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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chapter 8 Part 1

Chapter 8 Part 1

I couldn't sleep all night; a foghorn was groaning incessantly on the Sound, and I tossed half-sick between grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams. Toward dawn I heard a taxi go up Gatsby's drive, and immediately I jumped out of bed and began to dress—I felt that I had something to tell him, something to warn him about, and morning would be too late.

Crossing his lawn, I saw that his front door was still open and he was leaning against a table in the hall, heavy with dejection or sleep.

“Nothing happened,” he said wanly. “I waited, and about four o'clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light.”

His house had never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night when we hunted through the great rooms for cigarettes. We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches—once I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys of a ghostly piano. There was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as though they hadn't been aired for many days. I found the humidor on an unfamiliar table, with two stale, dry cigarettes inside. Throwing open the French windows of the drawing-room, we sat smoking out into the darkness.

“You ought to go away,” I said. “It's pretty certain they'll trace your car.”

“Go away now, old sport?”

“Go to Atlantic City for a week, or up to Montreal.”

He wouldn't consider it. He couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free.

It was this night that he told me the strange story of his youth with Dan Cody—told it to me because “Jay Gatsby” had broken up like glass against Tom's hard malice, and the long secret extravaganza was played out. I think that he would have acknowledged anything now, without reserve, but he wanted to talk about Daisy.

She was the first “nice” girl he had ever known. In various unrevealed capacities he had come in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between. He found her excitingly desirable. He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It amazed him—he had never been in such a beautiful house before. But what gave it an air of breathless intensity, was that Daisy lived there—it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him. There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors, and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year's shining motorcars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered. It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy—it increased her value in his eyes. He felt their presence all about the house, pervading the air with the shades and echoes of still vibrant emotions.

But he knew that he was in Daisy's house by a colossal accident. However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders. So he made the most of his time. He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously—eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand.

He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretences. I don't mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world.

But he didn't despise himself and it didn't turn out as he had imagined. He had intended, probably, to take what he could and go—but now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail. He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn't realize just how extraordinary a “nice” girl could be. She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby—nothing. He felt married to her, that was all.

When they met again, two days later, it was Gatsby who was breathless, who was, somehow, betrayed. Her porch was bright with the bought luxury of star-shine; the wicker of the settee squeaked fashionably as she turned toward him and he kissed her curious and lovely mouth. She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.

“I can't describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that she'd throw me over, but she didn't, because she was in love with me too. She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her… Well, there I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?”

On the last afternoon before he went abroad, he sat with Daisy in his arms for a long, silent time. It was a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. Now and then she moved and he changed his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark shining hair. The afternoon had made them tranquil for a while, as if to give them a deep memory for the long parting the next day promised. They had never been closer in their month of love, nor communicated more profoundly one with another, than when she brushed silent lips against his coat's shoulder or when he touched the end of her fingers, gently, as though she were asleep.

He did extraordinarily well in the war. He was a captain before he went to the front, and following the Argonne battles he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine-guns. After the armistice he tried frantically to get home, but some complication or misunderstanding sent him to Oxford instead. He was worried now—there was a quality of nervous despair in Daisy's letters. She didn't see why he couldn't come. She was feeling the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after all.

For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the “Beale Street Blues” while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust. At the grey tea hour there were always rooms that throbbed incessantly with this low, sweet fever, while fresh faces drifted here and there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around the floor.

Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening-dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed. And all the time something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately—and the decision must be made by some force—of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality—that was close at hand.

That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. Doubtless there was a certain struggle and a certain relief. The letter reached Gatsby while he was still at Oxford.

It was dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows downstairs, filling the house with grey-turning, gold-turning light. The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. There was a slow, pleasant movement in the air, scarcely a wind, promising a cool, lovely day.

“I don't think she ever loved him.” Gatsby turned around from a window and looked at me challengingly. “You must remember, old sport, she was very excited this afternoon. He told her those things in a way that frightened her—that made it look as if I was some kind of cheap sharper. And the result was she hardly knew what she was saying.”

He sat down gloomily.

“Of course she might have loved him just for a minute, when they were first married—and loved me more even then, do you see?”

