南布朗克斯的安琪兒

賞析/陳榕

唐·德里羅（Don DeLillo， 1936～）是美國當代小說家中的重量級人物。他出生于紐約的布朗克斯區(qū)，父母是意大利移民，1954年就讀于福德姆大學，1958年畢業(yè)后曾經從事過廣告業(yè)，并在業(yè)余時間進行文學創(chuàng)作。德里羅1960年開始發(fā)表小說，其后成為職業(yè)作家。迄今為止，德里羅共出版長篇小說16部，這些小說的主題具有時代感，風格富有實驗性，其中的代表作有《白噪音》（White Noise）、《天秤星座》（Libra）、地下世界（Underworld）等。短篇小說《天使埃斯梅拉達》（The Angel Esmeralda）選自德里羅出版于2011年的短篇小說集《天使埃斯梅拉達：九個故事》（The Angel Esmeralda： Nine Stories）。

Excerpts1）

And another morning a day later. She2） sat in the van and watched Sister Grace emerge from the convent3）， the rolling gait4）， the short legs and squarish body. Gracies face averted as she edged around the front of the vehicle and opened the door on the drivers side.

She got in and gripped the wheel， looking straight ahead. “I got a call from the friary5）.”

Then she reached for the door and shut it. She gripped the wheel again.

“Somebody raped Esmeralda and threw her off a roof.”

She started the engine.

“Im sitting here thinking， ‘Who do I kill？”

She looked at Edgar briefly， then put the van in gear.

“Because who do I kill is the only question I can ask myself without falling apart completely.”

They drove south through local streets， the tenement6） brick smoked mellow7） in the morning light. Edgar felt the weather of Gracies rage and pain—shed approached the girl two or three times in recent weeks， had talked to her from a distance， thrown a bag of clothing into the pokeweed8） where Esmeralda stood. They rode all the way in silence with the older nun mind-reciting questions and answers from the Baltimore Catechism9）. The strength of these exercises， which were a form of perdurable10） prayer， lay in the voices that accompanied hers， children responding through the decades， syllable-crisp， a panpipe11） chant that was the lucid music of her life. Question and answer. What deeper dialogue might right minds devise？ She reached her hand across to Gracies on the wheel and kept it there for a digital tick on the dashboard clock. Who made us？ God made us. Those clear-eyed faces so believing. Who is God？ God is the Supreme Being who made all things. She felt tired in her arms， her arms were heavy and dead and she got all the way to Lesson 12 when the projects appeared at the rim of the sky， upper windows white with sunplay against the broad dark face of beaten stone.

When Gracie finally spoke she said， “Its still there.”

“Whats still there？”

“Hear it？ Hear it？”

“Hear what？” Edgar said.

“Ku-ku-ku-ku.”

Then she drove the van down past the projects toward the painted wall.

When they got there the angel was already sprayed in place. They gave her a pink sweatshirt and pink and aqua12） pants and a pair of white Air Jordans with the logo prominent—she was a running fool， so Ismael gave her running shoes. And the little kid named Juano still dangled from a rope， winched13） down from the roof by the old hand-powered hoist14） they used to grapple cars onto the deck of the truck. Ismael and others bent over the ledge15）， attempting to shout correct spellings down to him as he drifted to and from the wall， leaning in to spray the interlaced letters that marked the great gone era of wildstyle graffiti. The nuns stood outside the van， watching the kid finish the last scanted word and then saw him yanked16） skyward in the cutting wind.

ESMERALDA LOPEZ

12 YEAR

PETECTED IN HEVEN

They all met on the third floor and Gracie paced the hollow room. Ismael stood in a corner smoking a Phillies Blunt. The nun did not seem to know where to begin， how to address the nameless thing that someone had done to this child shed so hoped to save. She paced， she clenched her fists. They heard the gassy moan of a city bus some blocks away.

“Ismael. You have to find out who this guy is that did this thing.”

“You think Im running here？”

“You have contacts in the neighborhood that no one else has.”

“What neighborhood？ The neighborhoods over there. This heres the Bird17）. Its all I can do to get these kids so they spell a word on the freaking wall. When I was writing we did subway cars in the dark without a letter misspell.”

“Who cares about spelling？” Gracie said.

