普罗旺斯的日子 － 阳光下的色彩和文字

 

有一小段时间，我们住在普罗旺斯，就是那个遍地绿色葡萄树，金色向日葵和紫色熏衣草的法国南部。

我们住的小镇叫Isle sur la Sorgue，意为索格河上的小岛。住的地方在郊外，到处是橄榄树，橡树和松树，一直延续到远处的群山之中。夜里黑黑的，然后太阳会忽然从山的那边跳出来，急切的穿过窗子，温暖着人的身体，那热情和伦敦太阳冷冷的矜持大不一样。我于是起身到阳台上，在阳光下呼吸那仍然凉爽的新鲜空气，碰碰那些伸过来的橄榄果和小橡子粒儿。

然后我们会启程，开始一天在阳光下色彩中的穿行。路上很多时候，两边连绵不断的梧桐树会把道路围成美丽的拱形画面，行进其中是个难忘的体验。

对我来说，那些旅行，更是在文字中的穿行。在圣瑞米(St Remy), 我减慢车速，打量着那些建筑和树木，试图感觉梵高在精神病院里写他那些书信时的心情。在阿尔(Arles), 我在一个小饭店里一边吃中饭，一边看着对面的那个小旅馆。然后走进去，看那旅馆内院的黄色，那被梵高加重了色度的黄色。在万颗露泉(Fountain VanCluse)，我注视着那清澈的河水，想着文艺复兴鼻祖彼德拉克(Patrarch)的诗篇。在卡马谷(Camargue)的沼泽湖边上，在无边的孤寂之中我好像听到了西蒙·德·波娃的脚步声。在娄玛云(Lourmarin)，我在想，这段路，是不是加缪曾经走过。

那些感觉便这样进入了我的日记。

八月二十八日，阿维农，索格

“在一个秋高气爽的日子里，夕阳西下的时候来到阿维农是个美妙的体验”，雨果这样说。（“Arriving in Avignon with a beautiful autumn sunset is a wonderful sight.” Victor Hugo noted in 1839.）

我们从巴黎坐TGV， 就是在这样的一个傍晚到了普罗旺斯的大门－阿维农(Avignon)。如果是夏天，空气会是潮湿而且雾蒙蒙的，不象现在这样能看到远山和罗纳(Rhone)河。上次路过这是2006年。那次是夜里到，到处的梧桐树，让我觉得像合肥或上海。不过那次从这里我们去了French Riviera, 就是海边的尼斯，坎城，蒙特卡罗等等。这次我们要住在内陆，真正的普罗旺斯。

在火车站边的租车公司取来预定好了的车，半个小时就到了索格河上的小岛(Isle sur la Sorgue)。看来看去，并没觉得是在岛上，大概从前这个镇只有街心的那一点点，被河水包围的那块地方，所以称为岛吧。

在小镇郊外一片橄榄树，橡树和松树之中，我们找到了住处。到阳台上，看看天上那些清晰的星星，风吹过来，星光在打着转，想到梵高那些夜晚星空的画。

八月二十九日，普罗旺斯的山城

上午，和太太在早市场里闲逛，当地的葡萄比超级市场里的好看也好吃。买了各种水果，蔬菜，香肠等食品，拿回去坐在阳台上就着阳光吃了午饭。

下午去篙子（Gords），一个令人惊艳的小山城：快到的时候，整个悬挂在山头的小城，兀地出现在眼前。

回来的时候转到山谷里的 Abbaye de Senanque，是个“寺庙”，有名的看熏衣草的地方，很多明信片上都有那一景。可惜我们去的时候已经过了季节，没什么颜色了。

然后去罗塞邻（Roussillon），也是个山城。本来不远，可是出来走错了路，弯弯曲曲，一个多小时才到。罗塞邻不同的是颜色，到处是红土。房子也是红色的。诺贝尔文学奖得主 Samulel Beckett二战的时候住在这里。

我们在一个小冰淇淋店的阳台上坐下来，阳台面向山谷，灿烂的阳光扑面而来。

晚上回来的时候，路过 Fountain Vancluse，我把它译成万颗露泉。 我们的住所其实和万颗露泉更近。万颗露泉是索格河的源头。河水清澈可以见底，让人有一捧而饮的冲动。我马上被这个河边山脚下的小城所吸引。Gords比这个地方有名，也更美，为什么我对这个小城更为心动呢！ 想想自己喜欢的地方一定要有河流，莫非与自己出生地有条江有关系？不可思议。圣人说智者乐水，仁者乐山。可见自己不够厚道仁义，有点小聪明聊以慰藉！

河水从旁边的山脚下汹涌出来，几千年如此，实在很神秘。山脚下有彼得拉克(Patrarch)的小博物馆。这个文艺复兴的鼻祖，在这里为自己喜爱的女人Laura写了无数十四行诗。不过据说二人并不曾直接交流过。诗人在二十三岁时瞥了她一眼之后，就知道自己终生妄想的目标了。

她美丽的金发飘在背后，

长长的黑睫毛令人着迷，

她的脸洁白如雪无寒意，

步履轻盈如天使，声音宛自天堂里。

Her locks of beautiful golden hair flowed down her back,

Her eyes with long ebony lashes were ravishing,

Here face was as white as snow but without its coldness

She walked as softly as angel and her voice sounded otherworldly.

