海边的卡夫卡

⊙ By Haruki Murakami

翻译：林少华

海边的卡夫卡

⊙ By Haruki Murakami

翻译：林少华

提到村上春树这个名字，你会想到什么呢？是曾以《挪威的森林》席卷全球的“村上现象”，是每年诺贝尔文学奖的悲情陪跑，是日本上世纪80年代的文学旗手，还是当代世界文坛的后现代主义代表？

无论是出于哪种印象，村上春树的小说，总值得我们在人生的某个阶段好好读一读，因为透过各种充满象征意味的魔幻要素，他所讲述的，往往都是放之四海而皆准的道理——就拿《海边的卡夫卡》为例，年轻人往往能从主人公的流浪故事中体会到关于成长的寓意。

在这本小说中，奇数章的主角是少年田村卡夫卡，为了逃离父亲的诅咒，年仅15岁的卡夫卡毅然决定离家出走，踏上寻母之路；而到了偶数章，故事就会变成老人中田的视角，展现老人的各种奇遇，如梦似幻，如真似假。现实与虚幻二元并行，彼此对立却又相互交融，共同编织出一个具有强烈幻想色彩的现代寓言。

本期节选出自小说的引子，讲的是卡夫卡与一个名叫乌鸦的少年在商量离家出走的事情……

As always, we’re sitting beside each other on the old sofa in my father’s study.1)Crow loves the study and all the little objects2)scattered around there. Now he’s toying with a bee-shaped glass3)paperweight. If my father was at home, you can bet Crow would never go anywhere near it.

“But I have to get out of here,” I tell him.“4)No two ways about it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He places the paperweight back on the table and links his hands behind his head. “Not that running away’s going to solve everything. I don’t want to5)rain on your parade or anything, but I wouldn’t count on escaping this place if I were you. No matter how far you run. Distance might not solve anything.”

The boy named Crow lets out a sigh, then rests a fingertip on each of his closed6)eyelids and speaks to me from the darkness within. “How about we play our game?” he says.

“All right,” I say. I close my eyes and quietly take a deep breath.

“OK, picture a terrible sandstorm,” he says.“Get everything else out of your head.”

I do as he says, get everything else out of my head. I forget who I am, even. I’m a total blank. Then things begin to7)surface. Things that—as we sit here on the old leather sofa in my father’s study—both of us can see.

“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction,” Crow says.

I imagine a white8)funnel9)stretching10)vertically up like a thick11)rope. My eyes are closed tight, hands12)cupped over my ears, so those13)fine grains of sand can’t blow inside me. The sandstorm draws steadily closer. I can feel the air pressing on my skin. It really is going to swallow me up.

1) crow [krəʊ] n. 乌鸦

2) scatter [΄skætə(r)] v. 散布，撒

3) paperweight [΄peIpəweIt] n. 镇纸

4) no two ways about it 必不可免，别无办法

5) rain on someone’s parade 扫兴，泼冷水

6) eyelid [΄aIlId] n. 眼睑，眼皮

7) surface [΄sзːfIs] v. 浮出水面（或其他表面）

8) funnel [΄fʌn(ə)l] n. 漏斗，漏斗形物

9) stretch [stretʃ] v. 伸展，伸长

10) vertically [΄vзːtIk(ə)lI] adv. 垂直地

11) rope [rəʊp] n. 粗绳，绳索

12) cup [kʌp] v. 成杯形

13) fine [faIn] adj. 细的

The boy called Crow rests a hand softly on my shoulder, and with that the storm14)vanishes.

“From now on—no matter what—you’ve got to be the world’s toughest fifteen-year-old. That’s the only way you’re going to survive. And in order to do that, you’ve got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following me?”

I keep my eyes closed and don’t reply. I just want to sink off into sleep like this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the15)faint16)flutter of wings.

“You’re going to be the world’s toughest fifteen-year-old,” Crow whispers as I try to fall asleep, as if he was carving the words in a deep blue17)tattoo on my heart.

