名著阅读

　　"That all right by you?""That's all right by me."She saw his skepticism and went on. "I cook at a restaurant in town. And I sew a little on the sly."Paul D smiled then, remembering the bedding dress. Sethe was thirteen when she came to SweetHome and already iron-eyed. She was a timely present for Mrs. Garner who had lost Baby Suggsto her husband's high principles. The five Sweet Home men looked at the new girl and decided tolet her be. They were young and so sick with the absence of women they had taken to calves. Yetthey let the iron-eyed girl be, so she could choose in spite of the fact that each one would havebeaten the others to mush to have her. It took her a year to choose — a long, tough year ofthrashing on pallets eaten up with dreams of her. A year of yearning, when rape seemed thesolitary gift of life. The restraint they had exercised possible only because they were Sweet Homemen — the ones Mr. Garner bragged about while other farmers shook their heads in warning at thephrase.

　　"Y'all got boys," he told them. "Young boys, old boys, picky boys, stroppin boys. Now at SweetHome, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men everyone.""Beg to differ, Garner. Ain't no nigger men.""Not if you scared, they ain't." Garner's smile was wide. "But if you a man yourself, you'll wantyour niggers to be men too.""I wouldn't have no nigger men round my wife."It was the reaction Garner loved and waited for. "Neither would I," he said. "Neither would I," andthere was always a pause before the neighbor, or stranger, or peddler, or brother-in-law or whoeverit was got the meaning. Then a fierce argument, sometimes a fight, and Garner came home bruisedand pleased, having demonstrated one more time what a real Kentuckian was: one tough enoughand smart enough to make and call his own niggers men.

　　And so they were: Paul D Garner, Paul F Garner, Paul A Garner, Halle Suggs and Sixo, the wildman. All in their twenties, minus women, fucking cows, dreaming of rape, thrashing on pallets,rubbing their thighs and waiting for the new girl — the one who took Baby Suggs' place afterHalle bought her with five years of Sundays.

　　Maybe that was why she chose him. A twenty-year-old man so in love with his mother he gave upfive years of Sabbaths just to see her sit down for a change was a serious recommendation.

　　She waited a year. And the Sweet Home men abused cows while they waited with her. She choseHalle and for their first bedding she sewed herself a dress on the sly.

　　"Won't you stay on awhile? Can't nobody catch up on eighteen years in a day."Out of the dimness of the room in which they sat, a white staircase climbed toward the blue-andwhitewallpaper of the second floor.

　　Paul D could see just the beginning of the paper; discreet flecks of yellow sprinkled among ablizzard of snowdrops all backed by blue.

　　The luminous white of the railing and steps kept him glancing toward it. Every sense he had toldhim the air above the stairwell was charmed and very thin. But the girl who walked down out ofthat air was round and brown with the face of an alert doll.
"你这样挺好么？" "我这样挺好。" 她觉察到他的疑惑，继续道："我在城里一家餐馆做饭。还偷着给人做点针线活儿。" 这时保罗·D想起了那条睡裙，不禁哑然失笑。塞丝来"甜蜜之家"时只有十三岁，已经有铁的眼睛了。她是送给加纳太太的一件及时的礼物，因为加纳先生的崇高原则①使太太失去了贝比·萨格斯。那五个"甜蜜之家"的男人看着这个新来的姑娘，决定不去碰她。他们血气方刚，苦于没有女人，只好去找小母牛出火。然而，尽管事实上每个人为了夺到她完全可以把其他几个打倒，他们还是不去碰那个眼睛像铁的姑娘，所以她能够自己挑选。她挑了整整一年——漫长、难熬的一年，他们在草荐上翻来覆去，被有关她的梦苦苦纠缠。渴望的一年，强奸似乎成了生活唯一的馈赠。他们使克制成为可能，仅仅因为他们是"甜蜜之家"的男人——当其他农庄主对这个说法警觉地摇头时，加纳先生吹嘘的那几个人。

