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东野推理一面观之 白夜独行

2016/05/09 15:21:27 3636 400-999-3700

东野推理一面观之 白夜独行

/Anita Xu

 

---Introduction

拾起这样的话题我本身是有些退缩(daunting(1))。仅凭书架上那几十部日本推理小说的收藏,还远不敢自诩为熟稔日本推理小说的门道,至多只是个痴汉(buff(2))。更不说这书我大多只是意在消遣,无力推敲本格推理中那些变幻莫测的线索和诡计。然而,即便是我仍只可望其项背,在诡计被揭穿的一刹那感慨大师笔下的鬼斧神工,却依然想再小酌一下这几年来跪读过的推理书籍。

 

严格说来,我这缺少了松本清张和江户川乱步的书架,难以登上推理界的大雅之堂。我更是无意附庸风雅,东野圭吾如此高产(prolific(3))作家的作品占据了我的半壁江山。而其中的《白夜行》,多年来一直被我视作心头之好。此番闲言碎语,也只当对它的感情终可有一番沉淀。若有不当,即当是痴人说梦便好。



《白夜行》国内发行版

---Keigo Higashino

《白夜行》的诞生之路,细数也颇为坎坷。

 

东野圭吾是一位有着工程师背景的转型作家。曾是一个标准理工男的东野,大学读的是电气工程专业。期间,东野圭吾成为了学校射箭部队长。他格外喜欢社团活动和体育运动,这一点在他初期的作品中被体现得淋漓尽致。也为他日后小说中,贴近生活的朴实气质提供了灵魂之源泉。

在读中学之前,东野并不钟情于读书,更别说读推理小说。十六岁那年,他偶然读到一本以高中生为主角的推理小说。这改变并且动摇了东野对于推理的认知。他曾回忆说:我觉得这样的小说实在有趣,……自己好像也可以写写看。这本把东野圭吾引入推理殿堂的书,就是江户川乱步奖作品、小峰元创作的《阿基米德借刀杀人》。后来,东野圭吾陆续读了一些推理小说,其中有很多松本清张的作品。至今为止,东野圭吾一直认为松本清张的小说对自己影响最大,而他的作品中也充盈着清张味道

 

1985年起,写作这份差事,从一个贴补家用赚外快的工具慢慢地主宰了东野圭吾的生活。在经历了几年的摸爬滚打和迷茫探索,在与写作大奖失之交臂了几次后,东野圭吾终于在1983年凭《放学后》,一部校园题材的本格推理小说一举摘得了第三十一届江户川乱步大奖。然而辉煌转瞬即逝,获奖作品的畅销大卖并没有让东野走出创作的迷雾,传统的本格推理似乎并不适合他。密室,诡计这些本格推理最经典的元素在东野的笔下则显得平淡无奇。东野圭吾显然也对自己初期的创作嗤之以鼻,甚至在半自传作品中透露,偶然重读早年的创作,对于其中最核心诡计的设计,他本人竟也完全没有看懂。

 

突破传统的本格推理,源于东野圭吾开始尝试在作品中添加新鲜的另类元素:克隆技术;平行世界;甚至是母女灵魂调换这种狗血一般的剧情也被他义无反顾地写进了书中。或许这正是东野圭吾对于困扰了自己十年之久的传统本格推理的一次反击和无声的控诉。


Keigo Higashino was born in Osaka, he started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co. . He won the Edogawa Rampo Award, which is awarded annually to the unpublished finest mystery work(4), in 1985 for the novel Hōkago (After School) at age 27. Subsequently, he quit his job and started a career as a writer in Tokyo.

In 1999, he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for the novel Naoko, which was translated into English by Kerim Yasar and published by Vertical Inc. In 2004. In 2006, he won the 134th Naoki Prize for The Devotion of Suspect X (Yōgisha X no Kenshin). His novels had been nominated(5) five times before winning the award. The novel also won the 6th Honkaku Mystery Award and was ranked as(6) the number-one novel by Kono Mystery ga Sugoil 2006 and 2006 Honkaku Mystery Best 10, annual mystery fiction guide books published in Japan.

The English translation of The Devotion of Suspect X was nominated for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Barry Award for Best First Novel.

He writes not only mystery novels but also essays and story books for children. The style of writing differs from(7) his novels, but basically he does not use as many characters(8) as in his novels.



东野圭吾

---Into the White Night

《白夜行》在此刻应运而生。

与其说是一部推理小说,《白夜行》更像是一部跨越了二十年的浮世绘,众生相。东野刻意地淡化了男女主角,反而穿插进了各种千姿百态的人与事。它们看似相隔千山万水,其实最终都汇入了同一片海洋。故事抽丝剥茧,曲折蜿蜒,杂乱无章的人物线索让读者心生困惑,却又在结尾处不禁惊呼作者的妙笔生花。《白夜行》甚至颠覆了日本文学中最常见的,甚至可说是最引以为傲的那细腻入微的心理描写。东野圭吾在《白夜行》中所做的,是把故事原原本本地叙述了出来。没有推理解密,没有密室孤岛,却引起了读者的万千共鸣。他平铺直叙,依然惊动心中的涟漪。可见这故事本身是强大且诱人的。

