年華 The Heart of The Wise

“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of the fools is in the house of mirth.”

----------  Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes 7:4

Ta-da, my reading of the month was The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and as a rebound (don’t ask me why, please) I already embarked on Angela Carter’s The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman for my November read.  Wharton scaffolds the intricate New York high society and depicts the interiority of her characters with a melancholy sensibility.  The protagonist, Lily Bart, is far from likable.  Witnessing her demise, the reader is cornered and suffocated by disillusions in the end.  Edith Wharton too was the product of her society that privileges did not bestow happiness.

初讀Edith Wharton於花樣年華純真年代, 加上Scorsese的經典電影, 她的不回首與他的過門不入, 讓人惆悵.  Wharton寫內心戲真正高手, 十月選讀The House of Mirth 也曾搬上銀幕, 由Gillian Anderson主演, 可惜當年錯過現下也找不著.  浮華人生, 沒落貴族, 花瓶般的女主角Lily Bart有太多的心機, 極度缺乏勇氣, 隨波逐流凋零絕境, 寫實的凄涼.

女主角的意中人Lawrence Sheldon娘炮精神, 錙銖必較, 殊不可愛; 倒是幾位配角, 惡性張揚, 飛躍紙上, Wharton的文字魅惑, 不知不覺數百頁已讀至尾聲.

My companion readings were totally unrelated except for the poetic visual that revels Wharton’s stunning social realism:  Around The World in Eighty Trees, Around The World in Eighty Plants.  Both by Jonathan Drori with Illustrations by Lucille Clerc.  The voyages extraordinaire to the Plant Kingdom!

逛渡輪碼頭, 發掘兩本紙張秀雅, 編排別緻的現代本草綱目:  環遊世界八十天植物系列!  Jonathan Drori敘述如學究導覽穿插軼事, Lucille Clerc的繪圖線條纖細靈動, 無邊想像, 端杯茶神遊午后.

 

The LK clan decided that since we could not travel freely as yet due to COVID… why not penning Around The World in Eighty Restaurants?

 

不能環遊世界的時候便遍嚐各國佳餚替代吧!

 

Cal-Indian cuisine at the Ettan.  There must be a witchcraft in those savory dishes that we couldn’t stop eating until feeling like a family of strained whales…

曾經大學城的地標, 如今是新派印度菜餐廳, 穠馥鮮香, 層次感華麗.

Thai faire at the Farmhouse Kitchen.  While I would not claim myself a connoisseur of Thai cooking, my past trips to Bangkok and Chiangmai were signaling that these were ‘Americanized’.  The overt sweetness dulled the senses. 

人氣泰國菜, 活色生香, 口味略顯誇張…

 

Edomae sushi at the Omakase.  The gregarious executive Chef Yu came from Beijing, apprenticed in the top restaurants in Tokyo and started his Michelin-starred culinary empire in San Francisco. 

魚鮨佳美江戶前壽司, 海派健談的大廚來自北京, 貫貫握壽司捻來有銀座名店架勢, 吃得開懷!

  

I finally had the chance of hand-delivering the watercolor portrait to Echo.  It was wonderful to catch up over the delightful grilled branzino at the Villa Taverna.

總算將遲延的結婚賀禮肖像親手交付 Echo, Echo依舊時尚優雅, 於久違的Villa Taverna午餐, 聊得過癮極了.

 

At last, California has gotten some rains!!!  

讀完Edith Wharton繁文縟節的抑鬱, 大抵內心深處的野性反撲, 奮身投入Angela Carter魔幻狂放的The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, 這位成名早著作豐富卻盛年英逝的才女思維前衛, 文字煉金的力道萬鈞, 兼擅嘲弄反諷, 她的小說如照妖鏡, 心魔無所遁形.