2024-12-26

譚愛美（Amy Tan)是華裔女作家中不一定是最成功的，但肯定是最高產的，之所以這樣說，就是因為我書架上就至少有她四本大部頭小說，其中的一部，就是正骨匠的女兒（The Bonesetter's Daughter）。

燙金的封面，精美的包裝，暢銷書的作家，自然非一般的自傳體作家可比。在這一本小說中，譚愛美講了她的姑媽和鄉民們發現甲骨文和龍骨的故事，並說龍骨可以包治百病:

• 我有一根獸骨，可能是龜甲，她告訴我。她從袖子裡把它撈出來。它看起來像一個帶着麻點的干蘿蔔。我父親差點把它磨碎當藥。然後他看到上面寫着字。她把骨頭翻過來，我看到奇怪的字符在上下跑動。直到最近，由於有劃痕，這類骨頭還沒有那麼值錢。挖骨頭的人過去常常用銼刀將它們磨平，然後再將它們賣給藥店。現在學者們稱這些為甲骨文，售價翻倍。（I have a bone, probably from a turtle, she told me. She fished it from a tuck in her sleeve. It looked like a dried turnip with pockmarks. My father almost ground this up for medicine. Then he saw there was writing on it. She turned the bone over, and I saw strange characters running up and down. Until recently, these kinds of bones weren't so valuable, because of the scratches. Bone diggers used to smooth them with a file before selling them to medicine shops. Now the scholars call these oracle bones, and they sell for twice as much.）

  
  

• 在山口村，窮漢們一有機會就會收集龍骨。女人們也如此，但如果是她們發現了骨頭，她們就不得不說是男人們發現的，否則骨頭就沒有那麼值錢了。後來，古董販子到村里去收購龍骨，然後運到北京，高價賣給藥店，藥店又以更高的價格賣給病人。眾所周知，這些骨頭可以治癒任何疾病，從消耗性疾病到愚蠢。很多醫生都這麼做。寶姨的父親也是如此。他用骨頭來治癒骨頭。（In the Mouth of the Mountain, every poor man collected dragon bones when he had a chance. So did the women, but if they found one, they had to say a man found it instead, because otherwise the bone was not worth as much. Later, middlemen went around the village buying the dragon bones, and then they took them to Peking and sold them to medicine shops for high prices, and the shops sold them to sick people for higher prices yet. The bones were well known for curing anything, from wasting diseases to stupidity. Plenty of doctors sold them. And so did Precious Auntie's father. He used bones to heal bones.）

能把一次重大的科學發現和歷史事件寫進小說，不留痕跡，不能不說譚愛美，還是頗有功力的。