日志

梁老太的三个女儿

热度 11已有 459 次阅读2021-4-25 09:13 |个人分类:读书笔记

2021-4-24

居然又通读了一遍一九六九年赛珍珠发表的《The Three Daughters of Madame Liang》，是一九八五年英文读者文摘杂志社出版的赛珍珠文选第二卷中的最后一篇。时隔九年，仍然有十分深刻的感受。

梁老太是上海一家大饭店的资本家（听起来就很有故事），在她的身上，有着很多郑义《上海生与死》的痕迹。梁的大女儿Grace，让人想起文革后期名噪一时的《第二次握手》，梁的二女儿Mercy，让人想起了《刘叔的故事》。梁大海归，高高举起，轻轻放下。梁二归国和出逃，又都充满了传奇色彩，但也都有本可依。其中的男主人公赵忠（Chao Chung），则正如某网友所说，有着五号的影子。

The people who appear in Ms. Buck's writings are not "characters." They are living, breathing human beings who know pain, suffering, love and hatred. In the case of THREE DAUGHTERS OF MADAME LIANG, they allow us to experience the disaster brought about by Mao's Marxist policies in China, his "Great Leap Forward." This is probably the book that caused Ms. Buck to be banned from ever seeing China again. There are contemporary Chinese writers who have inherited Ms. Buck's mission to shed the light on life in China through succeeding generations, and they are very fine writers indeed. Still, the reader cannot fail to be in awe of Ms. Buck's genius in her ability to write in a way that makes the reader hear the dialogue as if it were written in Chinese, and to feel the torment of people victimized by the heartless, mindless leaders of their own government. This book is a priceless addition to one's home library, on par with THE GOOD EARTH.

这一本小说，根本不像是小说，更像是一篇未卜先知的纪实的报告文学。毕竟是大师杰作，作者虽然没有亲历中国的反右运动和文革，可是比经历了反右和文革的人，写出来的东西更能触动人的灵魂。其中对中医穴位阴阳五行孔孟之道老庄哲学孙子兵法和毛诗词语录的解读和诠释，非一般的西方学者和同时代的中文作家们所能企及。

I had hard time getting this book in Asia. When I ordered and delivered to me, I completed reading in 2 days. I must thank my friend who recommended to get hold of this novel to read. True to her recommendation, the late Ms Buck had great foresight in knowing what China moves after the late Mao passed on since this book is written before 1969. She narrates the story well by blending the happenings of China on to the Liang's family particularly Mdm Liang and her 3 daughters. The elder and second daughters' love for their homeland and how each differs later were contrasting and touching. Embedded in the 2 older girls' happenings, the author shared what was happening to the country's road to revolution (/Communism) depicting the rise and fall of the campaigns in 50s-60s. Ms Buck did not elaborate much of the people's sufferings but thru the 2 daughters, I can feel the confusion and despair the nation set for their citizens during that time.

这部小说是拍电影的好材料，可是至今，仍没有电影问世。以后也不会有了，因为说真话的日子，以前没有过，在后文革时代，更不会有了。

附：《梁》文对一九五九年主席诗词《七律到韶山》后四句诗的翻译：

为有牺牲多壮志,
敢叫日月换新天。
喜看稻菽千重浪,
遍地英雄下夕烟。

Only because so many sacrificed themelves did our wills become strong,
So that we dared command the sun and moon to bring a new day.
I love to look at the multiple waves of rice and beans,
While on every side the heroes return through the evening haze.

赛珍珠的这个翻译，比十年后的中国官方译本，更原汁原味和有气势多了：

Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve，
Which dares to make sun and moon shine in new skies.
Happy, I see wave upon wave of paddy and beans,
And all around heroes home-bound in the evening mist.