莫言:講故事的人(諾貝爾獲獎演講)
Finally, I ask your indulgence to talk about my novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. The Chinese title comes from Buddhist scripture, and I’ve been told that my translators have had fits trying to render it into their languages. I am not especially well versed in Buddhist scripture and have but a superficial understanding of the religion. I chose this title because I believe that the basic tenets of the Buddhist faith represent universal knowledge, and that mankind’s many disputes are utterly without meaning in the Buddhist realm. In that lofty view of the universe, the world of man is to be pitied. My novel is not a religious tract; in it I wrote of man’s fate and human emotions, of man’s limitations and human generosity, and of people’s search for happiness and the lengths to which they will go, the sacrifices they will make, to uphold their beliefs. Lan Lian, a character who takes a stand against contemporary trends, is, in my view, a true hero. A peasant in a neighboring village was the model for this character. As a youngster I often saw him pass by our door pushing a creaky, wooden-wheeled cart, with a lame donkey up front, led by his bound-foot wife. Given the collective nature of society back then, this strange labor group presented a bizarre sight that kept them out of step with the times. In the eyes of us children, they were clowns marching against historical trends, provoking in us such indignation that we threw stones at them as they passed us on the street. Years later, after I had begun writing, that peasant and the tableau he presented floated into my mind, and I knew that one day I would write a novel about him, that sooner or later I would tell his story to the world. But it wasn’t until the year 2005, when I viewed the Buddhist mural “The Six Stages of Samsara” on a temple wall that I knew exactly how to go about telling his story.
最後，請允許我再講一下我的《生死疲勞》。這個書名來自佛教經典，據我所知，爲翻譯這個書名，各國的翻譯家都很頭痛。我對佛教經典並沒有深入研究，對佛教的理解自然十分膚淺，之所以以此爲題，是因爲我覺得佛教的許多基本思想，是真正的宇宙意識，人世中許多紛爭，在佛家的眼裏，是毫無意義的。這樣一種至高眼界下的人世，顯得十分可悲。當然，我沒有把這本書寫成佈道詞，我寫的還是人的命運與人的情感，人的侷限與人的寬容，以及人爲追求幸福、堅持自己的信念所做出的努力與犧牲。小說中那位以一己之身與時代潮流對抗的藍臉，在我心目中是一位真正的英雄。這個人物的原型，是我們鄰村的一位農民，我童年時，經常看到他推着一輛吱吱作響的木輪車，從我家門前的道路上通過。給他拉車的，是一頭瘸腿的毛驢，爲他牽驢的，是他小腳的妻子。這個奇怪的勞動組合，在當時的集體化社會裏，顯得那麼古怪和不合時宜，在我們這些孩子的眼裏，也把他們看成是逆歷史潮流而動的小丑，以至於當他們從街上經過時，我們會充滿義憤地朝他們投擲石塊。事過多年，當我拿起筆來寫作時，這個人物，這個畫面，便浮現在我的腦海中。我知道，我總有一天會爲他寫一本書，我遲早要把他的故事講給天下人聽，但一直到了2005年，當我在一座廟宇裏看到“六道輪迴”的壁畫時，才明白了講述這個故事的正確方法。The announcement of my Nobel Prize has led to controversy. At first I thought I was the target of the disputes, but over time I’ve come to realize that the real target was a person who had nothing to do with me. Like someone watching a play in a theater, I observed the performances around me. I saw the winner of the prize both garlanded with flowers and besieged by stone-throwers and mudslingers. I was afraid he would succumb to the assault, but he emerged from the garlands of flowers and the stones, a smile on his face; he wiped away mud and grime, stood calmly off to the side, and said to the crowd: For a writer, the best way to speak is by writing. You will find everything I need to say in my works. Speech is carried off by the wind; the written word can never be obliterated.
我獲得諾貝爾文學獎後，引發了一些爭議。起初，我還以爲大家爭議的對象是我，漸漸的，我感到這個被爭議的對象，是一個與我毫不相關的人。我如同一個看戲人，看着衆人的表演。我看到那個得獎人身上落滿了花朵，也被擲上了石塊、潑上了污水。我生怕他被打垮，但他微笑着從花朵和石塊中鑽出來，擦乾淨身上的髒水，坦然地站在一邊，對着衆人說：對一個作家來說，最好的說話方式是寫作。我該說的話都寫進了我的作品裏。用嘴說出的話隨風而散，用筆寫出的話永不磨滅。I would like you to find the patience to read my books. I cannot force you to do that, and even if you do, I do not expect your opinion of me to change. No writer has yet appeared, anywhere in the world, who is liked by all his readers; that is especially true during times like these.
我希望你們能耐心地讀一下我的書，當然，我沒有資格強迫你們讀我的書。即便你們讀了我的書，我也不期望你們能改變對我的看法，世界上還沒有一個作家，能讓所有的讀者都喜歡他。在當今這樣的時代裏，更是如此。
