賞析/陳榕

威廉·福克納（William Faulkner， l897～1962）出生于美國密西西比州新奧爾巴尼的南方士紳之家，高中未畢業(yè)即輟學(xué)，1919～1920年在密西西比大學(xué)讀書，1919年開始發(fā)表小說和詩歌，1925年成為職業(yè)作家，1949年獲諾貝爾文學(xué)獎。?？思{一生共創(chuàng)作長篇小說19部，短篇小說近百篇，其中絕大多數(shù)小說的故事發(fā)生在?？思{以故鄉(xiāng)為原型所虛構(gòu)的約克納帕塔法縣，這批小說合稱“約克納帕塔法世系小說”，描繪了美國南方的社會歷史。?？思{的代表作有長篇小說《喧嘩與騷動》（The Sound and the Fury）、《我彌留之際》（As I Lay Dying）、《八月之光》（Light in August）等?！东I(xiàn)給艾米麗的一朵玫瑰花》（A Rose for Emily）是?？思{短篇小說的代表作品。

Excerpts1）

When Miss Emily Grierson died， our whole town went to her funeral： the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument， the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house， which no one save an old man servant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years.

It was a big， squarish frame house that had once been white， decorated with cupolas2） and spires3） and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies， set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins4） had encroached and obliterated even the august5） names of that neighborhood； only Miss Emilys house was left， lifting its stubborn and coquettish6） decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

Alive， Miss Emily had been a tradition， a duty， and a care； a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town， dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris， the mayor—he who fathered the edict7） that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron—remitted8） her taxes， the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity. Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity. Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emilys father had loaned money to the town， which the town， as a matter of business， preferred this way of repaying. Only a man of Colonel Sartoris generation and thought could have invented it， and only a woman could have believed it.

When the next generation， with its more modern ideas， became mayors and aldermen9）， this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction. On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. February came， and there was no reply. They wrote her a formal letter， asking her to call at the sheriff10）s office at her convenience. A week later the mayor wrote her himself， offering to call or to send his car for her， and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic11） shape， in a thin， flowing calligraphy in faded ink， to the effect that she no longer went out at all. The tax notice was also enclosed， without comment.

They called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. A deputation waited upon her， knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier. They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall from which a stairway mounted into still more shadow. It smelled of dust and disuse—a close， dank smell. The Negro led them into the parlor. It was furnished in heavy， leather-covered furniture. When the Negro opened the blinds12） of one window， they could see that the leather was cracked； and when they sat down， a faint dust rose sluggishly13） about their thighs， spinning with low motes14） in the single sunray. On a tarnished15） gilt16） easel17） before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emilys father.

They rose when she entered—a small， fat woman in black， with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt， leaning on an ebony18） cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare； perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness19） in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated20）， like a body long submerged in motionless water， and of that pallid21） hue. Her eyes， lost in the fatty ridges of her face， looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand.

She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt. Then they could hear the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain.

Her voice was dry and cold. “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselves.”

“But we have. We are the city authorities， Miss Emily. Didnt you get a notice from the sheriff， signed by him？”

“I received a paper， yes，” Miss Emily said. “Perhaps he considers himself the sheriff ... I have no taxes in Jefferson.”

“But there is nothing on the books to show that， you see. We must go by the—”

“See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.”

“But， Miss Emily—”

“See Colonel Sartoris.” （Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years.） “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe！” The Negro appeared. “Show these gentlemen out.”

