王偉濱
今年是電影《綠野仙蹤》(The Wizard of Oz)上映80周年,那么,我們來談?wù)凮z(奧茲國(guó))吧。
小說《綠野仙蹤》(原名The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)的作者L. 弗蘭克·鮑姆(L. Frank Baum)說,“The oldtime fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as ‘historical in the childrens library; for the time has come for a series of newer ‘wonder tales in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incidents. Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.”(陪伴數(shù)代孩子的古時(shí)童話,如今在兒童圖書館里可能被歸入“歷史類”了?,F(xiàn)在該有一批新“奇幻故事”登場(chǎng)了,老套的精靈、矮人、仙子,以及被作者們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)用來恫嚇、教化孩子的每一個(gè)故事里可怕、恐怖的情節(jié),都要被去除。現(xiàn)代教育已經(jīng)包含了道德內(nèi)容;因此現(xiàn)代的孩子只消在奇幻故事中尋找娛樂即可,欣然不必掛懷所有令人不快的事情。抱著這種想法,我寫《綠野仙蹤》這個(gè)故事就是純粹逗孩子們開心的。此書旨在講述一個(gè)現(xiàn)代化的童話,保留奇幻與快樂,摒除心痛與噩夢(mèng)。)
住在堪薩斯的小姑娘多蘿西(Dorothy)和她的小狗托托(Toto),被一場(chǎng)龍卷風(fēng)(cyclone)裹挾到了一個(gè)神秘世界——Oz。在那里,她遇到了沒有腦筋的稻草人、沒有心肝的鐵皮人和沒有膽量的獅子,四個(gè)人一起去住在綠玉城(The Emerald City)的奧茲大法師那里尋求幫助,要一副腦筋、一個(gè)心肝、一份膽量和一條回家的路。這個(gè)孩子的故事,在今天的成年人讀來,自然曉得它其實(shí)說的是一個(gè)人的成長(zhǎng)。腦筋、心肝、膽量,這三樣構(gòu)成人之根本的東西,在一番歷險(xiǎn)之后都得到了,而小姑娘也發(fā)現(xiàn),回家的法寶其實(shí)一直穿在她的腳上,雙腳碰一碰,她就回家了。
學(xué)者宰普斯(Jack Zipes)在企鵝版《綠野仙蹤》的前言中寫道:“Home Sweet Home. When Dorothy Gale returns to Kansas at the end of her adventures in the land of Oz, she declares that there is no place like home, and she appears content to be back on the farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. ... But it is a lie. Dorothy does not yet know what home is. ... home cannot be found in America. Home is Oz, a transcendent utopian paradise, that must be protected from America.”(家,美好的家。奧茲國(guó)歷險(xiǎn)結(jié)束,多蘿西·蓋爾返回堪薩斯,她說,哪里都不如家好呀??瓷先?,回到農(nóng)場(chǎng)里埃姆姨媽和亨利姨父身邊,她很滿足……但那其實(shí)是謊話。多蘿西還不知道家是什么……家,沒法在美國(guó)找到。家,在奧茲,那是一個(gè)超脫俗世的烏托邦樂園,必須要保衛(wèi)它免遭現(xiàn)實(shí)美國(guó)的摧毀。)
宰普斯的話讓我想起多年前的一本書,名叫Was(《曾經(jīng)》),與Oz發(fā)音相近。封面上,藍(lán)天下,是黃磚路(The Yellow Brick Road),兩旁是茂密的麥田,遠(yuǎn)方是一座山,山那邊,影影綽綽的不知是什么。這本書寫了三個(gè)時(shí)間里,尋找著奧茲這個(gè)“家”的三個(gè)人:1875年,一個(gè)名叫多蘿西的小女孩,因?yàn)楦改溉ナ溃愫妥约旱男」吠型衼淼娇八_斯,投奔姨媽、姨父;1939年,正在拍攝《綠野仙蹤》的童星朱迪·加蘭(Judy Garland),因?yàn)槭ジ改?,孤身一人在好萊塢討生活;1989年,一個(gè)過氣的演員——曾經(jīng)扮演稻草人,如今身患絕癥,獨(dú)自前往堪薩斯,去探查一段歷史。
堪薩斯,原本是印第安人的家園,后來,在東部生活艱難的白人遷來,把印第安人趕走了,他們?cè)谶@片土地上墾殖。再后來,堪薩斯要建“州”了,更多的白人來到這里,南方人、北方人都來了,各自帶著不同的政治主張,劍拔弩張。爭(zhēng)斗了十幾年,最后,一場(chǎng)大戰(zhàn),表面上終于有了個(gè)結(jié)果,實(shí)際上,卻并沒有解決什么問題。
1875年。來自密蘇里圣路易斯市(St. Louis, Missouri)的小姑娘多蘿西,并不知道多少大人的事,但是她能感覺到自己在這里不受歡迎。這片標(biāo)榜著“自由之州”(Free State)的土地,至少對(duì)孩子來說,并沒有什么“自由”可言。
