三本新書 詳細刻畫與疾病共處堅忍歷程

Friedrich Nietzsche’s maxim, that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, has a corollary in the book world: What doesn’t kill you will be the topic of your memoir.

尼采的名言「凡殺不死你的，會使你更強大。」可以推論到出版界：凡殺不死你的，可成為你回憶錄書名。

The cultural appetite for stories of illness, disease, disorder and grave old age is bottomless. David Pecker, who presided over the National Enquirer and other tabloids for decades, understood the type of headlines — “Sad Last Days,” “Six Months to Live” — that drew the most readers.

對於罹病、疾病、失調和高齡故事的文化喜好是無窮盡的。曾掌管國家詢問報和其他小報數十年的大衛．派克了解，「悲傷的最後數日」和「只剩六個月可活」這類標題能吸引最多讀者。

As a genre, disease and illness memoirs are permanently interesting if honest and sharply observed.

如果據實以告且觀察入微，疾病與病痛回憶錄這個類別永遠能令人感興趣。

Three new books about affliction — Fred D’Aguiar’s “Year of Plagues,” about his aggressive prostate cancer; Jan Grue’s “I Live a Life Like Yours,” about living with spinal muscular atrophy, diagnosed at age 3; and James Tate Hill’s “Blind Man’s Bluff,” about being declared legally blind at 16 — have a lot to say about desire and pain and depression and shame and unlikely sources of joy, among other topics.

關於疾病之苦的三本新書：佛雷德．達吉亞的「瘟疫之年」寫他的惡性攝護腺癌，揚．格魯的「我的生活和你一樣」寫他在三歲診斷出脊髓性肌肉萎縮症後與之共存，以及16歲被宣告為法定盲人的詹姆斯．塔特．希爾「盲人的吹牛」。如同其他主題，他們都有很多關於渴望、痛苦、沮喪、羞恥和無預期的喜悅想說。

These books resonate especially during this COVID relapse. It’s a wary, sensitizing moment. Everybody knows that no one needs more trouble added to their pile.

這些書在新冠疫情再度爆發這段期間特別引發迴響，這是人人小心翼翼且敏感的時刻。每人都知道，沒有人的重擔上需要更多麻煩。

These books are very different.

這幾本書非常不同。

D’Aguiar is a poet, novelist and playwright who was born in London to Guyanese parents. He’s in his early 60s and lives in Southern California, where he’s a professor of English at UCLA.

達吉亞是出生於倫敦的詩人、小說家及劇作家，雙親是蓋亞那人。他現在60歲出頭，住在南加州，在洛杉磯加州大學擔任英語教授。

In the fall of 2019, he began to feel unwell. When he learned he had prostate cancer, he had no idea what was in store: a year of tests and probes and radiation treatments and surgery that had to take place under fear of COVID and under strict COVID protocols.

2019年秋季他開始感到不適，當他得知罹患攝護腺時，對於會發生什麼事毫無概念：一整年的檢驗、探查、放射線治療和手術，還必須在對新冠肺炎的恐懼與嚴格防疫規定下進行。

Grue's book details a life spent largely in a wheelchair, although he can walk a bit, while dreaming of freedom of motion and escape from reliance on, and the gazes of, others.

格魯雖然能走一點路，他的書詳細描寫大多數時間都坐在輪椅上的人生，同時夢想著行動自如與逃離依賴，還有其他人的眼光。

Grue is married and has a child. He is helplessly epigrammatic: “Diagnosis is not fate”; “Even one who is weak may despise weakness”; “The gaze of others is disciplinary”; and, brilliantly, “The search for a higher purpose can also be an attempt to flee.”

格魯已婚，有一個小孩。他不由自主的諷刺說「診斷並非命運」，「即使是個虛弱的人也可能瞧不起虛弱」，還有更精采的，「尋找一個更高遠的目的也可能是企圖逃離」。

Hill’s memoir is about how, while in high school, he learned he had Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy. It’s a condition that left Hill legally blind.

希爾回憶錄寫道，高中得知罹患雷伯氏視神經萎縮症，導致他被判定為法定盲。

Hill may be legally blind, but he can still see a tiny amount, around the margins. “Blind Man’s Bluff” is an ideal title, because the book is largely about Hill’s attempts to pass as a sighted person. Like Grue, he really hates being left behind.

希爾或許法定失明，但他仍可以看見物體邊緣的一小部分。「盲人的吹牛」是個理想的書名，因為這本書大部分是關於希爾嘗試裝成看得見的人。就像格魯，他也討厭被拋在後頭。

911事件20周年特展 因省錢取消

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum in lower Manhattan has dropped plans for special exhibitions commemorating the 20th anniversary of what was perhaps the most traumatic day in modern American history, museum officials said.

位於紐約曼哈頓下城的911國家紀念博物館館方表示，已放棄舉辦特展計畫，紀念可能是美國現代史上最讓人傷心一天20周年。

The reduction came after a severe budget crisis forced the nonprofit museum to make cuts that included furloughs and layoffs affecting around 60% of its staff.

取消特展是因為這座非營利博物館發生嚴重預算危機，不得不縮減支出，包括讓大約六成員工放無薪假或將他們資遣。

Before the coronavirus pandemic, curators had discussed a large anniversary exhibition examining music’s role in uniting Americans after 9/11 and other tragedies, such as the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando, Florida. But when more than half of the exhibitions department was laid off, museum leaders shelved the project, according to three former department members.

在新冠肺炎疫情爆發前，策展人曾討論舉辦大型周年展，主題是在911與佛州奧蘭多「脈衝」夜店槍擊案等悲劇發生後，音樂如何團結美國人。不過，根據三名展覽部前員工說法，在展覽部過半人力被裁之後，館方高層就擱置了這項計畫。

A spokeswoman, Lee Cochran, said the decision was to focus on the “core museum experience” — the existing permanent exhibitions that drive attendance.

館方發言人李依．柯克倫說，館方決定專注在「本館核心體驗」上，也就是帶來參觀人次的常設展。

Administrators said that the layoffs and the elimination of special anniversary programming had been approved by the institution’s chairman, Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor.

館方行政人員說，裁員和取消特展，都經博物館董事長、紐約前市長彭博同意。

“Leadership put together the best possible plan to navigate this extraordinarily challenging time,” Marc La Vorgna, a Bloomberg representative, said in a statement, adding that Bloomberg had personally donated $30 million to the museum and raised another $15 million for the institution during the pandemic.

彭博的代表拉沃格納發表聲明說，「高層整理制定出最佳計畫，以度過這段特別具挑戰性的時日」，彭博已用個人名義捐款3000萬美元給館方，並在疫情期間為館方另外募得1500萬美元。

“The Board supported and approved plans that were necessary to prevent this vitally important institution from suffering long-term harm, and to preserve its mission to remember and honor the victims of Sept. 11,” La Vorgna said.

拉沃格納說：「董事會支持並且批准必要計畫，防止這至關重要的機構受到長期損害，並維持本館銘記911的罹難者並向他們致敬的使命。」

A planned traveling exhibition about the history of 9/11 has been replaced with downloadable posters created in partnership with the American Library Association.

館方原本還打算舉辦關於911歷史的巡迴展，後來改為與美國圖書館學會合作，製作可供下載的海報。

The museum and memorial will resume its live reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

館方將恢復在現場念出2011年9月11日遇害的近3000人姓名。

The 9/11 Museum is largely dependent on ticket sales; its temporary closure and limited capacity left the institution with an $18 million deficit last year.

911博物館主要靠門票收入維持營運，去年為防疫暫時閉館和限制容留人數，以致虧損1800萬美元。