卡塔琳娜—— 一段罗曼史（英文原版）Catalina.A Romance

记得毛姆的《刀锋》中有这样一段话： “Father Ensheim was broad–minded; he thought that hell was the deprivation of God’s presence, but if that is such an intolerable punishment that it can justly be called hell, can one conceive that a good God can inflict it? After all, he created men, if he so created them that it was possible for them to sin, it was because he willed it. If I trained a dog to fly at the throat of any stranger who came into my back yard, it wouldn’t be fair to beat him when he did so.” Catalina这本书就好像围绕这个观点而生的一个故事。 什么样的行为可谓虔诚？什么样的动机算是有罪？ 最平凡无奇的烘培师Martin被圣母玛利亚选中并治好了Catalina的残疾；高傲的Doña Beatriz斩断情丝一心投入宗教之中，却以上帝之名行不义之事，最终Catalina对Diego热烈的爱唤醒了她沉睡多年的情愫，倍受感动的她终止了自己的计划；位高权重的Blasco将一切欢声笑语和舒适享受从自己生命中剔除，在对自己严酷的鞭策之中表达对上帝无尽的崇爱，却也因此精疲力尽、困顿不前，然而最终是Catalina在戏剧中扮演Mary Magdalene的一段精彩表现深深触动了他，使他第一次感到与上帝同在。 通过这些故事，毛姆或许只是想告诉读者： “Laughter is not the least precious of the gifts that God has granted us. It lightens our burdens in this hard world and enables us to bear many of our troubles with fortitude. Why should we deny a sense of honour to God?” 这是毛姆发布的最后一本书。看着书末的日期，感到很遗憾。 25th January, 1947. 对我影响深刻的这位作家与我生命的交集永远仅在这些翻开的书页之中。 但或许这样也就足够了吧。