“‘Dorothy, said Aunty Em. ‘See that grass there? That marks a wallow. Now you must be careful of the wallows, whenever you see them. Theyre quicksand. Children disappear into them. There was a little girl who got swallowed up in the buffalo wallows and was never found again.”(埃姆姨媽警告說:“多蘿西,看見那片草地了嗎?那里有個(gè)泥潭。不管什么時(shí)候你見到泥潭,一定要特別小心。它們就像流沙,專吞小孩子。有個(gè)小女孩就被水牛打滾兒的泥潭給吞掉,再也找不見了?!保┰趭W茲,所有的波折最后都能克服,所有的壞人都被懲罰,在奧茲,沒有什么解決不了的事;但在真實(shí)的堪薩斯,處處都是“泥潭”,一旦跌落進(jìn)去,便再無生還的可能。要想不被“吞噬”,只能變作身軀龐大、皮糙肉厚的水牛。
為了能在這片荒蠻的土地上生存下去,漸漸地,人們都被消磨得感覺遲鈍了:在這里,泡泡紗的仙女裙要燒掉,小狗托托要拴在院子里,就連一頭漂亮的卷發(fā)也得剪掉……來到堪薩斯的第一天,多蘿西學(xué)會(huì)了“憎恨”。她渴望長(zhǎng)大,不為別的,為的是在將來,她可以像姨媽傷害她那樣去傷害姨媽。
有一天,她還要學(xué)會(huì)憎恨那個(gè)強(qiáng)暴她的亨利姨父,憎恨嫌惡她的同學(xué),憎恨所有堪薩斯的人。
在冰冷的堪薩斯,只有一個(gè)名叫威爾伯(Wilbur)的男孩子,對(duì)多蘿西足夠溫情:“A few days before, Dorothy and Wilbur had made angels in the snow on the top of the hill. They had lain down on their backs and waved their arms up and down. That made a shape like wings. The trick was to stand up from the snow, and then jump away, so that there were no footprints leading from the image.Then you could say that it was a place where an angel had gone to sleep. Will would lean out and lift Dorothy out of hers. So hers were the best.”(幾天前,多蘿西和威爾伯在山頂?shù)难┑乩镒鎏焓埂K麄兲稍诘厣?,上下?lián)]舞手臂,在地上做出翅膀的形狀。訣竅就是,從雪地上站起來,然后跳開,這樣才不會(huì)在圖案旁留下腳印。然后你就可以說,有天使曾經(jīng)在這里睡過覺呢。威爾總是欠身去把多蘿西拉起來,這樣她的天使圖就最完美。)
不過,在多蘿西到來的那年圣誕節(jié),威爾伯就上吊自殺了。他不喜歡這個(gè)冰冷的地方,他希望離開這里,一直向西,因?yàn)槟抢飺?jù)說住著希望,住著有趣的印第安人。但他還是自殺了,因?yàn)樗麤]有勇氣離開這里,他沒有信心能在陌生的地方開始一段新的生活。
如今,威爾伯不在了?!癆nd there were the angels in the snow, a tall one next to a little one. The trick was to leave no footprints, as if you had lain there for a time, and flown away to Heaven.”(他們的天使還在雪地里,一大一小緊挨著。訣竅是不要留下腳印,就像你曾經(jīng)在那里躺過一會(huì)兒,然后就飛到天國(guó)去了。)
后來,從遙遠(yuǎn)的“瓷器國(guó)”(China)又來了個(gè)像瓷人兒一樣精致、乖巧的蘇太太,但是多蘿西明白,在這個(gè)粗糲的地方,她一定很容易就會(huì)碎掉;也許,當(dāng)?shù)厝藷o意傷害她,但她一定會(huì)被傷害:“She began to pour the tea, and to pass the cakes, looking up hopefully, to make sure that everything was all right, that she had done nothing wrong. And Dorothy knew, just from looking, that Mrs Sue was alone in Kansas, and that she was trying as hard as she could, but that she and these women would never be friends, no matter how correct they all were, no matter how polite. It was all done in hopefulness, and was doomed to failure.”(蘇太太倒茶、遞蛋糕,滿懷希望地看著她們,希望事事都做對(duì)了,希望沒有犯錯(cuò)。只是看著她,多蘿西就明白,蘇太太在堪薩斯很孤單,她盡其所能,但是她和這兒的女人們永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)成為朋友,不管她們都多規(guī)矩,多客氣。一切都是滿懷希望地去做,一切又都注定會(huì)失敗。)能夠在這里生存下來的,都是鐵、石頭做的,都要足夠冰冷、堅(jiān)硬,蘇太太不行。