Suddenly he came out with a curious remark.

“In any case,” he said, “it was just personal.”

What could you make of that, except to suspect some intensity in his conception of the affair that couldn't be measured?

He came back from France when Tom and Daisy were still on their wedding trip, and made a miserable but irresistible journey to Louisville on the last of his army pay. He stayed there a week, walking the streets where their footsteps had clicked together through the November night and revisiting the out-of-the-way places to which they had driven in her white car. Just as Daisy's house had always seemed to him more mysterious and gay than other houses, so his idea of the city itself, even though she was gone from it, was pervaded with a melancholy beauty.

He left feeling that if he had searched harder, he might have found her—that he was leaving her behind. The day-coach—he was penniless now—was hot. He went out to the open vestibule and sat down on a folding-chair, and the station slid away and the backs of unfamiliar buildings moved by. Then out into the spring fields, where a yellow trolley raced them for a minute with people in it who might once have seen the pale magic of her face along the casual street.

The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which, as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city where she had drawn her breath. He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever.

It was nine o'clock when we finished breakfast and went out on the porch. The night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavour in the air. The gardener, the last one of Gatsby's former servants, came to the foot of the steps.

Chapter 8 Part 1 Kapitel 8 Teil 1 Capítulo 8 Parte 1 第8章 前編 Rozdział 8 Część 1 Capítulo 8 Parte 1 Глава 8 Часть 1 Bölüm 8 Kısım 1 第 8 章第 1 部分

I couldn't sleep all night; a foghorn was groaning incessantly on the Sound, and I tossed half-sick between grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams. Ich konnte die ganze Nacht nicht schlafen; ein Nebelhorn stöhnte unaufhörlich über den Sund, und ich schwankte halb krank zwischen grotesker Realität und wilden, beängstigenden Träumen. Non riuscii a dormire per tutta la notte; un corno di nebbia brontolava incessantemente sul Sound, e io oscillavo mezzo malato tra una realtà grottesca e sogni selvaggi e spaventosi. Toward dawn I heard a taxi go up Gatsby's drive, and immediately I jumped out of bed and began to dress—I felt that I had something to tell him, something to warn him about, and morning would be too late. Verso l'alba sentii un taxi salire dal viale di Gatsby, e subito saltai giù dal letto e cominciai a vestirmi: sentivo di avere qualcosa da dirgli, qualcosa di cui avvertirlo, e la mattina sarebbe stata troppo tardi.

Crossing his lawn, I saw that his front door was still open and he was leaning against a table in the hall, heavy with dejection or sleep. Als ich über seinen Rasen ging, sah ich, dass seine Haustür noch offen stand und er sich an einen Tisch im Flur lehnte, schwer von Niedergeschlagenheit oder Schlaf. Attraversando il suo prato, vidi che la sua porta d'ingresso era ancora aperta e lui era appoggiato a un tavolo nel corridoio, appesantito dallo sconforto o dal sonno.

“Nothing happened,” he said wanly. "Non è successo niente", disse malinconicamente. “I waited, and about four o'clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light.”

His house had never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night when we hunted through the great rooms for cigarettes. La sua casa non mi era mai sembrata così enorme come quella sera, quando cercammo le sigarette nelle grandi stanze. We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches—once I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys of a ghostly piano. Wir schoben Vorhänge beiseite, die wie Pavillons aussahen, und tasteten über unzählige Meter dunkler Wand nach elektrischen Lichtschaltern - einmal stürzte ich mit einer Art Platschen auf die Tasten eines geisterhaften Klaviers. Scostammo le tende che sembravano padiglioni e cercammo su innumerevoli metri di parete scura gli interruttori della luce elettrica - una volta caddi con una specie di tonfo sui tasti di un pianoforte spettrale. There was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as though they hadn't been aired for many days. C'era una quantità inspiegabile di polvere dappertutto e le stanze erano ammuffite, come se non fossero state arieggiate per molti giorni. I found the humidor on an unfamiliar table, with two stale, dry cigarettes inside. Ich fand den Humidor auf einem mir unbekannten Tisch, mit zwei abgestandenen, trockenen Zigaretten darin. Ho trovato l'humidor su un tavolo sconosciuto, con dentro due sigarette stantie e secche. Throwing open the French windows of the drawing-room, we sat smoking out into the darkness. Wir öffneten die Fenstertüren des Salons und saßen rauchend in der Dunkelheit. Spalancando le porte-finestre del salotto, ci sedemmo a fumare nell'oscurità.

