1912年4月15日，“泰坦尼克”號沉沒，這場悲劇距今已經差不多整整一百年了。這艘豪華游輪沉入汪洋，但文學世界的動人作品卻破水而出，成為歷代作家取之不盡的靈感之源。 
致命瞬間化作迷人文字
1912年5月，英國作家托馬斯·哈代（Thomas Hardy）成為首個以“泰坦尼克”號為創(chuàng)作對象的作家。早在沉船事故發(fā)生一個月之時，哈代便在十四行詩《合二為一》（The Convergence of the Twain）中刻畫了郵輪與冰川相撞的瞬間。哈代抓住了二者的契合點，將那致命而又迷人的頃刻幻化為靈動文字。
1931年，英國劇作家諾埃爾·科沃德（No?l Coward）創(chuàng)作了戲劇作品《亂世春秋》（Cavalcade），將“泰坦尼克”號事件作為背景，融入喜劇元素加以包裝，削弱了故事的悲劇性，從而將觀眾引入一個精彩絕妙的喜劇世界。
1955年，美國作家沃爾特·洛德（Walter Lord）出版了紀實文學作品《冰海沉船》（A Night to Remember）。洛德搜集了大量的第一手資料，并采訪了63名沉船事故幸存者，以真實的視角再現(xiàn)了“泰坦尼克”號郵輪處女航的悲劇之旅。公眾對于“泰坦尼克”號災難的關注超乎想象，此書甫一面世便長踞暢銷書榜首，一直沒有停止再版翻印。1958年，英國導演羅伊·沃德·貝克（Roy Ward Baker）將這一作品改編為同名電影，搬上熒幕。
1996年，英國女作家貝麗爾·班布里奇（Beryl Bainbridge）以“泰坦尼克”號為題材了歷史小說《人人為己》（Every Man for Himself），此書摘得英國惠特布萊德圖書獎最佳小說桂冠，并獲得英國文學布克獎提名。
悲劇真相依然引人追問
災難之夜過后，705名幸存者的生命徹底改變，留下了永難平復的傷痛。人們十分關心他們獲救后的生活態(tài)度和心境變化。2012年，安德魯·威爾遜（Andrew Wilson）出版了紀實文學作品《泰坦尼克號的陰影》（Shadow of the Titanic），用撼動人心的文字記述了幸存者難以言說的苦澀和不安。
有些人注定要為這場災難背上永遠的臭名，譬如“泰坦尼克”號締造者英國白星航運公司的董事長J·布魯斯·伊斯梅（J Bruce Ismay）；有些人注定要承受一輩子的“死之舞”，譬如馬德琳·阿斯特（Madeleine Astor），丈夫約翰·雅各布·阿斯特（John Jacob Astor）為了救她而犧牲了自己的性命，那時候他們結婚剛半年。
“泰坦尼克”號的沉沒還引發(fā)了另一番永遠也逃不脫的拷問：真相究竟是什么？郵輪下沉之時，到底發(fā)生了什么？比如說，一號救生艇上到底發(fā)生了什么事情？或者問得再具體一點，當時的蘇格蘭準公爵科斯莫·達夫-戈登（Cosmo Duff-Gordon）跟他的夫人到底做了什么？據說，準公爵夫婦給了救生艇船員每人5英磅（這在當時是一筆不小的錢），并且拒絕救助落水者。媒體曾大肆報道此事，并指責他們“膽怯、賄賂而又冷酷”。后來英國貿易部調查委員會認定，達夫-戈登并沒有阻止船員救人，但是他的“花錢買命”之舉仍難逃詬病。面對調查組作證時，達夫-戈登的妻子在交叉詢問的過程中暴露出諸多問題：記憶之不可靠，危急狀態(tài)下個人力量之脆弱，以及瀕臨意識模糊之際對是非問題之心理落差。一言以蔽之，她面臨著“生存困境”。像達夫-戈登這樣的幸存者，勢必要接受精神上和道德上的雙重折磨。
深入挖掘探尋人性本原
要解決幸存者敘事所編織的道德兩難，或許只有小說能做到了。夏洛特·羅根（Charlotte Rogan）的文學小說處女作《救生艇》（The Lifeboat）就是這樣一部引人入勝卻又引人不安的作品。小說以第一人稱的敘述語言，借助豐富細微、扣人心弦的敏銳筆觸，巧妙地置入了倫理困境問題。羅根在《救生艇》中提到了1914年夏天沉沒的遠洋郵輪“亞歷山德拉女皇”號（Empress Alexandra）。這一情節(jié)是虛構的，這場災難也是虛構的，但是這個情節(jié)的靈感來源就是“泰坦尼克”號。
新婚夫婦格蕾絲·溫特（Grace Winter）與亨利·溫特（Henry Winter）共度蜜月，不料乘坐的這艘橫渡大西洋的郵輪起火沉沒了。正如約翰·雅各布·阿斯特所做的那樣，亨利也設法為妻子謀得了一席之地，這是最后一艘救生艇上的一個救生座位。格葛絲與38位陌生人困在同一艘救生艇上，開始了海上求生之旅。救生艇在海上漂流了三個星期后獲救，然而這三個星期卻是人性最丑陋的體現(xiàn)。乘客各懷鬼胎，見死不救、猜忌、陷害之事層出不窮。格蕾絲活了下來，但隨即以謀殺罪行遭到起訴。我們可以在書中逐漸領會到，這名年僅22歲的孀婦死里逃生所付出的代價。作者成功碰觸到善與惡、對與錯、黑與白之間的灰色地帶，預計將成為2012年最具話題性的小說之一。
《救生艇》也是作者羅根的一條險中求勝之道。夏洛特·羅根，1975年畢業(yè)于普林斯頓大學，這是她首次出版的文學小說作品。多年來，羅根始終懷有成為小說家的抱負，為此還上過已故短篇小說家哈羅德·布羅德基（Harold Brodkey）的寫作課。不過，羅根始終把家庭放在首位，在得克薩斯州達拉斯育有三胞胎。《紐約時報》作者、得克薩斯州同鄉(xiāng)薩拉·莫斯勒（Sara Mosle）偶然中發(fā)現(xiàn)，羅根的抽屜里塞滿了30年來未發(fā)表的文學作品，其中還有多部小說。莫斯勒閱讀了部分文稿，立即將羅根推薦給了文稿代理人戴維·麥考密克（David McCormick）。在還未正式出版時，《救生艇》就已受到多位英美暢銷小說作家和出版商的高度好評。緊張刺激的情節(jié)，瑰麗多變的文風，《救生艇》這部作品必將成為夏洛特·羅根文學生涯中的救生艇。（完）
As early as May 1912, Thomas Hardy's poem The Convergence of the Twain captured the fatal and mesmerising conjunction of the iceberg and the liner. In 1931, No?l Coward's play, Cavalcade, featured a comic scene that reduces the tragedy to a brilliant theatrical joke. In 1996, Beryl Bainbridge's Every Man for Himself was shortlisted for the Booker. More As Some, The Perhaps only fiction can tackle the moral dilemmas braided into the survivor's tale. A compelling and disquieting first novel, The Lifeboat, Newly The Lifeboat is also an Brodkey was all posture. Rogan, who
immediately, there was a huge public appetite for spine-tingling
accounts of the disaster, from the scarcely perceptible moment of impact
to the terrible screams of drowning men. Walter Lord's 1955 classic A Night to Remember, which also became a movie, has illuminated every subsequent Titanic book and film.
