What I saw: 關於約翰．厄普代克（John Updike）的兩件無關聯的瑣事

 關於約翰．厄普代克（John Updike）的兩件無關聯的瑣事：

從這個經典的對白到他描寫泰德‧威廉斯（Ted Williams）告別球壇的一擊，我想現實生活中說不定厄普代克真如馬文‧憂達爾（Melvin Udall ）一般？

在應該算是經典刻薄對白的電影《愛在心裡口難開》（As Good As It Gets）中，傑克‧尼克遜（Jack Nicholson）飾演態度極其傲慢、言語十分無禮、個性過分囂張的言情小說作家 Melvin Udall。電影中有一幕是在 Melvin Udall 遇到有點過度熱情的書迷（門口總機）時，她跑上前問他問題：
http://youtu.be/rNKIjLLZMWs （0:39起）

Receptionist: I can't resist! You usually move through here so quickly and I just have so many questions I want to ask you. You have no idea what your work means to me.

Melvin Udall: What does it mean to you?
Receptionist: When somebody out there knows what it's like...
Receptionist: ... to be in here.
Melvin Udall: Oh God, this is like a nightmare.
Receptionist: Oh come on! Just a couple of questions. How hard is that?
　
「你怎麼這麼會描寫女性？」（How do you write women so well?）
「我想想一個男人，然後拿掉他的理性和可靠性。」（I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.）
　
而這段對話是美國作家 John Updike 實際發生的事，他在受訪時遇到這個提問，就說出了這樣的回答。

但第一次知道厄普代克其實是來自這篇文章「本城球迷歡送小子」〈Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu〉，描寫「目前」史上最後一名達成單季打擊率四成的球員「小子」泰德．威廉斯（Ted Williams）告別退休賽的最後一打席。9月28日是紅襪主場的該季最後一場比賽，他把巴爾的摩金鶯投手 Jack Fisher 投出的第三球送出了中外野的圍牆之外，以如此高潮為他十九年傳奇的職業生涯畫下了句點。厄普代克坐在觀眾席內，之後描寫最為精彩的一段如下：
　
Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted “We want Ted” for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.
　
他一如往常擊出全壘打時跑壘一般──急著快跑、沒有笑容、頭低低著，我們的讚美聲彷彿是個該躲開的一場暴風雨。他沒有揮帽致意。雖然在他躲進休息區後的數分鐘內，我們鼓譟、哭泣又高喊著：「我們要泰德。」我們持續數秒的喧嘩不再是種興奮之情，成了種需要拯救的巨大公然的痛苦、慟哭和呼喊。他就是沒走出來。報紙寫到其他球員，甚至是場上的裁判們都求他出來，用某種形式致意一下，但是他從來都不這麼做，現在也不會這麼做。神是不回信的。
　
最精彩、廣為人知的一句是，他這麼為威廉斯對球迷的傲慢倨傲來開託：「神是不回信的。」（許多引言寫著「上帝是不給人回信的」，我覺得以厄普代克的個性，是不會用加上定冠詞的單數指「上帝」的！）
　
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu October 22, 1960 Issue By John Updike
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1960/10/22/hub-fans-bid-kid-adieu