“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away… This storm is you. Something inside of you.”
「有時候所謂命運這東西, 就像不斷改變前進方向的 區域沙風暴一樣。 你想要避開它而改變腳步, 結果,風暴也好像 在配合你似的改變腳步。 你再一次改變腳步,於是 風暴也同樣地再度改變腳步。 好幾次又好幾次, 簡直就像黎明前和死神 所跳的不祥舞步一樣, 不斷地重複又重複。 你要問為什麼嗎? 因為那風暴並不是 從某個遠方吹來的…… (這暴風)就是你自己。 那就是你心中的什麼。」
This quote, from the first chapter of Haruki Murakami’s "Kafka on the Shore," captures the teenage protagonist's turmoil. Desperate to escape his tyrannical father and the family curse he feels doomed to repeat, he renames himself Kafka after his favorite author and runs away from home. But memories of a missing mother, along with dreams that haunt his waking life, prove more difficult to outrun.
這段文字引述自村上春樹的作品 《海邊的卡夫卡》當中的第一章, 這段文字捕捉到了 青少年主角的混亂。 這位主角極度渴望逃離 他暴虐的父親, 以及他覺得自己注定會 重蹈的家族詛咒。 他將自己改名為卡夫卡, 他最愛的作家,接著逃離他的家。 但,對於失蹤母親的記憶 及他在清醒時仍揮之不去的夢境, 比想像的還難擺脫。
Published in Japanese in 2002 and translated into English three years later, "Kafka on the Shore" is an epic literary puzzle filled with time travel, hidden histories, and magical underworlds. Readers delight in discovering how the mind-bending imagery, whimsical characters and eerie coincidences fit together.
2002 年,《海邊的卡夫卡》 日文版出版,三年後翻譯為英文, 它是個史詩級的文學難題, 充滿了時間旅行的內容、 隱藏的歷史,以及魔法地下世界。 讀者的樂趣來自於 發現難以理解意象、 怪誕的角色,及奇異的巧合 如何拼湊在一起。
Kafka narrates every second chapter, with the rest centering on an old man named Satoru Nakata. After awakening from a coma he went into during the Second World War, Nakata loses the ability to read and write– but gains a mysterious knack for talking to cats. When he’s asked to tail a missing pet, he’s thrown onto a dangerous path that runs parallel to Kafka’s.
每隔一章,卡夫卡就會講述旁白, 其他部分則是以一位 名叫中田悟的老人為中心。 在二次大戰中昏迷中, 等到醒過來之後, 中田失去了閱讀和寫字的能力—— 卻得到了神秘的本領, 可以和貓說話。 當他受託去追蹤一隻走失的寵物, 他便踏上了一條 和卡夫卡平行的危險之路。
Soon prophecies come true, portals to different dimensions open up– and fish and leeches begin raining from the sky. But what ties these two characters together– and is it a force either one of them can control?
很快的,預言成真了, 通往其他次元的入口打開了—— 天空開始下起魚和水蛭的雨。 但,這兩位角色 是被什麼綁在一起—— 是他們兩人都無法控制的力量嗎?
The collision of different worlds is a common thread in Haruki Murakami’s work. His novels and short stories often forge fantastic connections between personal experience, supernatural possibilities, and Japanese history.
村上春樹的作品中常常會有 不同世界碰撞的故事線。 他的小說和短篇故事 通常會以很奇異的方式 將個人經歷連結到 超自然的可能性和日本歷史。 村上春樹於 1949 年在京都出生,
Born in Kyoto in 1949, Murakami grew up during the post-World War II American occupation of Japan. The shadow of war hung over his life as it does his fiction; "Kafka on the Shore" features biological attacks, military ghosts and shady conspiracies.
在二次大戰後美國人 佔領日本的時期長大。 戰爭的陰影籠罩了他的人生, 也籠罩了他的故事; 《海邊的卡夫卡》的特點 包括生物攻擊、 軍中的鬼魂,以及陰暗的密謀。 村上春樹的作品模糊了歷史時期,
Murakami’s work blurs historical periods and draws from multiple cultural traditions. References to Western society and Japanese customs tumble over each other, from literature and fashion to food and ghost stories.
並從多種文化傳統中取材。 在他的作品中,西方社會 和日本習俗撞擊混合, 從文學與時尚,到食物和鬼故事。
He has a penchant for musical references, too, especially in "Kafka on the Shore." As the runaway Kafka wanders the streets of a strange city, Led Zeppelin and Prince keep him company. Soon, he takes refuge in an exquisite private library. While he spends his days poring over old books and contemplating a strange painting and the library’s mysterious owner, he also befriends the librarian– who introduces him to classical music like Schubert.
他也非常愛好引用音樂, 特別是在《海邊的卡夫卡》中。 當逃走的卡夫卡在一個 奇特城市的街道上遊蕩時, 有齊柏林飛船和王子陪伴他。 很快的,他找到一間 精緻的圖書館讓他避難。 他把時間用來鑽研古書 以及思忖一幅怪畫 和神秘的圖書館館長, 此外,他也結交了圖書館館員—— 這位館員讓他認識了 古典音樂如舒伯特。
This musical sensibility makes Murakami’s work all the more hypnotic. He frequently bends the line between reality and a world of dreams, and is considered a master of magic lurking in the mundane. This is a key feature of magical realism.
這些音樂的感受, 讓村上春樹的作品更有催眠力。 他經常去彎曲現實 與夢世界之間的界線, 被認為是世俗中的魔法隱身大師。 這是魔幻寫實主義的關鍵特色。 相對於幻想,
In contrast to fantasy, magic in this sort of writing rarely offers a way out of a problem. Instead, it becomes just one more thing that complicates life. In "Kafka on the Shore," characters are faced with endless otherworldly distractions, from a love sick ghost to a flute made from cat souls. These challenges offer no easy answers. Instead, they leave us marveling at the resourcefulness of the human spirit to deal with the unexpected.
在這類作品中,魔法很少 能夠提供問題的出路。 它反而還讓人生變得更複雜。 在《海邊的卡夫卡》中, 角色要面對無盡的 超自然現象讓他們分心, 從苦念的鬼魂,到貓靈魂 製成的笛子都有。 這些挑戰並沒有 提供我們簡單的答案。 反之,它們讓我們驚嘆人類精神 在處理未預期的事物上 有多麼足智多謀。
While Kafka often seems suspended in strangeness, there’s a tenderness and integrity at the heart of his mission that keeps him moving forward. Gradually he comes to accept his inner confusion. In the end, his experience echoes the reader’s: the deeper you go, the more you find.
雖然卡夫卡通常總是 處在奇異的處境當中, 那驅使他向前行的使命, 其實有著溫柔正直的核心。 漸漸地,他接受了他內在的困惑。 最終,他的經歷 和讀者的經歷產生共鳴: 越是深入,就會發現越多。