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《魔戒》博班版
2006 年 5 月 13 日 星期六
前幾天走過系裡另外一間研究生辦公室，看到牆上貼的這一篇《The Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?》，覺得有趣，就把它翻譯了下來。當然啦，裡面的內容偏向於映射英國的環境－例如酒吧合最後的那一段「腦力流失到西面的新大陸」。在英國唸博士班應該不會像下面的主人翁那麼慘，但是天曉得是不是會有哪個真的走了狗屎運呢？
故事從 Frodo 開始說起：一個年輕的哈比人，十分的聰明，卻又不太滿足於他已學得的知識與技能和現下的環境－一個四周的朋友圈子裡不是找工作、安定下來就是喝啤酒的環境。他非常的敬佩他的導師－非常資深的 Gandalf 教授，所以當 Gandalf 建議他做一個小型的計畫（帶魔戒到 Rivendell）的時候，他答應了。
Frodo 很快的就經歷了恐懼和沮喪的黑暗力量。這些力量不但繼續縈繞著他接下來的旅程，更在他的心靈裡留下了不可磨滅的烙印。 旅途上 Frodo 交上了一些有用的朋友們，其中最重要的的一個大概是他花了一個晚上在酒吧裡交到的 Aragorn－一個在當 Gandalf 的博士後學者而花了許多時間漫遊世界的傢伙。 後來 Gandalf 不在的時候 Aragorn 就成了他的顧問。
Frodo 完成了他的第一項任務後，Gandalf （和系主任 Elrond）建議這項計畫應該擴大。 Gandalf 召集一個大型的研究團隊，包含了訪問學生 Gimli 和 Legolas、外國來的博士後學者 Boromir、還有幾個 Frodo 從在唸大學部時就認識的幾個朋友。 Frodo 同意進行這項大型計畫，雖然有著五味雜陳的感覺。 （『我會拿著魔戒』，他說，『雖然我不知道為什麼。』）
很快的事情就越變越遭。 首先，Gandalf 消失了，而且一直到整件事完了之前都沒有與 Frodo 有任何的接觸。 （Frodo 以為他的導師死了，但事實上他只是發現了更有趣的題目然後整個頭栽了下去）。 在 Lorien 的研討會 Frodo 生平的第一個國際會議上，他被可怕的 Galadriel 質詢，又被很努力的想把整件事的功勞搶走的 Boromir 出賣。 Frodo 脫離了大團隊，從現在開始，Frodo 只跟 Sam 這個老朋友討論自己的工作。 雖然 Sam 根本不懂整件事是在做什麼的，但是在任何情況下他都隨時準備好把功勞歸給比他聰明的 Frodo。 然後 Frodo 開始向 Mordor 前進。 Frodo 的旅程中最後也是最黑暗的時期是在寫博士論文的時期，也就是當他努力地朝 Mount Doom （繳交論文）前進的時候。他發現重擔越來越重，重擔也越來越成為自己的一部分；越來越懼怕會失敗，卻又被 Gollum 害慘；最後也越來越少跟 Sam 說話。 Gollum 就是那個以前拿過魔戒，卻從來沒把博士論文寫完，仍然像個被榨乾而憤世嫉俗的幽靈在四週晃蕩的傢伙。
當把魔戒交給了火焰以後，他感到的是失望困惑而非自信滿滿，有好一段時間整個世界看起來盡是虛空。到頭來事情終於結束了：魔戒消失了，每個人都恭喜他，他花了好幾天在說服他自己事情已經結束了。 但是事情還不算結束，仍然有阻礙得去驅除。幾個月後，回到了 Shire，他得要面對面博士班外來的口試委員 Saruman，這個 Gandalf 的死對頭，總是想盡辦法要羞辱摧毀他的對手。 在幾個朋友和同事的幫助之下，Frodo 總算是度過了難關，最終卻發現這個勝利沒有帶給他什麼價值。當他的朋友們回去安定下來，找工作和建立家庭的時，Frodo 仍然十分的迷惘。 最後他和 Gandalf, Elrond 和許多其他的人，它們一起加入「腦力流失」跨越西面的大海到新的大陸去。
by Dave Pritchard (http://
www.bpi.cam.ac.uk/david/)
http://www.jacobite.org.uk/dave/odd/lotr.html
**That Lord of the Rings e-mail
This needs a bit of explanation. I wrote it in November 2001 as the result of a rather sleepless night induced by beer and toasted cheese. The hype for the Lord of the Rings film was just starting to build up, and I thought it might be interesting to try a small experiment. I’ve always wondered how successfully those e-mail forwards you keep on getting actually propagate, and it occurred to me I could test this by sending a reasonably forwardable mail out to a handful of my (quite sparsely connected) friends, and waiting to see if it returned to me via the others.
