The Sea-轻识

媒體推薦

人類無法逃脫他必須承受的命運安排，Max Morden在生命中的十字路口，他必須把他混亂生活理出個頭緒，他罹患癌症的太太剛剛過世，他想逃離現實生活中面對的失落，卻回到當年受到創傷的所在。他回到的他還是小男孩時生活的海邊小鎮，他記得當時Grace家庭的雙胞胎Myles與Chloe。不過在Max Morden試著重新在此地展開新生活的同時，卻又陷入與雙胞胎的奇怪關係。John Banville以《The Sea》以一位年過五旬的中年男子的心態，討論懷鄉的渴望與對於記憶的冥思，討論人面對的死亡與記憶，Banville優美的文字與嚴謹的風格架構讓該書在傳媒界一致認為是文字藝術的臻品，《The Sea》入圍了今年的英國布克獎，可說是呼聲相當高的一部作品。

【94年11月好讀推薦】二○○五年布克獎得主 John Banville，儘管在初審時擊退伊恩．...

媒體推薦

【94年11月好讀推薦】二○○五年布克獎得主 John Banville，儘管在初審時擊退伊恩．麥可尤恩（Ian McEwan）、柯慈（J. M. Coetzee）、魯西迪（Salman Rushdie），決選時打敗朱力安．巴恩斯（Julian Barnes）、石黑一雄和札迪．史密斯（Zadie Smith），在英國文壇的知名度卻出奇地低。出生於愛爾蘭的Banville，共出版過十四部小說，無一不以「難讀」著稱，獲獎作品The Sea，描寫主人翁喪妻後重遊故地，全書幾無對白，情節亦少起伏，盡由細節繁複的意識流獨白構成，對一般讀者來說，閱讀門檻頗高。由於近年布克獎傾向鼓勵對大眾讀者較「友善」的書寫，該書獲獎後益發受到爭議。針對媒體書評關乎該書「語言拗口」、「內容晦澀」的批評，評審團主席John Sutherland為Banville辯護道：「人生不正是這般抑鬱、難纏？」以下節譯該書第一章，供欲一探究竟之讀者先讀為快。

■精采內文試閱【The Sea節譯】

方才有人踏過我的墳墓，有個人……

我在這裡的那許多年以前，眾神仍與人同在的日子，名叫「西達」的老房子是棟避暑小屋，一次出租兩個星期或一個月。每年六月，一個有錢的醫生跟他粗聲粗氣的一大家子會在這裡出沒──我們不喜歡他家大嗓門的小孩，他們衝我們笑，又自攻不破的大門柵欄後面向我們丟石頭。在他們之後，是一對神祕的中年夫妻，他倆不跟人攀談，每日清晨同一時間陰沉著臉帶他家臘腸狗出門，無聲無息沿車站路走到河邊。在我們看來，八月的「西達」老屋最有意思。這時節的房客年年不同：有從英國或歐洲來的旅客，有我們老想偷窺的滑稽蜜月夫妻，有一回，甚至來了一隊裝備齊全的巡迴劇團，在小鎮簡陋的戲院裡演了一台午場戲。然後，那年，葛斯一家出現。

我第一眼看見的，是他家的車；泊在大門內的碎石地上。低底盤、刮痕累累、坑坑疤疤的黑色車款，內裝灰棕色皮椅墊，和一輪亮晶晶的木質方向盤。封面磨損還帶折痕的書，隨意灑在「西達」斜度挺時髦的後窗底下，一台書架上。還有一幅法國旅遊地圖，已翻得破破爛爛了。屋子前門大開，我聽得見屋內的聲響，從樓下傳來；樓上，有赤腳跑過樓板的聲音，和一個女孩的笑。我在大門邊停住，幾乎是在偷聽；倏地，一個男人手端著酒跑了出來……他把無握把酒杯──青藍色烈酒、冰塊、一塊檸檬片──以危險的角度放在車頂上，打開前座車門，彎身入內，在儀表版下東翻西找。看不見的樓上，女孩又笑了一遍，發出一聲狂亂、顫抖、佯裝受驚嚇的尖叫，之後，仍是疾行的腳步聲……男人轉身進屋的時候與我四目相對，對我眨了一下眼，那不是一般大人促狹帶諂媚的眨法，而是一種志同道合、帶有共謀意味的表示，近乎祕密結謀，彷彿，我與他，兩個陌生人，一個大人和一個小孩，共同經歷的這一時刻，儘管看似無足輕重，甚至毫無內容，卻饒富深意……

這，便是我與葛斯一家的初次相遇……

過去，在我心中跳動，彷若第二顆心。

Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminis...

Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.

After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.

Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.

Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.