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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chapter 9 Part 3

Chapter 9 Part 3

“Nevertheless you did throw me over,” said Jordan suddenly. “You threw me over on the telephone. I don't give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for a while.”

We shook hands.

“Oh, and do you remember”—she added—“a conversation we had once about driving a car?”

“Why—not exactly.”

“You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.”

“I'm thirty,” I said. “I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.”

She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.

One afternoon late in October I saw Tom Buchanan. He was walking ahead of me along Fifth Avenue in his alert, aggressive way, his hands out a little from his body as if to fight off interference, his head moving sharply here and there, adapting itself to his restless eyes. Just as I slowed up to avoid overtaking him he stopped and began frowning into the windows of a jewellery store. Suddenly he saw me and walked back, holding out his hand.

“What's the matter, Nick? Do you object to shaking hands with me?”

“Yes. You know what I think of you.”

“You're crazy, Nick,” he said quickly. “Crazy as hell. I don't know what's the matter with you.”

“Tom,” I inquired, “what did you say to Wilson that afternoon?”

He stared at me without a word, and I knew I had guessed right about those missing hours. I started to turn away, but he took a step after me and grabbed my arm.

“I told him the truth,” he said. “He came to the door while we were getting ready to leave, and when I sent down word that we weren't in he tried to force his way upstairs. He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn't told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house—” He broke off defiantly. “What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy's, but he was a tough one. He ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car.”

There was nothing I could say, except the one unutterable fact that it wasn't true.

“And if you think I didn't have my share of suffering—look here, when I went to give up that flat and saw that damn box of dog biscuits sitting there on the sideboard, I sat down and cried like a baby. By God it was awful—”

I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…

I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Then he went into the jewellery store to buy a pearl necklace—or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons—rid of my provincial squeamishness forever.

Gatsby's house was still empty when I left—the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine. One of the taxi drivers in the village never took a fare past the entrance gate without stopping for a minute and pointing inside; perhaps it was he who drove Daisy and Gatsby over to East Egg the night of the accident, and perhaps he had made a story about it all his own. I didn't want to hear it and I avoided him when I got off the train.

I spent my Saturday nights in New York because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, and the cars going up and down his drive. One night I did hear a material car there, and saw its lights stop at his front steps. But I didn't investigate. Probably it was some final guest who had been away at the ends of the earth and didn't know that the party was over.

On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight, and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone. Then I wandered down to the beach and sprawled out on the sand.

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further… And one fine morning—

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Chapter 9 Part 3 Kapitel 9 Teil 3 Capítulo 9 Parte 3 第9章 その3 Rozdział 9 Część 3 Capítulo 9 Parte 3 Глава 9 Часть 3 Bölüm 9 Kısım 3 第 9 章 第 3 部分

“Nevertheless you did throw me over,” said Jordan suddenly. "Trotzdem hast du mich umgeworfen", sagte Jordan plötzlich. "Tuttavia mi hai buttato giù", disse Jordan all'improvviso. “尽管如此,你确实把我扔了,”乔丹突然说道。 “You threw me over on the telephone. "Mi hai buttato giù al telefono. I don't give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for a while.” Du bist mir jetzt egal, aber es war eine neue Erfahrung für mich, und mir war eine Zeit lang etwas schwindelig." Non me ne frega niente di te ora, ma è stata un'esperienza nuova per me, e per un po' mi sono sentito un po' stordito".

We shook hands.

“Oh, and do you remember”—she added—“a conversation we had once about driving a car?” "Oh, und erinnerst du dich", fügte sie hinzu, "an ein Gespräch, das wir einmal über das Autofahren hatten?" "Oh, e si ricorda", aggiunse, "una volta abbiamo avuto una conversazione sulla guida dell'auto?".

“Why—not exactly.”

“You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? "Hai detto che una cattiva guidatrice è sicura solo finché non incontra un'altra cattiva guidatrice? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. Ich meine, es war unvorsichtig von mir, eine so falsche Vermutung anzustellen. Voglio dire che è stato imprudente da parte mia fare un'ipotesi così sbagliata. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. Ich dachte, Sie seien ein ehrlicher, geradliniger Mensch. Pensavo che lei fosse una persona onesta e diretta. I thought it was your secret pride.” Ich dachte, es sei dein heimlicher Stolz." Pensavo fosse il tuo orgoglio segreto".

