| Find and Replace/Ann Beattie |
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Find and Replace, The New Yorker, Nov. 5, 2001
Find and Replace的故事是这样的。我在父亲去世后的半年，到母亲那里去祭奠。母亲说她隔壁邻居Drake让她搬过去和她一起住。我以为母亲在开玩笑，没想到母亲是当真的。我抗议，说他们彼此根本不了解。母亲说：
“Oh, Ann, at my age you don't necessarily want to know someone extremely well. You want to be compatible, but you can't let yourself get all involved in the dramas that have already played out -- all those accounts of everyone's youth. You just want to be -- you want to come to the point where you're compatible.”
我没有见到Drake。我认为是Drake故意在躲避，不知安什么心。我在机场还车的 时候，心血来潮，租了一辆新车开回去。我驶过母亲门前的时候看见的景象使我 确信，我说什么都不管用了。
"Drake, ..., stood on the threshold, extending a hand and waiting, not going down the steps, just waiting ..., and my mother lifting her hand like a lady ascending an elegant, carpeted staircase, instead of three concrete steps."
故事里面用了大量的对话。除了和母亲之间的对话，我和借车的年轻人之间，和 警察之间的对话，都显示出他们out of their way的关切。
和Mona Simpson一样 （见Dependents/Mona Simpson)， Ann Beattie是美国当代有影响的女作家，她上面的三部小说（集）都受到很高 评价。Ann Beattie的风格被认为是极简抽象派（minimalism）：spare in language, droll in humor, wary about love and skeptical of tradition.
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