海邊的卡夫卡

⊙ By Haruki Murakami

翻譯：林少華

海邊的卡夫卡

⊙ By Haruki Murakami

翻譯：林少華

提到村上春樹這個名字，你會想到什么呢？是曾以《挪威的森林》席卷全球的“村上現象”，是每年諾貝爾文學獎的悲情陪跑，是日本上世紀80年代的文學旗手，還是當代世界文壇的后現代主義代表？

無論是出于哪種印象，村上春樹的小說，總值得我們在人生的某個階段好好讀一讀，因為透過各種充滿象征意味的魔幻要素，他所講述的，往往都是放之四海而皆準的道理——就拿《海邊的卡夫卡》為例，年輕人往往能從主人公的流浪故事中體會到關于成長的寓意。

在這本小說中，奇數章的主角是少年田村卡夫卡，為了逃離父親的詛咒，年僅15歲的卡夫卡毅然決定離家出走，踏上尋母之路；而到了偶數章，故事就會變成老人中田的視角，展現老人的各種奇遇，如夢似幻，如真似假?，F實與虛幻二元并行，彼此對立卻又相互交融，共同編織出一個具有強烈幻想色彩的現代寓言。

本期節選出自小說的引子，講的是卡夫卡與一個名叫烏鴉的少年在商量離家出走的事情……

As always, we’re sitting beside each other on the old sofa in my father’s study.1)Crow loves the study and all the little objects2)scattered around there. Now he’s toying with a bee-shaped glass3)paperweight. If my father was at home, you can bet Crow would never go anywhere near it.

“But I have to get out of here,” I tell him.“4)No two ways about it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He places the paperweight back on the table and links his hands behind his head. “Not that running away’s going to solve everything. I don’t want to5)rain on your parade or anything, but I wouldn’t count on escaping this place if I were you. No matter how far you run. Distance might not solve anything.”

The boy named Crow lets out a sigh, then rests a fingertip on each of his closed6)eyelids and speaks to me from the darkness within. “How about we play our game?” he says.

“All right,” I say. I close my eyes and quietly take a deep breath.

“OK, picture a terrible sandstorm,” he says.“Get everything else out of your head.”

I do as he says, get everything else out of my head. I forget who I am, even. I’m a total blank. Then things begin to7)surface. Things that—as we sit here on the old leather sofa in my father’s study—both of us can see.

“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction,” Crow says.

I imagine a white8)funnel9)stretching10)vertically up like a thick11)rope. My eyes are closed tight, hands12)cupped over my ears, so those13)fine grains of sand can’t blow inside me. The sandstorm draws steadily closer. I can feel the air pressing on my skin. It really is going to swallow me up.

1) crow [kr??] n. 烏鴉

2) scatter [?sk?t?(r)] v. 散布，撒

3) paperweight [?peIp?weIt] n. 鎮紙

4) no two ways about it 必不可免，別無辦法

5) rain on someone’s parade 掃興，潑冷水

6) eyelid [?aIlId] n. 眼瞼，眼皮

7) surface [?sз?fIs] v. 浮出水面（或其他表面）

8) funnel [?f?n(?)l] n. 漏斗，漏斗形物

9) stretch [stret?] v. 伸展，伸長

10) vertically [?vз?tIk(?)lI] adv. 垂直地

11) rope [r??p] n. 粗繩，繩索

12) cup [k?p] v. 成杯形

13) fine [faIn] adj. 細的

The boy called Crow rests a hand softly on my shoulder, and with that the storm14)vanishes.

“From now on—no matter what—you’ve got to be the world’s toughest fifteen-year-old. That’s the only way you’re going to survive. And in order to do that, you’ve got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following me?”

I keep my eyes closed and don’t reply. I just want to sink off into sleep like this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the15)faint16)flutter of wings.

“You’re going to be the world’s toughest fifteen-year-old,” Crow whispers as I try to fall asleep, as if he was carving the words in a deep blue17)tattoo on my heart.

On my fifteenth birthday I’ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.