“I'm thirty,” I said. “I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.” "Ho cinque anni di troppo per mentire a me stesso e chiamarlo onore".

She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away. Arrabbiato, mezzo innamorato di lei e tremendamente dispiaciuto, mi allontanai.

One afternoon late in October I saw Tom Buchanan. Un pomeriggio di fine ottobre vidi Tom Buchanan. He was walking ahead of me along Fifth Avenue in his alert, aggressive way, his hands out a little from his body as if to fight off interference, his head moving sharply here and there, adapting itself to his restless eyes. Er ging vor mir die Fifth Avenue entlang, in seiner aufmerksamen, aggressiven Art, die Hände ein wenig vom Körper weggestreckt, als wolle er sich gegen Störungen wehren, den Kopf scharf hin und her bewegend, sich seinen unruhigen Augen anpassend. Camminava davanti a me lungo la Quinta Strada nel suo modo vigile e aggressivo, con le mani un po' distanti dal corpo come per respingere le interferenze, la testa che si muoveva bruscamente qua e là, adattandosi ai suoi occhi inquieti. Just as I slowed up to avoid overtaking him he stopped and began frowning into the windows of a jewellery store. Als ich gerade langsamer wurde, um ihn nicht zu überholen, hielt er an und blickte stirnrunzelnd in die Schaufenster eines Juweliergeschäfts. Proprio mentre rallentavo per evitare di sorpassarlo, lui si fermò e iniziò a guardare accigliato le vetrine di una gioielleria. Suddenly he saw me and walked back, holding out his hand. All'improvviso mi vide e tornò indietro, tendendomi la mano.

“What's the matter, Nick? "Cosa c'è, Nick? Do you object to shaking hands with me?” Haben Sie etwas dagegen, mir die Hand zu geben?" Ti opponi a stringermi la mano?".

“Yes. You know what I think of you.” Du weißt, was ich von dir halte."

“You're crazy, Nick,” he said quickly. “Crazy as hell. "Pazzo da legare. I don't know what's the matter with you.”

“Tom,” I inquired, “what did you say to Wilson that afternoon?”

He stared at me without a word, and I knew I had guessed right about those missing hours. Er starrte mich an, ohne ein Wort zu sagen, und ich wusste, dass ich mit meiner Vermutung über die fehlenden Stunden richtig gelegen hatte. Mi fissò senza dire una parola e capii che avevo indovinato le ore mancanti. I started to turn away, but he took a step after me and grabbed my arm.

“I told him the truth,” he said. "Ich habe ihm die Wahrheit gesagt", sagte er. “He came to the door while we were getting ready to leave, and when I sent down word that we weren't in he tried to force his way upstairs. "Er kam an die Tür, als wir uns zum Gehen bereit machten, und als ich ihm mitteilte, dass wir nicht da seien, versuchte er, sich nach oben durchzuschlagen. "È venuto alla porta mentre ci stavamo preparando per uscire, e quando ho fatto sapere che non eravamo in casa ha cercato di salire con la forza. He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn't told him who owned the car. Er war verrückt genug, mich zu töten, wenn ich ihm nicht gesagt hätte, wem das Auto gehört. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house—” He broke off defiantly. Er hatte jede Minute, die er im Haus war, einen Revolver in der Tasche..." Er brach trotzig ab. La sua mano era su un revolver in tasca ogni minuto che era in casa..." Si interruppe con sfida. “What if I did tell him? "E se glielo dicessi? That fellow had it coming to him. Quel tipo se l'è cercata. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy's, but he was a tough one. Er hat dir Staub in die Augen geworfen, genauso wie er es bei Daisy getan hat, aber er war hart im Nehmen. Ti gettava la polvere negli occhi proprio come aveva fatto con Daisy, ma era un duro. He ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car.” Er hat Myrtle überfahren, als ob man einen Hund überfahren würde, und hat nicht einmal sein Auto angehalten." Ha investito Myrtle come si fa con un cane e non ha nemmeno fermato la macchina".

There was nothing I could say, except the one unutterable fact that it wasn't true. Non c'era nulla che potessi dire, se non il fatto impronunciabile che non era vero.

