2008年4月29日 星期二

随筆家の岡部伊都子さん死去

随筆家の岡部伊都子さん死去

2008年04月29日18時42分

 暮らしに息づく日本の伝統美をこまやかにつづった随筆家の岡部伊都子(おかべ・いつこ)さんが29日午前3時59分、肝臓がんによる呼吸不全で死去し た。85歳だった。葬儀は近親者のみで行う。「お別れ会」は5月31日午後2時から京都市上京区寺町通丸太町上ル松蔭町141の2の洛陽教会で。連絡先は ギャラリーヒルゲート(075・231・3702)。

写真

岡部伊都子さん

 大阪市の生まれ。婚約者を沖縄戦で失った後、1946年に結婚したが離婚。破産した実家に戻るなど苦労を重ねた。

 54年から放送された朝日放送のラジオエッセーをまとめた「おむすびの味」で随筆家として名を得た。独特のやわらかい筆づかいで美の世界を追求し、戦 争、差別などを鋭く批判。著書は「沖縄からの出発」など100冊を超える。96年の著作選集「岡部伊都子集」(岩波書店)は、愛読者でもある作家の落合恵 子さんと評論家の佐高信さんが企画・編集を担当した。

 「学歴はないけど病歴はある」と自らを評したほど、幼少時代から病気と闘いつづけた。療養生活を続ける中で、弱者や美しいものへのまな ざしを養った。01年に肝臓がんの宣告を受けた。05年2月、約30年住んだ京都・賀茂川べりの家からJR京都駅近くのマンションへ転居。蔵書は図書館に 寄贈し、思い出の品も整理した。「死に支度や」と話していた。

 06年、自伝「遺言のつもりで」を出版。この本で、自らの最期を見つめるこんな境地を表現した。「死ぬまで、自分を育て、解放されなければ。これで終わりということがない。毎日が始まりや。刻々の誕生や」


2008/04/29-19:24 岡部伊都子さん死去=随筆家、日本の伝統美とらえる   日常生活の機微や日本の伝統美をきめ細かくとらえたエッセーで知られた随筆家の岡部伊都子(おかべ・いつこ)さんが、29日午前3時59分、肝臓がんによ る呼吸器不全のため、京都市の病院で死去した。85歳だった。葬儀は近親者のみで行い、しのぶ会を5月31日午後2時から京都市上京区寺町通荒神口下ル松 蔭町141の2の洛陽教会で開く。
 大阪市出身。結婚・離婚を経て、1954年から執筆活動を開始。ラジオ番組のために書いたエッセーをまとめた 「おむすびの味」で認められ、随筆家としての地位を確立した。その後「女人歳時記」「おりおりの心」「二十七度線 沖縄に照らされて」「暮しの絵暦」「生 きるこだま」などの作品を発表。06年には語り下ろしの自伝「遺言のつもりで」を発表し、話題となった。



岡部伊都子さん=随筆家

 日常生活に息づく美意識をさりげない筆致でつづった随筆家の岡部伊都子(おかべ・いつこ)さんが29日午前3時59分、肝臓がんによる呼吸器不全 で亡くなった。85歳だった。告別式は親族だけで行い、5月31日午後2時から京都市上京区寺町通丸太町上る、洛陽教会でしのぶ会を開く。

 戦後、ラジオ番組のために書いた原稿が1956年に「おむすびの味」の名で刊行され随筆家として注目された。晩年は京 都に暮らし、紀行、エッセーで仏像や花などの風物と人間の営みを細やかに描き、それらを踏みにじる戦争や差別、環境汚染などを批判した。作品に「古都ひと り」「女人の京」「朱い文箱から」「朝鮮母像」など。

2008年4月29日21時58分 読売新聞)


断肠花

岡部伊都子 原作


今年的秋海棠又开放了。

自其纤纤细叶萌芽之际,其嫩芽那鲜红的曲线便很是美丽。当我还是个不谙世事的少妇时,就住在满院秋海棠盛开的宅子里。那是个战败后物质极度匮乏的年代,我亲手揉面做面条、烤面包;缝补汗衫、布袜,做得背部酸痛时,便躺着继续手中的针线活儿。

初秋时节多淫雨,仿佛梅雨一般,连绵不断。秋海棠被这持续不断的雨水淋得湿漉漉的,它的叶片色泽鲜明,深红的花茎和淡红的花朵楚楚动人。我曾悠闲地坐在走廊里,凝视着那小小的院落。

那时的我到底是何许人?现在想来,不甚了了。从表面上看,我似乎是个新婚不久、一门心思料理家务、即便不是无微不至但仍尽心尽力服侍丈夫的妻子。事实上,我认为自己当时就是这样真心诚意地过日子的。

现在回想起来,自己当时活得是何等地天真无聊啊!在我虚岁十五那年,中国的卢沟桥爆发了战争。那以后,身边的年轻人纷纷应征入伍,战事不断扩大。我被发现 低烧不退,因此经常不去女子学校上课。那时,对结核病的治疗除了静养和空气疗法之外别无良策。于是,我远离位于大阪市中心的家,租借郊外的房屋,辗转易 地,进行疗养。

虽然最终没有拿到毕业证书,但换来的是大难不死,胖嘟嘟地从疗养院返回了家中,是年,我已十八岁。战争日益激化,我最尊敬的哥哥参加了空军,于1942年1月阵亡。他大我四岁。

当时,我是个狂热的军国主义者,我坚信:“战争是圣战,牺牲是荣耀”。哥哥死后,我的未婚夫竟出乎意料地说:“我厌恶战争。我不想为天皇而死。”对此,我 大为震惊,他在我们相会的短暂时光情不自禁地吐露自己的真实感受,我却不能充分理解。如今,我回忆起他当时所体味到的那份孤寂,为自己无法挽回的万分歉意 而感到无地自容。

他最终被派往冲绳,为自己所反对的战争而命赴黄泉。可我在1968年以前对他的死亡情形及其丧身之地——冲绳的历史均一无所知。战败后收到他的死亡通知。第二年,望着那栽满秋海棠的院子的人已是将他的死抛诸脑后的别人的妻子了。

我生活在一个多么严重的谬误之中?!我是个对此毫无察觉的自私女人。自由生存的机会因战败不期而遇,可我却仍然摆脱不了父母、社会舆论之类的顾忌,仍想扮演乖女贤妻的角色,只留意身边琐事,既无心关注时代变化,又无意放眼大千世界。

从满院的花朵中我剪下一枝插在壁龛里。凝神近观,其鲜红的花瓣中隐约可见的小黄花蕊甚是可爱。此花的别名叫断肠花,悲痛得令人肝肠寸断即断肠,断肠花亦即令人悲恸欲绝的花。

它给人的不是那种挺着胸膛肃然呼喊的感觉,而是带有一种柔弱虚幻的味道,令人觉得莫名的感伤。比起天气晴朗的日子,在阴郁或被雨水浸透的日子里它更能显出勃勃生机。

人,憧憬光明却又留恋阴影。那种只追求光明而对阴影部分不屑一顾的心灵是不懂得存在之悲哀的。依附于实在的生命体以及所有存在物的喜悦与不安、置身于包括死亡在内的生命的动荡——当你意识到这些时,生存的欢喜与绝望就会同时令你心灵震撼。

天生孱弱的我具备一种弱者的本能——处身于阴影之中,心境会更加平和。与其进行未来的自我设计,倒不如做好无论大限何时来临都要从容镇定的心理准备。这种习惯性想法自幼就占据了我的灵魂,因而觉得带着阴影的秋海棠犹如自己的同伴令我心生喜悦。

然而,和秋海棠一起相处的日子使我明白:她具有一种顽强的生命力。关于这点,从其外表得到的负面印象出发是很难想象的。秋海棠在经过淫雨季节之后,沐浴了 桂花芬芳四溢的深秋阳光,在被台风刮倒的板壁下仍然盛开不衰。它没完没了地开放,以致我想:“它难道能永远花开不败吗?”

