灰色都柏林，寂寞乔伊斯——读《死者》(The Dead) 在乔伊斯(James Joyce)的短篇小说集《都柏林人》(The Dubliners) 里，《死者》不仅在顺序上是最后一篇，内容上也是毫无异议的压轴之作。从失望地走出阿拉比的小男孩，到黯然站在河边的“A Painful Case”中的Mr Duffy，最后到《死者》中雪夜窗前突然痛苦绝望的Gabriel，乔伊斯仿佛在向我们讲述着他的一生。只是，这从小到大的历程，与其说是成长，不如说是寂寞对灵魂的一步步地侵蚀，最终以《死者》中Gabriel感觉到自己的灵魂与死者的灵魂之间的界限变得模糊而结束。死去的人因为曾有过真爱，也许还活着；而活着的人因为从不曾爱过，也许虽死犹生。 在这部精彩的短篇集里，之所以最喜欢《死者》，有三个原因。 第一，Gabriel在宴会上致辞的内容给我的印象深刻。乔伊斯像其他所有的天才爱尔兰作家一样，非常热爱自己的土地和人民，Gabriel就是他自己的化身。然而他的女同事却因为他的欧洲旅行计划而误解他对故土的感情。愤怒的Gabriel在致辞中比较了爱尔兰新旧两代人的差别，实际上就是认为，以他的那位女同事为代表的新一代人因受过高等教育而失去了用感情思考的能力——她的爱国热情不过是理性思维的结果，是虚伪的道德观。然而这并不是重点，重点是我们从字里行间里感受到的Gabriel既对同代人的作法愤愤不平，又无法同他们沟通的痛苦。 “’A new generation is growing up in our midst, a generation actuated by new ideas and new principles. It is serious and enthusiastic for these new ideas and its enthusiasm, even when it is misdirected, is, I believe, in the main sincere. But we are living in a sceptical and, if I may use the phrase, a thought-tormented age: and sometimes I fear that this new generation, educated or hypereducated as it is, will lack those qualities of humanity, of hospitality, of kindly humour which belonged to an older day. Listening tonight to the names of all those great singers of the past it seemed to me, I must confess, that we were living in a less spacious age. Those days might, without exaggeration, be called spacious days: and if they are gone beyond recall let us hope, at least, that in gatherings such as this we shall still speak of them with pride and affection, still cherish in our hearts the memory of those dead and gone great ones whose fame the world will not willingly let die.’ 第二，Gabriel看着楼梯上的妻子的那一幕让我心动。如果不是乔伊斯这样的语言大师，谁又能用寥寥几笔就传神地刻画出当时的情景和氛围呢？ “Gabriel had not gone to the door with the others. He was in a dark part of the hall gazing up the staircase. A woman was standing near the top of the first flight, in the shadow also. He could not see her face but he could see the terra-cotta and salmon-pink panels of her skirt which the shadow made appear black and white. It was his wife. She was leaning on the banisters, listening to something. Gabriel was surprised at her stillness and strained his ear to listen also. But he could hear little save the noise of laughter and dispute on the front steps, a few chords struck on the piano and a few notes of a man's voice singing. He stood still in the gloom of the hall, trying to catch the air that the voice was singing and gazing up at his wife. There was grace and mystery in her attitude as if she were a symbol of something. He asked himself what is a woman standing on the stairs in the shadow, listening to distant music, a symbol of. If he were a painter he would paint her in that attitude. Her blue felt hat would show off the bronze of her hair against the darkness and the dark panels of her skirt would show off the light ones. Distant Music he would call the picture if he were a painter.” 