觀察者藝文田野檔案庫
By Lewis Gesner
It occurred to me once that the pursuit of human improvement and the harnessing of nature’s powers was a noble one, from reading Frankenstein and other old novels, such as First Men In the Moon, or The Time Machine, which both dealt with a compelled scientist. And then there was The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which also had to do with seeking human improvement.
by Lewis Gesner
在讀了《科學怪人》及《月球急先鋒》、《時光機》這些與激情科學家打交道的故事後，再加上另一部也是關於人類進步的小說《化身博士》，我蹦出了一個想法，認為追求人類進步、利用自然力量是十分崇高的。
by Lewis Gesner
I tried to repeat my compositional inventions, but there was no repeating the chemistry my mouse and I had. In my mind, the family cat had destroyed the future of western music. Long gone now, does this cat still wander the earth, the ghost of the destroyer of future human music?
By Lewis Gesner
在我大學念作曲時，養了一隻白老鼠當寵物作伴。作曲的課上得還不錯，我們學生被要求為小型管弦樂團創作一首曲子，並在課堂上演奏。我只剩幾天完成這項作業，不過直到最後一晚，我還是沒有什麼靈感。呆望著桌上的空白樂譜，再看向我的小老鼠，忽然我靈感一蹦，拿起一瓶印度墨水倒在小碟子中，把小老鼠從籠子拿出來，讓牠的腳沾滿墨水，讓牠在鋪滿空白樂譜紙的桌上奔跑。小小的郊遊結束後，我把牠的腳清乾淨、放回籠子裡。我很快速地就把這些墨點轉譯安排成八部樂器的曲子。這首曲子在班上引發好評，我們還有一場針對內容及形式的深度討論，我沒有提到老鼠的事。老師說這是一個天才之作。後來，我與老鼠進行的創作都很順利，甚至有更好的反應。大家都說我是一個有前途的作曲家。
by Lewis Gesner
一座博物館的某個角落用繩子圍起來，打光打得很糟，看起來更像管理員的儲藏櫃而非展覽品。一個五十加侖的大鋼桶、一個院子用來養金魚的水泥大鍋，幾個不同大小的塑膠籃；一面更顯房裡的昏暗、漆上灰色的磚牆，一扇長方形的窗戶從另一邊高高照下，照亮整個房間濕濕的場景。容器裡裝滿了水，紛飛的棕色斑蚊及白線斑蚊組成了一座繁殖場——在您進入這棟老房子時，您就已經可以預料了。很早以前人們就知道了，更早於物件及事件展示之前，人們就知道了。
by Lewis Gesner
A museum display, corded off in a corner, poorly lit, as if a janitor’s tool closet rather than a presentation : a fifty gallon steel drum, a cement cauldron as from a yard garden for goldfish, some plastic buckets of different sizes, a brick façade wall painted over grey, accentuating the dimness of the room, with a high rectangular window lit from the other side like sunlight the entire scene being damp and containers filled with water, churning with brown and white speckled mosquito larva constituting a farming of them – is what you can expect to see on entering the Old House, as it had been known before, prior to the objects and events of its exhibition.
by Lewis Gesner
A boy was born to a simple woman out of wedlock. The father was an elderly fisherman. He divorced his wife and lived with the woman and their son in the work shed where he mended nets. There was a loft space with a triangular window where the child would sleep and look out at night over the harbor and boats of the simple port village where he had been born. As a toddler, he walked a dirt drive that ran along the shore and connected the fish shack to the road. One morning, an out-of-towner, a visiting summer folk happened by and stopped to talk to him. What was his name? Did he like boats? Did he live here? She was dressed in a long dress and wearing a shawl, perhaps she was going to a relative’s wedding, or visiting a local church. After a few moments, she stood up from her kneeling and continued on. The boy remembered her hair, it was golden, backlit by the sun. Her shawl billowed out in the breeze. He thought it was wings. She was an angel! When he went to bed that night, he saw her flying over the waters of the harbor and sprinkling it with magic sparkling lights.
文｜Lewis Gesner
因天使的告誡，他徹底戒酒。而他的天使繪畫開始獲得名氣，地方報紙報導他天使兩次拜訪的故事。為了這次報導，他加油添醋講了一個瀕死的經驗，聲稱他在幾乎溺死之際，是一道光把他牽過去的，他在天堂遇見天使，但天使把他送回人間。
文｜Lewis Gesner
是的，它是一種大樂透，一種人生的大樂透。
By Lewis Gesner
You can only imagine the things that fall into the sea. Sometimes, we may have a glimpse. If you follow the rocky coastline of the state, or know the winding long footpath through the dense forest, you may discover that window to the ocean’s harbored secrets. It is in the form of a waterspout. A waterspout is a column of water forming from the sea. It may be a weather phenomenon, like a water tornado, or it may be like the case in point. This spout was formed by the action of the waves at high tide. A narrow tunnel formed through the erosion of the granite cliff at the water’s edge which allows for water to rush through it with great force when the tide is just right. This can last for up to twenty minutes, that a column of water will shoot straight up into the air from the tunnel, over spectators’ heads, and soak them like in a heavy rain. Sometimes, it throws things up from the sea.