终于,萧瑟秋风四起,当其枯萎的叶茎呈现一副行将入土的模样时,我陷入了沮丧之中,似乎一场长剧在我眼前落下帷幕。

那时候,我自豪于自己看破了健康人所无法看到的人生的飘渺。因为人终归一死,所以我的感觉是从死亡的边缘回望人生,与此世交流直至与世长辞的那一刻来临。

或许这是个悲观的想法,但它却是一种相对豁达的心境。我一直以为最好在自己生命的每个瞬间都对自己周围有缘相识的人们珍而视之,我觉得这样准没错。所以心 情坦荡悠闲自得,从父母呵护的安乐窝中投身丈夫的保护伞下,新环境的一切的一切都弥足珍贵。秋海棠静静地、虚幻飘渺却次次绽放,其坚韧不拔便是阴影所蕴含 着的巨大能量。这是个很大的发现,我为之鼓舞。

后来据说,我丈夫因估计我活不过三年方与我结婚。但却事与愿违,我活了好久。这点便是生命的不可思议之处,谁都无法左右。最终,我离开婆家,回到我母亲独 居、家道中落的娘家。若是为了生活,我不会想要独身。靠年岁的增加,我一点点地醒悟到了一些“百思莫解”的事儿。当时我担心失去经济上的保障;并且在那以 前一直支配着我的审美观是:离婚是人一生中不能容忍的污点。

可是,我的美学观终于土崩瓦解了。我转而认为:与其呆在表面体面周全的位子上,倒不如贫困度日饱经风霜,纵然遗尸街头。作为人而言,这似乎是一种更为理想 的生存方式。我丈夫经济宽裕,又深受女性亲睐,他决意打发身心交瘁的我返回娘家。托他的福,我得以独身,真是令人庆幸。

作为女人、作为人、作为生存者,我都是个彻头彻尾的失败者。我一落千丈跌入谷底,不得不承认自己的一切都大错特错。我好象终于看到了自己一贫如洗、软弱无 能的真面目。后来,我逐渐可以将以前了然于心的真心话一一吐露。蓦然环顾四周,那种发现自己可以随心所欲无拘无束时的兴高采烈,那种明白自己不再是谁的妻 子、不靠丈夫供养、自谋生路简朴生活的充实感,使我两眼熠熠生辉,我感到了一个新生的自我。

我之所以能够将封闭的自我向外界敞开,完全得益于自己为了生计与社会产生联系、开始从事工作。无论我对人生怎样超脱,但对生存竞争的对手也不能善罢甘休。以往虽未想到过这点,但一旦自己意识到时才发现自己(竟然)是个歧视者。

我自以为毫无轻视他人的念头,但却无视那些苦于不平等、反抗歧视的人群。通过这点我明白了自己是个不可饶恕的歧视者,是个承认不平等的现实、对他人的痛苦不闻不问的加害者。

这就是我无休止的心灵自责的第一步。

通过解放封闭的自我发现了更糟糕更丑陋的自我。我陶醉于解放这个词汇所具有的甜蜜回味之中。也许所谓真正的解放就是从歧视与被歧视中解放出来。
  
荒畑寒村16岁时就立志社会改革、自食其力、专心致力于社会主义实践活动。他有个笔名叫竹内断肠花。竹内是慈母般支持他的夫人姓氏。这位硬骨铮铮的社会主义者说“断肠花有着令人难以舍弃的楚楚可怜之韵致,我喜爱有加。”因而,他将二者结合起来作为自己的笔名。

他在一篇短文中写道,他所景仰的堺利彦氏曾把秋海棠扭曲的心形叶子形容为“宛如武士礼服的一只袖子,耀武扬威。”而幸德秋水氏则说:自己曾偶得一句诗——“断肠人看断肠花”,然后凝视着院子里的秋海棠为诗的下句煞费苦心而不得。

断肠人看断肠花。

这些人就是一想到被政府蹂躏的国民、一想到他们的悲惨处境就感到柔肠寸断的人——断肠人。秋海棠在阳光照不到的地方静静地盛开,婀娜多姿;因之而生出心旌 摇曳的情愫情怀。正因为这种丰富的感受性,他们才会对谷中村因矿物公害事件所导致的毁灭而愤怒,才会反对战争,才能自觉不自觉地站在受歧视受虐待的民众一 边。

尽管我也为秋海棠花的美丽而动情,却没能在这种情绪的鼓动下去奋斗,而是立刻避而远之、逃之夭夭。这样的人能说是爱花之人吗?

不知为何,在春天这个风和日丽的季节里却有个词汇叫春愁;与春之愁绪相对,秋天则促人思索。清澈透明的空气诱人进入清晰思维之愉悦中。把朝外的心绪拉回内心,我思索何谓自我?何谓人?何谓生存?

秋思。

我真想和这误入眼帘的蜻蜓一起追溯那曾遗忘了的、抛弃了的、忽略了的一切。说真的,我一直在为丑陋的自我而常感悲哀,但终因能正视自己而又感欣慰。

(原文有时间再另附 )pupupu訳




A Conversation With Arno Motulsky: A Genetics Pioneer Sees a Bright Future, Cautiously

A Conversation With Arno Motulsky

A Genetics Pioneer Sees a Bright Future, Cautiously


Published: April 29, 2008

Among scientists, 84-year-old Arno Motulsky is known as the “father of pharmacogenomics.” In 1957, Dr. Motulsky, a medical doctor and researcher at the University of Washington, published an article reporting that two drugs had negative interactions with enzymes produced by certain human genes. Might this be true of other pharmaceuticals, Dr. Motulsky wondered? His question set off a revolution in research. Dr. Motulsky, who grew up Jewish in Nazi Germany, barely made his way out of wartime Europe and to safety in America.

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Stuart Isett for The New York Times

“What we know about the genome today is not enough for all the miracles many expect from this field.”

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Q. IN 1939 YOU BOARDED AN OCEAN LINER FROM HAMBURG TO CUBA WITH YOUR MOTHER, BROTHER AND SISTER. DID YOU EVER GET THERE?