“You ought to go away,” I said. "Du solltest weggehen", sagte ich. "Dovresti andartene", dissi. “It's pretty certain they'll trace your car.” "Es ist ziemlich sicher, dass sie Ihr Auto aufspüren werden." "È quasi certo che rintracceranno la vostra auto".

“Go away __now__, old sport?” "Vai via ora, vecchio mio?".

“Go to Atlantic City for a week, or up to Montreal.”

He wouldn't consider it. Er würde es nicht in Betracht ziehen. He couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. Er konnte Daisy unmöglich verlassen, bevor er nicht wusste, was sie tun würde. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free. Er klammerte sich an eine letzte Hoffnung, und ich konnte es nicht ertragen, ihn abzuschütteln. Si stava aggrappando a un'ultima speranza e non potevo sopportare di liberarlo.

It was this night that he told me the strange story of his youth with Dan Cody—told it to me because “Jay Gatsby” had broken up like glass against Tom's hard malice, and the long secret extravaganza was played out. In dieser Nacht erzählte er mir die seltsame Geschichte seiner Jugend mit Dan Cody - er erzählte sie mir, weil "Jay Gatsby" gegen Toms harte Bosheit wie Glas zerbrochen war und die lange geheime Extravaganz sich abspielte. Fu quella sera che mi raccontò la strana storia della sua giovinezza con Dan Cody - me la raccontò perché "Jay Gatsby" si era rotto come un vetro contro la dura cattiveria di Tom, e la lunga stravaganza segreta era stata messa in scena. I think that he would have acknowledged anything now, without reserve, but he wanted to talk about Daisy. Ich glaube, er hätte jetzt alles zugegeben, ohne Vorbehalte, aber er wollte über Daisy sprechen. Credo che ora avrebbe riconosciuto qualsiasi cosa, senza riserve, ma voleva parlare di Daisy.

She was the first “nice” girl he had ever known. Sie war das erste "nette" Mädchen, das er je kennen gelernt hatte. In various unrevealed capacities he had come in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between. In varie funzioni non rivelate era entrato in contatto con queste persone, ma sempre con un filo spinato indistinguibile in mezzo. He found her excitingly desirable. La trovava eccitantemente desiderabile. He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. Si recò a casa sua, prima con altri ufficiali di Camp Taylor, poi da solo. It amazed him—he had never been in such a beautiful house before. Es erstaunte ihn, denn er war noch nie in einem so schönen Haus gewesen. But what gave it an air of breathless intensity, was that Daisy lived there—it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him. Aber was ihm einen Hauch von atemloser Intensität verlieh, war, dass Daisy dort lebte - es war für sie so selbstverständlich wie für ihn sein Zelt draußen im Camp. Ma ciò che le conferiva un'aria di intensità senza fiato era che Daisy viveva lì: per lei era una cosa casuale come lo era per lui la sua tenda in campeggio. There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors, and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year's shining motorcars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered. Es war ein reifes Geheimnis, eine Ahnung von Schlafzimmern im Obergeschoss, die schöner und kühler waren als andere Schlafzimmer, von fröhlichen und strahlenden Aktivitäten, die sich in den Korridoren abspielten, und von Romanzen, die nicht muffig und bereits in Lavendel gebettet waren, sondern frisch und atmend und duftend nach den glänzenden Autos dieses Jahres und nach Tänzen, deren Blüten kaum verwelkt waren. C'era un mistero maturo, un accenno a camere da letto al piano superiore più belle e fresche delle altre, ad attività allegre e radiose che si svolgevano nei suoi corridoi, e a storie d'amore che non erano ammuffite e già riposte nella lavanda, ma fresche e respiranti e profumate di autovetture splendenti di quest'anno e di balli i cui fiori erano appena appassiti. It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy—it increased her value in his eyes. Lo eccitava anche il fatto che molti uomini avessero già amato Daisy: questo aumentava il suo valore ai suoi occhi. He felt their presence all about the house, pervading the air with the shades and echoes of still vibrant emotions. Er spürte ihre Anwesenheit im ganzen Haus und durchdrang die Luft mit den Nuancen und dem Echo der noch immer lebendigen Gefühle. Sentiva la loro presenza in tutta la casa, pervadendo l'aria con le sfumature e gli echi di emozioni ancora vibranti.

