Children's literature week seventeeth

Sara導讀文章 湯姆歷險記

童年是心中永遠的一首歌─導讀馬克．吐溫的《湯姆歷險記》 孫德宜

　　正如1954年諾貝爾文學獎得主海明威(Earnest Hemingway, 1899 – 1961)所言：《湯姆歷險記》(The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)是全世界最受歡迎的故事之一，馬克．吐溫（Mark Twain，1835 ? 1910）也被認為是最美國本色的作家，也是第一個道地美國作家，自他起才有完全獨特風格的美國文學。即使不熟小說也不識美國文學的人，幾乎也都聽聞過湯姆的名號，成為美國人天真樂觀、自信開朗性格的代表人物。這本小說自1876年出版以來，年年都有新的一批曾經也是小孩的成年人，像幫派入會般的一個拉一個的形成輿論壓力，告訴下一批孩子說這是本不可不讀的青少年兒童文學經典。馬克．吐溫語帶幽默卻譏諷的寫實筆觸，描述一位頑皮搗蛋的小男孩，在密西西比河畔一個偏僻小鎮成長的冒險情事，重現南北戰爭(1861-1865)前慵懶的懷舊情調。但是有些大人實在很難理解，為什麼像湯瑪士．索耶這種「不是模範兒童」的壞孩子，會有人肯為他寫一本書，卻還能暢銷大賣？這些大人或許也不能明白，書中男女老少大多言行粗鄙，甚至有些乖張愚蠢，而且說的都不是優雅純正的英語，竟是美國人引以為傲的必讀名著？除卻優勢的文化行銷，《湯姆歷險記》的確擁有許多兒童文學經典的共通特質：諸如爭取小讀者認同的孩童主角(child protagonist)、弱勢族群的集結以挑戰威權、領導統御與兄弟情誼、追求夢想與冒險等暢銷元素。且書中對於每一個情節，都有合理而深刻的動機描述，讓這本少年成長冒險寫實小說，多了心理層面的深刻

　　馬克．吐溫成功塑造了湯瑪士．索耶這個性格鮮明的孩童主角。表面上看來，湯姆跟絕大多數的孩子一樣，是個天真調皮的小淘氣，心地還算善良，做人尚稱俠義，可是他自以為是的小聰明和豐沛的想像力，常陷自己與朋友進出險境。但仔細瞧瞧，在戲劇化的假面純真後頭，湯姆其實是個能洞徹人心的機會主義者。他像是投顧老師般的投機勢利，虛榮愛現、說謊狡辯、還有一顆冷酷的心。而前述種種湯姆的個性，拿來形容大美國在國際社會中的自我定位，其形象不也令人髮指地貼切！講得好聽些，湯姆有著如企管顧問一樣的思考評估能力，在第二章「光榮的油漆匠」中表露無遺；在第六章中為了要和蓓琪坐在一起，而扯謊遲到藉口；也在第二十章「代為受過」中，為了贏得美人芳心而承認撕破老師的A書，挨打也無所謂─他原本就有顆會拿捏思量的老靈魂。然而《湯姆歷險記》也是一本惡漢體冒險小說(picaresque novel)，書中三次主要的冒險，同時也將無憂無慮的他，漸漸成人化的過程，寫實而冷酷地記錄下來。第一次的冒險是和哈克夜訪墓地，不小心目睹印第安喬殺人，原本兩人賭咒發誓絕不說出真相，湯姆無視於自身安危與朋友誠信，堅持秉持良心出庭作證。第二次的冒險是為了抗議大人們的冤枉，湯姆領著哈克和哈潑，偷了戰備糧，躲到小島上玩海盜遊戲，不管他潛回家中時，親眼看到波麗阿姨多麼傷心，仍然刻意逍遙了一個星期才回來參加自己的喪禮。第三次的冒險是又和哈克，去鬼屋尋幽卻撞見死對頭印第安喬，居然沒告訴大人財寶箱的黃金，自己繼續計畫追蹤挖寶。我們從小說剛開始嘻嘻哈哈的湯姆，看他經歷艱難險阻後，從經驗法則中學習到家庭與社區族群的可貴。雖然不羈的本性難改，至少他不再逃家，甚至力勸哈克回歸體制內的安逸，給道格拉斯寡婦收養。