1. 節(jié)選部分選自小說開頭，描述了艾米麗去世時小鎮(zhèn)人們的反應(yīng)，并交待了艾米麗一家在小鎮(zhèn)中的地位。

2. cupola [?kju?p?l?] n. 圓屋頂，穹頂

3. spire [?spa??（r）] n. 尖頂

4. gin [d??n] n. 軋棉機，軋棉廠

5. august [???ɡ?st] adj. 威嚴(yán)的，令人敬畏的

6. coquettish [k??ket??] adj. 賣弄風(fēng)情的

7. edict [?i?d?kt] n. 法令，布告

8. remit [r??m?t] vt. 免除

9. alderman [???ld?（r）m?n] n. 市政委員會委員

10. sheriff [??er?f] n. 縣治安官

11. archaic [ɑ?（r）?ke??k] adj. 過時的，老式的

12. blind [bla?nd] n. 遮簾；百葉窗

13. sluggishly [?sl?ɡ??li] adv. 懶怠地；緩慢地

14. mote [m??t] n. 塵埃；微粒

15. tarnish [?tɑ?（r）n??] vt. 使失去光澤

16. gilt [ɡ?lt] adj. 鍍金的

17. easel [?i?z（?）l] n. 畫架

18. ebony [?eb?ni] adj. 烏黑的；烏木制的

19. plumpness [?pl?mpn?s] n. 豐滿

20. bloated [?bl??t?d] adj. 腫脹的

21. pallid [?p?l?d] adj. 蒼白的，無血色的

作品欣賞

《獻(xiàn)給艾米麗的一朵玫瑰花》是威廉·?？思{最為著名的短篇小說之一。小說的女主人公艾米麗·格里爾森生活在南北戰(zhàn)爭后的美國南部小鎮(zhèn)杰斐遜。她出身名門，父親對她管教嚴(yán)厲，禁止她和當(dāng)?shù)厍嗄杲煌?，使她到了三十多歲還未能出嫁。父親去世后的那個夏天，艾米麗終于邂逅了愛情：杰斐遜小鎮(zhèn)需要鋪設(shè)人行道，于是一支施工隊來到該鎮(zhèn)，為首的工頭叫做霍默·巴倫，是個北方佬，他熱情而隨性，艾米麗的心扉很快被他敲開。然而，巴倫是個浪子，工程一結(jié)束便打算離開。不久后，他果然從小鎮(zhèn)上消失了。在以后的數(shù)十年里，艾米麗過著活死人般的生活，守著日漸殘破的老宅度過了一生。直到她去世時，人們來到她家，才在樓上一個關(guān)閉的房間里發(fā)現(xiàn)了謀殺的秘密：在那個房間的睡床上，巴倫早已化為一副枯骨，而他身旁的枕頭上則留著“一綹長長的鐵灰色頭發(fā)”，這綹頭發(fā)的主人便是年老了的艾米麗。

如果只讀小說的標(biāo)題《獻(xiàn)給艾米麗的一朵玫瑰花》，讀者很難想到這篇小說竟然會是一則恐怖故事。艾米麗眼見愛情無望，便買來砒霜毒死了巴倫，以將情人永遠(yuǎn)留在身邊。黑森森的大宅就是謀殺的現(xiàn)場，而艾米麗對巴倫的癡迷甚至到了瘋癲的程度，即便巴倫死后，她還與他的白骨同床共枕了幾十年。這些細(xì)節(jié)足夠讓人毛骨悚然。

然而，小說帶給讀者的閱讀體驗并不是以恐怖為主，而是懸疑。在小說開篇，艾米麗已死，人們成群結(jié)隊趕往艾米麗的家，想向她獻(xiàn)花致意。敘述者是這群人中的一員，自詡為小鎮(zhèn)的代言人。從敘述者的口吻中，我們可以聽出濃重的好奇心：艾米麗過著與世隔絕的生活，她從來不和鎮(zhèn)上的人們聊天，逢年過節(jié)也沒有親戚來拜訪，更沒有朋友來她家做客，到了晚年她甚至足不出戶。越是如此，小鎮(zhèn)上的人們越是熱衷于窺測艾米麗的行為舉止，猜測她的情感世界。在艾米麗死后，人們涌入她的老宅——艾米麗的世界終于可以任由他們參觀。直到最后一刻，當(dāng)人們看到巴倫的枯骨時，故事才真相大白。小說頗有幾分偵探故事的意味。

