村上春树：永远站在鸡蛋的一侧

……

请允许我表达一种观念，一种个人观念。当我写小说的时候，我总是将此观念牢记于心。虽然我还没有到将它写到一张纸上，然后贴在墙上的地步，但是，它已深深刻在我的脑海里，是这样一种观念：

"在高而坚固的墙壁与一只撞向它的鸡蛋之间，我永远站在鸡蛋的一侧。"

是的，无论墙壁是多么理直气壮，鸡蛋是多么可恶可恨。我会站在鸡蛋的一侧。其他什么人，也许时间或历史，会判定谁是谁非。但如果一个小说家，不论由于何种原因，选择为墙壁高唱赞歌，这种作品又有什么意义呢？

这个喻义是什么？某些时候，它十分简单明了。轰炸机、坦克、火箭弹以及白磷弹就是那堵高墙。鸡蛋就是那些手无寸铁，被以上武器摧毁、焚烧、射击的平民百姓。这是其中的一种喻义。

但这不是全部，还有更深层次的喻义。这样来想，我们每一个人，或多或少，都是一只鸡蛋。我们每一个人都是、不可替代的灵魂，它被一个易碎的壳包裹着。这是我的本质，也是你们每一个人的本质。并且，任何一个人，从某种层次上说，都在面临着一堵高大坚固的墙。这堵墙有一个名字：叫做"体制"。体制可能会保护我们，但有时它会形成自己的生命，那时它就开始屠杀我们，或者让我们去杀戮别人——冷漠、高效而且有序。

我写小说的原因只有一个，那就是将灵魂的尊严置于表面，接受阳光的洗礼。一个故事的目的在于敲响警钟，在于使体制里充满阳光，以免它扰乱践踏我们的灵魂。我深信小说家的任务就是通过描写关于生与死，关于爱的那些使人潸然泪下或恐惧战栗或捧腹大笑的故事，来不断地尝试明确每个灵魂的性。这就是我们为什么日复一日地，用极其严肃的态度编造故事。

……

今天我想表达的只有一件事情。那就是我们都是人类，是超越于国籍、种族、信仰的个体，我们都是些面临着一堵叫做"体制"的厚墙的易碎鸡蛋。所有表面现象显示，我们必输无疑。这堵墙如此之高，如此之坚固——如此之冷酷。但如果我们坚信胜利在望，希望就会来自于我们自己或其他人是的、不可替代的信念，来自于所有灵魂集合在一起就会散发温暖的信心。

花一点时间来想一想吧。我们每个人都有一个形迹可寻，活生生的灵魂。而体制没有。我们绝不允许体制利用我们。我们绝不允许它形成自己的生命。不是体制造就了我们；而是我们成全了体制。

这就是我想对大家说的。

能被授予耶路撒冷文学奖我感到非常的荣幸。对于我的书能得到世界各地人们的捧读我也非常感激。同时，我也想对以色列的读者们表达我的谢意，正是由于你们的支持，我才得以站在这里。我希望我们能够一起分享一些东西，一些有意义的东西，我很高兴今天在这里能有这个机会跟大家对话。

非常感谢。

Haruki Murakami: Always on the Side of the Egg

...

Please do allow me to deliver a message, one very personal message. It is something that I always keep in mind while I am writing fiction. I have never gone so far as to write it on a piece of paper and paste it to the wall: rather, it is carved into the wall of my mind, and it goes something like this:

"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."

Yes, no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will stand with the egg. Someone else will have to decide what is right and what is wrong; perhaps time or history will do it. But if there were a novelist who, for whatever reason, wrote works standing with the wall, of what value would such works be?

What is the meaning of this metaphor? In some cases, it is all too simple and clear. Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are that high wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed and burned and shot by them. This is one meaning of the metaphor.

But this is not all. It carries a deeper meaning. Think of it this way. Each of us is, more or less, an egg. Each of us is a unique, irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell. This is true of me, and it is true of each of you. And each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, is confronting a high, solid wall. The wall has a name: it is "The System". The System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it takes on a life of its own, and then it begins to kill us and cause us to kill others -coldly, efficiently, systematically.

I have only one reason to write novels, and that is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. The purpose of a story is to sound an alarm, to keep a light trained on the System in order to prevent it from tangling our souls in its web and demeaning them. I truly believe it is the novelist`s job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories - stories of life and death, stories of love, stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on, day after day, concocting fictions with utter seriousness.

...

I have only one thing I hope to convey to you today. We are all human beings, individuals transcending nationality and race and religion, and we are all fragile eggs faced with a solid wall called The System. To all appearances, we have no hope of winning. The wall is too high, too strong - and too cold. If we have any hope of victory at all, it will have to come from our believing in the utter uniqueness and irreplaceability of our own and others` souls and from our believing in the warmth we gain by joining souls together.

Take a moment to think about this. Each of us possesses a tangible, living soul. The System has no such thing. We must not allow the System to exploit us. We must not allow the System to take on a life of its own. The System did not make us: we made the System.

That is all I have to say to you.

I am grateful to have been awarded the Jerusalem Prize. I am grateful that my books are being read by people in many parts of the world. And I would like to express my gratitude to the readers in Israel. You are the biggest reason why I am here. And I hope we are sharing something, something very meaningful. And I am glad to have had the opportunity to speak to you here today.

Thank you very much.