Ismael exchanged a secret look with Sister Edgar， giving her a snaggle smile from out of his history of dental neglect. She felt weak and lost. Now that Terror has become local， how do we live？ she thought. The great thrown shadow dismantled—no longer a launched object in the sky named for a Greek goddess on a bell krater18） in 500 BC. What is Terror now？ Some noise on the pavement very near， a thief with a paring knife or the stammer of casual rounds from a passing car. Someone who carries off your child. Ancient fears called back； they will steal my child； they will come into my house when Im asleep and cut out my heart because they have a dialogue with Satan. She let Gracie carry her grief and fatigue for the rest of that day and the day after and the two or three weeks after that. Edgar thought she might fall into crisis， begin to see the world as a spurt of blank matter that chanced to make an emerald19） planet here and a dead star there， with random waste between. The serenity of immense design was missing from her sleep， form and proportion， the power that awes and thrills. When Gracie and the crew took food into the projects， Edgar waited in the van. She was the nun in the van， unable to face the people who needed reasons for Esmeralda.

Mother of Mercy pray for us. Three hundred days.

1. 節(jié)選部分主要描述的是埃德加（Edgar）修女得知埃斯梅拉達被殘害致死，看到了孩子們?yōu)榧o念埃斯梅拉達而創(chuàng)作的天使涂鴉，并由此產生了一些感受。

2. She：指埃德加修女。

3. convent [?k?nv?nt] n. 女修道院

4. gait [ɡe?t] n. 步態(tài)，步法

5. friary [?fra??ri] n. 男修道院

6. tenement [?ten?m?nt] n. 住宅，公寓大樓

7. mellow [?mel??] adj. （磚、石、建筑物）因年久而古色古香的；柔美的

8. pokeweed [?p??kwi?d] n. [植]美洲商陸

9. catechism [?k?t??k?z（?）m] n. 教義問答

10. perdurable [p??dj??r?b（?）l] adj. 永久的，永恒的

11. panpipe [?p?npa?p] n. 排簫

12. aqua [??kw?] adj. 淺綠色的，水綠色的

13. winch [w?nt?] vt. 用絞車提升；用起貨機吊起

14. hoist [h??st] n. 絞車；起重機

15. ledge [led?] n. （自墻壁突出的）壁架；架狀突出物

16. yank [j??k] vi. 猛拉

17. Bird：在小說中指故事發(fā)生的地區(qū)，是bird sanctuary （鳥類保護區(qū)）的簡稱，形容該地區(qū)與世隔絕。

18. krater [?kre?t?（r）] n. 巨爵（古希臘和古羅馬人用來沖淡酒的一種容器）

19. emerald [?em（?）r?ld] adj. 翠綠色的

作品欣賞

提到紐約，人們往往會聯想到一長串耳熟能詳的地名：第五大道、帝國大廈、中央車站、聯合國總部、華爾街、時報廣場以及百老匯。不過，這些景觀都集中在曼哈頓區(qū)。紐約共有五個行政區(qū)，曼哈頓只是其中之一，其他各區(qū)包括布朗克斯區(qū)、布魯克林區(qū)、皇后區(qū)以及斯塔滕島，其中最為貧困的一個區(qū)是布朗克斯區(qū)。按照2010年美國統計局提供的數據，在全美最為貧困的國會選區(qū)名單中，南布朗克斯排名第一。在那里，將近一半的人口掙扎在貧困線以下。在小說《天使埃斯梅拉達》中，女主人公埃德加修女就在這一帶從事慈善工作。

埃德加修女服務的社區(qū)被當地警察戲稱為“鳥類保護區(qū)”。這個綽號的由來并不是因為它是鳥類的天堂，而是因為它與世隔絕，是“一片在社會秩序之外的領地”。這里隨時可以聽到黑幫火并的槍聲，街道上“游蕩著成群結隊的青少年，還有武裝起來的毒品販子”，廢棄的房屋和舊車場里徘徊著各種各樣的社會畸零人。小說中的“天使”埃斯梅拉達就是其中的一員。她是一個12歲的孩子，生父不詳，母親吸毒，將她遺棄。她對陌生人懷著巨大的不信任，拒絕慈善機構的援助，獨自生活在廢品堆里。隨著小說的展開，我們得知她被一群暴徒強奸，并被人從頂樓推下致死，連兇手是誰人們都無從知曉。

埃斯梅拉達的命運是個悲劇，但這樣的命運卻不是個案。南布朗克斯的貧民窟是死亡的空間，疾病、貧困以及暴力隨時隨地在奪取人們的生命。在這里，受傷害最深的就是無辜的孩子。當地住著一位名叫伊斯梅爾的街頭藝術家，他帶領一批輟學的孩子在殘破的高層公寓樓外墻進行涂鴉創(chuàng)作?！懊慨敻浇鐓^(qū)有孩子死去，他們便用噴涂槍畫一個天使，表示對死者的懷念?！卑殡S著兒童的高死亡率，密密麻麻的天使畫像出現了，“幾乎覆蓋了半個墻壁……死亡原因有肺結核、艾滋病、毆打、駕車槍擊、血液疾病、麻疹、照管不良及新生兒遺棄……”

