黄昏的颜色

by 英培安

男主人翁明威年轻时参加短篇小说比赛，因为获得首奖，相信自己有写作才华 ，决定专职写作。开始发表作品的时候，园地很少，他利用空闲的时间写小说，爱好文学的妻子惠英不断鼓励他，给他意见，可惜小说未完成她便去世了。小说出版后获了大奖，因为妻子没机会看到他的成绩，他悲伤内疚，责怪自己的任性与虚荣，让妻子过困苦不安的生活。 靠专职写作谋生的明威，由于每天都须写应付生活的专栏，步入老年后，他虽已出版了三十本著作，只有一本年轻时写的小说。他决定以他弟弟与他身旁的朋友做模型，再写一部长篇。 《黄昏的颜色》，透过交错的时空，以现实与记忆，细致地描述小说人物的日常生活，从他们的日常生活中，人与人之间的关系中，探讨他们的存在处境，年老与死亡的问题等，情节感人。

Taken from https://singapore.kinokuniya.com/%E9%...

260 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Amy ☁️ (tinycl0ud) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative seems simple but it's actually saying a lot about how little literature and writing is valued in Singapore, even more so for Chinese writing; about how booksellers and local publishers struggle to survive in such a climate; about the experience of ageing in Singapore where yes, the healthcare options are world class but they are also very expensive; about the lonely elderly who are largely invisible to the rest of society and how terrifying it is to confront the possibility of dying alone without anyone knowing, especially for those who live alone or who don't have caregivers; about how so many people are getting cancer these days and no one knows why; and last but not least, about how the necessity of a day job saps away one's creative energies and makes it difficult to produce works.

It didn't register like that to me at first, though. I thought it was comedy because it starts out with the protagonist, Ming Fai, bumping into his ex-rival who stole his first love over forty years ago. The beef is well done at this point, but he's still so pissed off at this guy, who is lowkey stalking Ming Fai so he can yap about himself and bitch about his wife, the very woman he stole. They're both pushing seventy by the way. Ming Fai comes off as a thoroughly ordinary old man, one who frequents the same few kopitiams, eats the same few dishes, meets the same few friends. He's susceptible to flights of fancy but never delusions of grandeur; he knows his place. But as he argues, so what? Must writers live colourfully (or scandalously) to write? He doesn't harm anyone or meddle in anyone's affairs, very much a guy who stays in his own lane and minds his own business. At the same time, I liked that the author did not let him off that easily and made it clear that indifference/ apathy/ inaction also has consequences.