Save the Reaper——溺亡在沉默中的呼救者賞析

愛麗絲·門羅（Alice Munro） 1931年生于加拿大安大略省的溫格姆鎮(zhèn)，1949年考入西安大略大學(xué)主修英語，1951年與第一任丈夫詹姆斯·門羅（James Munro）結(jié)婚，婚后輟學(xué)，成為一名家庭主婦。1972年門羅離婚，1976年再婚，嫁給了地理學(xué)者杰拉德·弗雷林（Gerald Fremlin）。門羅從大學(xué)時(shí)代就開始寫作，做了母親后，在照顧家人的同時(shí)筆耕不輟，保持了旺盛的創(chuàng)作力，先后出版了十多部短篇小說集，其中的代表作有《快樂影子之舞》（Dance of the Happy Shades）、《女孩和女人們的生活》（Lives of Girls and Women）、《愛的進(jìn)程》（The Progress of Love）、《公開的秘密》（Open Secrets）、《好女人的愛情》（The Love of a Good Woman）、《逃離》（Runaway）、《太多幸?！罚═oo Much Happiness）、《親愛的生活》（Dear Life）等。門羅是英語世界公認(rèn)的短篇小說大師，被譽(yù)為“加拿大的契訶夫”，曾三次獲得加拿大總督文學(xué)獎，是2009年布克國際文學(xué)獎得主以及2013年諾貝爾文學(xué)獎得主。本文介紹的短篇小說《唯有收割者》（Save the Reaper）選自其小說集《好女人的愛情》，主要探討了母女關(guān)系。

Sophie and Ian had bought corn at a roadside stand. It was for dinner. Plans had changed—they weren’t leaving till morning. And they had bought a bottle of gin and some tonic2） and limes3）. Ian made the drinks while Eve and Sophie sat husking4） the corn. Eve said， “Two dozen. That’s crazy.”

“Wait and see，” said Sophie. “Ian loves corn.”

Ian bowed when he presented Eve with her drink， and after she had tasted it she said， “This is most heavenly.”

Ian wasn’t much as she had remembered or pictured him. He was not tall， Teutonic5）， humorless. He was a slim fair-haired man of medium height， quick moving， companionable. Sophie was less assured， more tentative in all she said and did， than she had seemed since she’d been here. But happier， too.

Eve told her story. She began with the checkerboard6） on the beach， the vanished hotel， the drives into the country. It included her mother’s city-lady outfits7）， her sheer8） dresses and matching slips9）， but not the young Eve’s feelings of repugnance10）. Then the things they went to see—the dwarf11） orchard， the shelf of old dolls， the marvellous pictures made of colored glass.

“They were a little like Chagall12）？” Eve said.

Ian said， “Yep. Even us urban geographers know about Chagall.”

Eve said， “Sor-ry.” Both laughed.

Now the gateposts， the sudden memory， the dark lane and ruined barn and rusted machinery， the house a shambles13）.

“The owner14） was in there playing cards with his friends，” Eve said. “He didn’t know anything about it. Didn’t know or didn’t care. And my God， it could have been nearly sixty years ago I was there—think of that.”

Sophie said， “Oh， Mom. What a shame.” She was glowing with relief to see Ian and Eve getting on so well together.

“Are you sure it was even the right place？” she said.

“Maybe not，” said Eve. “Maybe not.”

She would not mention the fragment of wall she had seen beyond the bushes. Why bother， when there were so many things she thought best not to mention？ First， the game that she had got Philip15） playing， overexciting him. And nearly everything about Harold and his companions. Everything， every single thing about the girl16） who had jumped into the car.

There are people who carry decency17） and optimism around with them， who seem to cleanse every atmosphere they settle in， and you can’t tell such people things—it is too disruptive. Ian struck18） Eve as being one of those people， in spite of his present graciousness， and Sophie as being someone who thanked her lucky stars that she had found him. It used to be older people who claimed this protection from you， but now it seemed more and more to be younger people， and someone like Eve had to try not to reveal how she was stranded19） in between. Her whole life liable to be seen as some sort of unseemly thrashing20） around， a radical mistake.

