看到街頭公交站滿布的電影《我不是潘金蓮》(I Am Not Madame Bovary)的海報,小編不禁心頭一熱,想起了閱讀劉震云原著時心中那澎湃的波濤啊,還有震云老師在某個平安夜就該書接受《中國日報》專訪的時候認真嚴肅地談到了“一粒芝麻怎么變成了西瓜,一只螞蟻又怎么變成了大象”(Turn a sesame seed into a watermelon, an ant into an elephant.)的始末?!?/p>
您有沒有見過一本書前100來頁是序言(Prologue)一,接下來的160頁又是序言二,最后的最后共17頁為正文,正文標題還大大地寫著“正文:玩呢 (The Main Story: For Fun)”?
劉震云就是這么嚴肅地調(diào)皮著。
也正是這本書的荒誕和幽默吸引了他的老搭檔馮小剛導演?! ?/p>
剛剛因本片斬獲西班牙圣塞巴斯蒂安國際電影節(jié)金貝殼獎的馮導說自己拍了一部“任性”的電影——在整個影片中采取了圓形構圖,就像為風景加了畫框或為園林一隅加了圓形窗框洞門?! ?/p>
倒也跟劉震云原著中飄逸著世說雜記類古體小說似美感的“段子”映襯上了。
“我看了震云的小說,我覺得是特別有幽默感……這個類型,它還不是說我直接丟一個包袱出來,讓你哈哈大笑,它是帶有某種荒誕性的,是有道理的荒誕。是你看完了會在心里頭一琢磨,噗嗤你笑了的那種,”馮小剛說。
那么,小說講了個什么故事呢?
劉震云的上一部長篇《一句頂一萬句》講述了流轉(zhuǎn)千萬里就為了尋找能與之說得上話的人。探討了人內(nèi)心的孤獨感在無神社會和有神社會的不同表現(xiàn):一個可能傾訴之后,感到很孤獨;一個是“沒處說”,問題出在“找誰說”,強調(diào)一個“找”。
而《我不是潘金蓮》圍繞一個“告”字:一句不得體的氣話“我咋覺得你是潘金蓮呢?”,引發(fā)了從縣級法院官員到縣長、市長和省長的撤職風波和政治風云的變幻。
Liu Zhenyun creates a panorama of Chinese political structure through a humorous drama featuring an extraordinarily persistent rural woman, Li Xuelian.
細心的你肯定看到了,電影英譯名用了Madame Bovary,對的,就是福樓拜的《包法利夫人》,而該書的英文版標題則是I Did Not Kill My Husband,由著名漢學家葛浩文Howard Goldblatt夫婦操刀,精彩譯文隨后會送上?! ?/p>
這是個明寫當代“潘金蓮”告狀,實諷官場生態(tài)的故事。官場的環(huán)環(huán)相扣、官場的腐敗無能、官場的荒誕、官員的無奈,劉震云沒有分毫回避,卻解剖得入木三分。
什么叫腐敗?腐敗并不僅僅是貪贓枉法、貪污受賄和搞女人。最大的腐敗,是身在其位不謀其政。比這更腐敗的,是像刁成信這樣的人,身在其位在謀反政。更大的腐敗是,刁成信明明在反政,你還奈何不了他,因這常務副市長不是蔡富邦確定的,同樣也是省里確定的。
Corruption is narrowly defined as bribery, lawlessness, graft, degeneration, and philandering. But as its worst, corruption is the neglect of one’s official responsibilities or, as in the case of Diao Chengxin, the obstruction of those duties. Worse still was that there was nothing Cai could do to Diao in regard to his open defiance, since the decision to appoint him as executive vice-mayor rested not with him, but with provincial authorities.
就好像17世紀英國作家約翰•班揚(John Bunyan)的諷刺寓言《天路歷程》(The Pilgrim’s Progress)一樣,劉震云作品中的人名都很明顯地帶著“笑”果,特別是官員的。
縣長史為民(For the People Shi),法院專委董憲法(Constitution Dong),法院院長荀正義(Impartial Xun),法官王公道(Justice Wang),就連葛大師也沒忍住在小說譯文中標了出來。
然而劉震云說了,“我希望能越過政治這些,去看日常生活的場景,才會有意義”,又說自己在文學上達到了兩個最新的回歸:“回到生活場景和回到傾聽”。
對于中國人生活場景中的幽默,他說:
“所有世界上的生活都是喜劇生活,所有的悲劇都可看成喜劇。人家說‘劉氏幽默’,不是我幽默,是生活本身幽默。有的是事兒幽默,有的是話兒幽默,這些都是淺層次的,比事幽默的事是里邊的理兒:大家都知道不對,卻按照這個來辦,這個是深層次的幽默”。
"My novel is actually about the logic of life, about its absurdity, and the power of being absurd."