A. We got as far as Havana harbor. Our ship was the S. S. St. Louis. The Cuban government had canceled the transit permits of most of the passengers — nearly a thousand refugees. We could not disembark.

Q. YOU MUST HAVE BEEN TERRIFIED.

A. I was 15. At that age, one tends to be optimistic. Many of the older men, they’d been in concentration camps and they had a better sense of what could happen. For days, appeals went out to the U.S. government to take us in. Then the Cubans ordered the St. Louis out of Havana harbor. The captain — who was a decent sort — sailed the ship up the Florida coast, hoping something would change. You could see Miami. Eventually, the St. Louis turned around for Europe. Our family was given asylum by Belgium. After a year in Brussels, we got our visas for America, but before we could leave, the country was overrun by the German Army.

Q. WERE YOU THEN INTERNED?

intern (PUNISH) PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Phonetic PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Hide phonetics
verb [T often passive]
to put someone in prison for political or military reasons, especially during a war:
Many foreigners were interned for the duration of the war.

A. Yes, I was sent to a succession of camps in France. Though conditions were bad — hunger, typhoid — I always tried to know what was going on. I always tried to get a hold of newspapers, which was very difficult.

After many months, the Vichy French moved those internees with the possibility to emigrate to a special camp near Marseilles. We were allowed to visit consulates in the city. I spent much time at the American consulate, pleading for a renewal of my now-expired visa.

That came through right before my 18th birthday. So 10 days before I turned 18, I crossed into Spain. From there I went to Lisbon and eventually Chicago, where my father was. If my visa had taken any longer, I wouldn’t be here today because Franco had barred males over 18 from transiting through Spain; I would have ended up in Auschwitz, like most of the people I left behind.

Q. WHAT BECAME OF YOUR MOTHER AND SIBLINGS?

A. For two years, there was no news. In Brussels, they’d gotten orders to be “resettled in the East.” With the help of Belgian friends, they illegally crossed into Switzerland. We didn’t see them until 1946.

Q. HOW DID YOU BECOME A DOCTOR? THAT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN EASY FOR A PENNILESS REFUGEE KID.

A. I had a great piece of luck. When I was 20, I was drafted! The Army needed doctors for the war. They put me into a special program, where they sent me to Yale and later to medical school.

Q. HOW DID GENETICS BECOME YOUR SPECIALTY?

A. While at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, I met the hematologist Dr. Karl Singer, and he had all these modern ways of studying blood. That interested me. Because there are hereditary blood diseases, I soon became interested the genetic aspect of hematology.

Q. YOUR OBSERVATION IN 1957 ABOUT THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ENZYMES PRODUCED BY GENES AND SOME DRUGS — DOES IT PLEASE YOU TO SEE HOW IMPORTANT IT HAS BECOME?

A. Yes, because at first the idea was not well accepted. I remember going to an important pharmaceutical executive and I said, “I found a new way to find out about drug reactions.” And he kissed me off: “Drug reactions?”

Things also moved slowly for a long time because it was hard to test for this. But now, with the new DNA testing, you can do many things faster and better. And with the modern computerized genomics, you can even test for reactions to many different enzymes, all at the same time.

On the other hand, I think the promise of pharmacogenetics is sometimes overhyped. There are people who think we’ll be able to solve almost everything with an individualized prescription. We need more research, which will be expensive.

Q. WILL HEALTH INSURANCE PAY FOR DNA TESTING AND CUSTOM PHARMACEUTICALS?

A. That’s a problem. On the hopeful side, people say it may soon be possible to sequence a person’s genome for $1,000. Once they figure out low-cost ways to sequence the genome, the price of personalized medicine will come down.

Still, one shouldn’t be misled. What we know about the genome today is not enough for all the miracles many expect from this field. There’s a lot about what regulates the genes and how they interact that we still need to understand. We won’t have the answers by tomorrow.

Q. AT 84, YOU’RE STILL WORKING. WHAT ARE YOU TACKLING IN YOUR LABORATORY?

A. One project I’m very excited about relates to human color vision. About 8 percent of males have inherited red-green color blindness. This is caused by hereditary abnormalities in color sensitive pigments of the retinal cones in the back of the eyes, which are actually part of the brain. Our laboratory found that one-half of males with normal color vision had the amino acid alanine in their red pigment, while the other half all carried the amino acid serine, at the same site. This finding means that the same exact red color is perceived as a different type of red, depending on a person’s genetic makeup.

Q. WHAT’S THE POINT OF KNOWING THIS?

A. It’s exciting to learn that because of heredity, different people can see the same thing differently. I think this may prove useful in studying more complex brain functions. If this were 20 years ago, I’d focus on neurogenetics. What’s going on in the brain, that’s the last frontier.

Q. DO THE EXPERIENCES OF YOUR CHILDHOOD HAVE AN IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE AND WORK TODAY?

A. I often think about it. Whenever something good happens, I say to myself, “Look, you almost didn’t live to experience this.” When I see pictures from Africa, I think: “That could be me. I was once a refugee.”

2008年4月26日 星期六

Isabel Allende

阿言德(Isabel Allende)

Columbia Encyclopedia: Allende, Isabel,
1942–, Chilean novelist. Since the 1973 coup that deposed her uncle, President Salvador Allende Gossens, Isabel Allende, who is among the most notable contemporary Chilean writers, has lived abroad, for many of those years in California. Her fiction is distinguished by its fusion of traditional realism with political (including feminist) concerns. Her first and best-known novel, The House of Spirits (1982, tr. 1985), which reflects the influence of Gabriel García Márquez and the technique of magic realism, tells the story of a Chilean family over three generations. Allende's fiction also includes Of Love and Shadows (1984, tr. 1987); Eva Luna (1987, tr. 1988); The Infinite Plan (1991, tr. 1993), her first work set in the United States; Daughter of Fortune (1998, tr. 1999); Portrait in Sepia (2001); and Inés of My Soul (2006), the fictionalized life of a 16th-century conquistadora.

Bibliography

See her memoirs, Paula (1994, tr. 1995), Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses (1997, tr. 1998), and My Invented Country (2003); J. Rodden, ed., Conversations with Isabel Allende (1999, repr. 2004); studies by W. Zinsser (1989), P. Hart (1989), S. R. Rojas and E. Aguirre, ed. (1991), R. G. Feal and Y. E. Miller, ed. (2002), L. G. Levine (2002), H. Bloom, ed. (2003), and K. C. Cox (2003).

Wikipedia article "Isabel Allende".


電影:金色豪門(Isabel Allende小說好萊塢電影版) Film: The House of the Spirits (Hollywood's version of Isabel Allende's novel) ..Amazon.co.jp: The House of The Spirits: Isabel Allende: 洋書

《我心中的伊妮絲》

(Ines of My Soul)

科爾賀原本最愛智利女作家阿言德以母親身分寫失女痛楚的《寶拉》(Paula)。某回和阿言德巧遇談起新作獲悉本書梗概,立時預知必屬佳作。智利國母伊妮 絲‧蘇阿瑞茲(In晹s Su罝rez)十六世紀由西班牙航向新世界,縱橫秘魯及智利的傳奇故事。「歷史學家遺忘的政治人物,因本書重回南美洲女性名人堂。」


女作家阿言德手抱已故愛女寶拉照片,新書《一把昨日》寫她在寶拉逝後的生活。
(美聯社資料照片)

穿裙子的馬奎斯阿言德回憶《一把昨日》

專擅魔幻寫實技法,贏得「穿裙子的馬奎斯」美名的智利女作家阿言德(Isabel Allende),近年新作別開生面,屢屢讓人眼睛一亮:1999年推出集合情色故事、食譜和春藥祕方的另類文字饗宴《春膳》,近年投身炮製奇幻少年小說 《天鷹與神豹的回憶》,與經典「納尼亞傳奇」互別苗頭。阿言德身世傳奇,愛女寶拉罹患罕見疾病昏迷,她1995年的《我女寶拉》(Paula)即是寫給女 兒的長信,以淚以情傷以身為母親的痛。本月初阿言德又推新書《一把昨日》(The Sum of Our Days),猶如《我女寶拉》續篇,向長睡的女兒訴說母親及身邊親友的生命遭遇。

阿言德的叔叔曾當選智利總統,但因流血政變遭槍殺,阿言德1975年與丈夫攜女兒寶拉、兒子尼可流亡委內瑞拉。1988年阿言德赴美,嫁給律師威利‧高 登。多年來阿言德每天循例寫信給留在智利的母親,這些文字實錄成為《一把昨日》的原始素材。新書以1992年阿言德與家人在林中撒下寶拉的骨灰開場;回顧 傷慟過往,做母親的如今顯得通透:「你離去的這些年我學會了面對憂傷,讓它成為我的盟友。」

像女性前輩吳爾芙一樣,阿言德用筆來思考理解世界。「我其實只是女人、母親、情人和小狗的主人,你必須要出身特異的家庭才能當上作家。」她自承有如黏著劑,全力吸聚家人、丈夫威利原來的妻小和許多怪異朋友,忠實訴說他們的人生難題。

威利帶來的繼女吸毒、未婚懷孕、早產生下畸型女嬰,又離家出走遇害,阿言德把女嬰送給一對信佛的女同志收養。威利兩個兒子都對阿言德不友善,一個看過新書 初稿抗議,逼阿言德不得不改寫。她感嘆威利「和子女間問題重重,我要是他,只會沮喪至死。」阿言德的兒子尼可好不到哪去,第一任妻子五年內生下三個小孩, 結果和女人外遇跑掉。阿言德只得幫兒子另找一個新老婆,愛管閒事的小說家趁新人不在家,跑去把新娘的瓷器全丟掉,重新擺設家具。種種強勢行徑,連阿言德都 說自己是「惡婆婆」。

阿言德把魔幻寫實技法同樣實踐在日常生活,她篤信鬼魂就在身邊,尤其是寶拉的亡靈,「我希望她活著」。亡靈在屋內游蕩、搬動家具、發出聲響,或重生以人的 形體。阿言德相信寶拉的亡靈能指引家人、應允禱告,帶來好事,反映她堅不接受死亡是終點的想法。相信生者與亡靈必能互動,正是她1982年一鳴驚人的處女 作《精靈之屋》的主調。






阿言德十分迷信,新書一定選在一月八日上午開筆,而且必定在旁邊點上新蠟燭。「每年一月八日我總心神不寧」,1981年這天,人在委內瑞拉的阿言德接到電 話通知祖父將不久人世,於是提筆寫信給他。沒想到一路寫成日後大紅的《精靈之屋》(好萊塢還拍成電影《金色豪門》),「好運打響第一炮,從此我總在這幸運 日動筆」。

《一把昨日》不僅是阿言德將親友緊箍在身旁的回憶錄,「精彩的、低調的,緊張和悲劇,才是我最感興趣的部分」。阿言德認為「每個生命都能以小說呈現」,她 教丈夫寫小說時比喻:「寫作像變魔術;不光是從帽子裡變出兔子,還要優雅,讓人相信。」她藉新書實證:生活影響藝術,藝術讓生活富有意義。




The Berlin Literature Festival 2007

Although this is a relatively a new event, the Berlin Literature Festival has already grown into one of Europe's biggest. The seventh festival came to close last weekend after over 150 authors had presented their work during the 14 day event. Highlights this year included readings by IsabelAllende, one of Britain's most talked about young writers A L Kennedy and best-selling Iranian author Azar Nafissi. (Reporter Nina Hasse/ Breandáin O'Shea)

Children's and Youth Literature major focus of Berlin Literature Festival

The Berlin Literature Festival got underway last week. This event
aims to give book enthusiasts the chance to experience literary
diversity in times of globalisation. And indeed this year there is
certainly a great diversity of literature being presented. Among
the big names at the festival is Canadian author Michael Ondaatje,
Latin American author, Isabel Allende and Australia's most renowned
living poet, Robert Grey.

Franz Kafka

卡夫卡預言了 人在現代社會中的處境

"卡夫卡生前的作品都未能發表,不聲不響,卻深刻把握了二十世紀現代工業社會中人的處境。卡夫卡把現代社會中人的真實處境做了一個恰如其分的描述。在種種社 會關係中,乃至於家人之中,人不過如同一個蟲子,這麼渺小可憐,別說主宰世界,連自己的命運都把握不了,莫名其妙,毫無緣由,卻受到審判。卡夫卡清醒認識 到那莫須有的烏托邦就像他小說中的城堡,是進不去的。

上個世紀之初,卡夫卡就預言了人在現代社會中的處境。現時代,這同樣處境中的人,只越來越脆弱,越來越喪失自主,人消失在各種各樣的認同中。在龐大的社會 機制裡,面臨鋪天蓋地的市場,文化也充分商品化,媒體並沒有不受政治牽制而真正的獨立。一個人如果企圖發出個人的聲音,僅僅是個人的聲音而不同某種政治聯 繫在一起的話,這聲音是很難發得出來的。這種個人的聲音只有在超越現實功利、超越政治又不追隨時尚也不依賴市場這種嚴肅的文學創作中,才有可能,才可能保 持個人的獨立不移。這種個人的聲音當然非常微弱,然而卻擺脫了炒作,是人真實的聲音。"╱高行健

Wikipedia article "Franz Kafka".

簡明大英

Franz Kafka
Kafka
(click to enlarge)
Kafka (credit: Archiv fur Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin)
(born July 3, 1883, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary — died June 3, 1924, Kierling, near Vienna, Austria) Czech writer who wrote in German. Born into a middle-class Jewish family, he earned a doctorate and then worked successfully but unhappily at a government insurance office from 1907 until he was forced by a case of tuberculosis to retire in 1922. The disease caused his death two years later.

Hypersensitive and neurotic, he reluctantly published only a few works in his lifetime, including the symbolic story The Metamorphosis (1915), the allegorical fantasy In the Penal Colony (1919), and the story collection A Country Doctor (1919). His unfinished novels The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926), and Amerika (1927), published posthumously against Kafka's wishes, express the anxieties and alienation of 20th-century humanity.

