高行健文集-第17章
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ainstreallifebecauseIwassimplystringingtogetherlife’smanifestations；soofcourseIwasn’tabletoaccuratelyportraylifeandintheendonlysucceededindistortingreality。
Idon’tknowwhetherI’mnowontherighttrackbutinanycaseI’veextricatedmyselffromthebustlingliteraryworldandalsoescapedfrommysmoke…filledroom。Thebookspiledeverywhereinthatroomwereoppressiveandstifling。Theyexpoundedallsortsoftruths；historicaltruthstotruthsonhowtobehuman。Icouldn’tseethepointofsomanytruthsbutstillgotenmeshedintheofthosetruthsandwasstrugglinghopelessly；likeaninsectcaughtinaspider’sweb。Fortunately；thedoctorwhogavethewrongdiagnosissavedmylife。HewasquitefrankandgotmetoparethetwochestX…raystakenontwoseparateoccasions：ablurryshadowontheleftlobeofthelunghadspreadalongthesecondribtothewallofthewindpipe。Itwouldn’thelpeventohavethewholeoftheleftloberemoved。Theoutewasobvious。Myfatherhaddiedoflungcancer。Hediedwithinthreemonthsofitbeingdiscoveredanditwasthisdoctorwhohadcorrectlydiagnosedit。Ihadfaithinhismedicalexpertiseandhehadfaithinscience。ThechestX…raystakenattwodifferenthospitalswereidentical；therewasnopossibilityofatechnicalmistake。HealsowroteanauthorizationforasectionalX…ray；theappointmentwasinhalfamonth’stime。Thiswasnothingtogetworriedabout；itwasjusttodetermiheextentofthetumour。Myfatherhadthisdonebeforehedied。TheoutewouldbethesamewhetherornotIhadtheX…ray；itwasnothingspecial。ThatIinfactwouldslipthroughthefingersofDeathcanonlybeputdowntogoodluck。IbelieveinsciencebutIalsobelieveinfate。
Ioncesawafour…inchlengthofwoodwhichhadbeencollectedintheQiangregionbyananthropologistduringthe1930s。Itwasacarvedstatueofapersondoingahandstand。Theheadhadinkmarkingsfortheeyes；noseandmouth；andtheword〃longevity〃waswrittenonthebody。Itwascalled〃WuchangUpsideDown〃andtherewassomethingoddlymischievousaboutit。Iasktheretiredvillageheadwhethersuchtalismansarestillaround。Hetellsmethesearecalled〃oldroot〃。Thiswoodenidolhastoacpanythenewbornfrombirthtodeath。Atdeathitacpaniesthecorpsefromthehouseandaftertheburialitisplacedinthewildernesstoallowthespirittoreturntonature。IaskhimifhecangetmeonesothatIcancarryitonme。Helaughsandsaysthesearewhathunterstuckintotheirshirtstowardoffevilspirits；theywouldn’tbeofanyusetosomeonelikeme。
〃Isthereanoldhunterwhoknowsaboutthissortofmagicandcantakemehuntingwithhim？〃Iask。
〃GrandpaStonewouldbethebest；〃hesaysafterthinkingaboutit。
〃HowcanIfindhim？〃Iaskrightaway。
〃He’sinGrandpaStone’sHut。〃
〃Where’sthisGrandpaStone’sHut。〃
〃GoanothertwentyliontoSilverMineGullythenfollowthecreekrightuptotheend。Thereyou’llfindastonehut。〃
〃IsthatthenameoftheplaceordoyoumeanthehutofGrandpaStone？〃
Hesaysit’sthenameoftheplace；thatthere’sinfactastonehut；andthatGrandpaStonelivesthere。
〃Canyoutakemetohim？〃Igoontoask。
〃He’sdead。Helaydownonhisbedanddiedinhissleep。Hewastooold；helivedtowelloverniy；someevensaywelloverahundred。Inanycase；nobody’ssureabouthisage。〃
〃Areanyofhisdescendantsstillalive？〃Ican’thelpasking。
〃Inmygrandfather’sgenerationandforaslongasIcanremember；hewasalwaysonhisown。〃
〃Withoutawife？〃
〃HelivedonhisowninSilverMineGully。Helivedhighupthegully；inthesolitaryhut；alone。Oh；andthatrifleofhisisstillhangingonthewallofthehut。〃
Iaskhimwhathe’stryingtotellme。
HesaysGrandpaStonewasafantastichunter；ahunterwhowasanexpertinthemagicalarts。Therearenohunterslikethatnowadays。Everyoneknowsthathisrifleishanginginthehut；thatitnevermissesthetarget；butnobodydarestogoandtakeit。
〃Why？〃I’mevenmorepuzzled。
〃TherouteintoSilverMineGullyiscut。〃