But he knew that he was in Daisy's house by a colossal accident. Aber er wusste, dass er durch einen kolossalen Zufall in Daisys Haus war. Ma sapeva di trovarsi in casa di Daisy per un colossale incidente. However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders. Wie ruhmreich seine Zukunft als Jay Gatsby auch sein mochte, im Moment war er ein mittelloser junger Mann ohne Vergangenheit, und jeden Moment konnte ihm der unsichtbare Mantel seiner Uniform von den Schultern rutschen. Per quanto glorioso potesse essere il suo futuro come Jay Gatsby, al momento era un giovane squattrinato senza passato, e da un momento all'altro il mantello invisibile della sua uniforme poteva scivolare dalle sue spalle. So he made the most of his time. Er hat also das Beste aus seiner Zeit gemacht. Così ha sfruttato al meglio il suo tempo. He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously—eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand. Er nahm, was er kriegen konnte, gierig und skrupellos - schließlich nahm er Daisy in einer stillen Oktobernacht, nahm sie, weil er eigentlich kein Recht hatte, ihre Hand zu berühren. Ha preso quello che poteva, in modo vorace e senza scrupoli - alla fine ha preso Daisy in una notte di ottobre, l'ha presa perché non aveva il diritto di toccarle la mano.

He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretences. Avrebbe potuto disprezzarsi, perché di certo l'aveva presa con l'inganno. I don't mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. Ich meine nicht, dass er mit seinen Scheinmillionen gehandelt hat, aber er hat Daisy absichtlich ein Gefühl der Sicherheit gegeben; er hat sie glauben lassen, dass er ein Mensch ist, der aus den gleichen Schichten kommt wie sie selbst - dass er voll und ganz in der Lage ist, für sie zu sorgen. I don't mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. Non voglio dire che lui avesse fatto leva sui suoi fantomatici milioni, ma aveva deliberatamente dato a Daisy un senso di sicurezza; le aveva fatto credere di essere una persona che apparteneva al suo stesso strato, e che era pienamente in grado di prendersi cura di lei. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world. In der Tat hatte er keine solchen Möglichkeiten - er hatte keine bequeme Familie, die hinter ihm stand, und er war der Willkür einer unpersönlichen Regierung ausgesetzt, die ihn überall auf der Welt hinschicken konnte. In realtà, non disponeva di tali strutture, non aveva una famiglia confortevole alle spalle e poteva, per il capriccio di un governo impersonale, essere mandato in giro per il mondo.

But he didn't despise himself and it didn't turn out as he had imagined. Aber er verachtete sich nicht, und es kam anders, als er es sich vorgestellt hatte. Ma non si è disprezzato e non è andata come aveva immaginato. He had intended, probably, to take what he could and go—but now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail. Wahrscheinlich hatte er vorgehabt, sich zu nehmen, was er konnte, und zu gehen - aber jetzt stellte er fest, dass er sich auf die Suche nach einem Gral gemacht hatte. Aveva intenzione, probabilmente, di prendere quello che poteva e andarsene, ma ora scopriva di essersi impegnato a seguire un Graal. He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn't realize just how extraordinary a “nice” girl could be. Er wusste, dass Daisy außergewöhnlich war, aber ihm war nicht klar, wie außergewöhnlich ein "nettes" Mädchen sein konnte. Sapeva che Daisy era straordinaria, ma non si rendeva conto di quanto potesse essere straordinaria una "brava" ragazza. She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby—nothing. Sie verschwand in ihr reiches Haus, in ihr reiches, erfülltes Leben und ließ Gatsby zurück - nichts. È sparita nella sua ricca casa, nella sua vita ricca e piena, lasciando Gatsby senza nulla. He felt married to her, that was all. Er fühlte sich mit ihr verheiratet, das war alles. Si sentiva sposato con lei, ecco tutto.

When they met again, two days later, it was Gatsby who was breathless, who was, somehow, betrayed. Als sie sich zwei Tage später wieder trafen, war es Gatsby, der atemlos war, der sich irgendwie verraten fühlte. Quando si rincontrarono, due giorni dopo, fu Gatsby a rimanere senza fiato, in qualche modo tradito. Her porch was bright with the bought luxury of star-shine; the wicker of the settee squeaked fashionably as she turned toward him and he kissed her curious and lovely mouth. Ihre Veranda leuchtete mit dem erkauften Luxus des Sternenscheins; das Korbgeflecht des Sofas quietschte modisch, als sie sich ihm zuwandte und er ihren neugierigen und schönen Mund küsste. La veranda di lei era illuminata dal lusso comprato della luce delle stelle; il vimini del divano scricchiolava alla moda quando lei si girò verso di lui e lui baciò la sua bocca curiosa e deliziosa. She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor. Sie hatte sich erkältet, und das machte ihre Stimme heiserer und reizvoller als je zuvor, und Gatsby war sich der Jugend und des Geheimnisses, das der Reichtum einschließt und bewahrt, der Frische vieler Kleider und Daisys, die wie Silber glänzte, sicher und stolz über den heißen Kämpfen der Armen, in überwältigender Weise bewusst. Si era presa un raffreddore che rendeva la sua voce più roca e affascinante che mai, e Gatsby era prepotentemente consapevole della giovinezza e del mistero che la ricchezza imprigiona e conserva, della freschezza di molti vestiti e di Daisy, scintillante come l'argento, sicura e orgogliosa al di sopra delle calde lotte dei poveri.

“I can't describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that she'd throw me over, but she didn't, because she was in love with me too. Eine Zeit lang habe ich sogar gehofft, dass sie mich sitzen lässt, aber das tat sie nicht, weil sie auch in mich verliebt war. Per un po' ho anche sperato che mi buttasse via, ma non l'ha fatto, perché anche lei era innamorata di me. She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her… Well, there I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care. Sie dachte, ich wüsste viel, weil ich andere Dinge wusste als sie... Nun, da war ich, weit weg von meinen Ambitionen, verliebte mich von Minute zu Minute mehr, und plötzlich war es mir egal. Pensava che sapessi molto perché sapevo cose diverse da lei... Beh, ero lì, lontano dalle mie ambizioni, sempre più innamorato, e all'improvviso non mi importava più nulla. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?” Was nützt es, große Dinge zu tun, wenn ich ihr besser sagen kann, was ich tun werde?" A cosa serviva fare grandi cose se potevo divertirmi di più a dirle cosa avrei fatto?".

On the last afternoon before he went abroad, he sat with Daisy in his arms for a long, silent time. Am letzten Nachmittag vor seiner Abreise saß er lange Zeit schweigend mit Daisy in seinen Armen. L'ultimo pomeriggio prima di partire per l'estero, rimase seduto con Daisy in braccio per un lungo periodo di silenzio. It was a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. Era una fredda giornata autunnale, con il fuoco nella stanza e le guance arrossate. Now and then she moved and he changed his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark shining hair. Ab und zu bewegte sie sich und er wechselte ein wenig den Arm, und einmal küsste er ihr dunkles, glänzendes Haar. Ogni tanto lei si muoveva e lui cambiava un po' il braccio, e una volta le baciò i capelli scuri e lucenti. The afternoon had made them tranquil for a while, as if to give them a deep memory for the long parting the next day promised. Il pomeriggio li aveva resi tranquilli per un po', come se volesse dare loro un ricordo profondo per la lunga separazione che l'indomani prometteva. They had never been closer in their month of love, nor communicated more profoundly one with another, than when she brushed silent lips against his coat's shoulder or when he touched the end of her fingers, gently, as though she were asleep. Nie waren sie sich in ihrem Liebesmonat näher gekommen, nie hatten sie tiefer miteinander kommuniziert, als wenn sie mit ihren stillen Lippen die Schulter seines Mantels berührte oder wenn er das Ende ihrer Finger sanft berührte, als ob sie schliefe. Non erano mai stati così vicini nel loro mese d'amore, né avevano mai comunicato più profondamente l'uno con l'altra, come quando lei sfiorava le labbra silenziose contro la spalla del suo cappotto o quando lui toccava l'estremità delle sue dita, delicatamente, come se stesse dormendo.

