与保罗相遇——保罗奥斯特读书系列之《意外之声》
08-03-18
00:09:19, 分类: 读书 与保罗相遇——保罗奥斯特读书系列之《意外之声》
他的音乐响起，我即迷失。读他的书给我这种体验。他的文字，是我的咒。很享受这种被文字中的力征服的感觉，他的节奏和速度和耐力都让我全然臣服，放软自己任由他把我带到什么地方去。（Drift with his waves. ）
这一次，他的书叫《意外之声》THE MUSIC OF CHANCE。名字很像是我读他的上一本书《幻影之书》THE BOOK OF ILLUSIONS的姐妹篇。并没有刻意安排，连着读到这两本书好像是缘分，小小的书缘令我欢喜；是真的欢喜，在妙的时间，遇到一本妙的书。
读《意外之声》的时候一直有种感觉，一恍惚就重现了《幻影之书》中的文字。虽然是不同的曲子，奏的却是同一个主题。谁说过的，一个作家，一辈子的书也不过是那一两个主题。我想是真的，文字下面是个人，那个人，一辈子苦苦追问的也不过是一两个问题。我很喜欢这样拨开文字的沙去偷窥作者的影子。
他的主题是：虚幻。好比命运，指隙流沙，宇宙微尘，太虚幻境。正中我的命门。所以才会为他着迷吧。
用什么样的容器才能装盛虚幻呢？
繁复到逼真的细节和一个fantasy的故事。明明知道是假，他偏偏要说服你是真；你待要信了，他又一拐弯翻出一个更不可思议的意外来。他在文字中挑战现实，挑战自己，玩得乐此不疲。我想象他获得某种益智游戏的快乐。
我不打算概述《意外之声》的故事。好的故事只能以它被讲述的方式讲述才能保存它打动人的魅力。
我收集吉光片羽的美。
“归根到底就是个顺序问题，事件发生的次序。如果那个律师不是花了六个月才找到他，他就不会在路上遇见杰克·波茨，那么他们相遇之后的那些事也就都不会发生。纳什觉得这么思考他的人生让他犯迷糊。事实是，他的父亲在特丽莎离开他的一个月前去世了，如果他对要继承的财产有一星半点的了解，他大概会让她留下来。即使她不留下来，他也不需要把朱丽叶送到明尼苏达州和他姐姐住一起，这样的话，他就不会去做他后来做过的那些事情。但是当时他还在消防队工作，没日没夜奔忙在外，怎么能照顾一个两岁的孩子呢？要是那时有钱的话他就可以请个女人和他们住一块儿来照顾朱丽叶，但是他们要是有钱就不会租住在萨默维尔那套阴暗的双居房的底层，而特丽莎也不用出走。倒不是他的工资太低，只是四年前他母亲的火葬仪式（？）罄尽了他的全部家底，而他还得每个月寄钱倒佛罗里达州他母亲过世的那家养老院。考虑到这种种因素，他姐姐家似乎就成了唯一的出路。至少朱丽叶有机会过上真正的家庭生活，和其它孩子在一起，呼吸新鲜空气，这比他自己能给她的要好太多了。后来，突如其来地，律师找到了他，那笔钱砸到了他头上。那可是笔大数目――将近二十万美元，对于纳什来说简直难以想象——但是那已经太迟了。在过去的五个月里太多的事情已经发生，即使钱也无法阻止了。”
It all came down to a question of sequence, the order of events. If it had not taken the lawyer six months to find him, he never would have been on the road the day he met Jack Pozzi, and therefore none of the things that followed from that meeting ever would have happened. Nashe found it unsettling to think of his life in those terms, but the fact was that his father had died a full month before Thérèse walked out on him, and if he had had some inkling of the money he was about to inherit, he probably could have talked her to stay. Even if she hadn’t stay, there would have been no need to take Juliette out to Minnesota to live with his sister, and that alone would have kept him from doing what he did. But he still had his job with the fire department back then, and how was he supposed to take care of a two-year-old child when his work kept him out of the house at all hours of the day and night? If there had been some money, he would have hired a woman to live with them and look after Juliette, but if there had been any money, they wouldn’t have been renting the bottom half of a dismal two-family house in Somerville, and Thérèse might never have run off in the first place. It wasn’t that his salary was so bad, but his mother’s stoke four years ago had emptied him out, and he was still sending monthly payments down to the rest home in Florida where she had died. Given all that, his sister’s place had seemed like the only solution. At least Juliette would have a chance to live with a real family, to be surrounded by other kids and to breathe some fresh air, and that was a lot better than anything he could offer her himself. Then, out of the blue, the lawyer found him and the money fell into his lap. It was a colossal sum----close to two hundred thousand dollars, and almost unimaginable sum to Nashe----but by then it was already too late. Too many things had been set in motion during the past five months, and not even the money could stop them anymore.
英文原文的时态比较复杂，因为是假设不可能发生的事情，又是以过去时叙述的故事，用的是过去将来完成时。中文的翻译看不出这种复杂的时态，一层细巧繁杂的花痕从文字的铸面上被抹去了。
这段文字，在故事开始的地方。不徐不急把什么都交待了，不玩花样钓你胃口，然而，钓我上钩 （hoop me up。
如果你开始进入这个故事，你会有一点开始明白我的意思：他在用细节和逻辑建构一个不可思议的虚幻的故事。在常态之外的故事。在路上，赌局，墙，遇到谁，谁死去。犹如象征符号或是寓言，你梦见过梦想过听说过，却没有经历过的故事。不可能。但是谁知道呢？谁能保证它不可能呢？他把这个故事说得这么滴水不漏，你迷迷糊糊开始信服。
《幻影之书》也是这样，一个明星突然失踪了，多年以后你收到一封信说他要见你。他过了怎样的人生？