〃There’snowaythrough？〃
〃Notanymore。Earlieronpeopleusedtominesilverthere；afirmfromChengduhiredateamofworkersandtheybeganmining。Lateron；aftertheminewaslooted；everyonejustleft。Theplankroadstheylaideitherbrokeuporrotted。〃
〃Whendidallthishappen。〃
〃Whenmygrandfatherwasstillalive；morethanfiftyyearsago。〃
Thatwouldbeaboutright；afterallhe’salreadyretiredandhasbeehistory；realhistory。
〃Sosincethennobody’severgohere？〃Ibeeevenmoreintrigued。
〃Hardtosay；anywayit’shardtogetthere。〃
〃Andthehuthasrotted？〃
〃Stonecollapses；howcanitrot？〃
〃Iwastalkingabouttheridgepole。〃
〃Oh；quiteright。〃
Hedoesn’twanttotakemethere；nordoeshewanttofindahunterforme；sohe’sleadingmeonlikethis；Ithink。
〃Thenhowdoyouknowtherifle’sstillhangingonthewall？〃Iask；regardless。
〃That’swhateveryonesays；someonemust’veseenit。TheyallsaythatGrandpaStoneisincredible；hiscorpsehasn’trottedandwildanimalsdon’tdaretogonear。Hejustliesthereallstiffandemaciated；andhisrifleishangingthereonthewall。〃
〃Impossible。Withthehighhumidityuphereinthemountain；thecorpsewouldhaverottedandtheriflewouldhaveturnedintoapileofrust；〃Iargue。
〃Idon’tknow。Anyway；peoplehavebeensayingthisforyears。〃Herefusestogiveinandstickstohisstory。ThelightofthefiredancesinhiseyesandIseemtodetectacunningnessinthem。
〃Andyou’veneverseenhim？〃Iwon’tlethimoff。
〃Peoplewhohaveseenhimsaythatheseemstobeasleep；thathe’semaciated；andthattherifleishangingthereonthewallabovehishead；〃hegoesonunruffled。〃Heknewblack…magic。It’snotjustthatpeopledon’tdaregotheretostealhisrifle；evenanimalsdon’tdaretogonear。〃
Thehunterisalreadymyth。Totalkaboutamixtureofhistoryandlegendishowfolkstoriesareborn。Realityexistsonlythroughexperience；anditmustbepersonalexperience。However；oncerelated；evenpersonalexperiencebeesanarrative。Realitycan’tbeverifiedanddoesn’tneedtobe；thatcanbeleftfortherealityoflifeexpertstodebate。Whatisimportantislife。RealityissimplythatIamsittingbythefireinthisroomwhichisblackwithgrimeandsmokeandthatIseethelightofthefiredancinginhiseyes。Realityismyself；realityisonlytheperceptionofthisinstantanditcan’tberelatedtoanotherperson。Allthatneedstobesaidisthatoutside；amistisenclosingthegreen…bluemountaininahazeandyourheartisreverberatingwiththerushingwaterofaswift…flowingstream。
读王蒙的《杂色》
作者：高行健
当代文学是很少被认为有杰作的，因为是当代人写的，写的又是当代活人的事，远不如古人写的死去了的生活那样幸运。崇尚已经作古了的人是文学史的事情，于是被注释、被评点、被分析得头头是道。而一经入史便成为大家，于是又被引证、被考据，成为准则，当作经典，连现今的言行也从中找寻出处和根据。作家一旦死去，作品方变得神圣起来。当代作家生前则难得有这分荣幸，即使受到推崇，也总留有余地，免得骄傲。至于批评，则又当别论。然而，当代作品如果能有杰作，我想王蒙的《杂色》可以属于这杰作之林，虽然这么说无疑是有争议的。
主人公曹千里，一位热情、有抱负却因此倒了霉的老小伙子，在我们都熟悉的那个时代，被发配到了边疆，即使是“自愿的”，也还是被发配，骑上了一匹毛色混杂的老马，小说《杂色》的题目就这么来的。他们到牧场上去，曹千里同他的老马，又可以说老马同曹千里，因为这老马同曹千里互为写照，难舍难分。他们从牧区公社革命委员会的马厩里出来，水过河，经过了光秃秃的戈壁滩，进了个小村子，有房舍、人家和公鸡打架，还有鼻子上笑起来布着细小纹路的维吾尔族可爱的女售货员。又碰上了一条恶狗和一条并未看见的蛇。又穿过了有声有色的小溪谷，然后到了牧场。先是阳光灿烂，接着天边出现了乌云，跟着下雹子，随后便倾盆大雨，先是发冷，后是挨饿。好容易熬到了一个孤零零的毡房，有一位哈萨克族老妈妈招待他喝了酸马奶。又要呕吐，还是克制住了。随后马奶在胃里发酵，晕乎乎地上了头。曹千里总算又爬到了这匹老马的背上，歪歪斜斜，好在又上路了，倒也平安无事。
没有强盗，也没有间谍，也没有艳遇和爱情的悲剧抑或喜剧，抑或悲喜交加剧，除了那个收鸡蛋换糖果的维吾尔族女售货员那么一瞬间鼻子上出现细小纹路的微笑，明朗、坦率、朴实、未曾污染了的又无意识的一丝微笑。
全然无故事可言，也没有悲欢离合，也没有慷慨激昂的惊人之笔。以这种要求来看这篇作品自然不免失望。有一种胃口白白被提起来竟然上了当的感觉，对这篇作品的非议也就由此而来，而这种非议也非出于恶意。有人盼望东山再起的有才华的王蒙写出如同他当年的《组织部来了个青年人》那样的上乘之作，读完《杂色》所以失望也是可以理解的。因为这种失望来源于对小说的一种老观念，即小说者，故事也。为什么小说又一定得讲故事呢？其实，小说是可以讲故事，也可以不讲故事的。
大家都公认的近代小说大师契诃夫的《草原》是他的代表作。小男孩时戈鲁什卡坐了马车到城里去上中学。一路上获得了对草原的种种印象。孤寂、忧郁、美而不为人赏识白白浪费掉了的俄罗斯草原，这就是现实主义小说大家契诃夫的这篇作品的主题。习惯对大师总是尊重的，尤其是外国古人。而一个中国当代作家倘写出了这类作品，便有人摇头，叹息，啧舌。中国人有中国人的传统！
可王蒙的《杂色》却又是道道地地的国货，是一篇既幽默又深沉的相声。相声也是可以写出精品的。《杂色》是相声的精品。王蒙把相声引进了文学，这是王蒙的一大功绩。这篇小说中处处是引人入胜的包袱，一经甩掉，每每令人发笑。发笑之余，竟又发现不过�
