Memories of My Melancholy Whores 是马老爷子写的最后一本小说,十年前出版。
当年他77岁。
昔年种柳,是高晓松译的书名。
高晓松在酒驾坐牢的时候, 尝试翻译这本书, 因为没有授权,只翻译了第一章,后面没
翻完。
小说的主人公是个老家伙,基本上就是写的马尔克斯自己, 在90岁生日的时候,为了
庆祝和纪念,准备给自己找个雏妓,结果因此引发一场"变态"的祖孙恋。
老男人爱上小姑娘。
全书充满了老男人的萎琐挣扎. 能这么诚实也是一种勇气。
很短,薄薄的一本,没有什么魔幻的成分,基本是完全写实。
猛一看以为是一本爱情小说,其实是一本写衰老和死亡的书。
按John Updike的书评,这是"a love letter to the dying light".
所以高晓松把书名翻译成 “昔年种柳” 是很贴切的。取自《枯树赋》,“昔年种柳,
依依汉南;今看摇落,凄怆江潭。树犹如此,人何以堪!”
而且也暗合"杨柳岸晓风残月"的妓院发生的故事背景。
分享下第一章的结尾
“这家小店如同所有天亮时的妓院,是离天堂最近的地址。我从通往果园的后门离开,
以免遇见任何人类。
长长街,艳阳天,九张儿人生挑在肩,我细数脚步,计算流年,看看这最后一口气还
能走多远”
全书的结尾
“I went out to the street, radiant, and for the first time I could
recognize myself on the remote horizon of my first century. My house, silent
and in order at six-fifteen, began to enjoy the colors of a joyous dawn.
Damiana was singing at the top of her voice in the kitchen, and the
resuscitated cat twine his tail around my ankles and continued walking with
me to my writing table. I was arranging my languishing papers, the inkwell,
the goose quill, when the sun broke through the almond trees… It was, at
last, real life, with my heart safe and condemned to die of happy love in
the joyful agony of any day after my hundredth birthday.”