在杰斐遜小鎮(zhèn)上，艾米麗之死是個大事件，因為她被小鎮(zhèn)居民視為舊時代的紀(jì)念碑。艾米麗的父親曾是鎮(zhèn)上的名人，有著南方貴族特有的驕橫。艾米麗則是十指不沾陽春水的大家閨秀。雖然時過境遷，艾米麗家早已沒落，但她反而將孤傲和倔強表現(xiàn)得淋漓盡致。正因為如此，小鎮(zhèn)居民在看待艾米麗時，既有仰慕和崇拜，又有幸災(zāi)樂禍和憐憫：他們崇拜艾米麗，將艾米麗的驕傲看做南方最后一點榮光的象征；同時，他們又因艾米麗的不幸而默默感到欣喜——出身名門又怎樣，沒落之后同樣需要為生存而掙扎，同樣會被男人所拋棄，他們因此而享受著居高臨下的同情心。

然而，艾米麗需要的既不是崇拜也不是憐憫，她需要的是愛。雖然小說的名字叫做《獻(xiàn)給艾米麗的一朵玫瑰花》，玫瑰是愛的象征，但艾米麗的人生卻沒有玫瑰。嚴(yán)厲的父親造就了她畸形的少女時代，她熬到父親過世才獲得自由，但年華已誤，她失去了最美麗的那一段青春。同時，家境沒落使她深陷貧困，而她卻無一技之長可以謀生。小鎮(zhèn)上的人們越是將她奉為舊時代的楷模，她越放不下架子來與周圍的人打成一片，昔日的榮光只會越發(fā)反襯出此刻的窘迫。只需要看看她的宅院就能了解她的人生境況：“那是一幢曾漆成白色的四方形大木屋，坐落在當(dāng)年一條最考究的街道上，還裝點著有19世紀(jì)70年代風(fēng)格的圓形屋頂、尖塔和渦形花紋的陽臺，帶有濃厚的輕盈氣息?？墒瞧囬g和軋棉機之類的東西侵犯了這一帶莊嚴(yán)的名字，把它們涂抹得一干二凈。只有艾米麗小姐的屋子巋然獨存，四周簇?fù)碇藁ㄜ嚭推捅?。房子雖已破敗，卻還是桀驁不馴，裝模作樣，顯得異常礙眼?！卑惢钪且呀?jīng)逝去的那個時代的紀(jì)念碑，卻也是一則遲滯于時代的笑話。

南方奴隸制的廢除，貴族的沒落，北方人來到南方，社會開始全面工業(yè)化——在《獻(xiàn)給艾米麗的一朵玫瑰花》中，我們可以看到從19世紀(jì)后半葉到20世紀(jì)初這一段美國歷史的變化。其實，艾米麗的故事不僅僅以這一段歷史為背景，它也折射出作者對歷史變遷在更廣泛意義上的思考。新時代的車輪駛過，總有人有幸成為搭車人，也總有人不幸淪為車輪下的鬼魂。但我們很難說艾米麗是搭不上車，還是不想搭車。如果讓她上演順應(yīng)時代的勵志故事，這既是她的教養(yǎng)所沒有教會她的，也是她所不屑為之的。其實她也曾想加入這個時代：當(dāng)她遇到巴倫時，曾經(jīng)不顧兩人懸殊的背景，漠視人們的閑言碎語，放下矜持，和巴倫成雙入對，坐著馬車高調(diào)地從全鎮(zhèn)人面前經(jīng)過。然而，這場戀愛換來的只有傷害。為此，她退回到自己的世界。她曾經(jīng)是一個身著白衣、苗條安靜得像天使一樣的少女，后來卻漸漸變成了一個乖戾癡肥的老婦人，“看上去像長久泡在死水中的一具尸體”。在與世隔絕的舊宅里，與她朝夕相伴的只有一具沒有生命的骷髏。

舊時代的舊并不等于好，艾米麗就是被她父親所代表的時代所誤。新時代的新也不一定都是進(jìn)步，巴倫所代表的新風(fēng)氣不再相信愛情、榮譽和尊重。艾米麗的不幸在于她身處歷史的變革之中。對于習(xí)慣了舊時代的人來說，迎接新時代無疑是艱難的，或許退守昔日的世界更容易些，因為昔日還有夢。然而，這夢卻不一定有玫瑰色的柔光，也可能是哥特式的暗與黑。