It’d take a week to go into the whole thing, all the details. So I’ll just give the main point. On my fifteenth birthday I’ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.

It sounds a little like a fairy tale. But it’s no fairy tale, believe me. No matter what sort of spin you put on it.

14) vanish [?v?nI?] v. 消失

15) faint [feInt] adj. 模糊的，微弱的

16) flutter [?fl?t?(r)] n. 拍動，振翅

17) tattoo [t??tu?] n. 紋身

No matter what sort of spin you put on it.

這句話是從短語put a spin on變化而來的。我們都知道spin有“旋轉”的意思，短語put a spin on就是比喻某人用某種方式去詮釋、解釋一件事情——這種方式可以是一些不同尋常的方式方法，也可以指某人通過歪曲或編造事實來達到某種利己的目的。如：

● This chef has put a new spin on seafood dishes.（這位大廚將海鮮菜玩出了新花樣。）

● The mayor tried to put a positive spin on the damaging report. （市長試圖從一種積極的角

度來闡述這份糟糕的報告。）

我們像往常那樣并肩坐在父親書房的舊沙發上，叫烏鴉的少年中意這個地方，這里零零碎碎的東西讓他喜歡得不得了。此刻他正擺弄著那個蜜蜂形狀的玻璃鎮紙。當然，父親在家時他從不靠近。

我對他說：“可是我必須離開這里，這一點是板上釘釘了?！?/p>

“或許，我想你是對的。”他把鎮紙放回桌上，雙手在后腦勺抱在一起?！暗遣⒉皇钦f離家出走就能解決問題。我不是要給你潑冷水，但假若我是你，我就不會對離開這里寄予太大期望。哪怕跑得再遠，距離也可能解決不了什么問題?！?/p>

叫烏鴉的少年嘆了口氣，閉上雙眼，用手指肚按住兩邊的眼瞼，從黑暗深處向我開口道：“來玩我們的游戲吧，如何？”

“聽你的，”我說。我同樣閉上眼睛，靜靜地做了個深呼吸。

“好了，想象很兇很兇的沙塵暴，”他說，“將其他事情統統忘光。”

我按他說的做，想象很兇很兇的沙塵暴，其他的忘個一干二凈，甚至忘了自己是誰。我的腦海變得一片空白，然后事物漸漸浮現出來。我和少年坐在父親書房那發舊的皮沙發上，我們都能看到那些事物。

“有時候，命運這東西就像不斷改變前進方向的小型沙塵暴，”叫烏鴉的少年訴說道。

我想象著白色的龍卷風渾如粗碩的纜繩直挺挺地拔地而起，向高空伸展。我緊閉雙眼，用雙手捂住耳朵，以免細沙進入身體。沙塵暴朝我這邊步步逼近，我可以感受到皮膚上的風壓。它真的即將把我吞噬。

叫烏鴉的少年把手輕輕放在我肩上，沙塵暴馬上消失了。

“這往下，不管怎樣，你必須成為世界上最頑強的十五歲少年，因為這是你唯一的存活之路。為此，你自己一定要理解真正的頑強是怎么回事，你聽懂了嗎？”

我依然閉著眼睛，默不作聲，真想就著少年壓在我肩頭的手感緩緩沉入睡眠，耳畔傳來小鳥若有若無的振翅聲。

“往下你將成為世界上最頑強的十五歲少年”——叫烏鴉的少年在即將睡過去的我的耳邊靜靜地重復一遍，就像深藍色的字跡刺青一般地寫進我的心里。

十五歲生日到來的時候，我要離開家，去一個遙遠的城市，在一座小圖書館的角落里求生。

當然，如果要將整件事詳細說來，恐怕要說上一個星期，所以我只說重點：十五歲生日到來的時候，我要離開家，去一個遙遠的城市，在一座小圖書館的角落里求生。

聽起來有點兒像個童話，然而那并不是童話，相信我吧，無論從哪個角度來說都不是。

（選自上海譯文出版社版本，有改動）