真真正正的心动。他被自己妻子孤独的身影所吸引。A woman, standing in the shadow also. It was his wife. Grace. Mystery. Like a symbol. It was his wife. 为什么他会被这个身影所吸引？因为这是他自己的身影——他内心所知道的自己的身影。孤独地站在高高的楼梯上，忘记了时间与空间，沉浸在自己的悲伤里。他想知道。他想了解。她在想什么？正如他自己也渴望被理解一样。 自从读了这个片段描写，Greta的这个身影就成了乔伊斯在我心目中的替身。乔伊斯被誉为20世纪文学的一座高峰，却怎么也无法像巴尔扎克、托尔斯泰等人那样伟岸。他只能是站在楼梯上的阴影里的一个崇高而又落寞的身影而已，无论站得有多高，也还是一样痛苦、悲观、自我。也许也正因为这些特征，他才能成为20世纪文学的高峰。20世纪是一个令许许多多的心寂寞的世纪。 第三，文章结尾雪落的场景让我感动。这个结尾，远远没有它表面看起来那么平静。飘着雪的冬夜，站在窗前，他发现自己从未爱过。泪水模糊了他的双眼。 “他自己从没有过那种感情，但他知道那一定就是爱情。”我们应该可怜那个早死的男孩呢？还是Gabriel呢？人到中年才发现自己的感情一直被尘封，自己不过是一具行尸走肉，是不是太晚了呢？读到这里我感觉到乔伊斯的绝望感、幻灭感，其实还有一点点委屈吧？为什么自己和那个男孩会有不同？是谁尘封了自己的情感？他一定想到了从前受过的伤害吧？ “Generous tears filled Gabriel's eyes. He had never felt like that himself towards any woman, but he knew that such a feeling must be love. The tears gathered more thickly in his eyes and in the partial darkness he imagined he saw the form of a young man standing under a dripping tree. Other forms were near. His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself, which these dead had one time reared and lived in, was dissolving and dwindling. A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” 其实，整个《都柏林人》都是一本关于“顿悟”的书——对寂寞的“顿悟”。懵懂的小男孩在离开阿拉比的时候，觉得自己在追逐虚空，又为虚空所弃。“A Painful Case”里的Mr Duffy站在只知道整天流个不停的河的岸边，看见了整日只知道跑个不停的火车，或许，他想到了只知道整天活个不停的自己。日复一日，辛苦劳累——有生命的他跟没生命的河水、火车其实没两样。离开的时候，他发现“He felt that he was alone.” 而Gabriel最后的顿悟则是，自己的人生不过是一个幻灭的肥皂泡，或是一场从没存在过的虚空。他是逃不了寂寞的。 http://en.cnxianzai.com/simple/?t63655.html
这个夏天出国大多是去欧洲，欧元真是强势得让人很痛啊。不过因为经济不好，而且为了吸引外国游客，酒店餐馆的价钱反倒跌了不少哦，吃得不错！ 除了前面贴过的马耳他（那是纯粹的旅游），还去了阿姆斯特丹，都柏林，海德堡。走马观花而已，那可都是值得更多时间停留的地方啊。 在阿姆斯特丹印象深刻的是那些足球迷的投入，有真正的群众体育基础。而荷兰的天空里那灰色云彩的透明质地，让人更能理解 佛兰德绘画的灵透，和 梵高作品里色彩的变化。 都柏林则是一个异常年轻的欧洲城市，夜晚的酒吧街上驻唱的传统民歌手给人的感觉竟然和美国南部的乡村音乐或者Bluegrass有共通的地方。 海德堡的哲人小道走起来还有点费力，而用来解渴的莱茵河域出产的白葡萄酒要比别处的雷司令纯厚很多很多。 在Neckar河上坐了游船再走去海德堡城堡晚餐，同行的同行（HANG)在小巷里一路高歌。那是一首1925年的老歌：我的心丢失在海德堡。。。 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5GteaSVUE0feature=related Es war an einem Abend, Als ich kaum 20 Jahr'. Da küßt' ich rote Lippen Und gold'nes, blondes Haar. Die Nacht war blau und selig, Der Neckar silberklar, Da wußte ich, da wußte ich, Woran, woran ich war: 阿姆斯特丹运河畔 阿姆斯特丹水上人家的花园 街头广场足球迷的JAM Session 海牙沙滩那灰色的天空 走在哲人小道上 海德堡街头露天酒吧 去Mannheim的Tramline上的一个小镇车站 车站对面的自助花店。 都柏林的酒吧街 驻唱民歌手 老牌理发师，都柏林
标签: 都柏林