On my fifteenth birthday I’ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.

It’d take a week to go into the whole thing, all the details. So I’ll just give the main point. On my fifteenth birthday I’ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.

It sounds a little like a fairy tale. But it’s no fairy tale, believe me. No matter what sort of spin you put on it.

14) vanish [΄vænIʃ] v. 消失

15) faint [feInt] adj. 模糊的，微弱的

16) flutter [΄flʌtə(r)] n. 拍动，振翅

17) tattoo [tə΄tuː] n. 纹身

No matter what sort of spin you put on it.

这句话是从短语put a spin on变化而来的。我们都知道spin有“旋转”的意思，短语put a spin on就是比喻某人用某种方式去诠释、解释一件事情——这种方式可以是一些不同寻常的方式方法，也可以指某人通过歪曲或编造事实来达到某种利己的目的。如：

● This chef has put a new spin on seafood dishes.（这位大厨将海鲜菜玩出了新花样。）

● The mayor tried to put a positive spin on the damaging report. （市长试图从一种积极的角

度来阐述这份糟糕的报告。）

我们像往常那样并肩坐在父亲书房的旧沙发上，叫乌鸦的少年中意这个地方，这里零零碎碎的东西让他喜欢得不得了。此刻他正摆弄着那个蜜蜂形状的玻璃镇纸。当然，父亲在家时他从不靠近。

我对他说：“可是我必须离开这里，这一点是板上钉钉了。”

“或许，我想你是对的。”他把镇纸放回桌上，双手在后脑勺抱在一起。“但那并不是说离家出走就能解决问题。我不是要给你泼冷水，但假若我是你，我就不会对离开这里寄予太大期望。哪怕跑得再远，距离也可能解决不了什么问题。”

叫乌鸦的少年叹了口气，闭上双眼，用手指肚按住两边的眼睑，从黑暗深处向我开口道：“来玩我们的游戏吧，如何？”

“听你的，”我说。我同样闭上眼睛，静静地做了个深呼吸。

“好了，想象很凶很凶的沙尘暴，”他说，“将其他事情统统忘光。”

我按他说的做，想象很凶很凶的沙尘暴，其他的忘个一干二净，甚至忘了自己是谁。我的脑海变得一片空白，然后事物渐渐浮现出来。我和少年坐在父亲书房那发旧的皮沙发上，我们都能看到那些事物。

“有时候，命运这东西就像不断改变前进方向的小型沙尘暴，”叫乌鸦的少年诉说道。

我想象着白色的龙卷风浑如粗硕的缆绳直挺挺地拔地而起，向高空伸展。我紧闭双眼，用双手捂住耳朵，以免细沙进入身体。沙尘暴朝我这边步步逼近，我可以感受到皮肤上的风压。它真的即将把我吞噬。

叫乌鸦的少年把手轻轻放在我肩上，沙尘暴马上消失了。

“这往下，不管怎样，你必须成为世界上最顽强的十五岁少年，因为这是你唯一的存活之路。为此，你自己一定要理解真正的顽强是怎么回事，你听懂了吗？”

我依然闭着眼睛，默不作声，真想就着少年压在我肩头的手感缓缓沉入睡眠，耳畔传来小鸟若有若无的振翅声。

“往下你将成为世界上最顽强的十五岁少年”——叫乌鸦的少年在即将睡过去的我的耳边静静地重复一遍，就像深蓝色的字迹刺青一般地写进我的心里。

十五岁生日到来的时候，我要离开家，去一个遥远的城市，在一座小图书馆的角落里求生。

当然，如果要将整件事详细说来，恐怕要说上一个星期，所以我只说重点：十五岁生日到来的时候，我要离开家，去一个遥远的城市，在一座小图书馆的角落里求生。

听起来有点儿像个童话，然而那并不是童话，相信我吧，无论从哪个角度来说都不是。

（选自上海译文出版社版本，有改动）