Writing books is my profession but it's more than that, of course.

私は作家ですが―

It is also my great lifelong love and fascination.

書くことは 仕事以上のものです

And I don't expect that that's ever going to change.

ずっと 情熱を注いできたし―

But, that said, something kind of peculiar has happened recently

今後もそれは 変わりません

in my life and in my career,

と言いつつ 最近変わった体験をしました

which has caused me to have to recalibrate my whole relationship with this work.

公私にわたって…

And the peculiar thing is that I recently wrote this book,

仕事への姿勢を 考え直すことになりました

this memoir called "Eat, Pray, Love"

最近 回顧録を書き上げました 題名は―

which, decidedly unlike any of my previous books,

"食べ祈り愛する(Eat, Pray, Love)"

went out in the world for some reason, and became this big,

明らかに 今までの作品と違います

mega-sensation, international bestseller thing.

どういうわけか 各国語に翻訳され―

The result of which is that everywhere I go now,

話題を呼び 世界的ベストセラーになりました

people treat me like I'm doomed.

その結果として 今ではどこでも―

Seriously -- doomed, doomed!

運が尽きたヒト扱いされます

Like they come up to me now all worried and they say,

本当に "もう終り" なんです

"Aren't you afraid -- aren't you afraid you're never going to be able to top that?

みんな 心配顔でこう言います

Aren't you afraid you're going to keep writing for your whole life

"あれを越えられなかったらと 不安では?"

and you're never again going to create a book

"不安にはならない? "

that anybody in the world cares about at all,

"一生書き続けようと―"

ever again?"

"注目される本が書けないって"

So that's reassuring, you know.

"もう 二度と"

But it would be worse, except for that I happen to remember

まあ 勇気づけられますこと

that over 20 years ago, when I first started telling people -- when I was a teenager --

もっとヒドい経験もあります

that I wanted to be a writer,

20年以上前 10代の頃 言ったのです

I was met with this same kind of, sort of fear-based reaction.

作家になりたい と

And people would say, "Aren't you afraid you're never going to have any success?

人々は今と同じ 不安顔でした

Aren't you afraid the humiliation of rejection will kill you?

"成功しなかったら?"

Aren't you afraid that you're going to work your whole life at this craft

"拒否される屈辱に耐えられる?"

and nothing's ever going to come of it

"一生 書き続けて―"

and you're going to die on a scrap heap of broken dreams

"何も完成しなくて―"

with your mouth filled with bitter ash of failure?"

"口は 失敗の苦汁に満たされ―"

(Laughter)

"破れた夢の山なす残骸の上で のたれ死んでも?"

Like that, you know.

(会場 笑)

The answer -- the short answer to all those questions is, "Yes."

そんな感じでした

Yes, I'm afraid of all those things.

これらの答えは 端的には"イエス" です

And I always have been.

もちろん不安です

And I'm afraid of many many more things besides

常に不安です

that people can't even guess at.

怖いものは山ほどあります

Like seaweed, and other things that are scary.

他人が分らないものも…

But, when it comes to writing

海藻など ゾッとします

the thing that I've been sort of thinking about lately, and wondering about lately, is why?

でも執筆に関しては―

You know, is it rational?

最近 ずっと考え続けています

Is it logical that anybody should be expected

理にかなってるか と

to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this Earth to do.

天職だと思うことを―

You know, and what is it specifically about creative ventures

恐れるのが当然と みなされるのが?

that seems to make us really nervous about each other's mental health

クリエイティブの世界が 他と違うのは―

in a way that other careers kind of don't do, you know?

精神を気遣われる ということ

Like my dad, for example, was a chemical engineer

他の職業では あまりないでしょう?

and I don't recall once in his 40 years of chemical engineering

父は 化学技術者でした

anybody asking him if he was afraid to be a chemical engineer, you know?

私の記憶では 40年勤めた間に―

It didn't -- that chemical engineering block John, how's it going?

仕事が不安か と訊いた人はいません

It just didn't come up like that, you know?

"最近 化学技術スランプは大丈夫?"

But to be fair, chemical engineers as a group

ありえないでしょう?

haven't really earned a reputation over the centuries

もっとも 化学技術者のほうは―

for being alcoholic manic-depressives.

