经济学人391:Tainted love 堕落的爱

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　　文艺；书评；一部新的美国小说；堕落的爱；《丑事》大卫·范恩著。

　　DAVID VANN’s first short-story collection, “Legend of a Suicide”, was an arresting meditation¹ on life after his father killed himself, seen through the prism of fiction. His 2011 novel, “Caribou Island”, similarly retraced² the Alaskan landscape of his youth to consider the disintegration³ of a family in the wake of a parent’s suicide. Though informed by fact, those two extraordinary books highlighted the power of fiction and the role of the imagination in the unceasing struggle to explain a tragedy.

　　《自杀传奇》，大卫·范恩的第一部短片小说集，是作者的父亲自杀后作者对生活的深沉反思。大卫·范恩2011年的小说《卡布里岛》也是一样的调调，里面有作者的出生地，阿拉斯加的美景，还有自杀的父亲，以及父亲自杀后那支离破碎的家庭。小说虽然基于事实而作，但是在这两部非比寻常的小说里，虚构和幻想的力量不容忽视，因为在描述悲剧的过程之中，虚构和幻想在推动小说的持续发展上起了重要作用。

　　There is no suicide in Mr Vann’s new novel, “Dirt”. But this work makes it clear that broken families, and the violence and destruction that love can wreak⁴, continue to be his abiding⁵ themes.

　　范恩先生的新作，《丑事》，并没有自杀这一回事，但是这本书讲得很清楚，爱可能导致家庭破碎，暴力还有破坏。这也是范恩先生不变的主题。

　　At 22, Galen still lives with his controlling and emotionally dependent mother in the secluded⁶ California house she grew up in. Their home together is suffused⁷ by memories of her abusive father, her apparently⁸ senile mother and decades of accumulated hurt, guilt⁹ and denial. Galen’s crusty aunt and nubile¹⁰ teenage cousin drift in and out of their lives and Galen’s fantasies. Meanwhile Galen, a deeply unhappy young man, plots his escape—if not from his family, then at least from his own body.

　　伽林，都22岁了，还跟他妈住一起。他妈是个控制狂，情感还不独立。他们住的房子还是他妈长大的地方。房子位于加利福尼亚，周围并没有多少人出没。这个家是一个充满记忆的地方，他妈的爸爸是个虐待狂，他妈的妈妈是个老不死，几十年了，不缺的是伤痛、内疚和背弃。伽林的姑妈，脾气暴躁，伽林的表妹，到了该结婚的年纪，她们俩经常出没伽林还有他妈的生活，当然了还有伽林的性幻想里。同时，伽林，一个纯粹的苦逼少年，谋划着怎样的“越狱”——如果不是从家里逃出来，那么最起码也要突破自己的躯壳。

　　This seething¹¹ and unwieldy family decides to take a trip to an old cabin in the Sierras, which handily brings the drama to a boil. “How many times had they put the world back together?” wonders Galen: “Why not let it fall apart and stay apart, why not let the truth happen?” So builds the dreadful climax¹² and dark denouement¹³ of this brilliant narrative¹⁴.

　　这个躁动、笨重的家庭，决定去旅行，目的地是寒拉斯一旧房子。这一决定直接性地把剧情推向了高潮。“是有多少回啊，他们把这个世界给整到一起去？” 伽林好奇：“为什么就不能够顺其自然，分了就分了，各过各的，为什么真相就是不能够露个脸呢？”于是，可怕的高潮来了，故事在精彩的叙述中，黑暗结局。

　　This is not a relaxing or consoling book. The reader feels some sympathy for Galen, whose suffering turns him into a bulimic and self-hating depressive. But he is also unremittingly selfish, deluded¹⁵ and abhorrent¹⁶. He gives flesh to the notion that the victim eventually becomes the aggressor; that life taints¹⁷ and ruins, rather than redeems¹⁸.

　　读这本书，并不会让人感觉轻松，或是得到某种安慰。读者会感觉很同情伽林。伽林真苦，他都厌食症了，不想吃东西，自怨自艾，消沉。但是他时不时地表现出自私的模样，逃避现实，很讨厌。受害者最终会变成攻击者，生活既然已经腐蚀了，那索性就腐烂到底吧，管它什么玩意的救赎。对于这一理论，伽林演绎的是有血有肉。

　　The dirt of the title represents the final, violent sequence between Galen and his mother. But filth¹⁹ lies all over this novel: the tantalising young cousin who abuses Galen and then sleeps with him; the mother who adores and abhors²⁰ the boy she brought into the world; and ultimately the muddied and muddled²¹ mind of Galen himself.

　　书名丑事，暗含伽林和他妈之间注定的、暴力的结局。但是肮脏始终贯穿小说：诱人犯罪的表妹虐待伽林，并跟他上床；老妈对儿子是既爱又恨，恨的是他老爸当初怎么没把他射到墙上；最后是浑浑噩噩的伽林自己，一团糟。

　　This is a novel of violence, destruction and ruin. There is no salvation²². And yet Mr Vann’s soaring writing carries it forward—a reminder²³ of the beauty that can grace even the beastliest things.

　　这是一部关于暴力，破坏和堕落的小说，没有所谓的救赎。但是范恩先生高超的写作却让这部小说上升到了另外一个高度——美丽的提示可以使一切变得优雅，包括那最丑陋的东西。

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