She could say that the house smelled vile21）， and that the owner and his friends looked altogether boozy22） and disreputable， but not that Harold was naked and never that she herself was afraid. And never what she was afraid of.

Philip was in charge of gathering up the corn husks and carrying them outside to throw them along the edge of the field. Occasionally Daisy23） picked up a few on her own， and took them off to be distributed around the house. Philip had added nothing to Eve’s story and had not seemed to be concerned with the telling of it. But once it was told， and Ian （interested in bringing this local anecdote into line with his professional studies） was asking Eve what she knew about the breakup of older patterns of village and rural life， about the spread of what was called agribusiness24）， Philip did look up from his stooping and crawling work around the adults’ feet. He looked at Eve. A flat look， a moment of conspiratorial blankness， a buried smile， that passed before there could be any need for recognition of it.

What did this mean？ Only that he had begun the private work of storing and secreting， deciding on his own what should be preserved and how， and what these things were going to mean to him， in his unknown future.

If the girl came looking for her， they would all still be here. Then Eve’s carefulness would go for nothing.

The girl wouldn’t come. Much better offers would turn up before she’d stood ten minutes by the highway. More dangerous offers perhaps， but more interesting， likely to be more profitable.

The girl wouldn’t come. Unless she found some homeless， heartless wastrel25） of her own age. （I know where there’s a place we can stay， if we can get rid of the old lady.）

Not tonight but tomorrow night Eve would lie down in this hollowed-out26） house， its board walls like a paper shell around her， willing herself to grow light， relieved of consequence， with nothing in her head but the rustle of the deep tall corn which might have stopped growing now but still made its live noise after dark.

1.英文節(jié)選選自小說結(jié)尾部分，主要描述了主人公夏娃（Eve）與女兒索菲（Sophie）和女婿伊恩（Ian）在一起閑聊時(shí)的情景。夏娃回憶了很多往事，同時(shí)也講述了她剛剛經(jīng)歷的事情，但是為了不讓大家受到驚嚇，她省去了一些讓人不安的細(xì)節(jié)。

2.tonic [?t?n?k] n. 奎寧水（略有苦味的無色汽水，常與杜松子酒等調(diào)配飲用）

3.lime [la?m] n. 酸橙

4.husk [h?sk] vt. 剝殼；去皮

5.Teutonic [tju??t?n?k] adj. 日耳曼人的

6.checkerboard [?t?ek?（r）?b??（r）d] n. 棋盤；西洋跳棋棋盤

7.outfit [?a?tf?t] n. 一套服裝

8.sheer [???（r）] adj. 極其輕薄的

9.slip [sl?p] n. 長襯裙；肩帶式女長內(nèi)衣

10.repugnance [r??p?ɡn?ns] n. 反感；厭惡；抵觸

11.dwarf [dw??（r）f] adj. 矮小的

12.Chagall：即馬克·夏加爾（Marc Chagall， 1887～1985），白俄羅斯裔法國畫家、版畫家和設(shè)計(jì)師，是超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義畫家之一。

13.shamble [???mb（?）l] n. 混亂

14.the owner：農(nóng)場主人，即小說中提到的Harold，一個(gè)酗酒者。夏娃以為看到了兒時(shí)曾去過的地方，開車誤闖入了他的農(nóng)場。