何世紀も 風評とは無縁です

(Laughter)

"躁うつの飲んだくれ" という風評とは…

We writers, we kind of do have that reputation,

(会場 笑)

and not just writers, but creative people across all genres,

作家には つきものです

it seems, have this reputation for being enormously mentally unstable.

いえ 全クリエイティブ業界で…

And all you have to do is look at the very grim death count

精神不安定で 知られているし―

in the 20th century alone, of really magnificent creative minds

無残な死者の数を見ても 明らかです

who died young and often at their own hands, you know?

20世紀だけで 偉大な創作者たちが―

And even the ones who didn't literally commit suicide

どれだけ 早世し自殺しているか

seem to be really undone by their gifts, you know.

実際の自殺でなく―

Norman Mailer, just before he died, last interview, he said

自分の才能に殺された人もいます

"Every one of my books has killed me a little more."

ノーマン メイラーは生前 言いました

An extraordinary statement to make about your life's work, you know.

"作品が ジワジワと私を殺す"

But we don't even blink when we hear somebody say this

ライフワークに対し 尋常ではない考え方ですが―

because we've heard that kind of stuff for so long

誰も驚かないでしょう

and somehow we've completely internalized and accepted collectively

長年 聞き慣れた話ですから

this notion that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked

当然のことと 捉えられています

and that artistry, in the end, will always ultimately lead to anguish.

創造に苦悩はつきものであり―

And the question that I want to ask everybody here today

芸術性は 必ず最終的に苦痛をもたらすと…

is are you guys all cool with that idea?

今日の提起は ここです

Are you comfortable with that --

これで いいと思います?

because you look at it even from an inch away and, you know --

変だと思いません?

I'm not at all comfortable with that assumption.

よく考えてみても…?

I think it's odious.

私には 引っかかります

And I also think it's dangerous,

忌まわしいし―

and I don't want to see it perpetuated into the next century.

危険な発想でしょう

I think it's better if we encourage our great creative minds to live.

次世紀に残してほしくない

And I definitely know that, in my case -- in my situation --

むしろ生き続けるよう 励ますべきでは?

it would be very dangerous for me to start sort of leaking down that dark path

自分の状況から見ても 分かります

of assumption, particularly given the circumstance

あの暗い前提を 受け入れるのは―

that I'm in right now in my career.

危険でしょう　ことに私の―

Which is -- you know, like check it out,

今の状況を 考えるなら…

I'm pretty young, I'm only about 40 years old.

つまり… この通り―

I still have maybe another four decades of work left in me.

まだ若く 40そこそこ

And it's exceedingly likely that anything I write from this point forward

仕事も あと40年続けるかもしれない

is going to be judged by the world as the work that came after

今から先 書き上げるものは間違いなく―

the freakish success of my last book, right?

この前出版した本と 比較されるんです

I should just put it bluntly, because we're all sort of friends here now --

信じられないぐらい売れたあの本と…

it's exceedingly likely that my greatest success is behind me.

ここだけの話 率直に言うと―

Oh, so Jesus, what a thought!

今後 代表作を書ける見込みは低いんです

You know that's the kind of thought that could lead a person

ああ なんてこと!

to start drinking gin at nine o'clock in the morning

こんな風に考えて 人は―

and I don't want to go there.

朝9時からジンを飲むようになるんです

(Laughter)

それは ごめんです

I would prefer to keep doing this work that I love.

(会場 笑)

And so, the question becomes, how?

好きな仕事を続けたい

And so, it seems to me, upon a lot of reflection,

そこで考えます "どうやって?"

that the way that I have to work now, in order to continue writing,

振り返って じっくり考えました

is that I have to create some sort of protective psychological construct, right?

書き続けるために なすべきことは―

I have to, sort of find some way to have a safe distance

心理的に守れるものを作ることだろう と

between me, as I am writing, and my very natural anxiety

安全な距離を 保てるようになること

about what the reaction to that writing is going to be, from now on.