《我不是潘金蓮》的女主角叫李雪蓮,上過高中的鄉(xiāng)村婦女。
二十年前,她與在縣化肥廠開貨車的前夫為了“合法化”意外懷上的二胎而“假”離婚,誰想領了離婚證后,前夫很快娶了別人,概不承認“假離婚”一茬。
In the story, Li fakes a divorce with her husband, who treats the divorce as real and then marries another woman.
為了討回公道,李雪蓮在縣法院打了官司,輸了。不服鬧到了市里,被拘留了一周。出來后本打算找前夫討回這一句話的理,不想反被前夫諷為“潘金蓮”。
Li tries to sue the betrayed man but is rebuffed by the court. As the fight between Li and her husband accelerates, she gets a bad name from the husband, who labels her as Pan Jinlian, a character of the classic Outlaws of the Marsh who is known as an unfaithful wife.
李雪蓮一怒之下上了北京,陰差陽錯間進入了正在開“全國人民代表大會”的人民大會堂,冤情被某位聽會的國家領導人秘書得知,最終結束并影響了從縣到省相關各級官員的政治前途。
Li persists in visiting officials at different levels to seek help. By accident, she meets one of the country's top leaders. The meeting ultimately changes the fate of all the officials she has visited before.
接下來的二十年,李雪蓮的告狀沒有停止,因為前夫并沒有得到任何懲罰。
二十年后的一年,當?shù)氐墓賳T在勸阻雪蓮告狀時激化了矛盾,雪蓮本已打算在那一年放棄,又不惜帶病上京,最后竟以前夫意外離世的消息而黯然截止。
至此處,李雪蓮告狀的故事已經(jīng)講完,才是小說的鋪墊部分,真正的故事主角是史為民。(誰!?)嗯,小編也是又重新翻回書的開頭才想起這是涉李雪蓮事件被撤職的20年前的縣長?! ?/p>
這史為民被撤職后,返回老家以賣秘傳“連骨熟肉”為生,肉每天只煮兩鍋,排隊之人買完為止。然后固定每周三與好友打麻將,過著逍遙的日子。
Shi is a county chief who is relieved of his post because of Li. After losing his job, he makes a living by running a restaurant, selling a popular meat dish.
原文記載了這肉有多香。
一口肉到嘴,馬上知道這“連骨熟肉”的好處。它咸里透香,香里透甜,甜里透辣,辣里又透爽和滑;滋味不但入道肉里,也入到骨頭里;吃過肉,敲骨吸髓,滋味也絲毫不減。
They knew at once what made it special: It was salty yet fragrant; fragrant yet sweet; sweet yet spicy; spicy yet bracing and smooth. The flavor oozed from the meat but also the marrow of the bone.
一次老史去東北吊唁,回程至北京正值春運,著急買不到火車票回程去趕當周的麻將局,便出一招,在北京火車站舉出一張寫著“我要申冤”的紙片,遂如愿,順利被倆協(xié)警押上了返程的火車…
Shi, trapped at the Beijing railway station during the Spring Festival travel rush, is eager to get home. He decides to play a trick. He shows a piece of paper in the railway station, saying he wants to see higher officials for a wrong done against him. Policemen consider him a "troublemaker" and put him on the train to his hometown.
這就是僅3000字左右的小說正文:“玩呢”。
神來之筆還有,李雪蓮最后走到了北京郊區(qū)的一片桃林準備上吊,被這片桃園采摘園的主人勸了下來,說“你要真想死,也幫我做件好事,去對面山坡上,那里也是桃林,花也都開著,那是老曹承包的,他跟我是對頭”。
還有,作為第一部分的附錄的一小頁,寫國家領導人跟秘書對省長撤掉所有涉事官員一舉的評價—這可是中國當代小說中不多見的場景和對話,在此就不更多劇透了。
該書責編張維說:
“他(劉震云)用李雪蓮二十年的執(zhí)意奔走告訴我們,不要再執(zhí)‘潘金蓮’所執(zhí),生活可以像史為民那樣,用摒棄、荒誕對抗荒誕,這也許是一條生活的捷徑。
Liu says in the novel, Li takes a solemn view on life, while Shi laughs at life's absurdity. The author is skewed toward Shi's attitude in confronting the ridiculous in life.
