伸着巴掌，当然什么也抓不住。就是把手握起来，但是不握紧，样子象抓，还是抓不住东西。”最热忱的共产党员能够从中学到什么东西不得而知。

The words hardly mattered. The book held sway as a symbol, not a program of ideas, which is why it lent itself so readily to propaganda uses. Bold posters showed crowds holding the book aloft, their faces radiant with joy. At home, citizens could pour water from a "Little Red Book" carafe, wake up to a "Little Red Book” alarm clock with a soldier's arm waving the book back and forth, and watch as their children played with rubber "Little Red Book" dolls.

这些语言没有什么关系。挥舞这本书已经成为一种象征，而不是为了传达观念，所以它才那么容易就被作为政治宣传之用。醒目的招贴画上，可以看到人们高高举起这本书，脸上闪烁着快乐的光芒。在家里，人们用印有“红宝书”的水瓶倒水，伴随着“红宝书”闹铃声起床，闹钟上有个士兵高举着这本书，胳膊来回挥舞，孩子们则用橡胶的“红宝书”娃娃做游戏。

One of the more intriguing examples is a rosy-cheeked boy who holds a rifle in one hand, a red book in the other, and presses one foot firmly down on the head of an American soldier with a military policeman's helmet. "They squeak when you press them," Mr. Schiller said.

更有趣的是一个脸色红润的男孩，一手拿来复枪，一手举红宝书，脚下稳稳地踩着一个美国士兵的脑袋。士兵还戴着军警头盔，“一捏它就会发出吱吱声，希勒说。”

There is a book of songs, “Quotations of Chairman Mao Tse-tung Set to Music," that includes ditties like "A Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party." Mr. Schiller owns a “Quotations" LP that came with an exercise book, so that listeners could get a Party-endorsed workout while enjoying the music.

此外还有歌本，《毛主席语录歌曲集》中收入了《革命不是请客吃饭》等小曲。希勒有一张《语录》歌曲的黑胶唱片，还附有一个体操手册，听者可以一边欣赏音乐，一边做经党批准的体操锻炼。

In the West, the book commanded the attention of two audiences. The Maoist faithful, small in numbers but fervent, drank it in like a revolutionary elixir. Publishers saw it as an invitation to sell parody books, both satirical (“Quotations From Chairman L.B.J.") and serious ("Quotations From Chairman Jesus”). Such was the power of the brand that, decades after Mao's death, publishers churned out “Quotations" parodies for Jesse Ventura and Tony Blair.

在西方，这本书主要吸引两种读者。一种是忠诚的毛主义者，他们人数虽少，但却非常狂热，将之视为革命的灵丹妙药，照单全收。另外就是觉得可以趁此机会卖点戏仿书籍的出版商。这些戏仿有的是讽刺，如《林敦·约翰逊主席语录》(Quotations From Chairman L.B.J.)；有的是严肃的，如《耶稣主席语录》(Quotations From Chairman Jesus)。这就是品牌的力量，以至于毛去世几十年后，出版商还在炮制戏仿的杰西·文图拉(Jesse Ventura)和托尼·布莱尔(Tony Blair)语录。

Readers inclined to scoff at what is probably the world's most popular book, after the Bible, might take a look at the American best-seller lists in the mid-1960s, when the Cultural Revolution kicked into gear. While thousands of Red Guard zealots held the red book aloft, shouting revolutionary slogans, American readers thrilled to "Valley of the Dolls" and "How to Avoid Probate." There is no accounting for taste.

《毛主席语录》或许是这个世界上最畅销的书籍，仅次于《圣经》，倾向于嘲弄这本书的人不妨看看美国60年代中期的畅销书单，当时“文化大革命”刚刚开始。当成千上万狂热的红卫兵高举红宝书，高呼革命口号的时候，美国读者正在为《娃娃谷》(Valley of the Dolls)和《怎样避免遗嘱认证》(How to Avoid Probate)而着迷。品味这东西真是很难说。