He did extraordinarily well in the war. Er hat sich im Krieg außerordentlich gut geschlagen. He was a captain before he went to the front, and following the Argonne battles he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine-guns. Bevor er an die Front ging, war er Hauptmann, und nach den Kämpfen in den Argonnen erhielt er seine Majorität und das Kommando über die Maschinengewehre der Division. Era capitano prima di andare al fronte e, dopo le battaglie delle Argonne, ottenne la maggiore età e il comando delle mitragliatrici divisionali. After the armistice he tried frantically to get home, but some complication or misunderstanding sent him to Oxford instead. Dopo l'armistizio cercò freneticamente di tornare a casa, ma una complicazione o un malinteso lo mandarono invece a Oxford. He was worried now—there was a quality of nervous despair in Daisy's letters. Er war jetzt besorgt - in Daisys Briefen war eine Art nervöse Verzweiflung zu spüren. Ora era preoccupato: c'era una qualità di nervosa disperazione nelle lettere di Daisy. She didn't see why he couldn't come. She was feeling the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after all. Sie spürte den Druck der Welt da draußen, und sie wollte ihn sehen und seine Anwesenheit an ihrer Seite spüren, um sich zu vergewissern, dass sie doch das Richtige tat.

For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. Denn Daisy war jung, und ihre künstliche Welt duftete nach Orchideen und heiterem Snobismus und Orchestern, die den Rhythmus des Jahres bestimmten und die Traurigkeit und den Reiz des Lebens in neuen Melodien zusammenfassten. Daisy era giovane e il suo mondo artificiale profumava di orchidee e di un piacevole e allegro snobismo e di orchestre che dettavano il ritmo dell'anno, riassumendo la tristezza e la suggestione della vita in nuove melodie. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the “Beale Street Blues” while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust. Die ganze Nacht schmetterten die Saxophone den hoffnungslosen Kommentar des "Beale Street Blues", während hundert Paar goldene und silberne Pantoffeln den glänzenden Staub aufwirbelten. Per tutta la notte i sassofoni hanno intonato il commento senza speranza di "Beale Street Blues", mentre un centinaio di paia di pantofole d'oro e d'argento si muovevano nella polvere lucente. At the grey tea hour there were always rooms that throbbed incessantly with this low, sweet fever, while fresh faces drifted here and there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around the floor. Zur grauen Teestunde gab es immer Räume, in denen dieses niedrige, süße Fieber unaufhörlich pochte, während frische Gesichter wie Rosenblätter, die von den traurigen Hörnern geblasen wurden, hier und da über den Boden wehten. All'ora grigia del tè c'erano sempre stanze che palpitavano incessantemente di questa febbre bassa e dolce, mentre visi freschi si muovevano qua e là come petali di rosa soffiati dai tristi corni intorno al pavimento. 在灰色的下午茶时间,房间总是因这种低沉而甜蜜的发烧而不停地跳动,而新鲜的面孔飘来飘去,就像地板上被悲伤的喇叭吹散的玫瑰花瓣。

Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening-dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed. Plötzlich hatte sie wieder ein halbes Dutzend Verabredungen pro Tag mit einem halben Dutzend Männern und schlief im Morgengrauen mit den Perlen und dem Chiffon eines Abendkleides ein, das zwischen sterbenden Orchideen auf dem Boden neben ihrem Bett lag. In questo universo crepuscolare Daisy ricominciò a muoversi con la stagione; all'improvviso si trovava di nuovo ad avere una mezza dozzina di appuntamenti al giorno con una mezza dozzina di uomini, e ad addormentarsi all'alba con le perline e lo chiffon di un abito da sera aggrovigliato tra orchidee morenti sul pavimento accanto al suo letto. 在这个暮色的宇宙中,黛西又开始随着季节的变化而移动;突然间,她又开始每天和六个男人约会六个,黎明时分她睡着了,晚礼服的珠子和雪纺绸缠绕在床边地板上垂死的兰花中。 And all the time something within her was crying for a decision. Und die ganze Zeit über schrie etwas in ihr nach einer Entscheidung. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately—and the decision must be made by some force—of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality—that was close at hand. Sie wollte ihr Leben jetzt und sofort gestalten, und die Entscheidung musste von einer Kraft getroffen werden - von der Liebe, vom Geld, von der unbestreitbaren Sachlichkeit -, die in greifbarer Nähe lag. Voleva che la sua vita prendesse forma ora, immediatamente, e la decisione doveva essere presa da qualche forza - d'amore, di denaro, di indiscutibile praticità - che fosse a portata di mano.