在《文明的故事－文艺复兴》这本书里，威尔杜兰这样写到：

1327年，彼得拉克告诉我们，他看见了那个让他终生难忘然后因为为她而青史留名的女人。他用细致迷人的语言描述她，但从来不暴露她的身份，以致他的朋友们都觉得这只是他的想像，诗人的狂想。但是，在米兰“天香”图书馆珍藏的，弗吉尔一本书的扉页上，我们看到他在1348年这样写到：

劳拉，美德出众，在我的诗中不断出现的人，在1327年的四月六日，爱维农，圣塔克拉拉教堂那个时刻，第一次出现在我的面前。在1348年，同一个城市，同一个月份，同样的第六天，同一个时间，消逝而去，一同带走了我的阳光。

It was on Good Friday of 1327, he tells us, that he saw the woman whose withheld charms made him the most famous poet of his age.  He described her in fascinating detail, but kept the secret of her identity so well that even his friends thought her the invention of his muse, and counted all his passion as poetic license.  But on the flyleaf of his copy of Virgil, jealously treasured in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, may still be seen the words that he wrote in 1348:

Laura, who was distinguished by her virtues, and widely celebrated by my songs, first appeared to my eyes...in the year of Our Lord 1327, on the sixth day of April, at the first hour, in the church of Santa Clara at Avignon. In the same city, in the same month, on the same sixth day, at the same first hour, in the year 1348, that light was taken from our day.

人们按图索骥发现了劳拉的背景，大概彼得拉克初次见到她时她已是名花有主。不管怎样诗人把他的爱情藏到了心底，远远地躲起来。来到这个万颗露泉。他说：“我几乎所有的诗篇都源于这个地方”。(“Almost all of the poems that my pen produced were composed there or inspired by that place.”)

“The occasional sincerity of his feeling for her is suggested by his later remorse over its sensual elements, and his gratitude for the refining influence of this unrequited love.”

拜伦曾说过，如果劳拉真的成了彼得拉克的老婆，他还会写出那些诗篇吗？

大概不会！

八月三十日，更多的山城

早晨和太太又跑到万颗露泉，还想听那激流声，看看日出时的小河。不过山太高，小河在阳光照不到的地方。拍了很多照片。对河水之清澈又是感叹一番。

开车去小鹿不忍（Petite Lubron）一带。那是皮特梅耶（Peter Mayle）《普罗旺斯的一年》里描述的地方（“A year in Provence”）。路过好几座小城，都很小，没什么能让人记得住的。 不过，那份安静，让人难忘。加缪（Albert Camus）1946年第一次到这里。那静静的感觉大概让他想到阿尔及利亚的故乡。他写到：“我住在一个翻了新的城堡里，每个屋子都很大。每天我都行走在那阳光下的山谷里，橄榄树和柏树之间。那的夜晚很温和，天空中布满星斗。（All day long I walked through a country of hills, olive trees and cypresses, the days glittered with sun, the evenings were mild, and the nights with stars.）

像所有人一样，到过普罗旺斯，就会被她迷住。他经常跑到这里，一边度假，一边和那里的文学朋友会面。1958年得了诺贝尔奖后，他干脆就买了房子，在这里写作度日。可惜，1960年，他在另外一个地方，酒乡勃艮第车祸死去，泥巴里有着他未完的自传体小说收稿《第一个人》。

八月三十一日，都德，梵高和德波伏娃

又开始一天在阳光下色彩缤纷中的穿行。

车开在圣若米（St Remy）, 我放慢速度，那些建筑和树木，似乎在梵高的信中都描述过。 在信里，梵高是镇静的，好像那个神经质的人不是他 －“在生命中前行会遇到很多困难，然而正是在和这些困难搏斗中，内心才能更加坚强”。

到了Le baux，又是个小山城,。

然后执意带全家到Fountville去看一个风车。虽然有些绕路，只因为那是都德的风车。在风车下的乱石子路上再走几分钟，就到了都德年轻时住过的地方。他曾说，“我写的所有的东西，都来源于那。”

“How many times, in winter, did I come here, to breath the heathy air, return to nature and cure myself of the Paris and its fevers. I’d arrive without notice, sure of their welcome, announced only by the fanfare of peacocks and hunting dogs.”

“Every sentence I wrote echoes the shade of your pines and the murmur of the mistral  and our casual conversations.” He wrote to his cousin.