------我是正經(jīng)和彩蛋之間的分界線------
劉震云出生在河南新鄉(xiāng)延津縣,曾說“寫作在我家不遺傳,我媽都不大識字”。他1978年考入北京大學中文系,開始了專業(yè)的創(chuàng)作,《一地雞毛》已經(jīng)成了現(xiàn)代漢語新成語,《手機》、《我叫劉躍進》、《溫故1942》都是有影視改編的名篇。
他的作品以幽默諷刺見長,靈活地使用各種市井口語和鄉(xiāng)音來寫作。嬉笑怒罵之下,是對中國人的固有心態(tài)和思維邏輯的反思。
A master of cold humor and laid-back satire, Liu shifts smoothly between colloquial narration and accented dialogues. He worries about the Chinese mindset and its deep-down logic that shapes the society.
劉震云曾說自己每天早上6點半起床,先跑步,上午和下午都用來寫作,晚上用來看書。晚上不寫,因為“黑夜就該睡覺”,寫作不太環(huán)保。
劉震云時常在電影中客串。細心的讀者在1997年電影《甲方乙方》(The Dream Factory)大概能發(fā)現(xiàn)他出演了“男青年”,他也在將要上映的電影《一句頂一萬句》中扮演了角色。他的電影大都由自己編劇,談起電影和文學,他的體會是:
電影就像在酒店的大堂里談話,而文學是在小包間里竊竊私語。
Movies are like conversation in a crowded hotel lobby, while literature is like a private chat in a little room.
電影呈現(xiàn)給觀眾的是一盤色香味俱全的佳肴,而文學展現(xiàn)的卻是后廚工作的場景,充滿了汗水,也可能并不體面。
Films are all about presenting a table of dishes full of aroma, color and taste, while literature shows all the workings of the kitchen, with sweat and heat, whether graceful or not.
電影里很難展現(xiàn)心理活動,只能靠演員的面部表情,而文學提供了無數(shù)種方式去表現(xiàn)任何一件事。
It's hard to show mental processes in films. The actors depend on their facial expressions to show inner thought. But with writing, we have multiple means to present anything.
劉震云是在北大念書的時候認識妻子郭建梅的。就是那個廣告“公益律師這條路不好走,我卻走了12年”里的中國首位公益律師。兩人的互相支撐和理解已經(jīng)是報告文學的題材。
重點是,他們的女兒,小名喚作“妞妞”的劉雨霖,正在嶄露頭角,圈粉無數(shù)。
紐約大學導演專業(yè)畢業(yè),執(zhí)導了獲得奧斯卡(學生單元)最佳敘事片獎的短片《門神》(Door God),劉雨霖有著突出的顏值和父親的幽默。
她曾在《一九四二》電影拍攝現(xiàn)場擔任場記,最新作品就是父親的《一句頂一萬句》,植根父親的故鄉(xiāng)延津,探討中國式的孤獨。
最后,愛心滿滿地送上《我不是潘金蓮》的葛大師高能譯文,有很多很多成語的譯法哦。
又說:
He moves on.
“我有時琢磨阿,有些古代的成語,還是經(jīng)得起琢磨的,還是大有深意的。譬如講,‘千里之堤,潰于蟻穴’,譬如講,‘防微杜漸’,譬如講‘因小失大’??偠灾荚谡f一個‘小’字。許多人栽跟頭,沒載在‘大’字上,皆載到‘小’字上。或者,沒領會‘小’字的深意。”
“Sometimes I found myself contemplating classical idioms, many of which are worth pondering, since they are so profound. Take ‘a tiny ant hole can ruin a dike,’ for instance. Or ‘attend to the small to ward off the big.’ Then there's ‘save a little and lose a lot.’ Notice that they all deal with idea of something ‘small.’ Many people stumble not over the ‘big,’ but the ‘small.’ They can’t grasp its profound significance.”
鄭重忙點頭:
Zheng Zhong nodded in agreement.
“我就是因小失大,我就沒領會‘小’字的深意。”
“I’m one of those who tried to save a little and lost a lot. The small was my undoing.”
馬文彬:“還有一句成語,叫‘塞翁失馬,焉知非福’,這回載了跟頭,下一回知道‘由此及彼’和‘舉一反三’,恰恰也就進步了。”
“There’s another idiom, ” Ma said, “that goes, ‘the loss of a horse may not be a bad thing.’ Stumble once, and the next time you’ll think twice. Draw inferences from one instance. I believe you’ve learnt your lesson.”