[查泰萊夫人的情人]讀後疑問:關於分詞構句,同位語,句法.

Question

D. H. Lawrence 的 "Lady Chatterley's Lover" 中的一段, 描寫 Mr. Chatterley 傷殘之後的景況:

"Having suffered so much, the capacity for suffering had to some extent left him(1). He remained strange and bright and cheerful, almost, one might say, chirpy, with his ruddy, healthy-looking face, arid his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes(2). His shoulders were broad and strong, his hands were very strong. He was expensively dressed, and wore handsome neckties from Bond Street. Yet still in his face one saw the watchful look, the slight vacancy of a cripple.(3)"

1. 句(1)是否為"dangling participle"? 如果是, 可以接受(文學名家總是有[文法豁免權]^_^); 如果不是, 請說明.

2. 句(2)"arid his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes"是否為"arid with his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes"的省略版(與"chirpy, with his ruddy, healthy-looking face"對等)? 如果不是, 請說明其語法. 另外也請解釋其含意.

3. 句(3)"the slight vacancy of a cripple"的地位: 是與"the watchful look"對等(兩者之間省略[and]), 還是當成"the watchful look"的同位語? 整句語意如何解釋?

感謝各位指導.

感謝噹噹知識長的精闢剖析!

原來以為名家有[文法豁免權]只是大家心照不宣的認知, 沒想到還真有正式的[牌照]呢, 真是長知識了. ^_^

第三題基本上與大師的看法相同, 只是[watchful]這個字要怎麼翻譯才能與[vacancy]的語意完美融合, 仍然沒有把握:

[雖然在他臉上還是看得到機警的眼神, 卻難掩屬於殘缺者的失落.]
[雖然他臉上神色仍然專注, 仍不免流露出屬於殘缺者的落寞.]
...(請各位指導)

第二題按知識長的句法看, [arid his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes]當成表達轉折(或對比)語意的副詞片語, 的確比個人原先解讀的單純連接法[,(and) arid (with) his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes]來得更恰當. (希望這樣的說法沒有悖離知識長的原意)

初入文學殿堂, 目睹名家展現各式精妙文藝. 目眩神迷, 歎為觀止之際, 尚請知識長, 熱心贊助的各方大德, 及同好們繼續不吝指導解惑.

Answer 1

1. 是否為 dangling sentence？其實 Kevin 大心中應早有定見。
沒錯，這句話的確是 dangling sentence。根據分詞片語的定義，分詞的主詞應與主要子句的主詞一致才對，這裡的分詞 having suffered 的主詞邏輯上應該是人(he)，不可能是 the capacity。
故由此可以推斷該句為 dangling sentence。
雖然是不合正式文法的句子，但文學上有個名詞叫做 poetic license (artistic license, narrative license)，讓寫作者可以有特權去突破既有的語法來創作。D. H. Lawrence 是名家，當然可以有這樣的資格。像我們這種小咖的，當然還是得老老實實的按正統語法來學了。
文學創作以內容取勝，表面形式的文法，其地位當然退居其次了。
2. 我把這句話可能的幾種代換寫法寫下來，或許 Kevin 就瞭解我的解讀了：
第一種方式我將其拆解成獨立的兩句：
He remained strange and bright and cheerful, almost, one might say, chirpy, with his ruddy, healthy-looking face.
(1) Arid are his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes. (此乃避免頭重腳輕的寫法)
當然也可以寫成：
(2) His pale-blue, challenging bright eyes are arid.
第二種方式還是保留在原句之後，因為兩句關聯性強，所以合在一起寫其實還是較佳，但是可以透過第一種方式了解到為何 arid 這個補語會被挪到所修飾名詞的前面去：
He remained strange and bright and cheerful, almost, one might say, chirpy, with his ruddy, healthy-looking face,
(1) arid (being) his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes.
(2) (with) his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes (being) arid.
所修飾的名詞片語太長，而補語只有一個字，所以把補語挪到前面去，如此可以避免語意不清或結構頭重腳輕的問題。
3. Yet still in his face one saw the watchful look, the slight vacancy of a cripple.
the slight vacancy of a cripple 應該是還是指 the watchful look，它應該還是在加以說明他的眼神(表情)中帶有些許的空洞、失神或是茫然（至於作者為何用cripple，我沒有看過這本書，沒有文章內容的補充，就只有由 Kevin 大來解讀了，我的解釋比較傾向句法）。
vacancy 可以用來指人的表情或眼神，所以從語意的相關來看，此句中它應該不是兩個獨立的表情，而比較像是 look 的同位語才對－直接描述眼神(表情)的細節。

以上是我個人的看法，不一定敢掛保證絕對是如此，but I've done the best I can.

Answer 2

也謝謝異客大大的意見.

Answer 3

1. Having suffered so much, the capacity for.... 這句並沒有所謂的"dangling participle" 這句文法的意思是 "經歷so much suffer後, the capacity 就...." 要挑骨頭最多也只能挑說Capacity不會suffer.

2. 不是, 如你所說的+了 with之後, 整個句子就會變成一句incomplete sentence. 作者只是提供了一句補充information用的sentence在句子裡, +上許多逗號. 只要拆開來看便很簡單易懂: He remained strange and bright and cheerful, {almost, one might say, chirpy,} [with his ruddy, healthy-looking face,] arid his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes.
整體來說 我自己也覺得作者的意思怪怪的...這並沒有什麼特別的語法, 只是用逗號插入多餘的資料而已.

3. the slight vacancy of a cripple 這整句是描述 the watchful look.
這句意思大概是: 即使如此, 任何人都可看出他臉上警戒的表情, 這表情就像一個瘸子在一個狹小的空間裡(表示很小心).