永遠站在雞蛋這一邊(節選)

村上春樹不僅在中國擁有大批讀者，還是西方世界最為熟悉和喜愛的日本作家。他對日本文化和現代西方文化的奇特糅合是其作品的典型特征，也是西方讀者為之著迷之處。從《挪威的森林》到《1Q84》，他完成了從“小資教父”到關注社會現實的硬派作家的華麗轉身。

今年2月，剛到花甲之年的村上春樹不顧和平團體的勸阻，堅持前往以色列接受2009年度耶路撒冷文學獎。在他動身以前，以色列進攻加沙地帶，攻擊巴勒斯坦的哈馬斯組織。

在頒獎禮上，他提出了“我們都是脆弱的蛋，無望地對抗制度的高墻”的言論，以此譴責那些無休止發動戰爭傷及無辜者的國家和暴力組織。

Jerusalem Prize for Literature耶路撒冷文學獎

創辦于1963年，每兩年頒發一次，意在表彰其作品涉及人類自由、人與社會和政治之間關系的作家。

Good evening. I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist， which is to say as a professional 1)spinner of lies.

Today， however， I have no intention of lying. I will try to be as honest as I can. There are only a few days in the year when I do not engage in telling lies， and today happens to be one of them.

So let me tell you the truth. In Japan a fair number of people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me they would 2)instigate a 3)boycott of my books if I came. The reason for this， of course， was the fierce fighting that was raging in Gaza.

Finally， however， after careful consideration， I made up my mind to come here. One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it. It’s in my nature， you might say， as a novelist. Novelists are a special breed. They cannot 4)genuinely trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.

And that is why I am here. I chose to come here rather than stay away. I chose to see for myself rather than not to see. I chose to speak to you rather than to say nothing.

Please do allow me to deliver a message， one very personal message. It is something that I always keep in mind while I am writing fiction. I have never gone so far as to write it on a piece of paper and paste it to the wall: rather， it is carved into the wall of my mind， and it goes something like this:

“Between a high， solid wall and an egg that breaks against it， I will always stand on the side of the egg.”

Think of it this way. Each of us is， more or less， an egg. Each of us is a unique， irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell. This is true of me， and it is true of each of you. And each of us， to a greater or lesser degree， is confronting a high， solid wall. The wall has a name: it is “The System.” The System is supposed to protect us， but sometimes it takes on a life of its own， and then it begins to kill us and cause us to kill others—coldly， efficiently， systematically.

I have only one reason to write novels， and that is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. The purpose of a story is to sound an alarm， to keep a light 5)trained on The System in order to prevent it from 6)tangling our souls in its web and demeaning them. I truly believe it is the novelist’s job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories—stories of life and death， stories of love， stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on， day after day，7)concocting fictions with utter seriousness.

I have only one thing I hope to convey to you today. We are all human beings， individuals 8)transcending nationality and race and religion， and we are all fragile eggs faced with a solid wall called The System. To all appearances， we have no hope of winning. The wall is too high， too strong—and too cold. If we have any hope of victory at all， it will have to come from our believing in the utter uniqueness and irreplaceability of our own and others’ souls and from our believing in the warmth we gain by joining souls together.

晚上好。今天我來到耶路撒冷，以一個小說家的身份，也就是說，以一個職業撒謊者的身份。

然而今天，我不想撒謊。我會試著盡量誠實。一年之中僅僅只有幾天時間，我會不講謊話，而今天碰巧就是其中之一。

所以請允許我告訴你們真相。在日本，許多人建議我不要來這里接受耶路撒冷文學獎。有一些人甚至警告我，說如果我來了，他們會對我的書發起抵制。這一切的原因當然在于，加沙地帶所發生的慘烈的戰事。

然而最終，經過審慎的考慮后，我決意到這里來。我作此決定的一個原因就是太多人建議我不要來到這里。也許你們會說，這是我作為小說家的天性。……