"你们都有奴隶，"他对他们说，"年纪轻的，上了岁数的，起刺儿的，磨洋工的。如今在-甜蜜之家-，我的黑鬼个个都是男子汉。那么买的，也是那么培养的。个个都是男子汉。" "抱歉，加纳，不敢苟同。根本没有黑鬼男子汉。" "要是你自己胆小，他们就不是了。"加纳咧开嘴笑了，"可如果你自己是个男子汉，你就希望你的黑鬼也是男子汉。" "我可不乐意我的老婆周围尽是些黑鬼男子汉。" 这正是加纳酷爱和期待的反应。"我也不乐意，"他说道，"我也不乐意。"无论什么人，邻居、陌生人、小贩或是内兄弟，都得等一会儿才能领会这个意思。然后是一场激烈的争论，有时还要打上一架，但每次加纳遍体鳞伤、洋洋得意地回家时，他已再一次向人们表明了什么是真正的肯塔基人：勇敢和聪明得足以塑造和称呼他的黑鬼们为男子汉。

于是这就是他们：保罗·D.加纳，保罗·F.加纳，保罗·A.加纳，黑尔·萨格斯，还有狂人西克索。都是二十来岁，没沾过女人，操母牛，梦想强奸，在草荐上辗转反侧、摩擦大腿等待着新来的姑娘——黑尔用五年的礼拜天赎出贝比·萨格斯之后顶替她位置的那个姑娘。

也许那就是为什么她选中了他。一个二十岁的男人这样爱他的母亲，放弃了五年的安息日，只为了看到她坐下来有个变化，这绝对是个真正的可取之处。

她等了一年。"甜蜜之家"的男人在与她一起等待的时候虐待母牛。她选中了黑尔。为了第一次结合，她偷偷地为自己缝了条裙子。

"你不多待一阵子吗？谁也不能在一天里捋清十八年。" 在他们坐着的房间的昏暗之外，白色的楼梯爬向二楼蓝白相间的墙纸。

保罗·D刚好能看到墙纸的开头：蓝色的背景上，黄色斑点独具匠心地洒在暴风雪的雪花中间。

明亮的白栏杆和白楼梯吸引了他的目光。他的所有感觉都告诉他，楼梯井上面的空气既迷人又异常稀薄。但从那空气中走下来的棕色皮肤的女孩却是圆乎乎的，一张脸长得好像警觉的娃娃。
背景阅读

本书简介：

《宠儿》是托妮·莫里森最震撼人心、最成熟的代表作，现已经成为当代文学史上不朽的经典，也是美国文学史上最畅销的作品之一。小说完成于1987年，1988年即获得美国普利策小说奖。2006年《纽约时报》召集125位知名作家、评论家、编辑及文坛泰斗等选出自己心目中“25年来最佳美国小说”，《宠儿》得票最高，名列第一。

“你的爱太浓了！”——一个不可能重复的故事！！！
女黑奴塞丝怀着身孕只身从肯塔基的奴隶庄园逃到俄亥俄，奴隶主循踪追至；为了使儿女不再重复自己做奴隶的悲惨命运，她毅然杀死了自己刚刚会爬的幼女宠儿……十八年后宠儿还魂重返人间，和塞丝、塞丝的女儿丹芙以及塞丝的情人保罗•D生活在同一幢房子里。她不但加倍地向母亲索取着爱，甚至纠缠和引诱保罗•D，不择手段地扰乱和摧毁母亲刚刚回暖的生活……全书充满苦涩的诗意和紧张的悬念。

作者简介：

托妮·莫里森，美国当代最重要的女作家之一。1931年生于美国俄亥俄州，曾担任兰登书屋编辑、资深编辑，1989年起任普林斯顿大学教授。主要代表作有《最蓝的眼睛》、《秀拉》、《所罗门之歌》、《宠儿》、《爵士乐》、《天堂》等，曾获美国普利策小说奖、美国图书评论协会奖等多项大奖。1993年获诺贝尔文学奖，是历史上得此殊荣的唯一黑人女作家。