“And if you think I didn't have my share of suffering—look here, when I went to give up that flat and saw that damn box of dog biscuits sitting there on the sideboard, I sat down and cried like a baby. "Und wenn Sie glauben, dass ich nicht auch gelitten habe - sehen Sie, als ich die Wohnung aufgeben wollte und die verdammte Schachtel mit den Hundekeksen auf der Anrichte sah, habe ich mich hingesetzt und wie ein Baby geweint. "E se pensate che non abbia avuto la mia parte di sofferenza, guardate qui: quando sono andato a lasciare l'appartamento e ho visto quella dannata scatola di biscotti per cani seduta sulla credenza, mi sono seduto e ho pianto come un bambino. By God it was awful—” Bei Gott, es war furchtbar..." Per Dio è stato terribile...".

I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. Non riuscivo a perdonarlo o a piacergli, ma vedevo che quello che aveva fatto era, per lui, del tutto giustificato. It was all very careless and confused. Es war alles sehr nachlässig und verworren. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made… Sie waren unvorsichtige Leute, Tom und Daisy - sie zertrümmerten Dinge und Lebewesen und zogen sich dann auf ihr Geld oder ihre große Sorglosigkeit zurück, oder was auch immer sie zusammenhielt, und überließen es anderen Leuten, das Chaos aufzuräumen, das sie angerichtet hatten... Erano persone sbadate, Tom e Daisy: distruggevano cose e creature e poi si ritiravano nei loro soldi o nella loro grande sbadataggine, o in qualsiasi cosa li tenesse insieme, e lasciavano che altri pulissero il casino che avevano fatto...

I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Ich schüttelte ihm die Hand; es schien mir dumm, es nicht zu tun, denn ich fühlte mich plötzlich, als würde ich mit einem Kind sprechen. Gli strinsi la mano; mi sembrò sciocco non farlo, perché mi sembrò improvvisamente di parlare con un bambino. Then he went into the jewellery store to buy a pearl necklace—or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons—rid of my provincial squeamishness forever. Poi andò in gioielleria a comprare una collana di perle, o forse solo un paio di bottoni da polso, eliminando per sempre il mio provincialismo.

Gatsby's house was still empty when I left—the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine. La casa di Gatsby era ancora vuota quando me ne andai: l'erba del suo prato era cresciuta lunga come la mia. One of the taxi drivers in the village never took a fare past the entrance gate without stopping for a minute and pointing inside; perhaps it was he who drove Daisy and Gatsby over to East Egg the night of the accident, and perhaps he had made a story about it all his own. Einer der Taxifahrer im Dorf fuhr nie am Eingangstor vorbei, ohne kurz anzuhalten und hineinzuzeigen; vielleicht war er es, der Daisy und Gatsby in der Nacht des Unfalls nach East Egg gefahren hatte, und vielleicht hatte er sich eine eigene Geschichte dazu ausgedacht. Uno dei tassisti del villaggio non faceva mai passare una corsa oltre il cancello d'ingresso senza fermarsi un minuto e indicare l'interno; forse era stato lui a portare Daisy e Gatsby a East Egg la notte dell'incidente, e forse ne aveva fatto una storia tutta sua. I didn't want to hear it and I avoided him when I got off the train. Ich wollte es nicht hören und ging ihm aus dem Weg, als ich aus dem Zug stieg.

I spent my Saturday nights in New York because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, and the cars going up and down his drive. Trascorrevo i miei sabati sera a New York, perché quelle sue feste scintillanti e abbaglianti erano con me in modo così vivido che potevo ancora sentire la musica e le risate, deboli e incessanti, dal suo giardino, e le macchine che andavano su e giù per il suo viale. One night I did hear a material car there, and saw its lights stop at his front steps. Eines Nachts hörte ich dort ein Materialfahrzeug und sah dessen Lichter vor seiner Haustür anhalten. Una sera sentii un'auto di servizio e vidi le sue luci fermarsi davanti ai suoi gradini. But I didn't investigate. Probably it was some final guest who had been away at the ends of the earth and didn't know that the party was over. Wahrscheinlich war es ein letzter Gast, der am Ende der Welt unterwegs war und nicht wusste, dass die Party vorbei war.

