近一個月來全球各地的人們紛紛進入了居家隔離模式，商店關門，學校停學，表面上看起來大家的工作和生活似乎陷入了停滯狀態。然而在家工作不代表效率就會降低，有些人反而在隔離狀態下才能更好地工作。比如最近在家閉關寫作的喬治·馬丁就表示將在疫情結束前寫完《權力的遊戲》終結篇，要知道，這部書他已經寫了二十多年。
大文豪莎士比亞就是在一次大流行病期間寫出了《李爾王》、《麥克白》等傳世經典之作。歷史上還有一些偉大的科學家、藝術家和作家也是在隔離期間迎來了創作力的井噴。
1. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 威廉·莎士比亞
Shakespeare was an actor and shareholder with The King’s Men theater troupe when the bubonic plague forced London theaters to close in the early 17th century. The official rule was that after weeks, when the death toll exceeded 30, public playhouses had to shut down. This meant that the theater industry was paralyzed for much of 1606. After suddenly finding himself without a steady job and lots of free time, Shakespeare got to writing. He composed King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatrabefore the year was over.
17世紀早期，黑死病迫使倫敦的劇院關閉，莎士比亞正在國王臣民劇團當演員並擔任股東。幾周後死亡人數超過30人，官方規定公共劇場必須關閉。這意味著1606年的大部分時間，倫敦的戲劇行業都處於癱瘓狀態。突然發現自己沒有了穩定工作但卻有了大量自由時間的莎士比亞開始投入寫作。他在這一年內就寫出了《李爾王》、《麥克白》和《安東尼與克莉奧佩特拉》。
2. ISAAC NEWTON 艾薩克·牛頓
In 1665, when Newton was in his early 20s, one of the last major outbreaks of the bubonic plague hit the country. Classes at Cambridge University were canceled, so Newton retreated to his family estate roughly 60 miles away to continue his studies there. He didn’t have to worry about responding to professors' emails or video conferencing into classes, and with zero structure, he excelled. The young mathematician produced some of his best work during his year in quarantine, writing the papers that would become early calculus and developing his theories on optics while playing with prisms in his bedroom. This was also the time when his theory of gravity germinated. While an apple likely didn’t hit Newton on the head, there was an apple tree outside his window that may have inspired his revelation.
1665年，在牛頓20歲出頭的時候，史上最後一次黑死病大瘟疫在英國暴發了。劍橋大學停課了，於是牛頓回到大約60英裡（97千米）開外的家族莊園，繼續做自己的研究。在那個年代，他不用回復教授的電子郵件，也不用上網課，沒有了條條框框的束縛，他反而做出了突出成就。這位年輕的數學家在隔離期間寫出了自己最傑出的一些著作，在這期間寫的論文奠定了早期微積分學的基礎，在臥室裡玩稜鏡的時候發展出了自己的光學理論。這也是牛頓的萬有引力理論萌芽的時期。或許蘋果沒有砸到牛頓的頭上，但是他窗外的一棵蘋果樹可能給他帶來了啟發。
3. EDVARD MUNCH 愛德華·蒙克
TheScreampainter Edvard Munch didn’t just witness the Spanish Flu pandemic change the world around him—he contracted the disease around the beginning of 1919, while living in Norway. But instead of becoming one of its many victims, Munch lived to continue making great art. As soon as he felt physically capable, he gathered his painting supplies and began capturing his physical state. Self-Portrait with the Spanish Flu shows him with thinning hair and a gaunt face sitting in front of his sickbed.
《吶喊》的作者愛德華·蒙克不僅目睹了西班牙大流感改變了周圍的世界，1919年初他居住在挪威期間自己也被感染了。但是蒙克沒有淪為疫病的受害者，而是繼續創作偉大的藝術作品。身體剛好些，他就拿起自己的繪畫工具開始描繪當下的身體狀態。在這幅《患西班牙流感後的自畫像》中，可以看到頭髮稀薄、面容憔悴的蒙克坐在病床前。
4. THOMAS NASHE 託馬斯·納什
Thomas Nashe was an Elizabethan playwright who gained fame around the same time as William Shakespeare. When the bubonic plague hit London in 1592, Nashe fled to the English countryside to avoid infection. This was the same time he wrote Summers' Last Will and Testament, a play that reflects his experiences living through the pandemic.
託馬斯·納什是伊莉莎白一世時代的劇作家，他和莎士比亞是在同一時期成名的。1592年，黑死病襲擊倫敦時，納什逃到英國鄉下去躲避瘟疫。就是在這個時候他寫出了《夏天的遺囑》，這部戲劇反映了他在大流行病期間的經歷。
其中很有名的一段是這樣寫的：
Adieu, farewell earths blisse,This world uncertaine is,Fond are lifes lustful joyes,Death proves them all but toyes,None from his darts can flye;I am sick, I must dye:Lord, have mercy on us.此生永訣，人間極樂；世事總是無常；人生貪戀的歡喜；死亡視之若塵埃；無物逃脫死的箭頭；生老病死。主啊，賜我以仁慈！
5. GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO 喬萬尼·薄伽丘
Florentine writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio was personally affected by the bubonic plague. When it hit Florence in 1348, both his father and stepmother succumbed to the disease. Boccaccio survived the outbreak by fleeing the city and hiding out in the Tuscan countryside. During this period, he wrote The Decameron, a collection of novellas framed as stories a group of friends tell each other while quarantined inside a villa during the plague.
佛羅倫斯作家、詩人喬萬尼·薄伽丘親身感受到了黑死病的影響。1348年當黑死病襲擊佛羅倫斯時，他的父親和繼母都染病而死。薄伽丘逃離了城市，躲到託斯卡納鄉下，從而在疫情中倖存了下來。在這期間，他寫出了《十日談》，這是一部中篇小說合集，敘述的是瘟疫期間一群朋友在一座鄉間別墅中隔離時給對方講的故事。
英文來源：Mental Floss
翻譯&編輯：丹妮