I sent the e-mail out on 17 November, to four friends in Bristol, Glasgow, Strathclyde and ANU (Canberra). At the time of writing (11 Nov 05), it’s still circulating; it’s returned to me or been reported at the end of untraceable chains from over a dozen universities in England, as well as from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and South Korea; it’s popped up on the websites of institutions or individuals based in Finland, India, the Irish Republic, Japan, Poland, Spain and Switzerland; and it’s been reprinted in a number of places including — perhaps most gratifyingly of all — appearing in edited form in the THES diary on 1 February 2002. (I don’t know whether the similar piece which appeared in the US Chronicles of Higher Education a couple of years back was related or not, but I’d be surprised to find the same idea hadn’t occurred quite independently to other people.) Thank you to everyone who’s got in touch with me about it, and please keep on letting me know...
I’d estimate it’s now been seen by several thousand people, proving a number of things: i) postgrads have a nicely geekly sense of humour; ii) it’s a much better-connected world than I’d ever realised; and iii) (as Rudolf Potucek, one recipient, puts it, ”most of us grad students out here very much sympathize with the sentiment of feeling underqualified, overburdened and eternally in the dark”. I’m currently trying to think of a way to include it in my publications list, as it must have better currency in the academic community than anything else I’ll ever write (well, I can dream...)
Anyway:
**Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?
The story starts with Frodo: a young hobbit, quite bright, a bit dissatisfied with what he’s learnt so far and with his mates back home who just seem to want to get jobs and settle down and drink beer. He’s also very much in awe of his tutor and mentor, the very senior professor Gandalf, so when Gandalf suggests he take on a short project for him (carrying the Ring to Rivendell), he agrees.
Frodo very quickly encounters the shadowy forces of fear and despair which will haunt the rest of his journey and leave permanent scars on his psyche, but he also makes some useful friends. In particular, he spends an evening down the pub with Aragorn, who has been wandering the world for many years as Gandalf’s postdoc and becomes his adviser when Gandalf isn’t around.
After Frodo has completed his first project, Gandalf (along with head of department Elrond) proposes that the work should be extended. He assembles a large research group, including visiting students Gimli and Legolas, the foreign postdoc Boromir, and several of Frodo’s own friends from his undergraduate days. Frodo agrees to tackle this larger project, though he has mixed feelings about it. (”’I will take the Ring’, he said, ’although I do not know the way.’”)
Very rapidly, things go wrong. First, Gandalf disappears and has no more interaction with Frodo until everything is over. (Frodo assumes his supervisor is dead: in fact, he’s simply found a more interesting topic and is working on that instead.) At his first international conference in Lorien, Frodo is cross-questioned terrifyingly by Galadriel, and betrayed by Boromir, who is anxious to get the credit for the work himself. Frodo cuts himself off from the rest of his team: from now on, he will only discuss his work with Sam, an old friend who doesn’t really understand what it’s all about, but in any case is prepared to give Frodo credit for being rather cleverer than he is. Then he sets out towards Mordor.
The last and darkest period of Frodo’s journey clearly represents the writing-up stage, as he struggles towards Mount Doom (submission), finding his burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of himself; more and more terrified of failure; plagued by the figure of Gollum, the student who carried the Ring before him but never wrote up and still hangs around as a burnt-out, jealous shadow; talking less and less even to Sam. When he submits the Ring to the fire, it is in desperate confusion rather than with confidence, and for a while the world seems empty.
Eventually it is over: the Ring is gone, everyone congratulates him, and for a few days he can convince himself that his troubles are over. But there is one more obstacle to overcome: months later, back in the Shire, he must confront the external examiner Saruman, an old enemy of Gandalf, who seeks to humiliate and destroy his rival’s protege. With the help of his friends and colleagues, Frodo passes through this ordeal, but discovers at the end that victory has no value left for him. While his friends return to settling down and finding jobs and starting families, Frodo remains in limbo; finally, along with Gandalf, Elrond and many others, he joins the brain drain across the Western ocean to the new land beyond.