作家としての私と 未来の作品の評価を―

And, as I've been looking over the last year for models for how to do that

心配する私の間に…

I've been sort of looking across time,

昨年中 手本を探し続けました

and I've been trying to find other societies

歴史も さかのぼり―

to see if they might have had better and saner ideas than we have

様々な社会も 探りました

about how to help creative people, sort of manage

より良く まっとうな見解はないかと

the inherent emotional risks of creativity.

創作者を助け 創作につきものの―

And that search has led me to ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

精神的リスクを管理できないか…

So stay with me, because it does circle around and back.

古代ギリシャとローマにありました

But, ancient Greece and ancient Rome --

ついて来て下さい　じき戻りますから

people did not happen to believe that creativity

古代のギリシャとローマでは―

came from human beings back then, OK?

信じられていませんでした

People believed that creativity was this divine attendant spirit

人間に創造性が備わっているとは…

that came to human beings from some distant and unknowable source,

創造性は 人に付き添う精霊で―

for distant and unknowable reasons.

遠く未知のところから来たのです

The Greeks famously called these divine attendant spirits of creativity, daemons.

人間の理解を超えた動機から…

Socrates, famously, believed that he had a daemon

古代ギリシャ人は 精霊を"ダイモン"と呼びました

who spoke wisdom to him from afar.

ソクラテスは ダイモンがついていると信じていた

The Romans had the same idea,

遠くから叡智を語ってきたと…

but they called that sort of disembodied creative spirit a genius.

ローマ人も同様でしたが―

Which is great, because the Romans did not actually think

肉体のない創造の霊を"ジーニアス" と呼びました

that a genius was a particularly clever individual.

彼らは "ジーニアス(天才)" を―

They believed that a genius was this, sort of magical divine entity,

能力の秀でた個人とは 考えなかった

who was believed to literally live in the walls

あの精霊のことだと 考えていました

of an artist's studio, kind of like Dobby the house elf,

アトリエの壁の中に生き―

and who would come out and sort of invisibly assist the artist with their work

ハリーポッターの妖精ドビーのように…

and would shape the outcome of that work.

創作活動をこっそり手伝い―

So brilliant -- there it is, right there that distance that I'm talking about --

作品を形作るんです

that psychological construct to protect you from the results of your work.

素晴らしい!　先ほど話した"距離"が存在します

And everyone knew that this is how it functioned, right?

作品の評価から 心理的に守られるものが…

So the ancient artist was protected from certain things,

そういうものだと 人々は信じていました

like, for example, too much narcissism, right?

古代のアーティストは 守られていたのです

If your work was brilliant you couldn't take all the credit for it,

たとえば 過剰な自惚れから

everybody knew that you had this disembodied genius who had helped you.

どんなに立派な作品でも 自分だけの功績ではない

If your work bombed, not entirely your fault, you know?

霊が助けたと 知られていたからです

Everyone knew your genius was kind of lame.

失敗しても 自分だけのせいじゃない

And this is how people thought about creativity in the West for a really long time.

"ジーニアス" が ダメだったんです

And then the Renaissance came and everything changed,

この考えは 長らく西洋に浸透していましたが―

and we had this big idea, and the big idea was

ルネッサンスが全てを変えました

let's put the individual human being at the center of the universe

とてつもない考えが現れた

above all gods and mysteries, and there's no more room

世界の中心に 人間を置こうではないかと

for mystical creatures who take dictation from the divine.

全ての神と神秘の上に…

And it's the beginning of rational humanism,

神の言葉を伝える謎の生き物は 消えた…

and people started to believe that creativity

合理的人文主義の 誕生です

came completely from the self of the individual.

人々も信じ始めました

And for the first time in history,

創造性は 個人の内から現れるのだと

you start to hear people referring to this or that artist as being a genius

史上初めて―

rather than having a genius.

芸術家が "ジーニアス" と呼ばれるようになりました

And I got to tell you, I think that was a huge error.

"ジーニアス" が側にいるのではない

You know, I think that allowing somebody, one mere person

これは大きな間違いですよ

to believe that he or she is like, the vessel

たった一人の人間を―

you know, like the font and the essence and the source

男でも女でも 一人の人を―

of all divine, creative, unknowable, eternal mystery

神聖で創造的な謎の―

is just a smidge too much responsibility to put on one fragile, human psyche.

