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《複眼人》
書籍封面插畫

此書為台灣作家吳明益所著《複眼人》的英文版。《複眼人》已出版了數年,並被翻譯成多國語言,前幾年英國企鵝藍燈書屋出版Vintage Earth系列,是跟自然生態有關的小說集合,把此書選入其中。

對我來說,《複眼人》的故事既奇幻又寫實,帶著一些異色的憂傷去討論著自然與人類。

我選擇了阿莉思帶著阿特烈去冒出泉水的瀑布旁取水那一幕,主要呈現山邊的海岸,還畫出了內容提到的一些動植物,例如水鹿和雲雀。左下上檳榔樹旁是正在找人的兩隻黑土狗。蝶群飛舞過天空中,旁邊有著木鱉子,右下方則是山苦瓜,畫面中間兩棵長著氣根的巨大白榕是故事裡走路的樹,小小的紫花酢漿草錯落其中。蕨類我畫成捲曲的苗與葉穿插在山裡,也是阿特烈認識這座新的島嶼的過程。

我選擇取了一些故事內的小細節來呈現,有的並未直接造成主線劇情的巨大影響,但是是小說背景組成的彩色片段。


The Man with Compound Eyes
Book cover illustration 

This is the English edition of The Man with the Compound Eyes, written by Taiwanese author Wu Ming-yi. The original novel was published several years ago and has been translated into multiple languages. A few years ago, Penguin Random House UK selected it as part of their Vintage Earth series — a collection of novels centered around nature and ecology.

To me, The Man with the Compound Eyes is both fantastical and realistic, carrying a strange kind of sorrow as it explores the relationship between nature and humanity. I chose to illustrate the scene where Alice and Atile'i go to fetch water by the spring beneath the waterfall. The image mainly focuses on the coastal mountains, along with several plants and animals mentioned in the book, such as the Formosan sambar deer and the skylark.

On the lower left, beside the betel nut tree, are two black dogs searching for someone. A group of butterflies dances across the sky, near a Gac fruit vine, and on the lower right is a bitter gourd plant. At the center of the illustration are two giant white banyan trees with aerial roots — the “walking trees” from the story — and scattered among them are small violet wood sorrel flowers. Ferns appear throughout the landscape, with their coiled fronds and spreading leaves, marking Atile'i’s journey of discovering this new island.

I chose to highlight some of the story’s smaller details — moments that may not directly change the main plot, but together, they form the vivid backdrop of the novel’s world.

Author : Wu Ming-Yi
Publisher : Vintage Books, Penguin Random House