自由的花徑

這書是2003年買的，結果拖到今年五月才開始看這書，看到一半，聽說它獲選過去廿五年內美國最佳小說。

想看比較認真的讀書心得的，我推薦豆腐魚家寫的書評。

又懶又笨的我只想分享一下非常喜歡的段落。

【自由的花徑】

Paul D.在逃出奴工營後（四十六個被銬鐐鍊住的奴工在暴風雨之夜憑著默契一同逃跑的情節實在太神奇了），問了收容他的印第安人，該如何能到那個自由的、神奇的、仁慈又歡迎人的北方呢？

The Cherokee smiled and looked around. The flood rains of a month ago had turned everything to stream and blossoms.

"That way," he said, pointing. "Follow the tree flowers," he said. "Only the tree flowers. As they go, you go. You will be where you want to be when they are gone.

So he raced from dogwood to blossoming peach. When they thinned out he headed for the cherry blossoms, then magnolia, chinaberry, pecan, walnut and prickly pear. At last he reached a field of apple trees whose flowers were just becoming tiny knots of fruits. Spring sauntered north, but he had to run like hell to keep it as his traveling companion. From February to July he was on the lookout for blossoms. When he lost them, and found himself without so much as a petal to guide him, he paused, climbed a tree on a hilllock and scanned the horizon for a flash of pink or white in the leaf world that surrounded him. He did not touch them or stop to smell. He merely followed in their wake, a dark ragged figure guided by the blossoming plums.

 

順著開放的花樹一路往北，就可以通往自由。多麼美麗的意象，真虧她何處想來！

【Thirty-Mile Woman】

書中另外讓我印象深刻的是Sixo和他的 Thirty-Mile Woman。之所以叫做Thirty-Mile Woman是因為這位Sixo的情人住在距離三十英哩之外，Sixo經常都得犧牲唯一休假的一天，在週六晚上就出發，走一夜的路，然後在週日早上情人上教堂之前到達，跟她道聲早安，然後就得啟程往回走，以免誤了周一早上的工作。

這兩人雖然書中份量不多，可是兩人之間的幾個交往細節，就像是漫畫大師的作品，簡單幾筆就形象鮮明，可謂本書的最佳男女配角。在約定一同逃亡的晚上，Paul D 和這位Thirty-Mile Woman在河岸一起等待Sixo，Paul D在心裡納悶：怎麼有這麼平凡無趣的女人。可是一等Sixo到達，她馬上變得活潑迷人，像是從內在點起火光的陶瓷胚胎。

She is lit now with some glowing, something shining that comes from inside her. Before when she knelt on creek pebbles with Paul D, she was nothing, a shape in the dark breathing lightly.

當然最經典的還是這段Sixo談及情人的告白：

"She is a friend of my mind. She gathered me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind."

　

【You your best thing】

書的末尾，Beloved離開了， Paul D.回來找Sethe。

"Paul D?"

"What, baby?"

"She left me."

"Aw, girl. Don't cry."

"She was my best thing."

Paul D sits down in the rocking chair and examines the quilt patched in carnival colors. His hands are limp between his knees. There are too many things to feel about this woman. His head hurts. ...

He is staring at the quilt but he is thinking about her wrought-iorn back; the delicous mouth still puffy at the corner from Ella's fist. The mean black eyes. The wet dress steaming before the fire. Her tenderness about his neck jewelry -- its three wands, like attentive baby rattlers, curving two feet into the air. How she never mentioned or looked at it, so he did not have to feel the shame of being collared like a beast. Only this woman Sethe could have left him his manhood like that. He wants to put his story next to hers.

"Sethe," he says, "me and you, we got more yesterday than any body. We need some kind of tomorrow."

He leans over and takes her hand. With the other he touches her face. "You your best thing, Sethe. You are." His holding fingers are holding hers.

"Me? Me?"

　

好吧，我承認 We need some kind of tomorrow.聽起來很像媚俗的電影台詞。不過當Sethe聽到Paul D說You your best thing.時，她驚訝不定的回答 Me? Me? 充份表現了她不知自我內在價值的驚疑，讀來儘是心酸。

Oscar Peterson, "Hymn to Freedom"