20221128《The Hollow Children》——一个悲伤的故事

2022年11月28号的纽约客刊登了美国著名作家路易斯·厄德里克（Louise Erdrich）的短篇《The hollow children》。路易斯·厄德里克多部作品都有中译本，喜欢的朋友可以自己找来阅读。

路易斯·厄德里克（Louise Erdrich）

小说采用了倒叙手法，以第三人称视角回忆了一场由暴风雪导致的可怕事故。一个普通的农民、兼职老师、同时是校车司机的Ivek在负责开车送孩子们去学校的路上，不幸遇上了一场可怕的暴风雪。当灾难突然降临，面对绝境，无人救援，该怎么办？

小说分了三个阶段。

第一阶段，突遭暴风雪。作为司机，Ivek掌控着全车人的命运，他意识到不能等待救援，需要行动起来。他提议孩子们唱歌，鼓舞人心，同时下定决心努力开到学校。只有这样，孩子们才能获救。有一个坚强的小女孩儿Agnid Awbrey自告奋勇的带领大家歌唱，以此驱散心中的恐惧。当孩子们都饿肚子的时候，Agnid Awbrey又主动分享出自己的肉馅儿饼，并组织孩子们交出各自的食物，进行合理分配。而Ivek无暇顾及其他，只有全神贯注的驾驶汽车。这一阶段，作者对Ivek的心理描写很细腻。

Ivek kept the school bus moving, sometimes jerking across the prairie and at times gliding on roads, determined not to drive into a ravine or be stopped by any means other than a warm house or a barn. His heart sped up so fast that he could hardly breathe.He thought of a child—Mary Wacha,so quiet and so good at math. Or Warwick, the boy who chopped wood for the school stove. Or smallboned Morris, only five years old, whom he’d directed Agnid to bundle in the blanket that usually draped his lap. He would get the children out of his mind only to have their parents crowd in. He knew the parents were praying that the bus had reached the schoolhouse before the worst hit. He thought of his friend John, whose child, the last on his route, he hadn’t picked up.Was she wandering in the blizzard? And Agnid’s father and mother, and his own wife, her dark hair all in a braid down to her waist. She was at home, and he was glad now that their children had been ill that morning and stayed with her.She would be praying,too.He put her out of his mind and drove on. And on. There was no telling.No telling which direction he was going and he knew not where he was. He knew only that he must not stop.

第二阶段，悲剧发生。虽然Ivek在努力驾驶着汽车，但肆虐的暴风雪让他无法判断方向，不慎掉进了湖底。惨剧无法避免的发生了。

Sorrow cascaded over him as the bus settled on the bottom of the lake. When there was no use steering any longer, he rose in his grief and turned to the children. He meant to apologize and hoped to recommence the singing,but the children had changed. By unknown means,on the way down to the bottom, the children had become hollow.

第三阶段，Ivek的回忆和幻想。Ivek睁开眼后，他仍然在开着车，他带着孩子们安全的来到了学校，在Agnid Awbrey帮助下，孩子们下车后排队进了校园，冲到壁炉旁，Ivek打开火柴盒，用点燃的报纸生起了火。但这一切是真的吗？这种闪回，很像电影中常常采用的手法，人的意识已经模糊不清，现实和幻想交织在一起。作者在前两个阶段铺垫的情绪也在这一刻得到了彻底释放，Ivek的幻想只能是一种美好的安慰，这段文章溢出的悲伤吞噬了Ivek也吞噬着作为读者的我们。车祸带来的伤痛造成的心灵空洞，将留在Ivek的心里，直到永远。

The chill in Ivek was far deeper than the fire could touch.The reality of the cold world beneath the ice was stronger than the warmth of the school.He turned away from the stove so the children wouldn’t see his tears. What was up and what was down? If he turned back,would the children still be warm and alive? Gritting their teeth in pain and happily whimpering as their numbed feet and fingers prickled to life? Or would they be frail blue human bubbles he’d failed to rescue? Would his son and his daughter be among them? Dissolved to froth? He closed his eyes. Again, he was down there with the fish darting in and out, lakeweed clogging the children’s mouths, each seat inhabited by a small, vanished life. And who was he? The driver or the one driven from existence by relentless snow? He reached—

在突发的自然灾害面前，人类是微不足道的。尽管Ivek和Agnid Awbrey的努力仍然未能避免最后的悲剧发生，但他们在灾难中展现出的人性光辉永远不会磨灭。

作者为何构思了这样一个短篇，不得而知。个人推测可能是来源于真实的事故改变，理由是小说中提到了明确的发生日期1923的四月份。但本人在网上查了下资料，并没有找到相关新闻。如果有了解的朋友，欢迎补充。 以及，一个微不足道细节，小说中提到的歌曲《Wild Clover》网上并没有找到，只找到了一个歌词很相似的《The wild rover》，疑似是作者故意改编的。