That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. La sua persona e la sua posizione erano di un'imponenza sana e Daisy ne fu lusingata. Doubtless there was a certain struggle and a certain relief. Zweifellos gab es einen gewissen Kampf und eine gewisse Erleichterung. Senza dubbio c'è stata una certa lotta e un certo sollievo. The letter reached Gatsby while he was still at Oxford. La lettera giunse a Gatsby mentre era ancora a Oxford.

It was dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows downstairs, filling the house with grey-turning, gold-turning light. Era ormai l'alba a Long Island e ci accingemmo ad aprire le altre finestre al piano di sotto, riempiendo la casa di luce grigia e dorata. The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. Der Schatten eines Baumes fiel plötzlich über den Tau und geisterhafte Vögel begannen zwischen den blauen Blättern zu singen. L'ombra di un albero cadde bruscamente sulla rugiada e uccelli spettrali iniziarono a cantare tra le foglie blu. There was a slow, pleasant movement in the air, scarcely a wind, promising a cool, lovely day. C'era un lento e piacevole movimento nell'aria, quasi un vento, che prometteva una giornata fresca e piacevole.

“I don't think she ever loved him.” Gatsby turned around from a window and looked at me challengingly. “You must remember, old sport, she was very excited this afternoon. "Du musst bedenken, alter Knabe, sie war heute Nachmittag sehr aufgeregt. He told her those things in a way that frightened her—that made it look as if I was some kind of cheap sharper. Er erzählte ihr diese Dinge auf eine Art und Weise, die sie erschreckte und die es so aussehen ließ, als wäre ich eine Art billiger Betrüger. Le ha detto quelle cose in un modo che l'ha spaventata e che ha fatto sembrare che io fossi una specie di tagliente da quattro soldi. And the result was she hardly knew what she was saying.” Und das Ergebnis war, dass sie kaum wusste, was sie sagte. E il risultato è stato che non sapeva quasi cosa stesse dicendo".

He sat down gloomily.

“Of course she might have loved him just for a minute, when they were first married—and loved me more even then, do you see?” "Natürlich hat sie ihn vielleicht nur eine Minute lang geliebt, als sie zum ersten Mal verheiratet waren - und mich hat sie damals noch mehr geliebt, verstehst du?"

Suddenly he came out with a curious remark. Plötzlich kam er mit einer merkwürdigen Bemerkung heraus. All'improvviso se ne uscì con un'osservazione curiosa.

“In any case,” he said, “it was just personal.” "Auf jeden Fall", sagte er, "war es nur etwas Persönliches".

What could you make of that, except to suspect some intensity in his conception of the affair that couldn't be measured? Was könnte man daraus schließen, außer dass man eine nicht messbare Intensität in seiner Vorstellung von der Angelegenheit vermutet? Che cosa si può dedurre da questo, se non sospettare una certa intensità nella sua concezione della relazione che non può essere misurata?

