《鄉村醫生》(The Country Doctor;Ein Landarzt)為卡夫卡所著的短篇小說,以下斜體字為Kevin Blahut所翻譯之英文譯本。筆者閱讀數次,但依舊無法掌握作品的全貌,仍希望能在此與各位分享一些自己的想法。
山村浩二於2007年所製作的『カフカ 田舎医者』,將故事內的場景刻劃的很深刻,幫助筆者更進一步思考其中的劇情。
故事主要環繞在一位任職於偏鄉的醫生身上。醫生正處於一急迫的狀態,有一位重病的患者正等著他。但他的馬已經死了,失去交通工具的情況下,他無法前往患者所在之處。突然間,兩隻雄壯俊美的馬匹出現在破舊不堪的豬圈,他與貌美的女傭Rosa皆不曾見過如此脫俗生物。 伴隨著駿馬,還出現一位輕浮馬伕,調戲年輕貌美的Rosa,甚至提出必須以 Rosa 交換那二匹駿馬。
"You're coming with," I say to the servant, "or I will abandon the journey, urgent as it is. I have no intention of sacrificing the girl to you as a price for the journey."
即便醫生表示不願意,在一陣目眩後,他已到了患者的家中,留下 Rosa 獨自在家中。
這位患者是一位男孩,男孩並沒有甚麼問題,僅是循環差了點,但大家都殷切地期盼著醫師的診斷。猛然間,男孩起身掐住醫師的脖子,向醫師求死。醫師此時內心的獨白,隱約可見他對信仰的嘲弄,(眾)神賜予他良駒,解決他無法前往病人家的燃眉之急,隨著良駒出現的詭異馬夫確卻剝奪了他心愛的女傭。到了患者的家中,一切皆是異常的,渴望得出診斷的家人,與渴求死亡的男孩,他們究竟是希望醫師給出什麼樣的答案?
I take a pair of tweezers, examine it in the candlelight and then put it back. "Yes," I think blasphemously, "in such cases the gods lend assistance, provide the necessary horse, and, to make things faster, also provide a second one, in their excessive generosity they add a stableboy—."
此時的醫師只想趕快回到家中,解救受馬伕騷擾的 Rosa。縱使醫師此刻毅然決然地離開了,想必那擾人的夜鈴也不會停止叫喚他,不斷地縈繞在他的耳內,掙扎之際,他最後選擇待在男孩家。
So, my visit here would be at an end; I have been called upon again unnecessarily; I am used to it, the whole district uses my night bell to torment me; however, the thought that this time I might also have to sacrifice Rose...
正當他準備順應眾人的期待為男孩做出診斷時,他見到男孩的身上有一處玫瑰色的傷口,倘若仔細端詳,可見傷口內有許多蛆蟲正扭動著。站在一旁的家人卻很開心,因為這是他們所期望的。男孩患病的消息開始傳開,一傳十,十傳百,大家都期待著醫師拯救這位男孩。揚棄信仰的村落中,醫師似乎取代了神明的位置,眾人皆期望他可以解決一切災厄,殊不知這種期待是一種掠奪,恣意地折磨那位醫師,奪走了他的女傭、他的衣裳與他的理性。
"Will you save me?" whispers the boy, sobbing, blinded by the life within his wound. That is what people in my district are like, always demanding the impossible of the doctor. They have lost their old belief; the priest sits at home and picks apart his vestments, one after another; but the doctor should be capable of anything with his delicate surgeon's hand.
眾人將醫師的衣服脫下,將他擺在男孩的床上,門外的合唱團唱著詭異的歌,
Take off his clothes, then he will heal,
And if he doesn't, kill him!
It's only a doctor, it's only a doctor.
男孩並不指望醫師能夠治療他,或許他很清楚,這只是眾人一相情願替醫師所銬上的枷鎖,所以反倒還責怪起了醫師,說因為他,所以使病床又變得更擠了。男孩與醫師在病床上的對話,有句話使我印象特別深刻──
男孩對著醫師說:「我帶著這美麗的傷口來到世間,這就是我的準備。」
I came into the world with a beautiful wound; that was the extent of my preparation.
這句話令我思考許久,這醜惡滿是蛆蟲的傷口,何以使用美麗一詞去形容?美麗這是對男孩來說,亦或是對他的家人來說,亦或是對於一位有能力能醫治患者的醫師來說,或是對村裡所期望的神明來說?
隨後,裸身的醫師抓準機會,逃離那間令人窒息的小屋,坐上世俗的馬車,任由脫俗的馬匹拉動他,在風雪裡前行,寒風刺痛著他的肌膚。
Naked exposed to the frost of this unhappiest of ages, with an earthly wagon, with unearthly horses, I, an old man, cast about.