　　在《湯姆歷險記》裡，我們看到無論孩童主角(child protagonist)湯姆和他的死黨哈克或是反角(antagonist)印第安喬，都是主流社會下的弱勢族群，呼應了小孩原本在智識體能和經濟威權方面的無力。這也是許多兒童文學經典的共同點：這些主角們不是孤兒單親就是窮苦無依，要不然就是些極度孤絕的心靈，舉凡像哈利波特(Harry Potter)、《綠野仙蹤》的桃樂絲(Dorothy)、《秘密花園》的瑪麗(Mary Lenox)、爸爸命喪隔壁Mr. McGregor 菜園的彼得兔(Peter Rabbit) 、《小婦人》中的馬爾屈女孩(March girls)或是《漫遊奇境》的愛麗思(Alice)。小孩子最怕的荒涼和孤單，不被認同與沒有回應(unfair and ignore)，這本小說也多所著墨：譬如第三章「戰爭與愛情」中被冤枉打破糖罐的湯姆，「遠離那些男孩常聚集的地方，故意走到人煙罕至的荒涼處，以配合他當時尋求孤獨的心情。」或是在第七章「壁蝨之戰與失戀」中自覺被湯姆背棄的蓓琪：

　　她專心等待回音，但是毫無回應。唯一陪她的伴侶就是寂靜與孤獨。所以她回到原來的地方，再次哭了起來，同時責罵自己。這時候同學已經開始陸續回校，所以她必須隱藏自己的悲傷及破碎的心，在這個充滿陌生人，無人可以傾訴哀戚的環境裡，努力撐過這個痛苦、可怕又漫長的下午。

　　還是在第十二章「貓和止痛藥」裡，因為蓓琪好幾天沒來學校，而覺得「生命的魅力已然消失，所剩唯有沉寂、荒涼。」再就是在第十四章「快樂營」中，用「林子裡醞釀的沉靜、肅穆以及寂寥感」，來描繪逃家男孩們漸漸成形「萌芽的思鄉病」。以及在第二十六章「一箱金子」裡，提到令湯姆和哈克這兩個大冒險家，不敢貿然進入鬼屋的那種炙日下的死寂，「所營造出的荒涼及孤單」。

　　《湯姆歷險記》無疑是本寫實小說，除了角色型塑和情節場景來鋪陳故事的可信度，馬克．吐溫還擅長用方言俚語來突顯地方色彩和角色身份，這點卻很難從中文譯文看出端倪。信手拈來一段在第一章「玩耍，打架，躲藏」，波麗阿姨的話：

I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's [the Lord's truth], goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as [the Good Book] says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as [the Scripture] says, and I reckon it's so.

　　我對這孩子沒有盡到該盡的規戒責任，這是千真萬確的事實，上帝明鑒。書上不是說：『不打不成器』嗎？我知道我這樣姑息這孩子，以後吃苦受罪還不是自己。可是他雖然滿腦子的鬼靈精怪，終究是死去妹妹留下的孩子，可憐的小傢伙，怎麼說我都狠不下心來打他。每次放過他，我總是良心不安許久，但是如果真打了他，我的心更是都要碎了。算了，算了，就像聖經上說的，女人生的男人都是幼稚而麻煩多多的，我真是再同意不過了。

　　這段英文真是文法老師的夢魘，卻忠實地再現波麗阿姨這個密蘇里鄉下女人的方言口音。馬克．吐溫用拼音(如spoil卻念成spile)、口說文字(如ain't doing)和節構破碎的語句(run-on sentences)，加上常張冠李戴的經典諺語和自以為是的真理格言，還有三不五時(這裡英文才七行不到就提了三次)就捧出來的聖經名言，絮絮叨叨的波麗阿姨下里巴人的氣質於是躍然紙上。馬克．吐溫還小心刻意地在書中虛構的聖彼得堡，以口音與措辭區分出窮人與富人、黑人與白人的對話口吻，他甚至在其續集《頑童歷險記》(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1885)變本加厲地啟用粗野不文的哈克，用他那滿口髒話的第一人稱的敘述觀點說故事。馬克．吐溫雖然只是讓他的角色們在《湯姆歷險記》中各自表述，延用傳統第三人稱的全知觀點(The third omniscient point of view)來貫串全書，但是他仍不時地以作者的身份跑出來，像波麗阿姨般說些自以為是的悲憫真理，或是赤口毒舌嘲諷舊式文章，要不就跟湯姆一樣愛現他的見聞。

　　《湯姆歷險記》雖然是本男性成長小說(male bildungsroman)，但是從前述湯姆的角色型塑來看，和狄更斯式的(Charles Dickens, 1812-1870)勵志主角卻又不盡相同。美國文學中的男主角，不管大人小孩，大多是逸逃避世的反英雄形象(run-away anti-hero)，這多少和美國人是那批逃離母國的清教徒後代有關。例如《李伯大夢》(Rip Van Winkle, 1819)中閃惡妻而逃到後山睡二十年的李伯，躲在華騰湖(Walden, 1862又譯《湖濱散記》)邊思考兩年的梭羅(Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862)，《玻璃動物園》(The Glass Menagerie, 1944)中，窩在電影院裡逃離現實的Tom Wingfield，還是阿普戴克(John Updike, 1932- )的《兔子快跑》系列(Rabbit, Run, 1960)。這種非傳統典型的情節與角色，一如馬克．吐溫的生平，卻是典型的美國故事。本名克雷門斯(Samuel Langhorne Clemens) 的馬克．吐溫，生於密蘇里州，父母是南方的移民，經常搬遷。在他四歲時，全家遷居密西西比河畔的漢尼伯(Hannibal)。由於家境貧寒，十二歲喪父，馬克．吐溫幹過各種營生，也看盡人生百態。他作過印刷工匠，水手、礦工，後來還考取密西西比河的領航執照。更於美國南北戰爭期間到內華達州與加州加入淘金的行列，他也曾從事過股票買賣員。戰後他到報館當記者，開始以馬克．吐溫這個源自於杖量密西西比河的深度的筆名寫書，居然一舉成名。他雖未受過完整的教育，但是交友廣闊，結交聞達，常旅行的經驗使他見多識廣，是個蠻會經營自己的文人。他寫作內容大部分來自於當時民風單純、封閉艱苦的童年故事，《湯姆歷險記》就是以馬克．吐溫的家鄉漢尼伯為背景。他的筆鋒幽默機智，具有濃烈的美國本土風味，尤其擅寫生活紀實的冒險故事。長達四十年的創作生涯，共寫出了十多部長篇小說、幾十部短篇小說及其他體裁的大量作品，哈佛大學還頒贈文學博士學位(D.Litt.)給馬克．吐溫。

　　每個人心中都有一首歌，而童年是心中永遠的一首歌。就像在第二章「光榮的油漆匠」中所言，《湯姆歷險記》充滿了陽光及新鮮氣息，生命力就像是要滿溢出來。馬克．吐溫以個人獨特的幽默風格娓娓道來，描繪出少年時代的歡樂、寂寞、冒險、叛逆、友情、愛情等等這些人性共有的價值。也許你已不再年少，但相信讀了湯姆的故事能使你獲得最純潔的享受，彷彿回到童年。

Test Discussion

What is your point?

The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant is an animated short film adaptation of the short story by Oscar Wilde. The story has symbolic religious themes and may be considered a work of allegory in Christian literature. The film was produced in 1971 by the Canadian-based Potterton Productions and by Pyramid Films. It earned a 44th Academy Award nomination in the animated Short Subject category. One of the film's animators was Micheline Lanctôt. The King's Singers provided the vocals after having formed only a few years before. The film first aired on Canadian television in November 1972 on CTV.

Initiation

is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. Examples of initiation ceremonies might include Hindu diksha, Christian baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bat mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order, or graduation from school or recruit training. A person taking the initiation ceremony in traditional rites, such as those depicted in these pictures, is called an initiate.

Confirmation

is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in Holy Baptism. In some denominations, Confirmation also bestows full membership in a local congregation upon the recipient. In others, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Confirmation "renders the bond with the Church more perfect", because, while a baptized person is already a member, "reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace".

工廷計女

The secret garden

is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial form beginning in 1910, and first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and considered a classic of English children's literature. Several stage and film adaptations have been made.

A Little Princess

is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published as a book in 1905. It is an expanded version of the short story Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's, which was serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine from December 1887. According to Burnett, after she composed the 1902 play A Little Un-fairy Princess based on that story, her publisher asked that she expand the story as a novel with "the things and people that had been left out before". The novel was published by Charles Scribner's Sons (also publisher of St. Nicholas) with illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts and the full title A Little Princess: Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Now Being Told for the First Time.

Little Lord Fauntleroy

is a novel by the English-American writer Frances Hodgson Burnett, her first children's novel. It was published as a serial in St. Nicholas Magazine from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's (the publisher of St. Nicholas) in 1886. The illustrations by Reginald B. Birch set fashion trends and the novel set a precedent in copyright law when Burnett won a lawsuit in 1888 against E. V. Seebohm over the rights to theatrical adaptations of the work.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

was an English-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (published in 1885–1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).

Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, England. After her father died in 1852, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 immigrated to the United States, settling near Knoxville, Tennessee. There Frances began writing to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines from the age of 19. In 1870, her mother died, and in 1872 Frances married Swan Burnett, who became a medical doctor. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their two sons were born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C., Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.

Vocabulary

e: out

epidemic

meaning: affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time

example: An epidemic is a disease that spreads rapidly among many people in a community at the same time.

The Fall[伊甸園的墮落]

The fall of man, or the fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. Although not named in the Bible, the doctrine of the fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis chapter 3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life and becoming immortal.

--the falls[瀑布]

ex. Niagara falls

Mark Twain

was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "The Great American Novel".

Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. After an apprenticeship with a printer, Twain worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to the newspaper of his older brother, Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention, and was even translated into classic Greek. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

Picaresque novel

is a genre of prose fiction that depicts the adventures of a roguish hero/heroine of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. Picaresque novels typically adopt a realistic style, with elements of comedy and satire. This style of novel originated in 16th-century Spain and flourished throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It continues to influence modern literature.

Don Quichotte[沒女主角]

is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn. It was first performed on 19 February 1910 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Massenet's comédie-héroïque, like so many other dramatized versions of the story of Don Quixote, relates only indirectly to the great novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. The immediate inspiration was Le chevalier de la longue figure, a play by the poet Jacques Le Lorrain first performed in Paris in 1904. In this version of the story, the simple farm girl Aldonza (Dulcinea) of the original novel becomes the more sophisticated Dulcinée, a flirtatious local beauty inspiring the infatuated old man's exploits.

-- Sancho Panza

is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs, and earthy wit. "Panza" in Spanish means "belly" (cf. English "paunch," Italian "pancia", several Italian dialects "panza", Portuguese "pança", French "panse").

The role of the servant as the scene and the chunky figure are similar to The Lord of the King   

Doubting Thomas

is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience—a reference to the Apostle Thomas, who refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles, until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the cross.

In art, the episode (formally called the Incredulity of Thomas) has been frequently depicted since at least the 5th century, with its depiction reflecting a range of theological interpretations.

Additional Supplement

fiction for young adult[青少年小說]

adult[成人]

adolescence[成年]

在湯姆歷險記中有一些口音

I don’t nothing.[wrong]—黑人

I don’t anything.

I ain’t doning my duty. --波麗阿姨鄉村口音

Charles Dickens

was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.

A Tale of Two Cities

is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period.

David Copperfield

is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens. The novel's full title is, The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account). It was first published as a serial in 1849–50, and as a book in 1850. Many elements of the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is often considered as his veiled autobiography. It was Dickens' favorite among his own novels. In the preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens wrote, "like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.

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