His visionary tales, with their inscrutable mixture of the normal and the fantastic, have provoked a wealth of interpretations. Kafka's posthumous reputation and influence have been enormous, and he is regarded as one of the great European writers of the 20th century.




Humphrey Lyttelton

Obituary: Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton: Raconteur, wit and father of British jazz

Humphrey Lyttelton was perhaps the UK's most influential jazz performer.

Beyond this, he was a noted raconteur
and wit and chairman of BBC Radio 4's long-running I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

He was the unlikeliest of jazzmen. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was schooled at Eton and commissioned in the Grenadier Guards.

Wikipedia article "Grenadier Guards".

Yet Humphrey Lyttelton - Humph to his many friends and fans - was also a life-long socialist and a performer and composer whose commitment to his music shone through for more than half a century.

And to the younger generation, he was the avuncular and razor-witted chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, who more than held his own with comedians including Tim Brooke-Taylor, the late Willie Rushton and Barry Cryer.


Humphrey Lyttelton was born in 1921 and his father was a housemaster at Eton.

Both of his parents were amateur musicians and he began playing the trumpet in 1936, forming a school quartet later that year.

Humphrey Lyttelton
Lyttelton was a virtuoso, self-taught, trumpeter

On one occasion, when he should have been watching the school's annual cricket match against Harrow at Lord's, he was in London's Charing Cross Road, buying a trumpet.

His long-running love of making music had begun, although on leaving school he worked for a time in a steelworks in South Wales.

He was commissioned in the Grenadier Guards during World War II and saw action, most notably on the beach at Salerno.

But it was said that he arrived at the beach-head with a revolver in one hand and a trumpet in the other.

'Swings his ass off'

By 1948, he had formed a band with the clarinettist Wally Fawkes. That year he went to France's Nice Jazz Festival, where he met his idol, fellow musician Louis Armstrong.

Armstrong always spoke warmly of the man he called "that cat in England who swings his ass off."

Tim Brooke Taylor, Humphrey Lyttelton, Barry Cryer, Willie Rushton, Graeme Garden
Humphrey Lyttelton (bottom left) chaired I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue

In the early '50s, he opened the Humphrey Lyttelton Club in a basement in Oxford Street in London, and during the next 35 years or so he became the elder statesman of British jazz.

He composed more than 120 original works for his band, although some of his best-known numbers were When The Saints Go Marching In, Memphis Blues, High Society and the self-penned Bad Penny Blues.

His band has also backed several singers, ranging from New Orleans songstress Lillian Boutte to Helen Shapiro, and more recently, Stacey Kent.

In 2000 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Post Office British Jazz Awards.

'A very heavy day'

The following year he joined rock band Radiohead for a seven-hour session during the recording of their new album, Amnesiac.

The legendary trumpeter went into the studio with the band after they wrote to him asking for help as they were "a bit stuck".

He said the session, for experimental track Living In A Glass House, left him exhausted.

"When we finally got a take that sounded good to me, they said: 'Good, we'll go and have some food, then we'll come back and do some more,'" he told Q magazine. "I said: 'Not me.' It was a very heavy day."

But playing was just part of Humph's life.

Radiohead
Lyttelton helped Radiohead with their album in 2001

He also presented and performed in many jazz radio programmes - Jazz Scene, Jazz Club and The Best of Jazz, which started in 1968 and only ended last month.

He was also chairman of BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue, which billed itself as the antidote to panel games.

The show, which began in 1972, gained a huge and loyal following of listeners, delighted by games like One Song to the Tune of Another, Swanee Kazoo and the sublime, if unfathomable, Mornington Crescent.

Its spring series was cancelled in 2008 when its presenter had to undergo an operation to repair an aortic aneurysm in his heart.

Humphrey Lyttelton - who turned down a knighthood - had yet more talents, too.

He worked for the Daily Mail as a cartoonist, wrote for left-wing papers and for magazines and was the author of several books about music. He excelled at each of his contributions to British life.

ジャズ奏者のH・リトルトン氏死去

 ハンフリー・リトルトン氏(英ジャズトランペット奏者)同氏の公式ホームページなどによると、25日にロンドンの病院での手術後に死去、86歳。死因は不明だが、16日から大動脈りゅうの手術のために入院していた。

 21年5月、ロンドン郊外ウィンザー生まれ。36年にトランペット演奏を始め、48年に自分のバンドを結成、英国を代表するジャズ奏者として活動。今回の入院まで、さまざまな音楽的試みを行いながら定期的にツアーを続けていた。

 BBCラジオの司会者としても長年、活躍してきた。

2008年4月8日 星期二

Experiment in autobiography :H.G. Wells





威爾斯

Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946 書名/作者 Experiment in autobiography : discoveries and conclusions of a very ordinary brain (since 1866) / by H.G. Wells 出版項 London : V. Gollancz : The Cresset Press, 1934

PR5776 A5 1934 v.1

PR5776 A5 1934 v.2

Published: June 6, 1993

Meanwhile Wells enjoyed many less public conquests. Much is revealed in his third, posthumous volume of autobiography -- too hot to be published until 1984, fifty years after Experiment in Autobiography, when it appeared as H.G. Wells in Love. Numerous mistresses are relentlessly named, sometimes as many as four to a page.



H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells was born on September 21, 1866 in Bromley, England. He was the fourth and last child of Sarah Neal Wells and Joseph Wells. Born before Herbert George were Frances, Frank, and Fred. Unfortunately, Frances died at the age of nine, before Herbert George was even born. The Wells were not very rich, and Wells used to often joke that while he may not have been born in a manger, his rise to fame was almost miraculous. His mother was a maid in the houses of the upper class of Sussex and his father was a shopkeeper in Bromley.

H.G.'s career may have started entirely by accident. When he was eight years old, he broke his leg and spent a lot of time reading and discovered an intense interest in it. Also, he was enrolled in the Thomas Morley's Academy at the age of eight. At the age of eleven, his father fell from a ladder and fractured his thigh. Joseph Wells never fully recovered and money was even tighter after this. So at the age of thirteen, H.G. was withdrawn from the Thomas Morley's Academy and apprenticed to a draper, for which he worked long hours. He hated it and was delighted when he was dismissed from the draper's because of all the mistakes he had been making. After this H.G. went to work for his uncle, as a part-time tutor and a part-time student. However, this job was soon ended when authorities closed down his uncle's school. After this he went through another series of apprenticeships and finally won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London. He also worked as a journalist during this time.

In 1891, Wells and Isabel, a daughter of one the Wells family's in-laws- making her his cousin, were married. By this time he was working as a tutor again. However, the marriage didn't last long, partly because of Well's adultery, and in 1894, he left Isabel for Amy Catherine Robbins (nicknamed Jane), a pupil in one of Well's classes. Jane and Wells were married not long after Wells and Isabel's divorce.

