The Great Gatsby-1925
In my younger and
more vulnerable years my father gave me
some advice that I’ve
been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel
like criticizing any one.” He told me. “just
remember that all
the people in this world haven’t and the
advantages that
you’ve had.”
(在我年輕、容易受傷害的歲月,父親給我些忠告,迄今仍不斷
在我心中思索:「任何時候,你想要批評任何人,」他告訴我,…=
只要記住世界上所有人並未擁有你所擁有的優勢。」)
美國小說家 F. Scott Fitzgerald 在美國二0年代山版這本《大亨
小傳》,描述當時美國所謂爵士時代( The Jazz Age) ,從財富的
追求到道德的空虛,偉大的美國夢(the great American Dream)
興起、 幻滅。透過敘述者(Nick)第一人稱的故事,讀者見證了小
說主角Gatsby(蓋茲比),忠實追求夢想、
追求愛情,最後卻
身亡的悲慘過程。
小說中講故事的Nick來自中西部的望族,對於暴發戶Gatsby
大肆揮霍、 炫燿財富,充滿批判,可是接觸到Gatsby純真的一
面,他重新思考人的價與物質的虛幻。Nick對Gatsby本人及故
事的態度,其實非常矛盾,有時批判Gatsby的價值觀與道德的侵
犯,有時又羨慕、 美化Gatsby 的純真愛情,故事以懷舊、哀悼的
心情展開,回應了他爸爸的那句話: 世界上所有人並未擁有你所
擁有的優勢。
主題分折:
財富的追求 VS. 道德的淪喪
追求財富是每個人的夢想,不管是世家或新起富豪,奢華的生
活形態,都透過不同的意像來呈現,敘述者以漂浮(floating
)的
意像來呈現貴婦的生活,堪稱是神來之筆:當Nick去找他的舊時
好友Tom跟她老婆Daisy,踏入豪宅,,一納入眼前即是這幅非常
超寫實的景象:
The only
completely stationary object / in the room / was an
enormous couch /
on which two young women were buoyed up
/ as though upon
an anchored balloon. / They were both in
white / and their
dresses were rippling and fluttering / as if they
had just been
blown back in / after a shout flight around the
house. / I must
have stood / for a few moments / listening to /
the whip and snap
of the curtains / and the groan of a picture
on the wall. /
Then there was a boom / as Tom Buchanan shut
the rear windows /
and the caught wind died out about the room
and the curtains
and the rugs and the two young women /
ballooned slowly
to the floor.
(唯一完全靜止的物體 / 在房裡,/ 是一巨大沙發,/ 在上面兩
住年輕女性飄浮,/ 好像是停泊的氣球。/ 他們兩人穿著白色,
/ 衣服飄動起伏、 隨風飄揚,/ 好像剛被吹進來,/ 在房裡短暫
的飛行之後。/ 我一定在站在那,/ 好幾分鐘,/ 傾聽窗簾拍打
、 劈哩趴拉的聲音,/ 以及牆上圖畫的呻吟聲。/ 然後突然轟
聲,/ 湯姆、 巴克南關上後窗,/ 陷在房裡的風一下消失,/ 窗
簾、 地毯以及兩位年輕女性 / 像氣球般慢慢降到地上。)
這段以balloon來描寫貴婦,非常貼切,不僅描寫她們的虛浮
(buoyed up),也誇示她們驕傲(高高在上),整段以聲音的運作
(rippling and fluttering, the whip and snap
of the curtains, the
groan, boom),彷彿爵士樂的節奏,襯托出時代的慵懶與富裕,
最後由Tom的現實關門動作,讓這些貴婦回到人間,既寫實又夢
幻,點出了這些有錢人的生活形態。
但是這種虛浮誇示的生活形態,看在Nick的眼中,其實非常庸
俗,他看著Gatsby的豪宅與豪宴:There
was music from my
neighbor’s house through the summer nights.
In this blue
gardens men and girls came and went like
moths among the
whisperings and the champagne and the
stars.這些男女有如飛
蛾一般,穿梭在耳語、 香檳與星星之間,追逐聲色,享受夜生活
,生命卻是短暫的。
Nick營造了這些有錢人的生活形態,但也沒有忘記另一個世界
的荒蕪:窮人的世界,這是一個充滿灰燼的山谷:
This is a valley
of ashes / - a fantastic farm / where ashes grow
/ like wheat into
ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; / where
ashes take the
forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke
/ and, finally, / with
a transcendent effort, / of men who move
dimly and already
crumbling / through the powdery air. /
Occasionally a
line of gray cars / crawls along an invisible track,
/ gives out a ghastly
creak, / and comes to rest, / and
Immediately the
ash-gray men swarm up / with leaden spades /
and stir up an
impenetrable cloud, / which screens their obscure
operations / from
your sight.
(這是個充滿灰燼的山谷,,有如奇特的農莊,/ 灰燼成長 / 猶如小
麥入侵山脊、 山丘、 怪誔的花園。/ 灰燼佔據了屋子、 煙囪、裊
裊上升的燻煙,/ 最後 /以一種超自然的方式,/ 襲上人們,/ 這
些人在灰暗中移動,/ 已經粉碎 / 在粉狀的空氣裡。/ 有時,一長
串的灰色車子 / 爬上一條幾乎看不見的小道,/ 傳來詭異的煞車
聲,停了下來,馬上,灰色的人們蜂湧著 / 沈重的鏟子,/ 攪動
起穿不透的雲層,/ 隱藏了他們隱晦的操作,/ 遠離你的視線。)
以聲音來描寫有錢人,以顏色(灰色-死亡、 暗淡的顏色)來勾劃
窮人的世界:有錢人的世界是輕快的、 飄浮的,窮人的世界籠罩死亡陰
影。那長串的灰色車子,帶來一群灰色的人,攪動泥土,所謂
Obscure operations,代表埋葬與死亡。
兩種世界白對比,在小說中不斷的出現。然而有錢人的世界一
定是美好的嗎?有錢的Tom以金錢框住拜金的老婆Daisy,而
Gatsby也試圖以炫耀財富來重新獲取Daisy的愛情,追返年輕時
的浪漫激情,悲劇就由此發生。撞死人的Daisy不敢負責,遂由
偉大的愛人(Great Gatsby)抵命。財富的累積只是讓我們看見有
錢人的懦弱與道德的淪喪:Nick最後批評Tom及Daisy這批人的
虛偽:
I couldn’t forgive
him [Tom] or like him but I saw that what he
had done was, to
him, entirely justified. It was all very careless
and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--
they
smashed up things and creatures and then retreated
back
into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it
was that kept them
together, and let other people clean up the
mess they had made…(他們是些不負責任傢伙,Tom跟Daisy
把東西砸爛了、 把人糟蹋了,然後退縮到自己的錢堆裡。)
小說充滿Nick對美國價值的批判。
資料來源:
沒有留言:
張貼留言