巧合

好像就是去年9.11前后吧，兰舟在这里发了一个关于9.11的贴子。当时我刚刚看到这本小说：Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close。

昨天晚上开了个夜车，也不是很晚吧，一点钟左右，完成了全书最后一章翻译。中文总字数大约十六万二千多。

这中间，我换了一次工作，还坐着救护车在剑桥兜过一圈。另有柴米油盐婆婆妈妈吃喝玩乐一样没少。自己先拍拍自己的肩膀。

你说巧不巧，今天正好收到了国内出版社的合同。彭伦是好孩子，坚持给我寄杂志，还要航空寄，邮费那么贵，我都替他心疼。

“哪里有天才，我是把别人喝咖啡的功夫都用在工作上”是哪个说的？翻译是笨功夫，创造性不大，就算有一点，也不过是雕虫小技，螺蛳壳里作道场。不过我这脑袋一磕也磕明白了，脑袋究竟是磕过的，从此与聪明人是无缘了，咱就老老实实做个精明人罢。

书是先看过一遍的，轮到翻译时，竟还是有多处令人唏嘘不已，不忍卒读。我对所谓的新文学表达方式兴趣缺缺；感动我的，是人类心灵的脆弱和温暖，让我共鸣的，也还是古典的人道主义和人文价值。

最难的是书名的翻译。我想了几个，都觉得不甚满意。来这里跪求妙译。至于马屁、表扬者，亦多多益善矣。

书中的主要叙述人是个九岁的纽约小男孩奥斯卡。“Extremely”和“Incredibly”都是他的口头禅，在他的叙述中出现了很多次。 Close 主要指的是 human connection.

Safran Foer's second novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, was published in 2005. In the novel, Safran Foer used 9/11 as a backdrop for the story of 9-year-old Oskar Schell, who learns how to deal with the death of his father in the World Trade Center. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close used many nontraditional writing techniques and is an example of visual writing. It follows multiple but interconnected storylines, is peppered with photographs of doorknobs and other such oddities, and ends with a 14-page flipbook. Safran Foer's use of these techniques resulted in both glowing praise and excoriation from critics.[citation needed] Despite diverse criticism, the novel sold briskly and was translated into several languages. In addition, the film rights were purchased by Warner Bros. and Paramount for a film to be produced by Scott Rudin.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Safran_Foer