多舛命运 况味人生——欧大旭《丝之谜》的无穷意味

Cruel destiny and intricate life——on the implications of Aw Ta-Shi's The Harmony Silk Factory

马来西亚旅英华裔作家欧大旭以《丝之谜》获2005年英国惠特布莱德小说奖。该小说以20世纪40年代的马来西亚为背景,通过华人林强尼充满神秘色彩的人生故事,叙写马来西亚华人在英国殖民势力和日本帝国主义夹击之下的艰难图存,多舛命运,况味人生。殖民时期的华人,必须与不同的族群及政治利益集团结交周旋,以寻求自存之道,他们的奋斗故事错综复杂有如"丝"之谜团,裹挟着复杂的人性,精彩纷呈。小说采用多角度叙述手法,不同叙述者讲述同样的人生故事,产生多层次艺术效果,历史真相扑朔迷离,小说故事真假难辨,给读者的启发意味无穷。

Aw Ta-Shi, Chinese Malaysian writer currently living in Britain, won the 2005 Whitbread Book A- wards with his first novel The Harmony Silk Factory. This novel takes the Malaysia in the 1940s as background and depicts the Malaysian Chinese~ hardships under the double oppressions of English Colonialists and Japanese Imperi- Mists by narrating Jonny Lim＇s complex life and stories. During this period, the Chinese had to contend with various ethics and political groups and seek for their own survival. Being intricate with complex human nature, their lives are as complicated as the mystery of silk. The novel employs different narrative techniques and tell the protagonist＇s life, thus it produces multiple artistic effects. With the undistinguishable the novel gives the readers much space to imagine. various narrators to history and events,