瘟疫与黑曜石

1571 年危地马拉高地 Tecpán-Atitlán。Francisco Hernández Arana Xajilá 是 Xahila 宗族首领,也是这部编年史的作者——他一边当族长,一边写。他写到第 185 段,大疫起。Brinton 1885 英译本把那句话留下来: These maladies began, O my children, on the day of the Circumcision, a Monday, and as I was writing, we also were attacked with the disease.(此疫起于割礼之日,周一,在我正在写之时,我们也染上了病)。他写到了第 185 段,然后他自己也成了病人。

段 5 是这部编年史最深的钩子,也是开篇即立的创世神话:…the Obsidian Stone was his sustainer, when man was made in misery, and when man was formed; he was fed with wood, he was fed with leaves; he wished only the earth; he could not speak, he could not walk; he had no blood, he had no flesh…(黑曜石是他的供养者,当人在苦难中被造,在苦难中被形之时;他以木为食,他以叶为食;他只求大地;他不能言,他不能行;他无血,他无肉)。先民未成人形之前,先由黑曜石供养——这是 Cakchiquel 编年史把「造人」和「供养」绑在一句话里的写法。

Arana Xajilá 的处境和这神话是同构的。他是首领,瘟疫前他用「记」把宗族三十年的事写下;瘟疫中他染病,继续写——他一边是疫中人,一边是记疫人。编年史在第 185 段没有停,只是叙事者自己也进了叙事的对象。这是 16 世纪被殖民者文学最罕见的一种姿态:作者不是旁观,作者是材料。

读到段 5 的「黑曜石供养者」时,再回头看段 185 的「as I was writing」,两句话并置——被殖民者的写,就是黑曜石的供养者。先民未成人形时由它养,先民被征服时由他记。Brinton 1885 编辑这套书时只把它当 Library of Aboriginal American Literature 第 6 卷的素材,但 Arana Xajilá 那句「as I was writing, we also were attacked」让这部编年史成了 16 世纪被殖民者书写本身——写者与被写者合一,供养与受难合一,这部编年史的写法不是史料,是 1572 年危地马拉高地瘟疫中的自我献祭。

一苇
通天尺规 · 航道手记 109