得獎感言

很感謝這個意義非凡的比賽使台灣許多愛書人集結一堂，給我們品味文學之餘也不忘反饋，並練習用英文書寫所感的契機。比賽勢必有高下勝負，但我想獎項並不是重點──把文字視為一種技能的時候，或許能夠從鍊字、構句、章法等種種層面排出名次；但當我們把文字當作媒介、當作載體，其實所有這場盛會的參與者在閱讀之後內化、並參悟出來的感受都同等珍貴。曾聽過一句話並被深深打動──"As artists, we have nothing to prove, only to share."我離artist相去猶遠，充其量只是個愛書並珍惜每一次閱讀的平凡讀者，但能夠藉此機會與各位同齡人分享、交流，便是一種莫大的榮幸了！

For a short story lover like me, there’s no other pleasure on earth to compare with reading such a book as Dubliners. With his keen insight into human nature and remarkable storytelling techniques, James Joyce renders an incisive portrait of the Irish middle-class life through 15 vigorous stories, and I’m glad to be here to introduce the one that intrigues me the most---Eveline.

This story, Eveline, focuses on a Dublin girl’s emotional conflicts and inner struggles. Eveline Hill, a girl who planned to leave Ireland with a sailor, Frank, sat at a window and quietly recalled her past on the evening before departure. She had long yearned to escape from her abusive father and this dull, stressful life. However, as she looked through her childhood memories, she found that she lacked the courage to embark on a new phase of her life and chose to cling to her promise of “keeping the family together as long as she could.”

We have all experienced moments of wild fantacies, intoxicated in images of a splendid future, but though simply envisioning allows us to take a temporary shelter from real-life troubles, there’s always a line between reality and imagination that we daren’t cross. After all, changing our current lifestyle is really sort of a revolutionary step, and no matter how many complaints we hold at present, it just isn’t that easy to sever ourselves from familiarity at once. We are so unconsciously dependent on habituality that the fright of unknown keeps holding us back while facing bold decisions, and ringing an ominous alarm every single time we try to sail away from our safe harbor.

Unknown may lead to unwanted encounters, but monotony, leaving us in the same humdrum day after day, seems even more afflicting as it stifles any lingering dreams we may hold. What sort of the life would it be when tomorrows are just never-endingly repeating procedure? Shouldn’t we be grateful for the unpredictability our future offers, which allows us to always embrace optimistic hopes, and believe that tides will turn when adversity comes across our path? I can’t, neither can Eveline herself, foretell what will become of her if she really boarded that ship. It’s as well possible that she might find herself unaccustomed to the subtropical climate there in Bueno Aires and could die from some mysterious disease soon after arrival; who knows? But now that she had chosen to continue being a dutiful daughter in her homeland Dublin, what would happen afterwards seem foreseeable, for she would never dare to leave her comfort zone as long as her doubts should remain unsolved.

I guess life is sort of a tug-of-war; striking a balance between the two extremes takes wisdom. There are times when intuitions tell us that certain action need to be taken, and we know well that the decision we’re coping with is a now-or-never issue. At those blood-stirring moments of which I tend to regard as “natural pursuits driven by genuine longings”, however, our rational self is never absent to draw pessimistic analysis which can often shatter the initial impulse. I guess Eveline and I share the same mental barriers---the disability to make our desires stronger than our fears. It’s true that one can never be too careful when facing critical decisions; a discreet mind is certainly required to avoid irreparable regrets. But can it be that all those unfavorable external conditions are actually just excuses to rationalize our cowardice?

The most enchanting part about short stories is, I suppose, the astonishing vitality it can offer in such limited length. As William Nicholson once said, ”We read to know we’re not alone.” A journey through such brief yet powerful masterpiece is certainly far more than a mere reading experience, but the captivating process of harvesting a mindful of abundance.