R. W. 爱默生(R. W. Emerson)
The artist who is to produce a work which is to be admired, not by his friends or his townspeople or his contemporaries, but by all men, and which is to be more beautiful to the eye in proportion to its culture, must disindividualize himself, and be a man of no party, and no manner, and no age, but one through whom the soul of all men circulates , as the common air through his lungs. He must work in the spirit in which we receive a prophet to speak, or an angel of the Lord to act; that is, he is not to speak his own words, or do his own works, or think his own thoughts, but he is to be an organ through which the universal mind acts.
in proportion to 与……相称
- disindividualize [dɪsˌɪndɪˈvɪdjʊəlaɪz] v. 不使个体化，不具个人特色
- circulate [ˈsɜːkjʊleɪt] v. 传播，流通
- prophet [ˈprɒfɪt] n. 预言家，先知
艺术家要产生一部让人喜爱的作品，不是让他的朋友、同乡或同时代的人喜爱，而是让全人类喜爱；与作品的文化背景相比较，作品要更美，赏心悦目；要使全人类的灵魂在作品中循环，就像普通空气在人体经过肺循环那样，那么他就不能只有一己之特征，要无党无派，无固定式样，没有时代烙印。艺术家要像一位先知进行预言般进行创作，像天使般行动，所说、所做、所思全不是个人的东西，他应该是指挥全人类头脑的器官。
R. W. 爱默生(1803—1882)，美国散文作家、诗人，是超验主义作家的主要代表。生于波士顿附近。主要作品有《论自然》(Nature ,1836)，《散文集》(Essays ，第一卷1841，第二卷1844)，《诗集》(Poems ，1847)，《五月的日子》(May-day and Other Pieces ，1867)。他的散文创作有强烈的个性和独特的艺术风格，文风朴实，语句精练，以形象陈述哲理，气势宏伟。