2007/07/30

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (1997) by Neil Gaiman

說也奇怪,有時候某個作家的長篇小說不是不好看,但就是無法引起共鳴;換短篇試試看,反而篇篇命中。這無關作品好壞,純粹是讀者口味與作者風格是否契合的問題而已。Neil Gaiman 之於我,大概就是這個樣子。

本書多樣而豐沛的創作風格令人目不暇給。以不同角度重新詮釋神話、傳奇、童話的 "Chivalry"、"Troll Bridge"、"Bay Wolf"、"Snow, Glass, Apples"(特別是這篇讀起來總聯想到 Alan Moore 的 Lost Girls,下次他們夫妻倆應該要再編幾個經典角色來玩玩)以及取材自其他知名作家筆下或共同世界(shared world)的 "Shoggoth's Old Preculiar"、"One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock"、"When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 1/4" 和 "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale"(雖然這篇只有標題是借來的,原創性頗高)是首先要關注的焦點。我則比較喜歡幾篇帶有「溫馨」的非典型恐怖小說,像是 "The Price"、"Troll Bridge"、"Changes"、"Looking for the Girl"、"Foreign Parts"、"Tastings" 乍看之下有點像是 Ray Bradbury 寫的,但 Neil Gaiman 明顯較為戲謔,題材比較多元,閱讀時想起故事背後也沒那麼毛骨悚然。直指現代資訊社會的敘事詩 "Cold Colors" (其中 RS-232 的註註錯啦 X-D)和個人私故事意味頗濃的 "The Price" 和 "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories" 也很可觀。最短的 "Nicholas Was ......" 爆發力十足。

不過我覺得最具附加價值的地方在 "An Introduction",除了內藏一篇好看的 "The Wedding Present",每則故事的創作祕辛完全揭露,對照本文與行內生態更顯其趣味。

只是繆思製作的不用心毀了這本書。譯者未能完全抓住 Gaiman 文字的精髓與韻味還在其次,國內讀者手中的臺灣譯本較原著整整少了四篇!分別是 "Chivalry"、"The Price"、"Troll Bridge" 和 "Don't Ask Jack"。要不是我在撰寫本文時查過網路評論,還真的就被矇混過去了!究竟是譯者漏譯,或是出版社逕自刪除,繆思方面應該要給讀者一個交待。

閱讀版本:
Neil Gaiman, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (New York: Perennial, 2001)
尼爾‧蓋曼,《煙與鏡:尼爾‧蓋曼短篇選》,林嘉倫 譯(臺北縣新店市:繆思,2007)

網上評論:
http://www.epiphyte.net/SF/smoke-and-mirrors.html by Christina Schulman
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art44054.asp by Sharon Cullars
http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue177/books.html by Jerry Wright
http://twisted-kingdom.blogspot.com/2007/07/smoke-and-mirrors-by-neil-gaiman.html by Kailana
http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=144 by Paul Kane
http://coolingpearls.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/smoke-and-mirrors-by-neil-gaiman/ by Roh

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

說明於此:
http://blog.yam.com/musesbooks/article/11135248

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