介紹英文版「井月澎湖」
by Barbara Ladouceur
中譯者: 李 秀
台灣！我從未到過，也從未想要去參觀。它給我印象僅是龐大中國旁邊一個小島國家而已。有許多產品來自台灣，想像中，充其量台灣只是一個佈滿工廠的地方，更遑論有美麗如畫的事物了。但是，當我讀到李秀小說「井月澎湖」，她史詩般的撰述台灣、澎湖迷人的景物，確確實實改觀我對台灣有限的認知。
根據所知，台灣曾是中國一部分，直到共產黨接管中國，蔣介石流亡到台灣另组一個政府。實際並非如此，透過在地人的生活經驗，我隱約知道那裡人的貧窮和富有、年輕和年老、好和壞、男和女的一些印象。然而李秀這本小說讓我大開眼界，它不僅充滿了精采的史實，更重要的，透過她扣人心弦的描繪，讓我們更詳悉世代真實的事跡。台灣的男女老少，在被日本殖民物質缺乏和危險的戰爭年代，他們如何努力、掙扎在台灣和日本之間，相互緊密的生活，並堅持維護家庭的連結。
李秀藉著澎湖兩個家族，發展出兩條平行線所延伸的事端，開始揭露比我想像更豐富的個人經驗和台灣政治文化的層面。從澎湖群島的小渔村---外垵，到一個繁忙的台灣海港城市----高雄，李家和許家成員，在這之間長大成人、墜入愛河、養育孩子以及保護雙親，直到最後埋葬長輩和繼續他們的家產，再尋著前輩的腳步教養子女…等等。一個永無止盡的生活榜樣，就這樣在這個世間不斷的前進、輪迴。
閱讀李秀詩意般獨持的描寫，由環繞視野的反射，能感受到各式各樣的曠野、濱岸線、海洋、星星、甚至太陽和月亮。也許不能真正觸及，可是由她寫自已家族強烈情感的表述，可以完全叫人體悟到不同的形式，反映在父母孩子、丈夫妻子、姐妹兄弟、朋友敵人和陌生者之間的愛恨情愁。她的小說肯定了人類全部被聯繫在同甘共苦之中，成為一個永無休止的旅行，因為人們終竟要回鄉、歸根、尋到隧道盡頭之光為止。
在閱讀這部小說的歷程，我跟著兩個家族、四個世代來造訪台灣、澎湖。過程中，學習到台灣原來有她更深長、更豐富的歷史背景，因而打破僅從中國方面而來的簡陋介紹。現在更知道，台灣並非我先前的刻板印象，只是一個充滿許多工廠的小島而已。也就是說至少那裡有一個可愛的澎湖群島，週圍還環繞著六十幾個小島。透過作者的眼睛，我們看到台灣、澎湖那縈繞在心頭的澎湃美麗，進而渴望到那塊天地去翱遊。特别隨著李秀的足跡去尋訪，那海洋的脈動，遁著遍野的菊花小道，去感受台灣、澎湖人，如何善用堅韌的毅力生活在那塊土地上。基本上，這就是作者所要撰述的理念，因此這本書給我們無限的啟發和學習。
Introduction to Penghu Moon in the Well
by Barbara Ladouceur
I have never been to Taiwan, never had the desire to visit there. I just thought of it as a small island nation situated beside gigantic China. And when I visualized it, I merely saw a country filled with countless factories because so many products come from Taiwan. I did not see anything picturesque or beautiful about it. But then I read Penghu Moon in the Well, and Louise Lee Hsiu opened my eyes to the epic history and amazing landscapes of Taiwan that I had remained totally ignorant of all my life.
All I knew was that once upon a time Taiwan was part of China until the communists took over China and Chiang Kai Chek fled to Taiwan where he formed a separate government. But there is so much more to Taiwanese history, and I have learned about it in the most memorable way – through the experiences of individuals, rich and poor, young and old, good and bad, male and female. This novel teems with the exciting historical events that shaped Taiwan’s destiny. But more importantly, we get to know the generations of little girls and boys, young men and women, old women and men who struggle to keep their families alive and together, often in the midst of financial ruin and dangerous situations created by wars that go on and on between Taiwan and Japan.
Because the unfolding saga of Prnghu parallels the domestic saga of two families, Hsiu uncovers many personal and political layers of Taiwan’s history and culture, which proves to be much more multi-faceted than I ever imagined. From the humble fishing village of Waian on a Penghu island to the bustling Taiwanese seaport of Kaohsiung, members of the Lee and Zhu families grow up, fall in love, have children, love and protect their children who then grow up to love and protect their parents until they finally have to bury their elders and carry on their families’ legacies, passing on their parents’ teaching to their own children – a never-ending universal pattern of lives that takes place over and over again throughout the world.
Reading Hsiu’s poetic descriptions of individual emotions that are reflected by surrounding fields, shores, seas and stars, as well as the sun and the moon, we can’t help but relate to the different forms of love and hate – between parents and children, husband and wives, sisters and brothers, and among friends, enemies and strangers. Hsiu’s novel affirms that we are all connected, for better or for worse, forever and ever. We travel in a never-ending circle because we want to return home, to the source, to the light at the end of the tunnel.
We take this journey with four generations of two families, and in the process, we learn that Taiwan has a much longer more complicated history than having simply broken away from China. And we now know that Taiwan is much more than a small island filled with factories. Namely, there are the lovely Penghu Islands – over sixty of them. Through the author’s eyes, we see their haunting beauty and long to go there; especially we would like to visit the Penghu Islands with Louise Lee Hsiu to watch and read the ocean’s movements with her and follow her along paths lined with chrysanthemums, symbols of fortitude and endeavor, which is essentially what this endlessly enlightening novel is all about.
