Yann | Tardis

The Empty Family: Stories Colm Tóibín 978-0670918171

在读完《大师》和《布鲁克林》之后，我对科尔姆·托宾(Colm Tóibín)的喜爱之情骤增，但是苦于这是国内仅有的两本被翻译引进进来托宾的作品。于是我拜托朋友从国外带回来另两本托宾的作品，其实就包括托宾今年10月最新出版的短篇小说集《The Empty Family》。果然没有让我失望啊，《The Empty Family》里一共收录了托宾的9篇小说，其实绝大多数我都喜欢的，还有几篇特别喜欢。

我觉得在读托宾小说的过程中一直有一个很舒服很安心的感觉，即使某些情节是很紧张甚至惊心动魄的，但是读起来却一点也不慌张。因为我对托宾营造的叙事节奏很有信心，我知道他不会为了煽情而过多地浓彩重墨，我也知道即使是从最微小的细节出发托宾也可以很有效很准确地传达他想要表现的那份情绪和意境。

在这个安心和满足的阅读过程之后，托宾的故事讲完了，却又常常让人有点放不下。特别是这本短篇小说集，看标题也能猜到一二，里面每一篇都和家庭有着或多或少的关系。要么是以主人公自己的家庭为中心展开的故事，要么是主人公目睹身边的其他家庭等等。不管是哪种情况，托宾笔下的这几个故事都很容易让人产生“感同身受”的经历，会让人不自觉地把自己的家庭联系到书中家庭的情节。比如里面有一篇《The Colour of Shadows》，我在看的时候就唏嘘不已，看完睡觉的时候就狂做梦梦到我外婆。

在九个故事里面，我最喜欢的就是《The Pearl Fishers》了，我太喜欢这篇的结尾了。特别摘抄在这里：

Across the city I imagined Gráinne and Donnacha driving to their home in Terenure; I imagined her going over the evening, indignant about some of the things said, satisfied at others. And Donnacha in the driver’s seat nodding mildly, making the odd amused remark, or turning serious when a matter of fact was in dispute. I imagined the drive of their house where the car could be parked, the single tree, the flower beds, the mowed lawn, the PVC French windows leading from the dining room to the long back garden. Their sons up watching television. I imagined her in the kitchen, where they kept the computer, making tea and Donnacha sitting with the boys not saying much. I thought of the two of them going up to bed, wishing the boys goodnight, a biography of someone or other on the table at Donnacha’s side of bed, some new books about Ireland and its ways on the table on the other side where Gráinne slept. I imagined lamplight, shadows, soft voices, clothes put away, the low sound of late news on the radio. And I thought as I crossed the bridge at Baggot Street to face the last stretch of my own journey home that no matter what I had done, I had not done that. No matter how grim the city I walked through was, how cavernous my attic rooms, how long and solitary the night to come, I would not exchange any of it for the easy rituals of mutuality and closeness that Gráinne and Donnacha were performing now. I checked my pocket to make sure I had my keys with me and almost smiled to myself at the bare thought that I had not forgotten them. (p.89)

几个关于家庭的故事似乎都是悲伤的故事，而且都是不可避免的悲伤，但是托宾的这个结尾结得太漂亮了：纵使可能感到悲伤，但是完全没有理由感到自怜。别人的生活可能看上去固然完美，但是我还是要过我自己的生活。我之前没有想好我想要的生活是什么样子的，但是很明确某些生活状态是我不想要的，但是在看到身边越来越多的人选择了同一条“通往幸福”的道路，我还是有所犹豫的。但是托宾这段超给力的结尾，就好像阳光穿透了悲伤的乌云。“世界上有比追求幸福更重要的事情”，一开始我在纪德的《窄门》里看到这句话的时候我百思不得其解，现在我想我是明白了。