本質で源だと 信じさせるなんて

It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun.

繊細な人間の心には 少し重荷では?

It just completely warps and distorts egos,

太陽を飲めと 言うようなものです

and it creates all these unmanageable expectations about performance.

歪んだエゴでしょう

And I think the pressure of that

それが 作品への過剰な期待を作り―

has been killing off our artists for the last 500 years.

その期待へのプレッシャーが―

And, if this is true

過去500年 芸術家たちを殺してきたんです

and I think it is true,

もしこれが事実なら―

the question becomes, what now?

事実だと思いますが―

Can we do this differently?

問題は 今後です

Maybe go back to some more ancient understanding

他に道は ないでしょうか?

about the relationship between humans and the creative mystery.

創造性の謎と 上手に付き合うには―

Maybe not.

昔の考え方に ならえばいい?

Maybe we can't just erase 500 years of rational humanistic thought

恐らく無理でしょう

in one 18 minute speech.

500年に及ぶ 合理的人文思想を消すのは…

And there's probably people in this audience

18分のスピーチでは ね

who would raise really legitimate scientific suspicions

恐らく この会場にも―

about the notion of, basically fairies

科学的な正当性を 疑う人がいるでしょう

who follow people around rubbing fairy juice on their projects and stuff.

妖精というアイデアに…

I'm not, probably, going to bring you all along with me on this.

彼らが 作品に甘い蜜をかけるなんて?

But the question that I kind of want to pose is --

深入りは しませんが―

you know, why not?

提起したいのは ここです

Why not think about it this way?

"いいじゃない?"

Because it makes as much sense as anything else I have ever heard

"何がいけない?" と

in terms of explaining the utter maddening capriciousness

今まで聞いたどの話より 納得いきます

of the creative process.

創作過程の 意味不明な気まぐれが―

A process which, as anybody who has ever tried to make something --

説明できます

which is to say basically, everyone here ---

何か創ろうとした人なら分かる―

knows does not always behave rationally.

つまり皆さん ご存知のあの―

And, in fact, can sometimes feel downright paranormal.

非合理な過程です

I had this encounter recently where I met the extraordinary American poet Ruth Stone,

ときに超常現象とさえ感じられる…

who's now in her 90s, but she's been a poet her entire life

最近 非凡な詩人 ルース ストーンに会いました

and she told me that when she was growing up in rural Virginia,

90を超えても現役の詩人です

she would be out working in the fields,

彼女はバージニアの田舎で育ち―

and she said she would feel and hear a poem

畑仕事をしていた時に―

coming at her from over the landscape.

詩の到来を 感じたそうです

And she said it was like a thunderous train of air.

大地の彼方から やってくるのを…

And it would come barreling down at her over the landscape.

ものすごい一群の風のようなものが―

And she felt it coming, because it would shake the earth under her feet.

大地を越えて突進してくるのを―

She knew that she had only one thing to do at that point,

地面の振動を感じて 察したそうです

and that was to, in her words, "run like hell."

なすべきことは ただ一つ

And she would run like hell to the house

"がむしゃらに走る" こと

and she would be getting chased by this poem,

がむしゃらに家へ走り―

and the whole deal was that she had to get to a piece of paper and a pencil

詩に追われながら―

fast enough so that when it thundered through her, she could collect it

素早く 紙と鉛筆を手に取り―

and grab it on the page.

詩が 身体を通り抜ける時に―

And other times she wouldn't be fast enough,

つかまえ 書き留める

so she'd be running and running and running, and she wouldn't get to the house

間に合わない時もありました

and the poem would barrel through her and she would miss it

走って走って… 間に合わず―

and she said it would continue on across the landscape,

身体から素早く 抜けてしまった

looking, as she put it "for another poet."

彼女によると "恐らくそのまま―

And then there were these times --

次の詩人を探しに行った" と

this is the piece I never forgot --

別の機会には―

she said that there were moments where she would almost miss it, right?

これは秀逸ですが―

So, she's running to the house and she's looking for the paper

逃がしそうな時が ありました