繪本推薦 不再是小時候的單純世界

Adults often find surprising subtexts in children’s literature – but are they really there? Hephzibah Anderson delves into the world of Freud and fairy tales.

成年讀者經常能在兒童讀物中發現令人意想不到的潛臺詞——但這些潛臺詞真的存在嗎？赫弗齊芭褠德森深入探究了弗洛伊德理論和童話世界。

——編者按

It’s easy to poke fun at some of these outlandish readings. Could they perhaps be the products of parents so addled by a text that, following their umpteenth nightly recital, the words start acting like one of those magic-eye images? Stare at them long enough and sense will materialise. Or nonsense. How else could a 22-page picture book like The Very Hungry Caterpillar yield capitalist, Christian, feminist, Marxist, queer and anti-liberal messages?

這些古怪的解讀很容易被人嘲笑。它們可能只是牀頭故事而已——在兒時無數次的夜裏，孩子在父母柔和的朗讀聲中展開魔幻的幻象。盯着這些幻象，越能感覺它們的實在。又或者，這是都是扯淡。難道說只有22頁的畫冊《好餓的毛毛蟲》能夠包含所有資本主義者、基督教徒、女權主義、馬克思主義者、同性戀者和反自由主義者的信息？

“I don’t think you can ever dig too deeply for meaning,” says Dr Alison Waller, Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton’s National Centre of Research for Children’s Literature. Her favourite class involves applying psychoanalytical theory to Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea, resulting in some decidedly Oedipal interpretations of that big cat and his relationship to the family.“

"我認爲你不能太過於深挖兒童文學的深層含義。”艾莉森·沃特博士說道。她是羅漢普頓大學國家兒童文學研究中心的高級講師。她最喜歡的課程是用心理分析理論來解讀朱迪思·克爾的《老虎來喝下午茶》，並從老虎和它的家庭關係中得出了一些戀母情結的結論。

（《老虎來喝下午茶》）

“This is a very simple story, but simplicity is not the same as a lack of depth. There are some exquisite picture books that tackle existential issues like death and sadness head on: Michael Rosen’s Sad Book and The Red Tree by Shaun Tan are great examples.”

"這是一個非常簡單的故事，但簡單並不意味這沒有深度。一些精緻的畫冊會直面像死亡和悲傷等存在主義問題：邁克爾·羅森的《悲傷之書》和陳志勇的《緋紅樹》就是兩個很好的例子。”

Just because we might not be aware of such adult messages when we read books as kids, doesn’t mean we aren’t absorbing them, she adds. “However far this kind of ‘message’ seems to leap out at the adult reader, it is probably closer to the truth to say that the message has always been there but the knowledge that allows it to be recognised has not.”

只是因爲兒時讀這類書籍時，可能還沒意識到這類成人信息，但這並不是說我們沒有受它們影響。她補充道。“而這些潛臺詞似乎並不會直接跳入成人眼中。更確切地說，這些潛在信息一直都在那裏，但是需要有相應的知識去辨識出來。”

Of course, sometimes meanings seem hidden because we’re too caught up in the story, or because we’re simply too young. Only as an adult does Waller recognise the motivation of Max’s mother in sending him to bed without supper when she reads Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.

當然，有時候這些潛在的信息無法察覺，是因爲太過於沉浸在故事情節中，或是因爲我們還太年輕。所以，沃勒博士只有從成年人的角度再次翻閱莫里斯·森達克的《野獸家園》，她才明白書中馬克思媽媽把他送上牀卻沒有吃晚飯這件事上的動機。