书中的一句话,解释了书名的由来:我的天空里没有太阳,总是黑夜,但并不暗,因为有东西代替了太阳。虽然没有太阳那么明亮,但对我来说已经足够。凭借着这份光,我便能把黑夜当成白天。我从来就没有太阳,所以不怕失去。东野圭吾在《白夜行》中亲手塑造出的恶女唐泽雪穗和痴情苦男桐原亮司,两人互为黑夜中的白光,照耀着对方前行。有别于一般小说中的爱情,男女主角雪穗和亮司在书中鲜有交集。在东野的笔下,他们如两条平行线一般贯穿始终。但这却丝毫没有影响人们竞相争论两人的爱情,甚至为其动容而潸然泪下。

 

书中的警察笹垣润三将雪穗和亮司比作枪虾和虾虎鱼。互存共生,相互守望。他们共同经历了童年的阴霾,从此走进了黑夜,却由于有对方的存在,又犹如白昼。他为她杀人,为她的婚姻荡平阻碍,通过犯罪累计资金提供给她投资,蹲守在只有她才能看见的阴影里。任世界兵荒马乱,十九年来默默守护,孤注一掷,甚至奉献生命。而她也为他洗罪,为他窃取商业机密,用二人名字的首字母命名服装店。雪穗所攫取的一切,只有在阴影中才能与亮司分享。

 

《白夜行》中亮司那近似于病态的执着和坚守,以及不达目的势不罢休的蛇蝎女雪穗,在东野圭吾的小说中并非再无迹可寻:《嫌疑人X的献身》里倾其所有换来爱人自由的数学老师,《幻夜》中怙恶不悛的腹黑女新海美冬,好像都是亮司和雪穗的影射。东野将《白夜行》中两颗恶与爱相交的种子,开枝散叶,移花接木到了另一片土壤。

 

Byakuyako (Into the white night) is a mystery novel written by Keigo Higashino, first serialized on the monthly magazine Novel Subaru of Shuei sha from January 1997 to January 1999. The entire volume was published in August 1999 and became a bestseller(9).


During the serialization(10), the novel was at first written as a series of short stories representing chronological snapshots of the overall plot line(11). Higashino modified(12) its structure to make it a single coherent(13) story before publishing it as a single volume. As of November 2005 the book had sold 550,000 copies. However, its sales quickly picked up after the first episode of the adapted TV series was aired. By January 2006 its sales had broken a million. Its sales exceeded(14) 2 million in December 2010.


The novel attracted various adaptations(15), including a stage drama in 2005. A Japanese TV series in 2006, a Korean motion picture in 2009, and a Japanese motion picture in 2010.


The story is sort of complicated and mysterious. 19 years ago (1972), a pawnshop(16) owner was killed in Osaka. Several suspects(17) were identified. However, the case remained unsolved due to lack of decisive evidence. Since then, Ryoji Kirihara, the son of the victim and Yukiho Karasawa, the daughter of one of the suspects seemed to have walked on separate paths of life. However, mysterious and vicious(18) crimes kept on happening around the two of them. This is an epic story about two persons who lost their conscientiousness(19) from a tragedy.


The story spanned 19 years from 1973 to 1992. The novel is narrated from multiple support characters' point of view, with a lot of foreshadowing embedded into the story. The two protagonists'(20) thoughts, however, are avoided as much as possible.


日本版《白夜行》改编电视剧海报

日本版《白夜行》改编电影海报

韩国版《白夜行》改编电影海报

---Ending

东野作品中,明明是普通百姓的万家灯火,却隐藏着种种扭曲而不可告人的秘密,明明是端庄貌美的女子,却怀揣着深不见底的罪恶(sin(21))。这或许也在某种程度上折射出了日本民族某些矛盾的心态特点:对于女人的赞美和轻视;对于爱情和美好过于极端的追求以至迷途不返。白夜独行。极端意识和死亡美学(death aesthetics(22))在日本文学中潜移默化的存在着,有意无意地透露出这个岛国居民的悲观主义(pessimism(23))哲学。他们不时地在书中宣称,最极致的爱情必定是毁灭,而留给读者的便是物哀精神的再一次升华。

 

Reference

http://m.zhihu.com/question/19560517/answer/12229731

http://book.douban.com/review/7543393/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keigo_Higashino

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byakuyako

 

Vocabulary

1)         daunting   adj. 使人畏缩的

2)         buff   n. 爱好者  movie buff 电影迷

3)         prolific   adj. 高产的;多产的

4)         mystery work   n. 推理小说

5)         nominate   vt. 提名;推荐

6)         rank as   看作

7)         differ from  不同

8)         character   n. 性格品质;角色

9)         bestseller   n. 畅销书

10)     serialization    n. 长篇连载

11)     modify   v. 修改

12)     plot line   n. 情节线索

13)     coherent   adj.

14)     exceed   v. 超过

15)     adaptation   n. 改编

16)     pawnshop   n. 当铺

17)     vicious   adj. 恶毒的  vicious cycle 恶性循环

18)     conscientiousness   n. 依靠良心做事

19)     suspect   n. 嫌犯

20)     protagonist   n. 主角;主要人物

21)     sin   n. 罪恶

22)     death aesthetics   死亡美学

23)     pessimism   n. 悲观主义;悲观情绪