2007年4月7日星期六
弱者害怕打电话
昨天我在电话里责怪妈妈什么事儿都不打电话。她有什么事儿都自己藏着,不肯打电话去问,怕人家觉得尴尬。其实都是一家人,有什么要紧的呢?说服了她半天,发现自己其实是在自责。
昨天接到安娜的邮件,问我为什么几个月都没有跟她联系,是不是成心不搭理她了。我扪心自问,发现这其中的原因有一半是出于惭愧,有一半是出于害怕。我和安娜是在写论文过程中认识的朋友,一起去参加学术会议,一起讨论学业中困惑,一起大骂学术制度的不人性,一起谈论电影和文学,两个人的脾气和秉性都很相投。虽然她是俄罗斯人,我是中国人,但我觉得她给予了我很多中国朋友所不能给予的帮助和关心。去年感恩节的时候,她还把郁闷极了的我接到安娜堡,聊了好几天,宽慰我、鼓励我。可是现在眼看着她和其他朋友一步一步地走向毕业和找到工作,自己却卡在这里,我觉得惭愧极了,甚至还有一点点的嫉妒。
从北京回来以后,我忙了两个月,以为自己论文的初稿应该能够通过,结果一败涂地。这样一来,就更没有勇气和安娜联系。我就这样自己一个人缩啊,缩啊,一直躲到自己的壳里。我害怕打电话给她,一方面觉得自己很没出息,另一方面觉得让安娜知道我的窘境也会给她带来负担。可是看了她的邮件,我觉得实在太对不起她了,就给她打了一个电话。因为是Good Friday, 她正在教堂里忙碌。我把自己现在的情况大略说了一下,她说她自己毕业的事也很不顺利。她说朋友不就是用来分忧解难的么?我简直无地自容了。我是这么自私,以为自己的那点破事儿就是世界的全部了,忘了去关心朋友,也不信任朋友能帮助自己。
我惧怕打电话,其实是惧怕别人会了解我的窘境和踌躇,我那一点儿不值一文的自尊让我受不了别人的同情,受不了自己是个弱者这个事实。
我站在金门超市熙来攘往的人群里,到处都是花花绿绿的食品,到处都是人声鼎沸,就像是所有的周末傍晚一样。我就站在那儿发呆。时间穿过我的身体,头脑里空洞洞的。这个星期我已经哭得够多的了,我不想再哭了。接受我是一个弱者和失败者的事实不会给我更多的打击了。这样也好,终于承认了,我对自己的心说。你这个蠢货,现在除了枷锁你什么也不会失去了,我对自己的心说。准备工作吧,做到一个弱者所能做到的最好地步,不要让你的胆怯把你吓倒,不要让你的恐惧成为你逃避的理由。准备工作吧,你自己才是你自己最好的裁判,你自己的工作才是寻找出路的唯一途径。让道路指引我吧,让那些泪水走开。
走出金门,世界还是老样子,除了所有的人都老了二十分钟。没有玉兰花的四月份,鱼店里散发出螃蟹腐烂的味道,我用力地呼吸。呼吸吧,我对自己说,呼吸这世界真实的味道。生命虽然不是我自己选择的,但是只要这一刻我还没有选择死亡,我就应该呼吸、生活、流泪、打电话。
《了不起的盖茨比》
今天早晨,收音机里在讨论《了不起的盖茨比》。费茨杰拉德和Edith Wharton 都是我喜爱的描写纽约的作家。两个人都写上个世纪之初的纽约,一个以讽刺见长,把美国梦的荒谬分析得鞭辟入里。另一个以女性特有的笔触,将爱情背后的阶级和社会冲突娓娓道来。一个小时的节目里,电台主持人和文学批评家一起到长岛探访费茨杰拉德的故居,谈论这部小说对美国文学和人们日常生活的价值。最后,主持人请到一个能够把这部小说倒背如流的演员。主持人随便说个开头,他就能一字不错的接下去,能耐了得。最后,他开始背诵小说的开头,我听了打了个寒颤。
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
2007年4月6日星期五
我爸
2007年4月5日星期四
Dark Blue World of Brotherhood
Dark Blue World (Czech: Tmavomodrý svět) is a 2001 film by Czech director Jan Svěrák about Czechoslovakian pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force during World War II. The screenplay was written by Zdeněk Svěrák, the father of the director. The film stars Ondřej Vetchý as František (Franta) Sláma, Kryštof Hádek as Karel Vojtíšek and Tara Fitzgerald as Susan. Ondřej Vetchý is an amazing actor who brings into life the struggle between love and solidarity.
In the end of the film, Franta came back home and found out he was abonded by both worlds: the British (symbolized by Susan) and the Czech (symbolized by his former girlfriend). The frequent flash back to the past gives the film a sense of paradise lost. Life has so much to offer, and we human beings have so much to lost. Where is the delicate balance point of our lives? Where is the everlasting youth and friendship?
According to Wikipedia:
"About one third of the film takes place in 1950, after the war, when the returning Czechoslovak pilots were imprisoned by the new communist government for colluding with the capitalists. Most of these scenes are the interactions between Sláma, and his fellow inmates in the prison hospital (an ex-SS doctor and a convicted burglar). The film switches back between the war and the prison.
The first scene in the film is in the workshop of the prison. Sláma is at a sewing machine when he collapses and is taken to the hospital.
The film proper begins in 1939, just days prior to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the invasion, the Czechoslovakian army is disbanded and the Czechoslovaks have to give up their aircraft. However, Franta and the younger Karel, among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers, and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF.
Once they arrive, the British force the Czechoslovaks to retrain from the basics, which infuriates them, especially Karel, who is both impatient to fight the Germans and humiliated to be retaught what he already knows. Karel also sees the compulsory English language lessons as a pointless waste of his time.
Eventually they are allowed to fly, but after their first sortie they realise why the British were training them so intensely: a young Czechoslovak nicknamed Tom Tom is shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf-109.
In the same mission, Karel himself is shot down, but manages to safely crash land and find his way to a farm. At this farm he meets Susan, whom he falls in love with (though the feeling is not mutual; Susan thinks Karel is far too young). The next day, after returning to the aerodrome, Karel brings Franta to meet Susan. The latter begins to get on well with Susan, though Karel believes that he is still Susan's boyfriend.
A sort of love triangle develops, though it takes Karel quite some time to realise that Susan has feelings for his commander, and it is not until late in the film when he realises that they are in a relationship with each other.
Following a mission to France where the squadron attacks a train, Karel is shot down and Franta lands to rescue him, a move that shows that the two's friendship endures. But soon after the mission, Karel learns about the relationship between Franta and Susan, which leads to a quarrel.
A few missions later, Franta's airplane has a malfunction and is forced to ditch into the ocean. His inflatable life raft bursts as he tries to inflate it and Karel decides to help him by giving him his own raft. While attempting to drop the raft, Karel collides with the water surface and dies. (But the raft emerges from the water, so Franta is rescued.)
The movie ends with Franta returning to Czechoslovakia, where he finds his girlfriend married."
I started to read Coelho's Fifth Mountain.