從前從前,有一個蒼老、眼盲卻睿智的婦人-- 美國文學良心Toni Morrison

什麼樣的文學作者,能讓美國總統親自發文悼念?托妮.莫里森逝世不久,美國前總統歐巴馬在推特發文:「莫里森是我們的『國寶』(national treasure),她是優秀的故事講述者。」又寫道,「她的作品對我們的良知與道德想像力,皆是一次美好且意義深遠的挑戰。」這篇演講是托妮.莫里森得諾貝爾獎的致詞,她用一貫擅長的故事,講了自己的故事。

Before you read

Toni Morrison
托妮.莫里森
1931年2月18日 – 2019年8月5日

WHO

Toni Morrison是史上首位獲得諾貝爾文學獎的非裔女性作家,知名作品包括《最藍的眼睛》、《所羅門之歌》與《寵兒》。2012年,美國前總統歐巴馬頒發了總統自由勳章給她,這個獎章與國會金質獎章並列為美國最高的平民榮譽。

WHAT

在逾60年的職業生涯中,莫里森以深刻描述非裔美國人歷史的小說聞名,她的作品《寵兒》是少數叫好又叫座的文學作品,1987年出版後便蟬連暢銷書排行榜長達25週,並在1988年獲得美國普立茲獎、1993年諾貝爾文學獎,該書也被改編為電影上映。

HIGHLIGHT

莫里森本人平常習慣維持低調作風,且強烈注重個人隱私。此外,她會有意識保持高深莫測的形象,並曾表示如果自己不保持一定的距離,無法達到她的水平。直到2019年的紀錄片《托妮莫里森:我的作品》(Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am),才為世人揭開她的神秘面紗。


演講節錄

看莫里森的文章,是虐待也是享受,讀者會在她的故事中迷走,因沉思而苦惱,因想通而暢快,一來一往間,再次勾出大家暢讀文學的心。演講一開始,莫里森用一篇寓言開場,展開一場深入語言的辯思之旅:究竟語言力量能有多大,是啟發人還是傷害人,端看人心如何決定。

從前從前,有一個蒼老、眼盲卻睿智的婦人

"Once upon a time, there was an old woman...blind...wise."

「從前從前,有一個蒼老、眼盲卻睿智的婦人。」

One day the woman is visited by some young people who seem bent on disproving her clairvoyance and showing her up for the fraud they believe she is. Their plan is simple: they enter her house and ask the one question the answer to which rides solely on her difference from them, a difference they regard as a profound disability, her blindness. They stand before her, and one of them says, "Old woman, I hold in my hand a bird; tell me whether it is living or dead."

有一天,幾個青年來訪,他們質疑盲婦的智慧,想來證明眼前這個女人只是徒有虛名。青年的計劃很簡單:走進盲婦的房子,問她一個問題。然而,問題並不簡單,問題本身衝著盲婦最大的殘疾與弱勢而來:她失明的雙眼。這群青年站到了盲婦的面前,其中一人問道:「老女人,我現在手裡握著一隻鳥,告訴我,牠是活的還是死了?」

She does not answer, and the question is repeated. "Is the bird I am holding living or dead?"

盲婦沒有回應,於是青年將問題重述了一次:「我手裡握著的鳥,到底是死,是活?」

She still doesn't answer. She is blind and cannot see her visitors, let alone what is in their hands. She does not know their color, gender, or homeland. She only knows their motive. The old woman’s silence is so long, the young people have trouble holding their laughter.

盲婦仍然沒有回答,她無法看見青年,更不用說是看到他們手中的東西。她甚至不知道青年的膚色、性別或來自哪裡。她唯一明瞭於心的是這群人挑釁的動機。老盲婦緘默了許久,青年們忍不住笑出聲。

Finally, she speaks and her voice is soft but stern. "I don't know", she says. "I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands."

最終,盲婦開口了,她的聲線柔和卻語氣卻嚴苛。「我不知道」她說,「我不知道你手中的鳥兒是死了,還是活著,不過我知道牠在你手裡,牠就在你的手裡。」

Her answer can be taken to mean: if it is dead, you have either found it that way or you have killed it. If it is alive, you can still kill it. Whether it is to stay alive, it is your decision. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility.

盲婦沒有正面回答青年的問題:倘若鳥是死的,你要不是早就找到鳥的屍體,就是已經親手殺死牠了。倘若鳥還活著,你仍然可以在我回答之後殺死牠。要不要讓鳥活下去是你的選擇,不管你最終決定了什麼,都是你的責任。

現在與將來,語言會慫恿公民武裝起來

---

I choose to read the bird as language and the woman as a practiced writer.

我選擇將鳥看作是語言的隱射,而盲婦是從事寫作的作家。

---

The old woman is keenly aware that no intellectual mercenary, nor insatiable dictator, no paid-for politician or demagogue, no counterfeit journalist would be persuaded by her thoughts.

盲婦敏銳地覺知到,總有些人無法認同她的思想,像是那些金錢至上的菁英分子、貪得無厭的獨裁者、滿口仁義道德,卻唯利是圖的貪腐政客,以及滿嘴謊言的偽記者。

There is and will be rousing language to keep citizens armed and arming; slaughtered and slaughtering in the malls, courthouses, post offices, playgrounds, bedrooms, and boulevards; stirring, memorializing language to mask the pity and waste of needless death.

現在與將來,語言會慫恿公民武裝自己,拾起武器,人群在商場、法庭、郵局、遊戲場、臥室和大街上,肆意殘殺同胞、或慘遭殺害;最後人們再以煽情、紀念語言,來掩飾那些無辜的性命與悲哀。

There will be more diplomatic language to countenance rape, torture, assassination.

現在與將來,或有更多外交辭令去縱容強姦、酷刑和暗殺。

There is and will be more seductive, mutant language designed to throttle women, to pack their throats like paté-producing geese with their own unsayable, transgressive words.

現在與將來,或有更多墮落、扭曲的語言去殘害婦女,受害的婦女用那些難以啟齒、悖德的穢言穢語,二度傷害自己,掐住自己的喉嚨,如同任人宰割的肥鵝。

Language glamorized to thrill the dissatisfied and bereft into assaulting their neighbors; arrogant pseudo-empirical language crafted to lock creative people into cages of inferiority and hopelessness.

語言將披上光鮮華麗的外表,挑撥不滿與失落的世代,刺激他們轉往攻擊鄰人(國);更多傲慢虛偽的言語被塑造成另類的文字獄,將富有創造力的人,封鎖在那粗俗和絕望的牢籠之中。

一個願意擔起社會之重的文學家

Language can never "pin down" slavery, genocide, war. Nor should it yearn for the arrogance to be able to do so. Its force, its felicity is in its reach toward the ineffable.

文字永遠不能阻止奴役、種族屠殺、戰爭,文字也不該是為了說而說的盲目狂妄;相反的,文字的力量與精妙,在於能道出難以形容的快樂。

Word-work is sublime, she thinks, because it is generative; it makes meaning that secures our difference, our human difference – the way in which we are like no other life. We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.

盲婦認為,文字創作是極致的美,因為文字富含生命的原動力;文字保護了我們身為人的獨特性,捍衛我們身為人的與眾不同。我們終將會死,這或許是生命的真諦。但我們也會運用語言,這或許就是量度生命的尺。


編輯/ 英語島編輯室

 收錄於英語島 2019年10月號
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