紐約是世界最重要的貿易中心之一，往往被視為進步與繁榮的象征。然而，在唐·德里羅的筆下，紐約城中的南布朗克斯貧民區(qū)卻是一個被時代所遺忘的角落。這里沒有鱗次櫛比的寫字樓，沒有西裝革履的商務人士出沒其中。這里有的只是殘破的建筑、堆滿了廢棄物的垃圾場，以及像埃斯梅拉達這樣被社會所遺棄的人。他們沒有能力獲得良好的生存環(huán)境，無法獲得體面的工作，只能擱淺于這一片空間。

在《天使埃斯梅拉達》中，唐·德里羅講述了一則關于苦難的故事，但他也借助苦難講述了一則有關救贖的故事。這里不僅有死亡，也有關懷和信仰。埃德加修女和她的同伴關心著這片空間里的每一個受難者。伊斯梅爾率領流浪兒畫出的天使墻寄托著南布朗克斯的居民對每一個早夭孩子的哀慟。人們往往將孩子比作花朵，這些早逝的孩子就像是還沒來得及綻放的花。他們的枯萎令人不得不質疑：正義何在？為什么當埃斯梅拉達停止了呼吸，傷害她的那些人卻仍然活著？為什么要讓她出生在這樣的家庭，接受如此悲慘的命運安排？如果這個世界上真的有公平和正義，那屬于埃斯梅拉達的正義在哪里？

《天使埃斯梅拉達》的回答是正義在人們的心中。埃斯梅拉達死后，不少南布朗克斯人從該區(qū)最南端的戶外大型廣告牌上看到了埃斯梅拉達的臉龐。她成了天使，是上帝恩典的化身。

廣告牌展示的是“美之源橙汁”：“橙汁形成一個小瀑布，從右上角傾斜而下，注入左下角的一只端著的高腳杯里；端杯子的那只手非常漂亮，是典型的家住郊區(qū)的中產階級白人婦女的手；遠處垂柳飄蕩，湖光水色依稀可見，顯示了她家所在的環(huán)境。”顯然，廣告的目標人群并不是南布朗克斯的貧民。實際上，它選址在此，是為了吸引每天出入曼哈頓的城際列車上的乘客們。然而，當亮著的車燈照在色彩鮮艷的廣告牌上，在那短暫的幾秒鐘之間，南布朗克斯居民看到的是埃斯梅拉達這位小女孩的臉。

人們希望用信仰為苦難添上一個幸福的結局。在信仰中，善有善報，惡有惡報，好人會回到天堂。聽說了“圣跡”的南布朗克斯人在天黑后聚集在廣告牌下，等待天使埃斯梅拉達的“顯靈”。明明是光線造成的幻影，可當女孩的臉隨著燈光浮現出來的一剎那，人們仍喜極而泣，救贖似乎有了超越死亡的力量。

在現實里，埃斯梅拉達是個被侮辱、被傷害的孩子。在她死后，人們卻用愿望使她復活，將她送到了遠離苦痛的天堂。相信埃斯梅拉達變成了天使，就是相信正義的可能性，哪怕這正義要在另外一個世界才能實現。要對抗世間的種種苦難，人們需要信仰的光，哪怕它是那么的虛幻。

其實，德里羅對信仰持有含混的態(tài)度。沒有信仰的世界太黑暗，但這就是世界真實的樣子。所以，德里羅為小說設置了虛無主義的結尾：“美之源橙汁”廣告被撤下，偌大的廣告牌空空蕩蕩，人們再也看不到埃斯梅拉達的臉。

只知道曼哈頓，不知道南布朗克斯，就不算真正了解紐約。紐約這座國際大都市是享樂的圣地，散發(fā)著紙醉金迷的氣息，卻也是個黑暗的無底洞，吞噬著像埃斯梅拉達這樣的無辜生命。在童話故事里，早逝的純潔靈魂會飛升上天，變成美麗的星星；在宗教故事里，他們回歸天堂，變成長著翅膀的安琪兒。然而，真正的幸福其實莫過于能夠在人間以平凡人的身份慢慢長大，度過平安而沒有饑饉的一生。