In 1895, Wells' first major work was published- Select Conversations With an Uncle. However, it was his next book that started Wells on his road to success- The Time Machine, which was also published in 1895. This was followed by The Island of Doctor Moreau (which has been made into several different successful movies), in 1896, The Invisible Man, in 1897, and War of the Worlds, in 1898. In 1901, Jane Wells gave birth to George Philip, H.G.'s first son. In 1903, their second child, Frank Richard, was born.

In 1902, Wells became actively involved with the Fabian Society, a influential club of evolutionary socialists. He left the society in 1906 due to some arguments with other members. Wells continued to write and in 1909 had an affair with Amber Reeves, who had a daughter by him. Jane knew about this but they didn't get divorced-they were married until her death in 1927. The public was shocked and many of his works were boycotted. But it wouldn't be the first time- starting in 1913 and lasting for ten years, Wells had an affair with Rebecca West, also a writer. Rebecca also had a son by Wells.

Wells continued to write up until the year before his death. Some of his other more famous works include The First Men in the Moon (1901), Modern Utopia (1905), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945). He died on August 13, 1946, only a few weeks short of his eightieth birthday, from cancer. However, even today, his works are still being read and made into movies. It was his War of the Worlds play that when broadcasted by Orson Welles in 1938, convinced the public that it was real and threw America into a mass hysteria. As recently as 1996, The Island of Doctor Moreau was remade into a feature film. H.G. Wells is definitely a classic.



赫伯特·喬治·威爾斯

早年生活威爾斯1866年出生於肯特郡的布朗利(Bromley)一個貧寒的家庭。父母都作過僕人。父親約瑟夫曾經是職業板球運動員,後來經營一家五金店鋪。母親尼爾則一直給有錢人家做僕人。

1880年,由於父親的店鋪倒閉,威爾斯只好輟學到溫澤的一家布店做學徒。但是他在這裡的工作沒有得到店主的滿意,1個月以後他就不得不離開,到薩墨塞特郡當了很短一段時間的小學教師。後來還在蘇塞克斯郡的一個小鎮上給一個藥劑師當助手。1881年4月,他又來到樸次茅斯的一個布店作了兩年學徒。令人無法忍受的學徒生活迫使他最終離去,在蘇塞克斯郡的一家文法學校得到一個助教職位。

1884年他得到助學金(每星期一個基尼),進入了英國皇家科學院的前身堪津頓科學師范學校。他在這裡學習物理學、化學、地質學、天文學和生物學。其中他的生物學老師是著名的進化論科學家托馬斯·赫胥黎(Thomas Henry Huxley),他後來的科幻小說寫作受赫胥黎的進化論思想影響很大。1890年他以動物學的優異成績獲得了倫敦大學帝國理工學院的理學學士學位。從1891年到1893年在倫敦大學函授學院教授生物學。

創作生涯
Bantam經典版《時間機器》封面從1891年開始,威爾斯為一些報刊撰寫文章。1893年患上了肺出血,休養期間,開始寫作短篇小說、散文和評論,同時也開始了科普創作,例如《百萬年的人》(The Man of the Year Million)中他大膽設想在自然選擇影響下未來人類的形象,巨大的眼睛,細長的手。

隨後《全國觀察家》發表了威爾斯關於時間旅行的設想的連載文章,後來在1895年把這些文章改為《時間機器》(The Time Machine)的小說發行。此書的出版引起轟動,也奠定了他作為科幻小說作家的聲譽。

此後,他又陸續發表了《莫洛博士島》(The Island of Dr. Moreau)、《隱身人》(The Invisible Man)、《世界大戰》(The War of the Worlds)、《神的食物》等科幻小說,還寫了大量的論文和長篇小說。

20世紀以後,除了科幻小說以外,威爾斯還從幽默小說《愛情和魯雅軒》開始,創作了一系列以《托諾-邦蓋》為代表的反映英國中下層社會的寫實小說,但是知名度不如科幻小說。

社會活動少年時學徒的經歷,使威爾斯形成了一種批判資本主義社會的意識,並且始終貫穿著他的一生。

他接受了空想社會主義的思想,他自稱“從學生時代起就是一個社會主義者”。他的科幻小說創作,也是他試圖通過教育和科學技術改造社會的一種嘗試和努力。但是他並不信仰馬克思主義,而是熱衷於改良主義,他稱自己是一個“保守的社會主義者”。他不贊成階級斗爭和暴力革命,但是認為有必要消滅資本主義社會裡無政府狀態。

1903年,威爾斯成為標榜改良主義的社會主義團體費邊社社員。對於費邊社溫和的、改良主義的社會主義思想他仍然認為過於激進。而他對年輕成員的影響和個人領袖欲的膨脹,使他和費邊社的領導成員肖伯納等發生不合,最後退出了這個組織。他的長篇小說《安·維尼羅卡》(Ann Veronica)和《新馬基雅弗利》(The New Machiavelli)反映的就是他在這段時期的生活經驗。

第一次世界大戰後,他用了1年時間完成了100多萬字的《世界史綱》(The Outline of History),這本著作展現了他作為歷史學家的一面。

威爾斯還在1920年和1934年訪問蘇聯,受到了列寧和斯大林的接見。他雖然不大理解蘇聯的社會主義制度,但是仍然作了比較真實的報道。這在當時是很少見的。

晚年1920年代以後,威爾斯轉向政論性小說創作,借科幻小說的形式,來宣傳他的改革理想,但整體上被認為缺乏藝術特色。

1946年威爾斯在倫敦去世。他晚年的作品轉向了靈魂、宗教、道德等一面。

作品風格威爾斯善於把科學知識通俗化,並通過小說將其突出出來,正是這種才能使他的科幻小說深受讀者歡迎。

他的科幻小說常常具有諷刺性,而顯現威爾斯一貫的對資本主義的批判意識,而且這也成為了威爾斯獨特的寫作風格。

威爾斯的科幻小說以軟科幻為 主,主要描寫各種先進的科學技術對未來世界的影響,以及這些科學技術所帶來的社會問題,政治沖突也就成為了他的小說中的一個重要方面。他的作品也展現了未 來科技發展的各種可能性,在他的作品中科技不僅給人類帶來了便利,也同時產生反作用,他認為科學並不一定是人類的伙伴。在他的作品中充滿了科學技術給人類 帶來的威脅:外星人入侵,社會暴政、戰爭、人種變異、太陽消亡。

威爾斯的創作方法對當時及後世英國和世界科學幻想小說的發展有重要影響。他的《當睡者醒來時》開創了科幻小說中重要的一支血脈:“反烏托邦”小說。後來俄羅斯(蘇聯)作家亞米扎京的《我們》、英國赫胥黎的《美麗新世界》,還有喬治·奧威爾的《一九八四》都繼承了這一傳統。他在許多小說中對“大腦袋”的外星人的描述成了科幻小說中歷來對外星人的“標准形象”。