15.Philip：菲利普，小說中夏娃的外孫

16.the girl：從Harold的農(nóng)場中跑出來的女孩，后來搭夏娃的車離開，是個(gè)妓女。

17.decency [?di?s（?）nsi] n. 正派；體面；莊重

18.strike [stra?k] vt. 給……印象

19.strand [str?nd] vt. （使）處于困境

20.thrashing [?θr????] n. 徹底擊敗

21.vile [va?l] adj. 卑鄙的；邪惡的；骯臟的

22.boozy [?bu?zi] adj. 嗜酒的；酩酊的

23.Daisy：黛西，小說中夏娃的外孫女

24.agribusiness [??ɡr??b?zn?s] n. 農(nóng)業(yè)綜合經(jīng)營，大農(nóng)場經(jīng)營

25.wastrel [?we?str?l] n. 流浪漢，流浪兒

26.hollowed-out：中間挖空的

作品賞析

門羅的小說《唯有收割者》的英文標(biāo)題出自19世紀(jì)英國著名詩人丁尼生（Lord Alfred Tennyson）的長詩《夏洛特女郎》（The Lady of Shalott）的一個(gè)詩節(jié)：“唯有收割者，早起的收割者/在長滿芒刺的大麥田間/聽到了歡快的歌聲在回蕩/順著彎彎曲曲的河道/流淌進(jìn)了高塔拱衛(wèi)的圣城?！痹娋淅锾岬降母杪晛碜砸晃蛔≡谙穆逄匦u的女士。她受到了命運(yùn)的詛咒，不能直視窗外的現(xiàn)實(shí)，只能通過面前鏡子的反射來了解外部的世界。她無法踏出閨閣，也沒有人目睹過她的真容，只有那些早起的收割者聽到了她的歌聲，知曉她的存在。在門羅的小說中，女主人公夏娃是一位戲劇演員，熟知各種文學(xué)文本。所以，當(dāng)她帶著七歲的外孫和三歲的外孫女開車在郊外行進(jìn)，途經(jīng)成片收割過的大麥田時(shí)，她不禁想起了丁尼生的詩作，輕輕吟哦。值得注意的是，在丁尼生的詩句中，英文原文是“only the reapers”，即“唯有收割者”，而夏娃復(fù)述時(shí)，特地將它改成了“save the reapers”，并認(rèn)為此處save比only更為妥帖。

夏娃對丁尼生詩作的修改使小說的英文標(biāo)題“Save the Reaper”一語雙關(guān)。雙關(guān)的產(chǎn)生源自于save的兩個(gè)詞性：save可以用作介詞，用法與except相似，意思與only相近，表示“除……之外”“唯有”；但save也可以作動詞，表示“拯救”。夏娃將原詩句中的only改為save，不會改變詩歌的原意，但是如此一來，這句詩還增加了另外一層含義，變成了一句哀請：“救救收割者?！?/p>

可是蹊蹺的是，通讀整篇小說，除了夏娃的這段吟哦，整篇小說似乎與收割者毫無關(guān)聯(lián)。小說的故事圍繞女主人公夏娃展開。夏娃是個(gè)不算成功的戲劇演員，年齡漸大，一年之中大部分時(shí)間賦閑在家。放暑假了，女兒索菲帶著兩個(gè)孩子前來探望，四人一同到鄉(xiāng)下度假，但是才過了十幾天，索菲就要離開。小說中，索菲前往多倫多機(jī)場接從加利福尼亞乘飛機(jī)而來的丈夫伊恩，夏娃則帶著外孫和外孫女外出兜風(fēng)。他們中途誤入郊外一幢酗酒者的住宅，離開時(shí)一名妓女搭上了他們的車。小說中的人物無論是主角還是配角都不務(wù)農(nóng)，沒有人從事耕作。

實(shí)際上，門羅借用“收割者”所傳達(dá)的是它的象征意義。在希臘神話中，女神德米特爾的形象是一名收割者，而她的象征物正是夏娃在小說中沿途所見的大麥。女神德米特爾是農(nóng)業(yè)之神、收獲之神，也是大地之母，是人類母親的象征。大地孕育出萬物，就像母親孕育出生命。由“收割者”德米特爾的母神身份，再聯(lián)想到女主人公夏娃的母親及外祖母身份，還有在《圣經(jīng)》中“夏娃”這個(gè)名字所指涉的人類的第一位女性和第一位母親的身份，我們可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)小說中夏娃修改詩句，在“唯有收割者”的意象之上增加了“拯救收割者”的含義時(shí)，她其實(shí)是在呼救：“請救救身為母親的我！”

