擅長吹口哨的白雪公主

by Yōko Ogawa, 小川洋子, 劉子倩 (Translator)

—｜每一個孩子，都是令人驚異的美麗謎團｜—

為口吃男孩蒐集聲音的神祕婆婆；
與逝者共享的最後一首歌；
教堂浮雕上對著迷路少年吶喊痛苦的孔洞；
交換生命的兔子與弟弟；
喚醒壁畫森林內的生物，卻只有嬰孩聽得見的口哨聲⋯⋯

未能誕生的、驟然離去的、消失的或被換取的⋯⋯
在可憐事物的祕密國度裡，
沉默，是唯一的通行證。

盈滿感傷與黑暗之美，小川洋子引人心旌動搖的短篇傑作集：

◎〈搶先一步的老婆婆〉：從我口中冒出的每一個發音，都被那「六天的空白」囚禁，哪也抵達不了。直到猶如童話人物、拿著掃帚的那個老婆婆出現，為我每日收集那些失落的話語⋯⋯

◎〈獻給已故公主的刺繡〉：在那間店做的衣服我全部記得：從顏色、剪裁、乃至穿起來的感覺、穿著去過的地方，我都想得起來。衣料上的刺繡，有些低調得像天使一樣守護我，也有的顯眼如除魔避邪的護身符。然而，我已明白，就算穿上這些訂做的衣服，我也不可能變成公主。

◎〈可憐的事物〉：我有一本用來記錄「可憐事物名單」的筆記本。因為我隱隱感到，自己生活的世界，全是可憐的事物構成的。

◎〈分享一首歌〉：在大學念美術史的表哥，某天猝死在宿舍床上。葬禮結束後，過了一陣子，阿姨卻突然對我和媽媽說：「那孩子要上台表演了⋯⋯」

◎〈乳牙〉：迷路的男孩遇見了束縛在懸空之處的臉孔，他們的眼和嘴都只是鑿空的孔洞，既非絕望的哭喊，也沒有殘忍的痕跡，反而像是沉思了千百年，自己為何會變成這個樣貌⋯⋯

◎〈匿名作家〉：我的戀人是個知名作家。為了不讓人察覺我們的真實關係，我無意間創造了只有我們知道的暗語。然而這樣幸福的時光，在那場新書發表會戛然而止⋯⋯

◎〈盲腸線的祕密〉：祖孫二人決意固定搭乘乏人問津的電車線，以阻止路線遭廢。在車站鄰近的菜園裡，他們遇上一隻兔子，孫子因而發現了即將誕生的弟弟與兔子之間的祕密⋯⋯

◎〈擅長吹口哨的白雪公主〉：澡堂裡藏著一座森林、瀑布、還有深潭。沒有人知道前往的路徑，阿姨的口哨聲是唯一的線索。但是，這世上，只有嬰孩聽得見阿姨的口哨聲，除非你有一去不返的決心⋯⋯

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2018

About the author

Yōko Ogawa (小川 洋子) was born in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, graduated from Waseda University, and lives in Ashiya. Since 1988, she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Professor and his Beloved Equation has been made into a movie. In 2006 she co-authored „An Introduction to the World's Most Elegant Mathematics“ with Masahiko Fujiwara, a mathematician, as a dialogue on the extraordinary beauty of numbers.

A film in French, "L'Annulaire“ (The Ringfinger), directed by Diane Bertrand, starring Olga Kurylenko and Marc Barbé, was released in France in June 2005 and subsequently made the rounds of the international film festivals; the film, some of which is filmed in the Hamburg docks, is based in part on Ogawa's "Kusuriyubi no hyōhon“ (薬指の標本), translated into French as "L'Annulaire“ (by Rose-Marie Makino-Fayolle who has translated numerous works by Ogawa, as well as works by Akira Yoshimura and by Ranpo Edogawa, into French).

Kenzaburō Ōe has said, 'Yōko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating.' The subtlety in part lies in the fact that Ogawa's characters often seem not to know why they are doing what they are doing. She works by accumulation of detail, a technique that is perhaps more successful in her shorter works; the slow pace of development in the longer works requires something of a deus ex machina to end them. The reader is presented with an acute description of what the protagonists, mostly but not always female, observe and feel and their somewhat alienated self-observations, some of which is a reflection of Japanese society and especially women's roles within in it. The tone of her works varies, across the works and sometimes within the longer works, from the surreal, through the grotesque and the--sometimes grotesquely--humorous, to the psychologically ambiguous and even disturbing.

Reviews

[Ally Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

[2024.04.13_45]

小川洋子的文字，總能引領讀者感受那些，和人、物、其他生物的心有靈犀。

〈搶先一步的老婆婆〉
小時候也喜歡沒事打117

〈獻給已故公主的刺繡〉
喜歡刺繡，曾經在百貨公司向日式專櫃訂購繡著米格魯的手帕。如果有認識的店可以幫衣物們刺繡就好了。

〈可憐是事物〉
首先讀到長白鬚鯨及土豚，覺得小川洋子好厲害，認識不少冷門的動物。之後格格不入的違和感越來越強烈，看起來是小學生的第一人稱自述者，稱長白鬚鯨為孩子，遣詞用字又太成熟，不過考慮到他是讀書館借閱冠軍，又「隱隱感到，自己生活的世界，全是可憐的事物構成的」，早熟的筆觸算是合理。

〈分享一首歌〉
描述愛子猝死的阿姨，感受到的悲傷「是不容任何言詞靠近的真正絕望。」「在沒有兒子的世界活了十一年，就在上周，阿姨過世了。......但比起訣別的悲傷，我更強烈感受到的，是阿姨已平安抵達最想回歸之處的安心感。」

〈擅長吹口哨的白雪公主〉
哈，所以白雪公主是女巫。真想聽聽那口哨，見見那片森林和瀑布。

【Maya 借出】

[Maya Liang · Rating 5 out of 5]

依然是那個將讀者帶往異國度巡遊的小川洋子。

摘句：
可憐的事物--
土豚在他被遺棄的孤獨地點，不灰心地活下來了。光是這樣就值得尊敬。

分享一首歌--
在那裡的，是不容任何言詞靠近的真正絕望。