读后感－《先上讣告，后上天堂》－玛里琳·约翰逊

《先上讣告，后上天堂》是加入“新世相·图书馆”计划后收到的第二本书，是一本描绘讣告传统与文化的纪实文学作品。本文是这本书的读后感。...



这本《先上讣告，后上天堂》是新世相图书馆计划的第二本书，说实话，收到这本书时有些失望，因为之前从未太关注过“讣告”类文章，从未想过“讣告”居然也会有“有趣”的一面。

“讣告”这种文章通常出现在西方的报纸和杂志中，而这种文章的发展壮大对于中国人来说不太能理解。用各种不同的态度来面对死者，并将某人的死亡作为一个有趣的话题进行描述、评论，怎么想都是不得体的。

但是我读过这本书之后，对于“讣告”有了更丰富的理解。用作者的话来说:

“任何优秀的讣告，其最重要的价值在于：当一个与众不同的人去世时，它极力以最快的速度让我们知道自己的损失。”

“越是优秀的讣告，越能用文字重现它的主人公。讣告表现的是对死者的敬意，缅怀这个曾在人世闪烁然后逝去的生命。但与此同时，他也是一种挑战，是向上帝或群星挥舞的拳头。”

读这本书时，我第一个想到的是Michael Jackson，想知道他去世时西方媒体是怎样写讣告的，找到了下面这一段话：

Jackson met his own untimely death Thursday at age 50, and more than any of those past icons, he left a complicated legacy. As a child star, he was so talented he seemed lit from within; as a middle-aged man, he was viewed as something akin to a visiting alien who, like Tinkerbell, would cease to exist if the applause ever stopped.

——“Michael Jackson’s life was infused with fantasy and tragedy”, Los Angeles Times.

书中提到在与同事聊天时作者问：“除了《时报》，你最喜欢哪家报纸的讣告？”，回答是“《经济学人》！”这让我吃了一惊，虽然最近我开始读经济学人，但是从没注意到有“讣告”版。

看了一下最新一期经济学人，果然倒数第二版主题是“Obituary”，本期题目是“Obituary: Muhammad Ali: The greatest”，看过这本书，我尝试静下心来读这篇拳王阿里的讣告，结果讣告的第一段就仿佛把我带到了拳击场的现场：

Muhammad Ali, heavyweight boxer, died on June 3rd, aged 74
PURE skill was much of it. The brutal delicacy of the ring-craft, so rare in the heavyweight division. Among the lumbering sloggers he dodged and danced, floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee. Faced with a solid, flat-footed opponent, as all seemed to be compared with him, he would circle, torment and mesmerise, throwing short punches at speed. All that weaving, skipping, leaning leisurely away, before coming in for the kill. Flooring Sonny Liston once with a punch so fast that no one quite saw it (see above). Taunting George Foreman to exhaustion by sinking into the slack ropes, just letting him punch himself out while his own fine, hard body absorbed the blows. He always knew when his rivals would topple. He would mimic their shuffling desperation and his own artistry, pummelling the air with fast, precise, furious fists. Let the old guard complain that he ducked and dipped too much, held his hands too low and his chin cocked too high; he won fights.

——“Obituary: Muhammad Ali: The greatest”, The Economist.

总之，虽然由于文化差异，读这本书时没有很强的代入感，但这本书给了我一个新的视角去观察、了解英美文化，以及促使我更多地思考对于死亡的态度。

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