小说被称为虚构文学,顾名思义,里面的故事都是虚假而非真实的。但是当我们在阅读小说时,经常会从那些虚构的假象滑入生活的现实,探寻故事和人物的原型,甚至忍不住将其与作者本人对号入座。例如土耳其作家奥罕·帕慕克在诺顿讲座里提到的,当他的《纯真博物馆》出版后,很多读者问他,你是不是那个凯末尔?这个问题听起来可能有些幼稚,但游走于虚实的模糊边缘,也许正是阅读小说带来的乐趣之一。然而,当我在读美国作家大卫·万恩(David Vann)的短 Fiction is called fictional literature, as the name implies, the stories are false and not true. However, when we read novels, we often slide from the fictional illusions to the realities of life to explore the prototypes of stories and characters, or even to put them in check with the author himself. For example, the Turkish writer Ohan Pamuk mentioned in his talk at Norton that after his publication of “innocence museum,” many readers asked him if you were the Kemal. While this issue may sound childish, Walking in the fuzzy edge of the actual situation may be one of the pleasures of reading novels. However, when I was reading the short American writer David Vann