帕布莉卡《夜莺之眼》，by A. S. Byatt
这是我在某个为了八月作业而焦虑的早上无意中发现的一本短篇小说集，共五篇。单就篇幅来说，其中前四根本算不上“短篇”，只能算做微型故事。正因其短，才能迅速抓住我的注意力，作者有着令人（或者说令我）惊异的想象力，拽着我在她铺陈的字里行间浮想联翩。
第一篇读来有种初学浪漫主义诗歌时的恍惚感——
——“Have you remarked, where a fast-flowing stream comes to a little fall, how the racing water becomes glassy smooth and under it the long fine threads of the water-weed are drawn along in its still-seeming race, trembling a little, but stretched out in the flow? So under the surface of the thick glass lay a mass of long gold threads, filling in the whole cavity of the box with their turns and tumbles, so that at first the little tailor thought he had come upon a box full of spun gold, to make cloth of gold.”
像不像雪莱在尤根尼亚山中驻足倾听时涌现的景象？
The Sun’s uprise majestical;
Gathering round with wings all hoar
Through the dewy mist they soar
Like gray shades till the eastern heaven
Bursts, and then, as clouds of even
Flecked with fire and azure lie
In the unfathomable sky
So their plumes16 of purple grain
Starred with drops of golden rain
Gleam above the sunlight woods
As in silent multitudes
On the morning’s fitful gale
Through the broken mist they sail,
And the vapours cloven and gleaming
Follow, down the dark steep streaming
Till all is bright, and clear, and still,
Round the solitary hill.
——“The Forest stretched along the Road. Pale green glades along its edges, deeper rides, and dark tangled patches beyond these.”
——“The village was on the lower slopes of the mountains, and in the deep bowl of the valley was a lake, clear as crystal on its shores, and black as ink in its unplumbed centre. Thick pine forest grew in the shadow of the mountain ridges, but the village stood amongst flowery meadows and orchards and cornfields, not luscious, but sufficient fro the needs of the villagers.”
像不像华兹华斯面对水仙绽放时的赞叹——
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host,of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
虽然遣词是如此诗意，故事却是象征主义的。那些色彩瑰丽的语句里藏匿着作者精巧的心思，落入不同读者眼里便会成为千差万别的意象。
一千人眼里有一千个哈姆雷特。
当然也可能是哈利波特，嘿嘿嘿。
我最喜欢第三个故事：The Story of the Eldest Princess。
——“There is always an old woman ahead of you on a journey, and there is always an old woman behind you too. And they are not always the same, and may be fearful or kindly, dangerous or delightful, as the road shifts, and you speed along it. Certainly I was ahead of you, and behind you too, but not only I and not only as I am now.”
Maybe not that old…maybe they are just a bit elder, but, they are there, that’s very grateful. Thank you for being there.
最后一篇是这本集子的正题，The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye，如果按字面直译应该是《夜莺之眼中的精灵》。精灵就是《一千零一夜》的那个精灵，只不过他既不住在油灯里，也不住在陶罐里。
以及，不管这个故事还是整本集子，都跟夜莺毫无关系。
那跟什么有关的呢？
——永恒的”三个愿望“。
”What do women most desire?”