他的科幻小說也遭到了一些科幻小說家的批評,他們認為應該把更多的信念放在人類的靈魂和精神之上。

主要作品《時間機器》(The Time Machine,1895年)《莫洛博士島》(The Island of Dr. Moreau,1896年)《隱身人》(The Invisible Man,1897年)《世界大戰》(The War of the Worlds,1898年)《當睡者醒來時》(When The Sleeper Wakes,1899年)《愛情和魯雅軒》(Love and Mr Lewisham,1900年)《最早登上月球的人》(The First Men in the Moon,1901年)《神的食物》(The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth,1904年)《現代烏托邦》(A Modern Utopia,1908年)《安·維尼羅卡》(Ann Veronica,1909年)《托諾-邦蓋》(Tono-Bungay,1909年)《波利先生的故事》(The History of Mr Polly,1910年)《新馬基雅弗利》(The New Machiavelli,1911年)《獲得自由的世界》(The World Set Free,1914年)《世界史綱》(The Outline of History,1920年)《未來互聯網紓》 (The Shape of Things to Come,1933年)

參考文獻艾德譯,赫伯特·喬治·威爾斯,《世界大戰》,中國戲劇出版社,1999年,ISBN 7104009779

2008年4月6日 星期日

劉其偉




想念老頑童 劉其偉紀念展
留有老頑童自畫像在其中的作品〈哭泣森林〉。(首都藝術/提供)

記者凌美雪/台北報導

一個這麼令人想念的藝術家,轉眼,劉其偉逝世六年了!每年的這個季節,就想到要看看他的紀念展,懷念這個藝術圈的老頑童。

四十歲才無師自通以獨特水彩畫風格在藝術圈受到注目,劉其偉受人尊敬之處,不單純因為由電機工程師轉藝術創作,也不是創作風格獨具特色,而是他總是充滿好奇心與生命活力,人到了老年,還因為鑽研文化人類學,展開全球人類祕境的探險。

從 台灣的高山偏遠地區尋覓住民原始文化足跡,到隨探險團遠赴婆羅洲、紐幾內亞、大洋洲等蠻荒之地從事田野調查;在大自然中領悟生命並學會尊重生命,劉其偉一 直以實際行動致力於關懷環境及生態保護,在學院派之外,開啟一個自由自在的創作視野,純真、幽默、詼諧、頑皮……從人到作品都讓人如沐春風。

老頑童的紀念展,在首都藝術中心展出至4月底。

2008年4月3日 星期四

Hu Jia 胡佳(維權人士 Rights Activist)


美國國務卿賴斯稱,中國知名異見人士胡佳被以顛覆罪判處三年半徒刑的消息"非常令人不安。"


奧運會使世界特別關注中國,西藏暴力騷亂更是引起國際社會廣泛關注,中國政府誓言要同"藏獨分子"展開一場激烈的戰鬥。但除了分裂主義分子,中國政府對待其他異議人士也向來是不留情面。中國著名人權維權人士胡佳4月3日被北京人民法院判處3年零6個月有期徒刑。

4月3日,中國著名維權人士胡佳被北京市第一中級法院以煽動顛覆國家政權罪判處3年零6個月有期徒刑。對中國當局來說,胡佳在網上發表的六 篇文章,以及兩次接受外國媒體採訪,足以構成犯罪,因此應該受到懲罰。他們認為,胡佳發表的文章內容危及了國家統治。辯護律師李方平形容胡佳文章的用詞雖 然犀利,但是不含任何反動內容。李方平極力為胡佳爭取無罪獲釋,並對現在的判決深表失望:“我們作為律師對判決無法接受。我建議胡佳提出上訴。胡佳的妻子 和媽媽也對判決表示悲痛。但是是否上訴要尊重胡佳本人的意見,要等見到他之後才能決定。”

胡佳及其辯護律師有10天的時間可以決定是否提出上訴。胡佳患有嚴重的肝硬化,依賴藥物治療。如果胡佳同意上訴,李方平律師希望能說服法院,考慮胡 佳的健康狀況,不適合長期監獄服刑而二審更改裁決:“我們也會考慮,如果他不上訴,或是二審維持原判,我們會為胡佳辦理保外就醫手續。胡佳在整個審判過程 中沒有說一句話。法官也沒有讓胡佳當庭表示是否上訴。”

儘管身體狀況很不好,但是胡佳仍然給人一個勇敢、堅強的硬漢形象。多年以來,胡佳一直積極從事維權工作,而不惜冒犯官方。幾年前,胡佳和同仁將政府 企圖掩蓋的一起愛滋病醜聞曝光。自此以後,他經常受到當局監控並遭到軟禁。去年,胡佳發表了文章和書信,並在其中寫道:08奧運會將在一個無視人權的國家 舉行,並形容北京奧運會為"一場踐踏人權的大災難"。之後,胡佳在北京的家中被捕。胡佳的妻子和只有幾個月大的女兒從此遭受軟禁,只能在監視下出門行動。 為了切斷胡佳妻子同媒體公眾的聯繫,當局還沒收了其電話和電腦。

人權組織指責中國政府在奧運召開前夕有目標的展開"清洗活動",剷除異議人士。另一名維權人士,來自黑龍江的楊春林,也因為農民爭取權益,並發起" 我們要人權,不要奧運"的簽名徵集活動而被判處5年有期徒刑,罪名也是煽動顛覆國家政權。對胡佳的判決雖然沒有預想的嚴重,但是李方平律師還是無法接受法 院的判決,因為胡佳根本無罪。


Chinese Rights Activist Is Jailed


Published: April 4, 2008

BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced an outspoken human rights advocate on Thursday to three and a half years in prison after ruling that his critical essays and comments about Communist Party rule amounted to inciting subversion, his lawyer said.

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Bill Austin/European Pressphoto Agency

The Chinese dissident Hu Jia at his Beijing apartment in December.

The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human rights proponents in China, has quickly drawn outside criticism of China at a time when its government is already facing international concern over its handling of the Tibetan crisis.

Mr. Hu’s case has been followed closely, especially in Europe, and critics say his conviction is part of a government crackdown to silence dissidents before Beijing plays host to the Olympic Games in August.

In Bucharest, Romania, where President Bush was attending the NATO meetings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the sentence and said that the United States would continue to raise the issue of human rights with Chinese leaders in the months leading up to the Olympics in Beijing.

"This is a long process," she said. "We do it respectfully with China, but there is no doubt that this is a decision that is deeply disturbing to us, and we’re communicating that to the Chinese authorities."

Mr. Hu’s wife, Zeng Jinyan, herself a well-known blogger and rights advocate, was distraught in a telephone interview on Thursday.

“I feel hopeless and helpless,” said Ms. Zeng, who is under house arrest with the couple’s infant daughter in their suburban Beijing apartment, though she was allowed to visit her husband on Thursday.

Asked why Mr. Hu was arrested and convicted, she said: “The fundamental reason is to silence him. He had been speaking up and all he said was plain truth. It makes them unhappy. But they can do this to him because they’re unhappy?”

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised Mr. Hu’s case during a meeting with China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi. The European Union presidency has criticized the subversion charge and called for Mr. Hu’s release.

Li Fangping, the defense lawyer, said the court showed leniency by sentencing him for less than the maximum five-year term. The sentence also forbids Mr. Hu to make any public political statements for one year after his release from prison, Mr. Li said.

