“圣经”第一自然段
南方周末 2006-10-19 16:50:50
■西书谈片
□薛忆沩
我的“圣经”初版于1967年,作者是哥伦比亚人,原文是西班牙文。因此,我的“圣经”不是始于“太初”,如《旧约》;也不是始于耶稣的家谱,如《新约》。我的“圣经”始于“许多年以后……”
这哗众的启动方式曾经激荡过许多人对“叙事”的热情。那“许多年以后”的事件其实发生在故事结构的中部,因此,我们不妨将这种启动方式称为半途而“兴”。这第一个句子的短期行为显然是交代人物。但是,它的最后那个字暴露了它的长期打算。它已经在眺望小说第一章的结尾;它已经在接近整个故事的核心。在第一章的结尾,第一代孤独者将用那个字命名的奇观称为“世界上最大的钻石”。而饱经风霜的吉普赛人纠正他说那是“冰”。在小说中,“冰”代表着百年孤独的温度。
《百年孤独》第一自然段的第二个句子设定了地点又暗示了时间:流过马孔多的河流清澈见底。河床上白色的巨石像“史前时代的蛋”。第三个句子进一步将时间圈定:那时候,“许多事物还没有名称”,人们要靠“指”才能“称”。地点和时间刚刚确定,吉普赛人就出场了。从第四个句子的最后,读者看到了他们带来的“新的发明”。
这些新的发明将要改变与世隔绝的马孔多的命运,因为它们撩动了孤独者“无法遏制的想象力”。由第五个句子引进的“磁铁”是吉普塞人演示的第一项发明。这项发明使“甚至那些丢失多年的物品都出现在被人翻找过多次的地方”。在吉普赛人看来,导致这奇迹的原因是“事物都有生命”。而这项发明的价值就是去“唤醒事物的灵魂”。
可是,小说中的第一代孤独者却偏偏要将这深奥的发明落在实处。他的想象力将他带到了想象力可以抵达的最黑暗的地方。他要用磁铁去寻找金矿。吉普赛人的诚实无法阻止他。他妻子的善良也无法阻止他。他开始了狂热的寻找。他找遍了每一寸土地。他惟一找到的是一具“15世纪的盔甲”。
为什么一定是15世纪?这遥远的数字有鲜明的指向。它指向西班牙,它指向征服,它指向与征服相伴的远离,它指向与远离相伴的思念,它指向与思念相伴的孤独。盔甲被时间锈结成了一个整体。在第一自然段的第17个句子,孤独者听到了来自这盔甲内部的历史的回音。
如果马尔克斯只想以大师自居,《百年孤独》的第一自然段可以在这已经道高一尺的第17个句子结束。但是,马尔克斯显然知道他正在写作的是一部圣经。他要神化文学,他要神化写作,他要神化自己。因此,他一定要写出第18个句子,一个魔高一丈的句子。在这个句子中,锈结的盔甲必须被打开。不出所料的是,读者看到了一具骷髅,而且是“钙化了的骷髅”。大出所料的是,这骷髅的脖子上还系着一个小铜盒。读者还来不及去想象,作者就将这小铜盒揭开了:呈现在读者面前的是一束“女人的头发”。
这一束“女人的头发”掀起了这波澜壮阔的作品中的第一个波澜。它将第一自然段的结尾与开始连接在一起。它将爱情与死亡连接在一起。它为一座丰碑奠基。
马尔克斯没有去描绘孤独者经受这波澜冲击后的反应。读者只能从自己的惊愕中去想象他触目惊心的表情。
(P1184613)
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这马尔克斯,《百年孤独》已经被国内炒作多少年啦!
- posted on 10/20/2006
就是他,就是这经典的叙述,魔术的语言……我不觉得是炒作的结果。
《百年孤独》是我最后一本全部啃完的大部头,前后花了十年。第一次在大三暑假,看了大约三分之一,脑子就发晕,搞不清人物之间的关系。到寒假再次发力,终于看出窍门,原来每个相同名字前面都有固定的形容词,用以区分不同辈分的同名者。但这次仍然半途而废,到了乌苏拉八十多岁,也就是奥雷连诺第五代,觉得语言叙述的魅力已经消失了。后来在这边的图书馆借了英文版,终于读到小尾巴的出生,也从此看见三百页的小说就头疼。
明年《霍乱时期的爱情》将由好莱坞上市,虽然是一部二级经典,但最后那段船上的故事仍是令人向往的。
- posted on 10/20/2006
是我最喜欢的小说。也是因为人物名字混肴,读了好几次才读进去,前后花了两三年。我读的是英文版的。就是因为想读原版,才开始学习西班牙文,读了大半章。结果 Marquez 自己说比英文翻译比原版还好。后来读了一系列 Marquez 的小说,还是这本最好。
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point. Every year during the month of March a family of ragged gypsies would set up their tents near the village, and with a great uproar of pipes and kettledrums they would display new inventions. First they brought the magnet. A heavy gypsy with an untamed beard and sparrow hands, who introduced himself as Melquíades, put on a bold public demonstration of what he himself called the eighth wonder of the learned alchemists of Macedonia. He went from house to house dragging two metal ingots and everybody was amazed to see pots, pans, tongs, and braziers tumble down from their places and beams creak from the desperation of nails and screws trying to emerge, and even objects that had been lost for a long time appeared from where they had been searched for most and went dragging along in turbulent confusion behind Melquíades' magical irons. "Things have a life of their own," the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. "It's simply a matter of waking up their souls." José Arcadio Buendía, whose unbridled imagination always went beyond the genius of nature and even beyond miracles and magic, thought that it would be possible to make use of that useless invention to extract gold from the bowels of the earth. Melquíades, who was an honest man, warned him: "It won't work for that." But José Arcadio Buendía at that time did not believe in the honesty of gypsies, so he traded his mule and a pair of goats for the two magnetized ingots. Úrsula Iguarán, his wife, who relied on those animals to increase their poor domestic holdings, was unable to dissuade him. "Very soon we'll have gold enough and more to pave the floors of the house," her husband replied. For several months he worked hard to demonstrate the truth of his idea. He explored every inch of the region, even the riverbed, dragging the two iron ingots along and reciting Melquíades' incantation aloud. The only thing he succeeded in doing was to unearth a suit of fifteenth-century armor which had all of its pieces soldered together with rust and inside of which there was the hollow resonance of an enormous stone-filled gourd. When José Arcadio Buendía and the four men of his expedition managed to take the armor apart, they found inside a calcified skeleton with a copper locket containing a woman's hair around its neck.
- Re: “圣经”第一自然段(薛忆沩)posted on 10/20/2006
看来真是本好书!许多人都引介过的,包括张爱玲,但多是引介开初
。我读的时候,留意了两件事(混战我不喜欢,但够旧约!):一是
吃泥巴。这个我到亚马逊去了解,得知不少动物与鸟是吃泥巴的,为
矿物质(亚马逊雨水多,矿物冲刷凶),为解毒(热带果蔬)。
二是对美国肥佬的恨,这是有南美特色的了。不知这引起共鸣?
说这开篇好的人顶多了,但谈及全篇的很少。至于魔幻,我这个人喜
欢热带雨林,没有多少东西是魔幻的,西藏死亡书都不魔也不幻。
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