Threat of Fatwa Looms for a Writer
小說賈禍 作家安全不保
By Doreen Carvajal

PARIS – There are elements of the absurd about the plight of Kamel Daoud, an Algerian writer whose debut novel reaped glowing international reviews, literary honors and then, suddenly, demands for his public execution.
阿爾及利亞作家凱麥．道伍德的困境帶有荒謬的元素：小說處女作在國際文壇佳評如潮，頻頻得獎；突然間，公開處決他的命令出鞘。

His book, “Meursault, Counter-Investigation,” is a retelling of Albert Camus’s classic “The Stranger,” from an Algerian perspective, with Mr. Daoud gives voice to the brother of the nameless Arab murder victim who is shot in Algiers.
他的作品《梅索：反調查》係從阿爾及利亞的觀點來重述卡謬的經典《異鄉人》，阿拉伯無名氏在阿爾及爾被槍殺，道伍德讓命案被害人的兄弟在小說表達意見。

Camus’s 1942 novel, an exploration of the absurd and the meaningless of life, greatly influenced Mr. Daoud, who is now dealing with his own farcical reality: a Facebook fatwa issued by a Salafist imam from Algeria.
卡謬1942年的小說探索生命的荒謬性與無意義，大大影響了道伍德，而道伍德正在因應自己的荒謬現實：阿爾及利亞一名伊斯蘭教基本教義派薩拉菲的領袖，在臉書頒布對達伍德的教令裁決。

No one has been arrested in connection with the death threat that surfaced on December 16. But there has been debate in Algeria about whether an unschooled imam is qualified to issue a fatwa. It is unclear whether the threat stems from Mr. Daoud’s television appearances or his novel’s character, who rebukes a neighborhood imam.
死亡威脅從去年12月16日浮上檯面迄今，尚無人因此被捕。但在阿爾及利亞一直有爭議的是，沒受過教育的伊瑪目（教長）是否夠格頒布教令裁決。引發追殺令的究竟是道伍德上電視的說法，或是他小說中的角色非難一名街坊的教長，還不清楚。

“I still have no protection,” said Mr. Daoud, 44, who has retreated to his home in Oran, the second-largest city in Algeria. “This is a strategy for pushing me into exile and to shape public opinion with old ghosts of the 1990s and memories of the civil war here. It scares people.”
「我依然沒受到保護，」44歲的道伍德已經躲回阿國第二大城俄蘭的住所。他說：「這是逼我流亡的策略，並以對1990年代內戰陰魂不散的回憶塑造輿論。很嚇人的。」

Readers have responded; Mr. Daoud’s publisher in Algeria, Barzakh Editions, ran out of stock and is printing more. Rights have sold in 13 countries.
讀者已有所回應：道伍德在阿爾及利亞的發行商巴札克（譯註：阿拉伯文為「阻礙」）出版社，已賣完庫存並加印。小說版權已在13國賣出。

In November, Mr. Daoud’s novel fell just short of winning the Goncourt Prize, France’s top literary honor for French-language fiction. That led to French television appearances, including one in which Mr. Daoud observed that “religion is a vital question in the Arab world” and that “we need to reflect on this to move forward.”
去年11月，道伍德的小說差一點贏得代表法文小說最高榮譽的法國龔古爾文學獎。這讓他上了好幾次法國電視節目，其中一次道伍德評論：「宗教在阿拉伯世界是個非常重大的問題，我們必須加以深思，才能向前邁進。」

Soon after, the threat was issued by Abdelfatah Hamadache, a radical Islamist preacher who leads an obscure Salafist group, the Islamic Awakening Front. Labeling Mr. Daoud “an enemy of religion,” he called on the Algerian state to impose a public execution of Mr. Daoud for the “war he is leading against God and the prophet.” Mr. Daoud filed a criminal complaint against the imam, who then told the Algerian TSA news service, “I did not say I was going to kill him, and I have not called on Muslims to do so.”
不久後，一個名不見經傳的薩拉菲派團體「伊斯蘭覺醒陣線」領導人，激進教士阿布戴法塔赫．阿瑪戴許對道伍德發出威脅。他將道伍德列為「宗教敵人」，呼籲阿爾及利亞國家（政府）公開處決達伍德，罪名是「帶頭發起違逆真主與先知之戰」。道伍德提出刑事告訴，阿瑪戴許卻告訴阿爾及利亞的TSA新聞通訊社：「我沒說我要殺他，我也沒叫穆斯林去殺他。」

Mr. Daoud said he was accustomed to insults and criticism, since he writes about issues like government corruption in his regular columns for Le Quotidien d’Oran, a newspaper. But he said that this was the first death threat directed against him.
道伍德表示，自從在「俄蘭城日常新聞」報的專欄談論政府貪瀆等議題之後，他對侮辱和批評習以為常。但他說針對他的死亡威脅，這還是頭一遭。

Sofiane Hadjadj, Mr. Daoud’s editor, said critics are focusing on the book’s end, in which the Arab murder victim’s brother scolds an imam for wasting his time in a discussion of God.
道伍德的編輯蘇菲恩．哈賈吉表示，批評者把焦點擺在小說的結尾，命案的阿拉伯受害者的兄弟責怪一名教長浪費時間去討論真主。

Lost in the current debate is that Mr. Daoud developed his idea to bring life to the nameless Arab character in Camus’s work.
最近這場論戰忽略的則是道伍德的構想，讓卡謬作品中默默無名的阿拉伯角色變得有意思。

In Mr. Daoud’s retelling, the victim’s brother in his 70s, recount his version of the “second most important character” in the crime, “who has no name, no face, no words.”
在道伍德的重述中，受害者的兄弟，七十幾歲，用自己的角度重述命案中「第二重要的角色」，「沒有姓名，沒有面貌，沒有言語」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/books/an-algerian-author-fights-back-against-a-fatwa.html

2015-01-20聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版下