南瓜頭
地道英文
作者：by Joyce Carol Oates
喬伊斯·卡羅爾·奧茨（Joyce Carol Oates），出生於1938年，美國當代著名女作家，現任普林斯頓大學駐校作家、客座教授，講授文學創作。奧茨是一位多產作家，自1963年出版首部短篇小說集《北門邊》以來，一直筆耕不斷，佳作連連，活躍至今。因其文學造詣之深，創作成果之豐富，風格之鮮明，故有“女福克納”之稱，並於1978年當選為美國文學藝術院院士。迄今為止已發表長篇小說四十餘部，另著有多部短篇小說、詩歌、戲劇、隨筆等文集。1970年，奧茨以長篇小說《Them》獲得美國國家圖書獎；曾以《Black Water》等3部作品獲得普利策獎提名；《The Falls》榮獲2005年度法國費米納文學獎；《We Were the Mulvaneys》於2001年成為“奧普拉讀書俱樂部”的推薦書目，這使得奧茨首次榮登《紐約時報》暢銷書排行榜榜首。憑借她多年來的文學成就，奧茨至今已兩度獲得諾貝爾文學獎提名。
奧茨的作品充滿了暴力性和悲劇性，她筆下的很多人物常常是其所處的社會環境和自身情感弱點的犧牲品。她特別喜好運用細微的筆觸來陳述她個人對於命運的探索，對象通常是遭受各種折磨以及誤入歧途的女性，本期推薦的短篇小說講述的內容也大致如此：剛剛喪夫、還未走出悲痛的哈德莉，合作超市裏謙卑、笨拙、愛慕哈德莉並比其小10歲的員工安東·克魯普夫，這場剃頭挑子一頭熱的感情鬧劇在開篇的惡作劇玩笑中就已展露無遺，而它將如何收場就成為揪住我們目光的那個點，吸引我們關注到最後。哈德莉能否敞開心扉，而安東又是否能夠覓得美人芳心，而為整個故事罩上了驚悚色彩的南瓜頭是否還有著其它用途？讓我們拭目以待……
In late March， there’d been a sleet storm throughout north-central New Jersey. Her husband had died several days before. There was no connection， she knew. But since that time she’d begun to notice at twilight a curious glistening to the air. Often， she found herself in the doorway of her house， or outside， not remembering how she’d got there. For long minutes， she would stare as the colors faded and a glassy light emerged from the sky and from the 1）Scotch pines surrounding the house. It did not seem to her a natural light， and in weak moments she thought， This is the crossing-over time. She watched， not knowing what she might be seeing. She felt aroused， 2）vigilant. She felt apprehension. She wondered if the strange glistening to the air had always been there but in her previous， protected life she hadn’t noticed it.
This October evening， before the sun had entirely set， a pair of headlights turned in to the driveway， some distance away by the road. She was startled into alertness—at first not sure where she was. Then she remembered： Anton Kruppev was dropping by to see her.
Dropping by， he’d said. Or maybe she’d said， Why don’t you drop by？
She couldn’t make out his face. He was driving a 3）pickup truck with white lettering on one side. He climbed down from the driver’s seat in the high cab and 4）lurched toward her on the shadowy path—a tall male 5）scarecrow figure with a misshapen Halloween pumpkin for a head. What a shock！ Hadley backed away， not sure what she was seeing. A grinning pumpkin head on a man’s shoulders， its leering cutout eyes not lit from within， like a 6）jack-o’-lantern， but dark， glassy. And the voice issuing through the grinning slash-mouth in heavily accented English：“Ma’am？ Is correct address？ You are—lady of the house？”
She laughed， nervously. She supposed she was meant to laugh.
With 7）grating mock gravity， the voice persevered：“You are—resident here， Ma’am？ I am—welcome here？ Yes？”