The Feast Of Love (Film-Tie In Edn)

　　《愛情盛宴》是作家巴克斯特的小說，也是小說主角布雷德利最動人的一幅畫作，宴會桌上的愛慾佳餚如光影般流瀉，沒有輪廓，誘人盡情享用。巴克斯特運用他擅長的細緻描述，以訪談的文體帶出眾人近乎獨白的故事，細筆勾畫愛情的樣貌：夫妻之情、小情侶的激戀、女同志的繾綣、不倫之戀、親情……，這是一場甜酸苦辣具足的愛情盛宴。

　　小說的開頭，失眠作家自述自我認同消失的恍惚，迷惘失神，使得小說從一開始就處在夢的邊境。作家在失眠的夜裡漫遊，來到公園和一位同樣失眠的鄰居聊起了小說創作，於是出現了一篇篇由訪談帶出來的狀似真實的情感經歷。說它狀似真實，因為其中有人們記憶錯落的交疊，一對夫妻對同一件事情有全然不同的印象與感受，誰的記憶真實，誰的感受真切？其中也有熱烈的情愛之後，要面對的痛悔與失落，是情感熾熱時的甜蜜真實，還是失喪的痛楚真實？

　　一夜浪遊之後，失眠作家回到床上入眠。一醒一寐之間，是從醒悟走入夢境，抑或由幻夢走回清醒？這寤寐之間的人間情愛究竟是清醒的經歷，還是虛構的一場夢？書中的失眠作家名字也叫「查理‧巴克斯特」。真實的作者以真名扮演一個虛構的小說人物，往返於真實與虛構之間，往返於人生與小說之間，人生與小說於是同等真實，也同等虛幻。失落與回憶交雜錯落，日常生活風景交織而成的盛宴於焉開席。記憶浮游的邊界，盡是熟悉的身影與深情。

　　A superb novel that delicately unearths the myriad manifestations of extraordinary love between ordinary people. ’The Feast of Love’ is just that -- a sumptuous work of fiction about the thing that most distracts and delights us. Shortlisted for the National Book Award. In this latter-day ’Midsummer Night’s Dream’, men and women speak of and desire their ideal mates; parents seek out their lost children; adult children try to come to terms with their own parents and, in some cases, find new ones. In vignettes both comic and sexy, the owner of a coffee shop recalls the day his first wife seemed to achieve a moment of simple perfection, while she remembers the women’s softball game during which she was stricken by the beauty of the shortstop. A young couple spends hours at the coffee shop fuelling the idea of their fierce love. A professor of philosophy, stopping by for a cup of coffee, makes a valiant attempt to explain what he knows to be the inexplicable workings of the human heart. Crafted with subtlety, grace, and power, ’The Feast of Love’ is a masterful novel.