怪才的荒诞与忧伤

「爸，我可以開車嗎？」他問，我坐著看報。「不，兒子，不可以。」我說，眼睛仍盯著報紙。「為什麼？」「因為我說不可以。」「可是爸！」「不行就是不行！」「我恨你！我恨你，我恨你，我恨你，我恨你！」接著他便跑進房裡，砰一聲甩上房門。幾秒鐘後他打開門。「我演得好嗎？」他問道。「很好，很好，」我說，「演得很棒。」

艾格斯的父母在他二十一歲那年，於短短三十二日內相繼過世。面對突如其來的家變，他不僅成了「孤兒」，還得扛起撫育年幼弟弟的重責大任。為了生存，他苦中作樂，把自己不尋常的人生遭遇化作一齣插科打諢的荒誕劇。在笑鬧中，流露出一絲淡淡的哀愁與一股濃濃的手足之情。

Dave Eggers is the author of ten books, including most recently Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?, The Circle and A Hologram for the King, which was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company based in San Francisco that produces books, a quarterly journal of new writing (Mc...

Dave Eggers is the author of ten books, including most recently Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?, The Circle and A Hologram for the King, which was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company based in San Francisco that produces books, a quarterly journal of new writing (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern), and a monthly magazine, The Believer. McSweeney’s also publishes Voice of Witness, a nonprofit book series that uses oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. Eggers is the co-founder of 826 National, a network of eight tutoring centers around the country and ScholarMatch, a nonprofit organization designed to connect students with resources, schools and donors to make college possible. He lives in Northern California with his family.