很多年前,一个学生请教我一个问题。这个问题大概是说,一部文学作品怎么才能被说成是“伟大”的?这个问题我认为几乎不可能回答,因为对于“伟大”这个词,我们大部分人都有自己的标准。当然,这个问题还是值得好好思考的,因为如果“文学”一词有其真正的意义,那么应该有一些标准可以让我们参考,来决定一部作品是否符合“好”的定义。最近,在读《伊利亚特》两个翻译成英文的评论时,让我想起了这件事。这部 Many years ago, a student asked me a question. The question is probably to say how a literary work can be said to be “great.” I think it is almost impossible to answer this question because most of us have our own standard. Of course, this question is worth pondering over, because if “literary” has its real meaning, then there should be some criteria that we can refer to to determine whether a piece of work meets the definition of “good.” Recently, I was reminded of the two translations of Iliad into English. This part