小白跟我都喜欢《指环王》,但我们俩一说起来几乎看的是两本书。非常有意思。对小白来讲,这是本非常辛苦的书,对我来讲这是本非常安抚的书。tiffany wrote:Tolkein的指环王随时可以拿来翻上一遍,不过我还是要说,他的世界比较黑白分明,没有那么多moral ambiguity,从这个方面来说,比现在的文学作品看起来爽快多了---看完了不会胸口堵住了似的。说道这个,我得说电影版马国的故事比较耐看,除了公主感情戏那折。整个电影给我印象最深的两句台词都是马国的,一个是马国老国王站在大雨里城楼上看围城orc,一个守城老头儿一没忍住,放箭下去,orc开始攻城,老国王说:so it begins。然后是啥时候来着,老国王被手下武士顶盔冠甲罩袍束带,忽然心生疑惑,跟该人说:我是谁,我凭什么领着我的人去哪里。他手下的忠诚武士说:you men, my liege(lord?), will follow you to whatever end. 这两句都是新加的台词,效果真好。不过呢,嘻嘻,aragon最后大战之前鼓舞士气的那翻演讲不是Tolkein,乃给人感觉是huh?老国王那个就是Tolkein的词儿,就比较热血些。总结的说,现代人比较适合内心戏,热血就比较那个不够热了。
《指环王》写法特别老派,的确跟现代作家的不一样。他非常讲究平衡,类似“乐而不淫,哀而不伤”的特质,这么辛苦的旅程, 一路上充满丰富的细节让人很快身临其境,让我不论在自己多艰苦的时候晚上睡前一读这本书就马上忘掉自己问题,轻装跟着 Tolkein 到 middle earth 去旅行。跟着几个主人公走上一小段路,自己生活里的小困难也就不算什么了,我就可以安心睡眠。《指环王》的平衡在于在每一段特别惊险特别艰难的旅程之后,一定有一段彩虹等着来安抚旅行者。所谓彩虹就是一个出人意表的美景,甘道夫在moria 里坠入深渊,剩下一行人在震惊和恐慌中奔出 moria,下一章第一页,山腰处的镜面湖就在那里等着给与伤心的旅行者一点心灵的平静,和继续走下去的勇气。Pippin 和 Merry 被 orcs 掳走,Boromir 战死,Frodo 和 Sam 自行出发,Aragorn 率领余下的人一路苦追,等着他们的是马国浩瀚的象海洋一样的草原,在夜色、晨曦里散发出春天草原的香味。后面还有很多很多这样对称的例子,包括 Frodo 和 Sam 在最艰苦的一路上看到的被砸倒的老国王头像在草丛中有一枝开白色的星形花朵的蔓藤像桂冠一样缠绕在额头上,包括遇到 Faramir 之后,Faramir 领着他们去看太阳落山时刻的水帘洞。我很喜欢这种隐喻,在某种意义上,所有的艰辛的旅行者都是被沿途的零星美景所鼓励,继续走下去。这本书没有意外,的确黑是黑,白是白,就连唯一抵抗不了指环诱惑的主要人物 Boromir,在威逼了 Frodo 之后,马上就把生命献给了保护剩下的两个 hobbit。一点债也不欠。描写他的死和葬礼的那段又很壮丽,象民歌,说他的尸体从他的城市边上漂过一直到了大海,从来再没有人见过他,只剩下他的故事在歌里传唱。
在所有旅行者中我最能代入的是 Sam。对此小白评论为的确我就像卖苦力并且永远保持乐观的 Sam。 为此,我特地来摘抄一段 Sam 同学的讲话。对我来讲这是一段特别有隐喻的话,适合所有生活中没有回头路,别无选择只能按照当初的选择的方向硬着头皮走下去的情景。这简直是一本励志的书啊。
' I don't like anything here at all,' said Frodo, 'step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.'
'Yes, that's so,' said Sam. 'and we shouldn't be here at all, if we'd known more about it before we started. But I suppose it's often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually - their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on - and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same - like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren't always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we've fallen into?'