THERE is a time I read the book every day in subway on my way to work and home. I was deeply shocked by the miseries Quoyle had at the beginning of this story, which reminds me of my life. I suppose we all have a time in school learning what we don't understand, and facing losses of our family, and stumbling to get a life. How can we rescue our courage to life and pursuit goodness and happiness in this cruel world? The author use her magic words make me feel like being in that icy, isolated newfoundland, even though I am still in a crowed train. People in newfoundland are quiet, simple and also connected. Quoyle got a job there reporting local shipping news and gradually, gradually find his way of life. So the answer for me is "ISOLATION" which means inner serenity, and also it could be explained as' we all need our own newfoundland'.
BBC的World Book Club前不久采訪了Annie Proulx,其間討論了兩本書,就是這本《航運(yùn)新聞》,還有《斷背山》。可惜douban現(xiàn)在好象不能共享音頻和視頻吧?
對書有興趣的人可以到這個(gè)地址去訂閱podcast:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/。
故事的一個(gè)角色引述他過世老爸地話說: 一個(gè)男人一生中會(huì)經(jīng)歷四個(gè)女人:草地上的少女,惡魔愛人,堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的女人,安靜的高個(gè)兒女人。(the Maid in the Meadow, the Demon Lover, the Stouthearted Woman and the Tall and Quiet Woman.)。引述的人沒有解釋這是什么意思。
接著loser的父母去世,當(dāng)當(dāng)當(dāng), aunt Agnis(‘堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的女人’)出場。(原諒我用‘當(dāng)當(dāng)當(dāng)’這么俗氣的開場白,因?yàn)閷?shí)在太喜歡這老太婆了,有點(diǎn)激動(dòng))。電影由Judy Dench來演Agnis堪稱完美。Agnis不動(dòng)聲色地勸說Quoyle跟她一起搬回老家紐芬蘭去。To start anew. 作者用幾乎‘雪地捕鳥’一樣簡練而要害的文字概括了這個(gè)如此五味雜陳的回歸:At thirty-six, bereft, brimming with grief and thwarted love, Quoyle steered away to Newfoundland, the rock that had generated his ancestors, a place he had never been nor thought to go.
接下來Quoyle, Agnis, Bunny and Sunshine (Quoyle的兩個(gè)女兒,竊以為正是Quoyle生命中的‘草地上的少女’) 在他們臭名昭著無惡不作的海盜祖先的陰影下,在紐芬蘭傳統(tǒng)和現(xiàn)代化入侵的沖突背景下,face up to 他們各自的demon, 找回自尊和自愛. 這里出現(xiàn)了第四個(gè)女人, the tall and quiet, Wavey (作者給角色起的名字都很暗藏玄機(jī)). 用言情片的話說,Wavey也是個(gè)受傷的女人,最后兩個(gè)受傷的人走到一起,Quoyle終于學(xué)會(huì)‘to love without pain’。所以從某個(gè)角度來看,這是個(gè)小人物的勵(lì)志故事(尤其是大團(tuán)圓的結(jié)局),但是多虧作者的大師水平,你感覺不到狹隘的道德說教和政治正確。
作者安排這樣的出場順序(先有惡魔女人然后才有草地上的少女,名字還是活脫脫的bunny和sunshine)大概是要暗示一下惡中能生出善,suffering can also produce happiness.
Anne Proulx一生得獎(jiǎng)無數(shù),shipping news是她得獎(jiǎng)最多的小說。我只看過她這一本(修正:剛寫完這評就忍不住把brokeback mountain也搜出來看了),已經(jīng)為之語言功底折服,簡練而娓娓道來,詩意而不矯揉。伊擅用斷句, 方言, 很多時(shí)候省略主語。小人物的故事,大社會(huì)的背景。 我還想說敘事史詩般龐大,不過我交代我從來沒讀過任何一本史詩。。。所以我只能說作者傾注了太多栩栩如生的細(xì)節(jié),把紐芬蘭這種很多人可能聽都沒聽到過的outback(我知道literally這個(gè)字用在這里是不對的)之地寫得讓人仿佛身臨其境,看他們吃飯你會(huì)流口水,看他們釣魚你想跟他們一起出海。。。這不是如今很多玩技巧的寫手能望其項(xiàng)背的。
把小說的最后一段作為結(jié)尾:
For if Jack Buggit could escape from the pickle jar, if a bird with a broken neck could fly away, what else might be possible? Water may be older than light, diamonds crack in hot goat’s blood, mountaintops give off cold fire, forests appear in midocean, it may happen that a crab is caught with the shadow of a hand on its back, that the wind be imprisoned in a bit of knotted string. And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery.
p.s 電影里最經(jīng)典的那段話居然在小說里沒有:
Billy: You have to start by making up some headlines. You know: short, punchy, dramatic headlines. Now, have a look, what do you see? [Points at dark clouds at the horizon] Tell me the headline.
Quoyle: Horizon Fills With Dark Clouds?
Billy: Imminent Storm Threatens Village.
Quoyle: But what if no storm comes?
Billy: Village Spared From Deadly Storm.
When I was in senior high three years ago, I gave up Pride and Prejudice after reading about thirty pages, just a small fraction of that copy. Many a time I was faced with a 70-word sentence without any punctuation marks and it always ended in analyzing its structure and clauses. The pleasure of reading just faded away as the process of analyzing went on. Hitherto I still dare not pick up a classic.
But then I came across A Farewell to Arms and fell in love with this kind of writing style, immediately.
Three years later I happened to find this book, the Shipping News, via douban.com. To my great surprise there is one copy in the library, where there are few original editions of contemporary fictions in the literature department.
The book was finished in the last three days for I just couldn't help reading it. At the beginning it didn't seem interesting. Quoyle, just a nobody, achieved nothing during the last thirty years. Fired, car wash attendant, rehired. Fired, cabdriver, rehired. Fired. Move to Newf. Thus his new life begins. You may feel frustrated if you try to seek some thrill in the plain story. It's just about daily life, a life close to water, the sea. All the people are around the sea. All their memories, emotions and hopes come from the sea. Plain but touching. Sorry for Nauteem's boat, which is destroyed by a crowd of drunks. Sorry for Dawn's anxious desire to find a new job but there is no response. Wish Bunny not have any nightmares. Wish Beety could give another big show. All the little things, so real, so impressive. The book brought me to the moody sea during the last three days, a quite unforgettable experience of floating on the salty water.
The writing style is my favorite. Though a bit coarse at the first sight, the concise sentences come very naturally. Pay attention to those shining similes. They are like sparkling little stars on the deep blue sky, which can take your breath away. What a shame. Some of them just can't be translated.
However some details may seem artificial. For example I do not like the revival of Jack even though I like this character very much. I also wonder how Quolye turn to be so competent in the later part of the story. Maybe the author doesn't want to be pessimistic. Well, every one enjoys a happy ending, don't you?