On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. Am letzten Abend, als ich meinen Koffer gepackt und mein Auto an den Lebensmittelhändler verkauft hatte, ging ich hinüber und sah mir dieses riesige, zusammenhanglose Haus noch einmal an. L'ultima sera, con il bagagliaio pieno e l'auto venduta al droghiere, andai a guardare ancora una volta quell'enorme e incoerente fallimento di casa. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight, and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone. Sui gradini bianchi una parola oscena, scarabocchiata da un ragazzo con un pezzo di mattone, spiccava chiaramente alla luce della luna, e io la cancellai, disegnando la mia scarpa in modo raspante sulla pietra. Then I wandered down to the beach and sprawled out on the sand. Dann ging ich hinunter zum Strand und streckte mich im Sand aus. Poi sono andata in spiaggia e mi sono sdraiata sulla sabbia.

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. Die meisten großen Strandlokale waren jetzt geschlossen, und es gab kaum Lichter außer dem schattenhaften, sich bewegenden Schein einer Fähre über den Sund. La maggior parte dei grandi locali sulla costa erano ormai chiusi e non c'era quasi nessuna luce, a parte il bagliore ombroso e mobile di un traghetto che attraversava il Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Und als der Mond höher stieg, begannen die unwesentlichen Häuser zu verschwinden, bis ich mir allmählich der alten Insel bewusst wurde, die hier einst für die Augen der holländischen Seefahrer blühte - eine frische, grüne Brust der neuen Welt. Man mano che la luna saliva più in alto, le case inessenziali cominciavano a dissolversi, finché a poco a poco mi resi conto della vecchia isola che un tempo fioriva per gli occhi dei marinai olandesi: un seno fresco e verde del nuovo mondo. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. Seine verschwundenen Bäume, die Bäume, die Gatsbys Haus Platz gemacht hatten, hatten einst dem letzten und größten aller menschlichen Träume geflüstert; für einen vorübergehenden, verzauberten Moment muss der Mensch in der Gegenwart dieses Kontinents den Atem angehalten haben, gezwungen zu einer ästhetischen Kontemplation, die er weder verstand noch wollte, zum letzten Mal in der Geschichte von Angesicht zu Angesicht mit etwas, das seiner Fähigkeit zum Staunen entsprach. I suoi alberi scomparsi, quelli che avevano fatto posto alla casa di Gatsby, un tempo avevano assecondato sottovoce l'ultimo e il più grande di tutti i sogni umani; per un transitorio momento incantato l'uomo deve aver trattenuto il respiro al cospetto di questo continente, costretto a una contemplazione estetica che non capiva né desiderava, faccia a faccia per l'ultima volta nella storia con qualcosa di commisurato alla sua capacità di meraviglia.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. Und während ich dort saß und über die alte, unbekannte Welt nachdachte, dachte ich an Gatsbys Verwunderung, als er das erste Mal das grüne Licht am Ende von Daisys Steg sah. E mentre stavo lì a rimuginare sul vecchio mondo sconosciuto, pensai alla meraviglia di Gatsby quando per la prima volta scorse la luce verde alla fine del molo di Daisy. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. Er hatte einen weiten Weg bis zu diesem blauen Rasen zurückgelegt, und sein Traum muss ihm so nah erschienen sein, dass er ihn kaum verfehlen konnte. Aveva fatto molta strada per arrivare a questo prato blu e il suo sogno doveva sembrargli così vicino che non poteva non coglierlo. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Er wusste nicht, dass sie bereits hinter ihm lag, irgendwo in der weiten Finsternis jenseits der Stadt, wo sich die dunklen Felder der Republik in der Nacht ausbreiteten. Non sapeva che era già alle sue spalle, da qualche parte in quella vasta oscurità oltre la città, dove i campi scuri della repubblica avanzavano nella notte.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. Gatsby glaubte an das grüne Licht, die orgastische Zukunft, die Jahr für Jahr vor uns zurückweicht. Gatsby credeva nella luce verde, nel futuro fantastico che di anno in anno si allontana davanti a noi. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further… And one fine morning— Damals ist es uns entgangen, aber das macht nichts - morgen werden wir schneller laufen, unsere Arme weiter ausstrecken... Und eines schönen Morgens... Allora ci è sfuggito, ma non importa: domani correremo più veloci, allungheremo le braccia... E una bella mattina...

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. So treiben wir weiter, Boote gegen den Strom, unaufhörlich zurück in die Vergangenheit. Così continuiamo ad andare avanti, barche controcorrente, riportati incessantemente nel passato. Так мы и плывем, лодки против течения, неустанно возвращаясь в прошлое.