harrowing as the disaster was the fate of the 705 survivors whose lives
were scarred by the horrors of that night. Andrew Wilson, the equal of
Walter Lord, reports this side of the story in Shadow of the Titanic (Simon & Schuster), a gripping account of the sinking's bitter aftermath.
like Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line, were
doomed to become a whipping boy for the catastrophe. For others, such as
Madeleine Force Astor, whose husband, JJ Astor, sacrificed himself to
save his bride, life as a survivor became a danse macabre that ended in
marriage to a brutal and penniless Italian prizefighter.
Titanic story sponsors another circle of narrative hell: the truth, or
otherwise, of what really happened once the ship went down. What, for
instance, took place on lifeboat number one? In particular, what was the
conduct of Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon? The press had a field day with
allegations of cowardice and corruption, including the bribing of the
lifeboat's crew. When Lady Duff Gordon gave evidence to the Board of
Trade investigation, her cross-examination exposed the fallibility of
memory, the frailty of the individual in extremis and the psychological
chasm between those who have, and those who have not, had to confront
imminent oblivion. Plainly, hers was an existential predicament.
by Charlotte Rogan (Virago), addresses this question with a rich,
enthralling subtlety. Rogan's lifeboat is fictional, as is her disaster –
the sinking of the Empress Alexandra in the summer of 1914 – but the
inspiration for her irresistible first-person narrative is the Titanic.
married Grace Winter and her husband are honeymooning on a
transatlantic liner when it catches fire and sinks. Like JJ Astor, Henry
Winter secures his new wife a single, life-saving seat on the last
lifeboat. Grace Winter survives. But, at her subsequent trial for
murder, we begin to discover – or do we? – the price the 22-year-old
widow has paid for her escape.
escape route for its author. Charlotte Rogan, who graduated from
Princeton in 1975, is a first-timer with her own exceptional story.
Nurturing the ambition to be a novelist for many years, she once took a
writing course with the late Harold Brodkey, another writer who devoted
years to a magnum opus.
modestly says she has been teaching herself to write throughout her
adult life, is a much more appealing figure. Like many women with
literary ambitions, she put her family first and stayed at home in
Dallas, raising triplets. A chance encounter with New York Times writer and fellow Texan Sara Mosle revealed that Rogan had a drawer
full of unpublished fiction, including several novels, written over 30
years.
With some trepidation, Mosle agreed to advise Rogan about
the promotion of her work to a New York publisher, was impressed by what
she found and put her in touch with literary agent David McCormick, who
proceeded to clinch an immediate sale for one of Rogan's novels, a book
that Mosle had not even read. This was The Lifeboat, which has
been acclaimed before publication by both JM Coetzee and Emma Donoghue.
It looks set to become Charlotte Rogan's literary life raft.