為什么要呼救？因?yàn)閷τ诖藭r(shí)的夏娃來說，人生是溫柔而殘酷的寂寞和絕望，不知道有誰能前來解救她，給她以溫暖。小說的篇幅不長，英文剛剛過了一萬字，卻通過精巧的構(gòu)思，以夏娃的內(nèi)心獨(dú)白和思路閃回的形式，再現(xiàn)了她漫長的一生。夏娃的童年過得并不幸福，她的母親和周圍環(huán)境格格不入，使得女兒也跟著受罪。成年后的夏娃從一段戀情跳到另一段戀情，始終沒有找到心靈相通的伴侶。在一次旅行時(shí)，她在火車上認(rèn)識了一位已婚的印度醫(yī)生，兩個(gè)人春風(fēng)一度后各奔東西。夏娃只當(dāng)這是一段艷遇，誰知道自己竟然懷孕了，之后生下了女兒索菲。在夏娃的生活中，男性都是過客，但是女兒卻是恒定的存在。母女相依為命，感情不能算不好?？墒?，隨著索菲結(jié)婚，她和母親的關(guān)系日漸疏離。這并不是哪一方的過錯(cuò)，人生就是這樣。成家后的女兒有了自己的人生軌跡和生活重心，不能再陪在母親身邊。曾經(jīng)相伴的一對母女只能漸行漸遠(yuǎn)。

夏娃尋求藝術(shù)家式的生活方式，一輩子沒有結(jié)婚。索菲曾經(jīng)一度模仿夏娃的生活方式，生下了私生子菲利普，但她最終還是放棄了不羈的人生，選擇了嫁人，生下女兒黛西，成為任勞任怨的家庭主婦。索菲已經(jīng)五年沒有見過夏娃，帶著孩子來探視時(shí)，她原本計(jì)劃和夏娃一起住一個(gè)月，但只住了十余天，她就迫不及待地給丈夫打電話，讓他找借口帶她和孩子走。

夏娃的年紀(jì)越來越大，沒有丈夫，工作不算理想，積蓄不多，女兒也和自己不再親近。在孤獨(dú)感的驅(qū)使下，當(dāng)她碰到請求搭車的妓女時(shí)，便將自己的詳細(xì)地址告訴了對方。她明知女兒女婿第二天就要離開，如果這個(gè)女孩帶著同伴懷著惡意來找她，她孤身一個(gè)老太太很可能會成為暴力侵害的對象。但即便如此，她還是無法遏制想要和人靠近的渴望，將那個(gè)妓女看做自己女兒的化身，祈求用她的存在來填補(bǔ)女兒離開的空虛感。

生活并不需要巨大的創(chuàng)傷才會讓人覺得無法忍耐。在《唯有收割者》中，間或會有細(xì)節(jié)透露出點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴的美好，比如夏娃對外孫和外孫女的疼愛，比如女兒索菲和夏娃相處時(shí)不經(jīng)意流露出的溫情。但是，也正是因?yàn)檫@些散落的溫情才使小說具有了更濃重的荒涼感。在丁尼生的詩歌里，夏洛特女郎的歌聲還有早起的收割者能夠聽到，而母親夏娃所發(fā)出的求救信號卻沒有人聽到。女兒索菲無心去聽；外孫和外孫女年紀(jì)太小，根本不懂；偶遇的妓女哪里有心思關(guān)心一位路遇的陌生老人的所想所感。小說中沒有極端的愛或極端的恨，也沒有生與死的沖突。然而，靜水流深，每個(gè)人都有各自無法言說的欲望與失落。內(nèi)心的荒蕪被平靜的生活、淡淡的微笑所掩飾。尋求溫暖的呼救被沉默所淹沒，只剩下某個(gè)徒然掙扎的手勢，沒有人看得到，也沒有人在意。