He came back from France when Tom and Daisy were still on their wedding trip, and made a miserable but irresistible journey to Louisville on the last of his army pay. Er kam aus Frankreich zurück, als Tom und Daisy noch auf ihrer Hochzeitsreise waren, und machte sich mit dem letzten Rest seines Solds auf eine elende, aber unwiderstehliche Reise nach Louisville. Tornò dalla Francia quando Tom e Daisy erano ancora in viaggio di nozze, e fece un misero ma irresistibile viaggio a Louisville con l'ultima paga dell'esercito. He stayed there a week, walking the streets where their footsteps had clicked together through the November night and revisiting the out-of-the-way places to which they had driven in her white car. Er blieb eine Woche dort, ging durch die Straßen, in denen sich ihre Schritte in der Novembernacht kreuzen, und besuchte die abgelegenen Orte, zu denen sie in ihrem weißen Auto gefahren waren. Rimase lì una settimana, camminando per le strade dove i loro passi si erano incrociati nella notte di novembre e rivisitando i luoghi fuori mano in cui si erano recati con l'auto bianca di lei. Just as Daisy's house had always seemed to him more mysterious and gay than other houses, so his idea of the city itself, even though she was gone from it, was pervaded with a melancholy beauty. So wie ihm Daisys Haus immer geheimnisvoller und fröhlicher als andere Häuser erschienen war, so war seine Vorstellung von der Stadt selbst, obwohl sie nicht mehr da war, von einer melancholischen Schönheit durchdrungen. Come la casa di Daisy gli era sempre sembrata più misteriosa e gaia delle altre case, così la sua idea della città stessa, anche se lei se ne era andata, era pervasa da una bellezza malinconica.

He left feeling that if he had searched harder, he might have found her—that he was leaving her behind. Er ging mit dem Gefühl, dass er sie vielleicht gefunden hätte, wenn er intensiver gesucht hätte - und dass er sie zurückließ. Se ne andò con la sensazione che, se avesse cercato meglio, avrebbe potuto trovarla, ma che la stava lasciando indietro. The day-coach—he was penniless now—was hot. Die Tageskutsche - er war jetzt mittellos - war heiß. L'autobus diurno, ormai senza un soldo, era caldo. He went out to the open vestibule and sat down on a folding-chair, and the station slid away and the backs of unfamiliar buildings moved by. Er ging hinaus in den offenen Vorraum und setzte sich auf einen Klappstuhl, während der Bahnhof sich entfernte und die Rückseiten fremder Gebäude vorbeizogen. Uscì nel vestibolo aperto e si sedette su una sedia pieghevole, mentre la stazione scivolava via e i retro degli edifici sconosciuti passavano. Then out into the spring fields, where a yellow trolley raced them for a minute with people in it who might once have seen the pale magic of her face along the casual street. Dann ging es hinaus auf die Frühlingsfelder, wo ein gelber Wagen sie für eine Minute überholte, in dem Leute saßen, die vielleicht einmal den blassen Zauber ihres Gesichts auf der Straße gesehen hatten. Poi uscì nei campi primaverili, dove un carrello giallo li fece correre per un minuto con a bordo persone che un tempo avrebbero potuto vedere la pallida magia del suo volto lungo la strada casuale.

The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which, as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city where she had drawn her breath. Der Weg machte eine Kurve und entfernte sich nun von der Sonne, die sich, während sie tiefer sank, segnend über die verschwindende Stadt zu legen schien, in der sie ihren Atem geschöpft hatte. La pista curvava e ora si allontanava dal sole che, abbassandosi, sembrava stendersi in segno di benedizione sulla città scomparsa dove lei aveva tirato il fiato. He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. Verzweifelt streckte er die Hand aus, als wolle er nur einen Hauch von Luft erhaschen, um ein Stückchen von dem Fleckchen zu retten, das sie ihm so schön gemacht hatte. Allungò disperatamente la mano come per strappare solo un filo d'aria, per salvare un frammento del luogo che lei aveva reso incantevole per lui. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever. Aber für seine verschwommenen Augen ging alles zu schnell vorbei, und er wusste, dass er diesen Teil, den frischesten und besten, für immer verloren hatte. Ma tutto stava passando troppo velocemente per i suoi occhi annebbiati e sapeva di aver perso per sempre quella parte, la più fresca e la migliore.

It was nine o'clock when we finished breakfast and went out on the porch. The night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavour in the air. La notte aveva cambiato nettamente il tempo e nell'aria si respirava un'aria autunnale. The gardener, the last one of Gatsby's former servants, came to the foot of the steps. Il giardiniere, l'ultimo dei precedenti servitori di Gatsby, si avvicinò ai piedi della scalinata.