Why should you read “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy? - Laura Wright

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

“A few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes/

「幾十個小時就可以 改變一生的結果／

And that when they do, those few dozen hours,

如果真的發生了，那幾十個小時，

like the salvaged remains of a burned clock…

像是燒壞的時鐘 被搶救起來的殘駭……

must be resurrected from the ruins and examined.”

必須要被從毀壞中救活和檢驗。」

This is the premise of Arundhati Roy’s 1997 novel "The God of Small Things."

這是阿蘭達蒂 · 羅伊 1997 年的 小說《微物之神》的前提設定。

Set in a town in Kerala, India called Ayemenem,

故事發生在印度喀拉拉邦的 一個小鎮，阿耶門連，

the story revolves around fraternal twins Rahel and Estha,

故事圍繞著一對同卵 雙胞胎，拉海爾和艾莎，

who are separated for 23 years after the fateful few dozen hours

因為命運的幾十個小時， 他們被分開了二十三年，

in which their cousin drowns, their mother’s illicit affair is revealed,

在這幾十個小時，他們的表親溺水，

母親的不當外遇被揭露，

and her lover is murdered.

她的愛人被謀殺。

While the book is set at the point of Rahel and Estha’s reunion,

雖然這本書是設定在 拉海爾和艾莎重聚時，

the narrative takes place mostly in the past, reconstructing the details

敘事多半在詳細述說過去，

重建導致他們分離的悲劇事件。

around the tragic events that led to their separation.

Roy’s rich language and masterful storytelling

羅伊豐富的表達方式 和精煉的說故事手法

讓她的《微物之神》 贏得了有名的布克獎。

earned her the prestigious Booker prize for "The God of Small Things."

In the novel, she interrogates the culture of her native India,

在小說中，她質問 她祖國印度的文化，

including its social mores and colonial history.

包括它的社會道德觀和殖民歷史。

One of her focuses is the caste system,

她的焦點之一是種姓制度，

a way of classifying people by hereditary social class

用世襲社會階級將人分類的方式，

that is thousands of years old.

有數千年的歷史。

By the mid-20th century,

到了二十世紀中，

the original four castes associated with specific occupations

原始和特定職業相關的四個種姓

had been divided into some 3000 sub-castes.

已被切分成了約三千個子種姓。

Though the caste system was Constitutionally abolished in 1950,

雖然憲法在 1950 年 廢除了種姓制度，

it continued to shape social life in India,

它仍然持續影響印度的社會生活，

routinely marginalizing people of lower castes.

照樣將低種姓的人給邊緣化。

In the novel, Rahel and Estha have a close relationship with Velutha,

在小說中，拉海爾與艾莎 和維魯沙有很親的關係，

a worker in their family’s pickle factory

維魯沙是他們家醃漬 食品工廠的工人，

and member of the so-called “untouchable” caste.

屬於「穢不可觸」的賤民種姓。

When Velutha and the twins’ mother, Ammu, embark on an affair,

當維魯沙和雙胞胎的 母親安姆發生戀情，

they violate what Roy describes as the “love laws”

他們就違反了羅伊 所稱的「愛情法律」，

forbidding intimacy between different castes.

該法律禁止不同 種姓的人有親密關係。

Roy warns that the tragic consequences of their relationship

羅伊警告她們的關係 會有悲劇性的後果，

“would lurk forever in ordinary things,” like “coat hangers,” “the tar on roads,”

「會永遠潛伏在 平凡的事物當中」，

如「衣架」、「路上的瀝青」，

and “the absence of words.”

和「無話可說」。

Roy’s writing makes constant use of these ordinary things,

羅伊在寫作時常常會 用到這些平凡的事物，

bringing lush detail to even the most tragic moments.

讓即使最悲劇性的時刻 也都充滿了豐富的細節。

The book opens at the funeral of the twins’ half-British cousin Sophie

書的開場，是雙胞胎的表親 索菲的葬禮，她有一半英國血統，

after her drowning.

她是溺死的。

As the family mourns, lilies curl and crisp in the hot church.

當家人在哀悼時，百合花 在炎熱的教堂纏繞捲曲。

A baby bat crawls up a funeral sari.

一隻幼蝙蝠爬上了 一件葬禮紗麗服。

Tears drip from a chin like raindrops from a roof.

淚水從下巴落下， 就像是雨水從屋簷落下。

The novel forays into the past to explore the characters’ struggles

這本小說短暫回顧過去，探索角色

to operate in a world where they don’t quite fit,

在一個他們無法融入的 世界中生活的掙扎，

alongside their nation’s political turmoil.

同時還有他們國家的政治混亂。

Ammu struggles not to lash out at her beloved children

安姆的掙扎是，當她特別 感覺到她自己被困在

when she feels particularly trapped in her parents’ small-town home,

她父母的小鎮家鄉中時， 不要牽怒到她摯愛的孩子身上，

where neighbors judge and shun her for being divorced.

在家鄉，鄰居會因為她的 離婚而評斷她、躲避她。

Velutha, meanwhile, balances his affair with Ammu and friendship with the twins

同時，維魯沙得在各方間 取得平衡：他和安姆的戀情、

他和雙胞胎的友誼、 與受僱於他們家的工作，

not only with his employment to their family,

but also with his membership to a budding communist countermovement

還有與他在一個 反甘地「綠色革命」的

to Indira Ghandi’s “Green Revolution.”

新興共產運動中的身分。

In the 1960s, the misleadingly named “Green Revolution”

在六○年代，名稱很容易 造成誤導的「綠色革命」

introduced chemical fertilizers and pesticides

推動使用化學肥料和殺蟲劑，

and the damming of rivers to India.

並在流向印度的河流上築壩攔水。

While these policies produced high-yield crops that staved off famine,

雖然這些政策提高了 作物的產量，解決了饑荒，

they also forced people from lower castes off their land

卻也迫使低種姓的人 離開他們的土地，

and caused widespread environmental damage.

還造成了廣大的環境破壞。

When the twins return to Ayemenem as adults,

當這對雙胞胎長大成人 返回阿耶門連，

the consequences of the Green Revolution are all around them.

四處可見到綠色革命的後果。

The river that was bursting with life in their childhood

在他們兒時生氣蓬勃的河流

greets them “with a ghastly skull’s smile, with holes where teeth had been,

現在卻用「可怕的 骷髏微笑，掉了牙齒，

and a limp hand raised from a hospital bed.”

從醫院病床上舉起一隻 無力的手」來迎接他們。

As Roy probes the depths of human experience,

當羅伊更深入探究人類經歷，

she never loses sight of the way her characters are shaped

她從來沒有忘記 她的角色是如何形塑的，

by the time and the place where they live.

角色們都受到時間 和居住地點的影響。

In the world of "The God of Small Things,"

在《微物之神》的世界裡，

“Various kinds of despair competed for primacy…

「各種絕望拼命爭奪第一……

personal despair could never be desperate enough...

個人絕望永遠不夠強烈……

personal turmoil dropped by at the wayside shrine of the vast, violent, circling,

個人混亂順便造訪了國家的 廣大、暴力、流轉、強勁、

driving, ridiculous, insane, unfeasible public turmoil of a nation.”

荒唐、瘋狂、不適當的 公眾混亂之路邊神社。」