暑熱猶盛的初秋,我看完保羅奧斯特”紐約三部曲”裡的第一個故事.每天看一些,慢慢品味,不記得讀了多久,只是,閱讀時的癡迷,閱畢後的悵惘,交織成一種既豐富又空虛的奇特經驗.奧斯特的文字與內容,形成獨特的個人風格,說故事的功力,高明極了.其實,在這個短篇小說中情節雖然特異,但大抵是以男主角Quinn的日常生活與思維為主.奧斯特的文字簡單乾淨,即便是最尋常的事物都能寫得引人入勝.這讓我想起一些大師的電影,劇情的張力不在於煽情的佈局或快動作的節奏,而是以各種緩慢幽微的鏡頭呈現情境的氛圍與人心的流動,從而形成藝術的美感與張力.
奧斯特以理性富邏輯的文字帶領讀者思考.在故事中他深入淺出,不露斧痕地表達對人生的看法與辯證.聰明絕頂的他能把這些哲學性的思維與故事融合地完美無缺.男主角Quinn原本是個文學作家,慘遭家庭變故之後他隱性埋名,自閉在家,以寫偵探小說為業.隱居的他只能透過虛構的小說與世界互動.蒼涼無比.奧斯特是這麼寫的:”Private eye. The term held a triple meaning for Quinn. Not only was it the letter “i,” standing for “investigator,’ it was “I” in the upper case, the tiny life-bud buried in the body of the breathing self. At the same time, it was also the physical eye of the writer, the eye of the man who looks out from himself into the world and demands that the world reveal itself to him. For five years now, Quinn had been living in the grip of this pun.
一通誤打的電話引發匪夷所思的後續發展.Quinn突然變成偵探,受命跟蹤監視一個思想異常,甫出獄的老教授.Quinn 與老教授之間的對話處處機鋒,展現出作者過人的機智.偶爾的幽默也令人莞爾.老教授在論文裡提及的米爾頓之助理Henry Dark,竟是捏造的人物.Quinn問何以用這個名字,他回答說那是個好名字,而且別具意義.Quinn說是指涉黑暗嗎?教授說不是的,關鍵在於縮寫H.D. 為了追尋隱喻,Quinn連猜三個名字縮寫為H.D.的思想家,詩人與哲學家,結果都不對.答案竟然是Humpty Dumpty! 鵝媽媽童謠裡的”蛋人.” 奧斯特當然不是無的放矢.他以”蛋人”坐在牆頭上跌下來隱喻人的墜落.”For all men are eggs, in a manner of speaking. We exist, but we have not yet achieved the form that is our destiny. We are pure potential, an example of the not-yet-arrived. For man is a fallen creature—we know that from Genesis. Humpty Dumpty is also a fallen creature. He falls from his wall, and no one can put him back together again—neither the king, nor his horses, nor his men.”對於素材的選擇,剪裁與運用,我沒看過比奧斯特更慧黠的.
.奧斯特藉由偵探小說的形式探究語言的意義,文學家對書寫的狂熱,人的孤獨寂寞與絕望…. 故事裡的紅色筆記本,以及聾啞者賣給Quinn的原子筆有很明顯的隱喻與意涵.知識分子,再怎麼聰明(或者因為太聰明),終究難逃孤絕的命運.反高潮式的結局並未讓我失望,因為閱讀的過程中早已充分享受文字的美感與濃縮的哲理.智慧之言像小寶石一樣鑲嵌其中:”As for me, I have my good days and my bad days. When the bad days come, I think of the ones that were good. Memory is a great blessing, Peter. The next best thing to death.”他的文字有影像感.描述Quinn在大雨中苦候教授從旅館出來時,句子如下:He stood there under his umbrella, watching the rain slide off it in small, fine drops.如做成電影特寫鏡頭,效果是很好的.
好看易讀,充滿個人魅力.奧斯特是我最喜歡的當代美國小說家.格拉斯哥先鋒報的書評寫得最貼切:”A stunning, hypnotic book…Auster's virtuosic storytelling achieves a tone at once passionate and detached, and the result is as curious as it is convincing.”
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