熄燈了－Raymond Briggs與他的雪人the snowman正在起飛

Raymond Briggs是著名的英國繪本-雪人的作者，Raymond Briggs原版繪本其實沒有文字，故事描述一位英國男孩在聖誕節前堆雪人，與雪人成為好朋友的故事。後來改編成動畫，在英國家諭戶曉，成為每年固定慶祝聖誕節的節目。故事通過圖片、動作和音樂講述，配樂除了曲目Walking in the Air外，沒有文字。管弦樂配樂由倫敦交響樂團在影片中演奏，節目在英國電影協會曾列爲100 個最偉大的英國電視節目中之一，在 UKTV Gold 列爲最偉大的電視聖誕時刻。還被提名奧斯卡。2017年Raymond Briggs因為著作，得到大英帝國最優秀司令勳章（Commander，稱CBE），爾後他的名字後面都得以註明CBE，表尊敬。

Raymond Briggs CBE出生在英國藍領階級，2022年八月九日離世在英國Brighton醫院，死於肺炎，享年88歲。歷經二次大戰，太太是思覺失調症的患者，死於白血病；爾後陪伴他40年的伴侶2015年死於帕金森症。他開始將作品注意力專注在自己的老化與死亡，創作了最後一部他多年來一直在修改的Time For Lights Out （熄燈時刻）作品。

這本繪本是他在2019出版最後一本著作，與Covid-19同一年，也算是種致意．熄燈時刻Time for Lights Out”中，作品混合著草圖和詩句，探索令他一生著迷的主題：死亡的必然性。這個作品，跟當初1978年完全沒有文字的「雪人」，差別在文字比圖片豐富很多，用黑色幽默來闡訴老化的過程，以文字來做生命的統整。

另外在他的著作雪人the snowman的原始繪本，小男孩是沒有名字的。雪人跟小男孩起飛在Brighton,也經過Royal Pavillion （喬治四世所建的英王閣宮殿，筆者留英時曾在裡面下午茶）

作者也解釋實際上這本繪本是關於死亡的。小男孩之所以不需要名字，因為小男孩可以是我們每一個人．

他說：

「這個繪本想法是澄淨、美好和沈默的。沒有幸福的結局。創造了看似自然和不可避免的東西」

「隨著雪人融化了，萬物皆如此一切都會消失，沒有什麼特別令人沮喪的，因為這才是生活中的事實。」

現實生活中無論我們擁有什麼終究都會消失，曾經擁有過的都將變成回憶．無論大人或小孩，在閱讀繪本的同時，了解到死亡的意義，感受到人生的無常，終究都會消失，無論精彩不精彩，快樂或不快樂都將面對消失的狀態．

就如他在熄燈時刻Time for Lights Out所寫的….

專注在現在發生的事，因為光陰有限最終不管發生了什麼，我們都得熄燈告別了．

他的生命故事已熄燈結束了？

留下來的著作，讓很多人珍惜在生命熄燈前的此時此刻。

而今，小男孩已告別了肺炎的病痛跟雪人從英國的Brighton醫院起飛，徜徉在空氣中前往一個雪人不再融化的國度，就如他所說的享受著澄淨、美好、與沈默。

Raymond Redvers Briggs CBE was an English icartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his story The Snowman, a book without words whose cartoon adaptation is televised and whose musical adaptation is staged every Christmas.

The story is told through pictures, action and music, and is wordless, with the exception of the central song "Walking in the Air". The orchestral score was performed in the film by the Sinfonia of London. The special ranked on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. It came third in Channel 4's poll of 100 Greatest Christmas Moments.Its broadcast, usually on Christmas Eve ,has become an annual festive event in the UK. It was nominated for an Oscar as well. He was made a CBE for services to literature in 2017.

Raymond Briggs CBE was born in the British blue-collar class during World War II. He died of pneumonia at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on 9 August 2022, aged 88. Briggs's wife Jean, who suffered from schizophrenia, died from leukaemia. His long-term partner, Liz, who accompanied him for 40 years died in 2015 after suffering from Parkinson's disease- saw him turning his attention to his own mortality in a work entitled Time For Lights Out, which he had tinkered with for years.

This picture book is his last book published in 2019, the same year as Covid-19, which is also a tribute. For his final published work, “Time for Lights Out” (2019), Mr. Briggs mixed quotations, sketches and verse in the exploration of a theme that had enthralled him through life: the inevitability of death.Time for Lights Out is far heavier on words than on pictures; where once there would have been a cartoon strip, there are now little half-poems, sometimes even photographs. Comparing to the Snowman, it has black humour galore and unification of his life with words.

The author also explained that in fact The Snowman picture book is all about death. The little boy doesn't need a name, because the little boy can be every one of us.

"The idea was clean, nice and silent. I don't have happy endings. I create what seems natural and inevitable," he said.

"The snowman melts, Everything does. There's nothing particularly gloomy about it. It's a fact of life."

In real life, whatever we have will eventually disappear, and what we once had will become memories. Whether adults or children, while reading his picture books, they could understand the meaning of death and feel the impermanence of life. Everything will be disappear in the end. Whether it is wonderful or not, happiness or unhappiness will all face the state of disappearance.

As he mentioned in Time for Lights Out...

Focus on what's happening now, because time is limited and eventually no matter what happens, we'll have to turn off the lights and say goodbye to the world.

Is his life story lights out?

His works make many people cherish this moment.The book is illustrated with his characteristic understanding of real life. It remains haunting, fulfilling and maybe, just maybe, a guide as to where Raymond Briggs has gone now.

Now, the little boy had bid farewell to the suffering of pneumonia and took off from the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with the snowman. They are walking in the air to a place where the snowman no longer melts, as he said, enjoying clean, nice, and silent.