阿尔（Arles）

慢慢的在Rue Cavalerie一个旅馆前面的小饭店里吃中饭，打量着那旅馆。阳光透过梧桐树叶照过来，蜜蜂在和我抢食着盘里的法国饭，赶也赶不走。

吃完饭走进那旅馆，看那内院的黄色，那被梵高加重了色度的黄色。“黄色”，梵高说，“是希望的颜色“。

那是梵高到南部的第一个住处，他的心情是好的： “太阳泼洒着鲜艳的黄色，像纯金色的雨，所有的线条都很可爱。”（“The air here is definitely doing me good, I wish you could fill your lungs with it.”）

“Nature here is so extraordinarily beautiful.  Everywhere and over all the value of the sky is soft and lovely, what a country.  I cannot paint it as lovely, but it absorbs me so much that I let myself go, never thinking of a single rule.  .... I’m beginning to feel I’m quite a different creature from the one I was when I came here.”

可是好景不长，那致命的精神病状一点一点的爬上来，不可阻挡。 梵高也意识到了， 在给他弟弟的信中说： though our neurosis, etc, is certainly due to our rather too artistic way of life, it is also part of an inescapable heritage...Take our sister Wil, she has never been given to drinking, or led a loose life, and yet we know a portrait of her in which she has the facial expression of a lunatic.  Isn’t that proof enough that, if we face up to our true state of mind, we have to acknowledge that we are among those who suffer from a mental illness rooted quite long way back in the past?”

在伦敦，有一天我去看高更在伦敦的画展。一个同事说：“David是去比较高更和梵高，因为他喜欢的是梵高，他对高更有偏见，是高更伤害了他喜欢的画家。”

我听了一惊，他怎么知道，莫非我说了梦话不成。也许什么时候说过，即使如此，当时我一定也在梦中。

是的，我喜欢梵高，因为他的画都是一个瞬间的印象：一个向日葵，一个布满星星的夜空，一个走了样子的教堂，一群从麦地里飞起来的鸟。那是我瞬间即为永恒的审美观念。高更不同，他大部分的画里有众多的人／灵，有太多所谓的含义。

卡马谷（Camargue）

从Aeles出来向南，罗纳（Rhone）河有两条支流向地中海流去。中间夹着一片湿地。我们走的是右侧D36号路，然后从D36B回来。老婆和孩子想要看火烈鸟（Flamingos)和天鹅，我则是想要体验一下一种孤寂的感觉。

如同大海一样广袤的一片沼泽地，只是水面上的波纹和大海不同，给人一种孤独无尽瀚海无边的感觉。密斯特拉风强力的扫过来，没有任何遮挡，好像要把一切抹平一般，都德这样写到。

“Like the sea, unified despite its waves, this plain exudes a feeling of aloneness and boundlessness, and the mistral’s powerful breath flowing permanently, without obstacle, seems to flatten and enlarge the scenery.” Daudet wrote.

多年以后，年轻时的德·波娃(Simone de Beauvoir)来到这里，“J’aimais la nudité de la Camargue”，她说.  我在想，法语的“nudité”比英文的“Barren”要形象的多。

远远地看过去，有些像中国南部那些湖。

我想，德·波娃一定也到过我们休息的，买了两瓶水那个地方吧。

没想到我的老朋友梵高也曾到此一游：“One night I went for a walk by the sea along the empty shore, I was not gay but not sad either.  It was beautiful. The deep blue sky was flickered with clouds of a blue deeper than the fundamental blue of intense cobalt, and others of a clearer blue, like the blue whiteness of the Milky Way.  On the blue depth the stars were sparkling, greenish, yellow, white, rose, brighter, flashing more like jewels than they do even in Paris.  The sea was a very deep ultramarine.” 

哈哈，这老兄怎么看到这么多烂七八糟的颜色！

九月一日: Went to the north, had lunch at the Chateauneuf du Pape, bought a bottle of wine in a vineyard, the river Rhone can be seen not far away, I marveled at this blessed region of France.   They are so lucky.   

Beautiful vineyard views along the way when coming back.

九月二日: Drove a long way to Cassis.   

I have to see the ocean.   I haven't seen one for more than a year and I was missing ocean so much, not to mention this is the Mediterranean.   Last time I was there was a few years ago.   Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo and that little village called Eze, I still think it is one of the most beautiful places I ever seen.   If we cannot visit there, at least I should see the ocean.  So there we are, in Cassis, the bay for the Marseille affluents. There, we took a boat to the sea and saw those famous calanques. Many nude swimmers lying on the rocks, beautiful bodies, but a bit like slugs!

Passed by Aix en Provence, I just wanted to have a feel of the place Cezanne lived, so was Zola.

九月三日: Went to the nearby Pene Fountain in the early morning, didn't want to go anywhere else, feel a bit tired of driving.   But hard to be idle at home, so we went to Gords again in the afternoon, had a long trail walk in the hill. Saw  Abbaye de Senanque below in the foot of the hill, but cannot get there.   Almost lost our way.

九月四日: Drove to Avignon in the morning, visited the town center, including Pope's Palace, I was there a few years ago.   The Wutong(plane) trees reminded me of southern China towns, like Hefei when I first saw it when I was sixteen.  

Came back to Paris, visited Louvre and back to  London  in the evening. 

白大伟，2010年十二月