書之皮相

Reporter： Africa， of course， is a hugely diverse and complex place， yet， when thinking about Africa， many book illustrators come up with the same image， a lone Acacia tree with a burnt orange sky or sunset as background， and maybe an Elephant silhouette. There you go. Thats Africa. Simon Stevens of Columbia University called this phenomenon out. He posted a collage of 36 different book covers with that exact image， illustrations for stories by a variety of different authors from Joseph Conrad to Barbara Kingsolver. Neelika Jayawardane couldnt help but laugh when she saw the collage. She grew up in Zambia and is now an associate professor of（English） post-colonial literature at SUNY， Oswego， in upstate New York， and shes an editor at “Africa is a Country”. So you…you teach post-colonial literature？ Neelika： I do， and so many of the book covers that my students buy and read all have those book covers， and they must negotiate with the view that…that book cover presents， their preexisting views， and then whats in the covers. Much of the semester is spent renegotiating their understanding of this complex place rather than the book cover version that theyve already come into contact with all their lives， and then that the book covers sort of reinforce.

Reporter： So I can only imagine what went through your mind when you actually saw 36 different book covers…altogether， I mean， its kind of a mind blower.

Neelika： It was！ I was so surprised， but， in a way， you know， it…it wasnt that much a shock because whether its Nigeria or South Africa， Mozambique， Botswana or Zambia， its that same kind of distended belly of the setting sun with the Acacia， and I have to say that I grew up with that very Acacia tree， gigantic shading tree， outside of my home. So， its not that it doesnt exist， but its not the only thing that exists in southern Africa or in east Africa.

Reporter： How do these publishers manage to keep a lock on the world supply of orange and ochre and beige ink？ Thats what I want to know.

Neelika： I wish I knew. I think we cant even find it. All my painter friends complain about that…that they cant find that. They cant find orange any more， yeah.

Reporter： Neelika， for you， what is the one image of Africa youve never seen on a cover， which must have its day， someday， on a book？

Neelika： I…I keep coming back to， theres a photograph that I have of me in 6th grade， and its with， I have a British teacher， whos come there， hes wearing a tie and a white shirt and all of us 6th grade kids are lined up under him， and theres a couple of British kids， several Indian kids， one kid with a， hes Sikh， hes got a turban， and one of them is wearing a bow tie because that was a special day for photographs. And I look at us and I remember this is…this is my view， and its a complex view of what Africa is， and I think “Oh， this is the image I think of when I think of my school.” And I…I want that kind of a school child picture that isnt about a fraught school child in danger of being kidnapped by Boko Haram， or whatever， because I grew up in enormous safety and with enormous， like， kind of competitive spirit about our academics， and a lot of， like， love to， about learning， and I dont think that many people imagine that as an African theme or an African everyday.

記者：無疑，非洲是極為多元復(fù)雜的一個(gè)地方。然而，一想到非洲，許多插畫家的腦海里就會浮現(xiàn)同一幅畫面：火紅色的天空下或是落日斜暉中，孤零零地屹立著一棵金合歡樹，也許還有一抹大象的剪影。就是如此，那就是非洲。哥倫比亞大學(xué)的西蒙·史蒂文斯大膽地指出了這個(gè)現(xiàn)象。他用三十六本書的封面做成了一幅拼貼畫。這些書的作者中既有約瑟夫·康拉德，也有芭芭拉·金索佛，那些書盡管作者不同，但封面插畫都不外乎剛剛提到的那般描繪?？吹竭@幅拼貼畫的時(shí)候，妮麗卡·楂雅沃德忍俊不禁。她在贊比亞長大，現(xiàn)于紐約州北部的紐約州立大學(xué)奧斯維戈分校任副教授，執(zhí)教（英國）后殖民文學(xué)，她還是博客“非洲是個(gè)國家”的主筆。嗯……你教的是后殖民文學(xué)？

妮麗卡：是的，我的學(xué)生們買來的或讀過的很多書全部都是那樣的封面，他們必須得在其封面代表的意義、自己先前的觀點(diǎn)以及書的內(nèi)容之間不斷修改、調(diào)整想法。學(xué)期里的大部分時(shí)間，他們都是在重新梳理對非洲這個(gè)復(fù)雜地方的理解，而不是僅僅局限于那些生活中頻繁出現(xiàn)的封面印象及其固化的刻板理解。

記者：我能想象得出你看到那三十六個(gè)不同封面時(shí)心里是什么感覺……總之，我是說，真是難以置信。

妮麗卡：的確！我很驚訝。在那些封面上，無論是尼日利亞、南非、莫桑比克、博茨瓦納還是贊比亞，永遠(yuǎn)都是一輪夕陽伴金合歡樹的相似風(fēng)景。但在某種程度上，那并沒有令我特別震驚。因?yàn)槲覀兗议T口確實(shí)有那么一棵巨大、庇蔭的金合歡樹陪伴我長大。所以，問題并不是說封面上的“經(jīng)典”景象不存在，而是說，那景象并不是南非或東非的唯一面貌。

記者：我真想知道這些出版社是怎么壟斷全世界的橙色、赭色和米黃色油墨的？

妮麗卡：我也想知道啊，可我認(rèn)為我們無法作答。我的畫家朋友們都在抱怨……抱怨他們都找不到橙色顏料用了。他們再也找不到橙色顏料了，耶。

記者：妮麗卡，對你而言，非洲的形象是什么樣的？你會怎樣描繪那幅你沒在任何一本書的封面上見過，但有朝一日定會成為封面的畫面？

妮麗卡：我……我總是會回想起六年級時(shí)拍的一張照片。那是和一位來自英國的老師的合影，他身穿白襯衫，打著領(lǐng)帶，帶領(lǐng)我們所有六年級生排隊(duì)拍照。我們中有兩三個(gè)英國孩子，有來自印度的同學(xué)，還有一個(gè)孩子信仰錫克教，包著頭巾。由于那天是照相的特殊日子，其中一位學(xué)生還打了領(lǐng)結(jié)?？粗菚r(shí)的我們，我覺得這就是……我心目中對非洲一種說不清道不明的印象。我心想：“啊，一想到學(xué)校，我的腦中就會跳出這個(gè)畫面?！边€有……我不希望那是一張孩子們時(shí)刻為“博科圣地組織”綁架兒童而擔(dān)驚受怕的照片或其他類似的照片，因?yàn)槲易约撼砷L的環(huán)境其實(shí)十分安全，大家都在學(xué)業(yè)上你趕我追，對學(xué)習(xí)充滿熱情。我猜，這和多數(shù)人臆想中的非洲或非洲人的日常生活很不一樣。