অপেরার ভূত

前言

Foreword

本書作者於此向讀者敘述，他如何一步步確信歌劇院的魅影確實存在過

In Which the Author of This Singular Work Relates to the Reader How He Came to Acquire the Certainty That the Phantom of the Opera Really Existed

歌劇院的魅影確實存在過。

The Phantom of the Opera existed.

他絕非

He was not,

如人們長久以來所信的那樣，

as was long believed,

是藝術家的靈感，

an inspiration of artists,

是經理們的迷信，

a superstition of managers,

是芭蕾舞團那些小姐們亢奮腦袋裡的荒誕產物，

the wan creation of the excited brains of those young ladies of the corps de ballet,

抑或她們母親、

of their mothers,

女引座員、

of the box-keepers,

衣帽間職員與門房所編造出來的。

of the cloakroom attendants and of the concierge.

是的，

Yes,

他確實存在過，

he existed,

有血有肉，

in flesh and blood,

儘管他把自己裝扮得完全像一個真正的幽魂，

although he assumed every appearance of a true phantom,

也就是一道影子。

that is to say, of a shade.

我一開始翻閱國立音樂學院的檔案，便驚訝地發現那些歸諸於

I had been struck, from the moment I began to go through the archives of the National Academy of Music, by the surprising coincidence between the phenomena attributed to the

魅影的種種現象，

phantom,

竟與那樁最為神秘、

and the most mysterious,

最為離奇的慘劇有著令人震驚的巧合，於是我很快便產生了這樣的念頭：或許可以用前者合理地解釋後者。

the most fantastic of dramas, and I was soon to be led to the idea that the latter might perhaps be rationally explained by the former.

這些事件距今不過三十年左右，時至今日要找到見證人並不困難，

The events date back scarcely thirty years, and it would not be difficult to find even today,

就在舞者休息廳裡，

in the very foyer of the ballet,

便有幾位極可敬的老人，

highly respectable old men,

他們的話無人能加以懷疑，

whose word could not be doubted,

他們記得那些事，彷彿就發生在昨日——

who remember, as though the thing had happened yesterday,

那些伴隨著克莉絲汀‧達葉被劫走的神秘而悲慘的情狀，

the mysterious and tragic circumstances that attended the abduction of Christine Daaé,

夏尼子爵的失蹤，以及他兄長菲力普伯爵之死，

the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe,

伯爵的屍體是在歌劇院地底那片湖泊的岸邊被發現的，

whose body was found on the bank of the lake that lies in the cellars of the Opera,

靠斯克里布街那一側。

on the Rue Scribe side.

但這些證人中，至今無一人想到該把歌劇院魅影那個近乎傳說的人物，與這樁可怖的事件聯繫起來。

But none of these witnesses had until this day thought it necessary to connect with that dreadful affair the rather legendary figure of the Phantom of the Opera.