“Three and a half years is still unacceptable to us,” Mr. Li told a throng of reporters outside the courthouse. “There is a major disagreement between prosecutors and the defense over punishing someone for making peaceful speech. We still believe the charge does not stand.”

Prosecutors in China rarely discuss cases after a verdict. But Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, reported that Mr. Hu had confessed to the charges. “Hu spread malicious rumors and committed libel in an attempt to subvert the state’s political power and socialist system,” the court verdict stated, according to Xinhua.

In his human rights work, Mr. Hu has volunteered to help AIDS patients and plant trees to fight the encroachment of desert.

In recent years, he has maintained regular contacts with dissidents and other advocates on issues that include environmental protection and legal reform. He has also served as a one-man clearinghouse for information about peasant protests and dissidents, subjects that are often censored in the Chinese media.

He was detained on Dec. 27 last year and later charged with “incitement to subvert state power,” an accusation based on six essays and interviews in which he criticized the Communist Party. Mr. Hu wrote a long, blistering essay detailing how police had tortured two people who had protested the illegal seizure of their homes in Beijing. In that essay, he also criticized the Communist Party’s human rights record.

Mr. Hu posted the essay on his personal blog at a delicate time: in advance of last fall’s 17th Party Congress, a major political meeting in which the new party leadership was announced.

In another blog posting, Mr. Hu wrote about China’s political formulation known as “one country, two systems” under which Hong Kong is part of China yet is allowed a more democratic political system. Mr. Hu argued that all of China should be democratic.

Last year, Mr. Hu was also co-writer of an article that contended that the Communist Party had failed to fulfill its Olympic promises to improve human rights before the Beijing Games, though that article apparently was not included as evidence.

Mr. Li said that Mr. Hu continued to maintain his innocence, though he had acknowledged outside the courtroom that some of his comments were “excessive” in the context of existing law. All of the articles used as evidence have been censored on China’s Internet.

China’s subversion laws, like those over state secrets, are deliberately vague and grant prosecutors considerable leeway in determining subversive speech, even though freedom of speech is included in the Chinese Constitution.

“The line between ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘endangering state security’ is very ambiguous,” Mr. Li, the defense lawyer, said. “In the criminal law, the article concerning subversion of state power contains only 30 words. And neither lawmakers nor the judicial branch have given any further explanation.”

He added that the defense team had tried during the trial to clarify what constituted free speech, and what did not. “Only in that way can we protect the freedom of speech from being restrained or disregarded in the name of state security,” Mr. Li said.

Human rights groups have called for Mr. Hu’s release and condemned his arrest and conviction.

Mr. Hu now has 10 days to decide whether to appeal the verdict. His health is also an issue; he has hepatitis B and also takes medication for a deteriorating liver condition. Mr. Li said Mr. Hu had the option of applying for medical parole if he chose not to appeal.

Meanwhile, Ms. Zeng, Mr. Hu’s wife, was anguished. “I’m very disappointed and very pained,” she said. “Yesterday, I thought he could be back home today.”

Howard W. French contributed reporting from Shanghai, Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Bucharest, Romania, and Zhang Jing contributed research from Beijing.

2008年4月2日 星期三

Arthur C. Clarke (ii)

Arthur C. Clarke

Mar 27th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, visionary, died on March 18th, aged 90


Rex Features

ALTHOUGH he dreamed and wrote about it constantly for 70 years, Arthur C. Clarke never voyaged into space. He came closest to visiting alien worlds through his love of deep-sea diving, its weightlessness and strange life forms. But he always looked upwards with a gleam in his eye, hoping for the real thing. “I can never look now at the Milky Way”, said the narrator in “The Sentinel”, “without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming. If you will pardon so commonplace a simile, we have set off the fire alarm and have nothing to do but to wait. I do not think we will have to wait for long.”

Did Sir Arthur believe in extra-terrestrials? The answer was given with a smile. “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” And UFOs? A broader smile. “They tell us absolutely nothing about intelligence elsewhere in the universe, but they do prove how rare it is on Earth.” For all his star-gazing, Sir Arthur's feet were firmly on the ground.

He did not predict the future in his copious science fiction, he insisted. He simply extrapolated. After all, he had written six stories about the end of the Earth; they couldn't all be true. The point was never to say what would happen for certain, but to ask what might happen; to prepare people painlessly for the future and to encourage flexible thinking. Politicians, he thought, ought to read his books rather than westerns or detective stories, because imagination could pave the way for revolutionary practical ideas.

In 1945, a year before he began to read physics and mathematics at King's College, he set out in the British magazine Wireless World the principles of global communication using satellites. The idea was two decades ahead of its time, and helped to attach his name to the geostationary orbit above the equator. In 1962, at the chilliest part of the cold war and just after the launch of Sputnik had heralded the space age, he discussed in “Profiles of the Future” the implications of transatlantic satellite radio and television broadcasts, with information raining down on previously isolated parts of the world. “Men will become neighbours,” he wrote. “Whether they like it or not...The TV satellite is mightier than the ICBM.”

He also got things wrong, of course. He predicted that humans would land on Mars—by 1994, then by 2010. In the early days, he also believed that a human presence in space would be important for work such as servicing satellites. His cosmic visions left him with little patience for lowlier, grittier issues of politics and economics. Those, he wrote, were concerned with “power and wealth, neither of which should be the primary...concern of full-grown men”. To him, it seemed self-evident that humanity would welcome the technological path towards evolution, whatever the cost. “The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers—and thermonuclear weapons.”

From ape to Star Child

Few could have foreseen the track of his career at the start. He was born poor, on a farm, near the small coastal town of Minehead in the west of England in 1917. Space, rockets and science sprang out of the pages of the pulp science-fiction magazines he bought in Woolworths for threepence each, and which he could not always afford. His brother Fred remembered him building telescopes and launching home-made rockets. Science fiction inspired him—though his first job after leaving school was in the down-to-earth British civil service, which gave him plenty of time to think and write. From there, imagining the possible and the probable gradually took over.

His notions of the future remained unswervingly radical. Sir Arthur knew that outlandish ideas often became reality. But they provoked, he wrote, three stages of reaction. First, “It's completely impossible.” Second, “It's possible but not worth doing.” Third, “I said it was a good idea all along.” He believed, for example, that humans would one day build lifts that could take them into space using only electrical power, and that men would be able to transfer their thoughts into machines. The space-lifts, he reckoned, would become reality a few decades after people stopped laughing at the idea. “Any sufficiently advanced technology”, he declared, “is indistinguishable from magic.”

By the 2020s he thought it likely that artificial intelligence would reach human level, dinosaurs would be cloned, and neurological research into the senses would mean that mankind could bypass information from the ears, eyes and skin. By 2050, he said, millions of bored human beings would freeze themselves in order to emigrate into the future to find adventure. He was not religious, and was no metaphysician; but he wanted and expected men to evolve until they became like gods. In “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), which he co-wrote with Stanley Kubrick, ape-man evolved into Star Child.

His epitaph for himself would have well suited man as he wanted him to be. “He never grew up; but he never stopped growing.”