同時擁有聰明,美貌與財富,是不是最幸福的事?非也!世人所艷羨的這些,有時反而是魔咒.Savage Grace一書講述美國塑膠大亨Baekeland家族四代的故事,真實的人生,比小說還精彩.創業始祖Leo Hendrik Baekeland出身比利時法蘭德斯一個窮苦的鞋匠家庭.從小就要擔負家計.聰明絕頂的他憑實力進入大學就讀,娶了教授的女兒,到美國創業成功.Leo可不是財大氣粗的商人.他既專長化工,又寫得一手好文章,是所謂的文藝復興人.更有趣的是,家財萬貫的他一點也不重視物質生活.他說,要不是怕造成太太的不方便,根本可以不必有佣人.而且他三餐皆以罐頭果腹.他的日記這麼寫:
The complications of our unnecessarily complicated living irritate me. If I could do without inconveniencing my wife I certainly would go and live somewhere where we could dispense with servants and lead a simpler and more natural life. But my wife cannot live without some so-called “Society,” a stupid conventionalism and the cause of all our unwarranted conventional and complicated living. What do we want such a large house for, and why all these servants? Why all that complicated trash of unnecessary furniture? All this complication becomes more and more irksome to me. Trash—vulgar—idiotic—trash.
事實上他跟太太感情不太好,經常分隔兩地.Leo最喜歡待在佛羅里達偏僻的海角,置身大自然,研究大自然.他的孫子Brooks喜歡祖父,並承襲了他的風格.然而Leo的兒子George恰恰相反.喜愛精緻華麗有若公爵的生活.父子間的代溝,一代又一代的傳承,始終無法正常親密的相處.顯現的是冷漠疏離與憎恨.原來,親子的關係是這樣複製的.一個缺乏父愛的人,長大以後無法給予孩子關愛.就算有心,也不知方法.George受到Leo嚴格的教養,對自己的孩子亦是粗暴管教責打.Brooks有很深的體悟:…a child that knows it is loved will accept any punishment from the person who loves him, even when it is unjust, but no child will accept even just punishment from a person who dislikes him. And my father detested his children.
畢竟父子一場,最後一次見面,倒是感人至深:
He offered to come with me. His young gardener drove; my father could no longer drive a car. It was while we were driving to the station that I realized—and I am sure he realized –that we would never see each other again. As we stood together on the railroad platform, on an impulse I took him strongly in my arms and kissed him, hard, a l’europen. I was forty-three. He was seventy. We had not kissed—we had hardly shaken hands—a dozen times in all my life. Both of us were suddenly crying and speechless. Both of us, now that it was too late, asking the other for forgiveness, I for having so disappointed him, he for having been such a lousy parent, and God knows what else—everything, all the Malheur du siècle, all that we might have done, should have done, did not do, all the beauty lost, all the love not loved.
故事的高潮,在於Brooks娶了大美人Barbara,她不但艷光四射,還是個社交高手,結交貴族名流,過著夜夜笙歌的日子.Brooks一家在紐約,巴黎,西班牙Cadaques, Majorca,義大利Ansedonia過著奢華而不事生產的生活.不但人生失焦,獨子Tony亦無法在穩定的環境中成長,何況長期籠罩在父母爭吵不合的烏雲之下.美麗獨斷任性的母親;與妻子不合卻離不開她的父親,父母不同調的管教,致使Tony雖有才華與俊美的相貌,卻成長為無法有穩固學業,事業與人格的青年.Tony其實是同性戀,Brooks愛上了他帶回家的女朋友,與其同居.此舉對Tony的傷害,不在父親橫刀奪愛,而在於母親悶悶不樂令他痛苦萬分.他與母親的連結比父親深厚親密.父親對他嫌惡,失望,母親則器重,寵愛.兩者間的失衡,是問題的源頭.父親與第三者另組家庭之後,母親深受打擊,相依的母子,過著金玉其外,敗絮其中的生活,危機長期蟄伏,終於爆發出舉世皆驚的弒母結局.
五百多頁的書,以日記,以書信,以訪談,精巧的拼起一幅絕妙複雜的圖畫,像小說一樣引人入勝,更震撼人的是,所述全是事實.當代的藝術家,文學家,富豪,一一現身為角色.人情冷暖,令人唏噓.在Tony由英國引渡到美國之後的那段時間,最能看出人心冷暖.結局,也如上乘小說一樣深具象徵性.可憐復可悲的是,它不是小說.Tony最後在紐約的監獄以塑膠袋套頭自殺.曾祖父創立塑膠王國,孫子以之結束生命.悲劇的嘲諷,莫過於此.
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