Thu, Oct 25, 2012 page11

• Clair de Lune in prose 佐依子散文集

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  Listening to Zoe’s radio show, one notices that her speaking style is slightly fast-paced. That is because she has so many things to share with her listeners. Zoe has transformed her passion into a collection of prose essays titled Clair de Lune, in which she writes, “While the waves of life were crashing in, I picked up the shells cast up on the beach of memories enshrined in my heart, and the echoes returned by each shell have become a chapter in this book.”

  Zoe, who is also a musician, reads widely from a broad range of books, making her a rarity in Taiwan’s music scene. Like a fussy but attentive housekeeper, she has organized the international art events she has read about in chronological order and classified them according to event type and even to the subtle commonalities shared by the events. She has then wielded a graceful pen and used the simplest words to write up the past events in penetrating detail. She is able to make a smooth transition from talking about this year’s World Book Day in the UK, which gave out one million books, to the Japanese elections, writing that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda quoted a sentence from a poem by calligrapher and poet Mitsuo Aida, “I will never be a goldfish in a scarlet robe, but like a loach in muddy waters.” She does this simply because she wants to emphasize the importance and preciousness of reading.

  Zoe says she named the book Clair de Lune (“Yueguang Zouming” or “Moonlight Sonata” in Chinese) because she almost always sets pen to paper deep in the night, making it a very suitable name. The book is organized along five themes — “Listening,” “Sight,” “Taste,” “Touch” and “Smell.” “Listening” is an art with which Zoe has spent most of her life. “Sight” is her interaction with the visual arts. In “Taste,” she talks about the sublimity of desire. In “Touch,” she shares feelings that have arisen during precious time spent traveling. Last but not least is “Smell,” in which Zoe talks about the charm and fascination of reading and sings the highest praises of literary composition.

  

  The cover of Clair de Lune. 《月光，奏鳴》書封。

  Photo: Lin Ya-ti, Taipei Times
  照片：台北時報記者林亞蒂

  (Liberty Times, Translated by Lin Ya-ti)

  從廣播中聽見佐依子的主持，講話有些些快，那是因為她有好多事情要跟聽眾分享。這樣的熱切情感，化身散文集《月光，奏鳴》，「生命浪花的激動下，拾取滯留於腦海沙灘上的貝殼，每顆貝殼裡的回聲，就成為這本書裡的章節。」

  佐依子是圈內少見大量閱讀各種書籍的音樂人，她像一個叨叨絮絮又細心的女管家，將她讀來的各國藝事按照年代、事件甚至是某一個細微的內在共同點來分門別類，再用最單純的文字書寫出來，既細膩又深刻。她可以從今年英國的書香節送出去一百萬本書講到日本大選，野田佳彥在民主黨競選演說時，引用了日本詩人書法家相田光男的一句話：「泥鰍是假裝不成金魚。」只為強調閱讀的重要與珍貴。

  

  Dozens of Zoe’s book fans listen to a piece of music played by Zoe and cellist Jessica Chen prior to the book launch of Zoe’s Clair de Lune at Eslite Bookstore in Taipei’s Xinyi District on Sept. 5. 佐依子的書迷們九月五日在台北信義誠品舉行的《月光，奏鳴》新書發表會前，聆賞由佐依子與大提琴家陳俐亨所帶來的一首樂曲。

  Photo: Lin Ya-ti, Taipei Times
  照片：台北時報記者林亞蒂

  書名取為《月光，奏鳴》，佐依子說因為她幾乎都在深夜寫作，取名「月光」非常吻合。《月光，奏鳴》這本書主要分為五個部份：「聽」是佐依子這輩子相處最久的藝術；「視」是她與視覺藝術的互動；「味」談的是慾望的昇華；「觸」講的是珍貴的行旅感觸；「嗅」講的是書香四溢，也是佐依子對文字的最高禮讚。

  （自由時報記者趙靜瑜）
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