畸形的爱，无望的爱

伊恩·麦克尤恩只出了两个短篇集，除了《First Love, Last Rites》，就是这本《In Between the Sheets》，都是的薄薄的，都是收入不到十个短篇。

这一本在性和暴力程度上不如上一个短篇集那么强烈，而更多笼罩了一层凄惨、无奈的色彩。

1． Pornography。一男，有女友二，皆为护士。其一性变态，男不堪忍受，思断其关系。伪出走，数日后又与变态女友晤，方欲温旧情，女缚男四肢于床柱，男知不妙。是时，护士之二叩门入（以前应彼此不知同事一男），捧医疗器械入，欲籍其专业知识，为男去势耳。可作恐怖小说视之。

2． Reflection of a Kept Ape。叙述者不是人，而是一只猿猴，为一位过气女作家的宠物，最近升级为男朋友（对了，人兽恋），快活了十天后，该猿猴更以丈夫自居。然而女方有感情转淡倾向，注意力也转移到想通过写新作而东山再起，女方很苦闷，猿猴很失落，却爱莫能助。

3． Two Fragments: March 199 – 42。主人公为一单身父亲，有一女。去见多年的情人，却发现彼此已无法满足。后来主人公受到一位中国移民的同情。

4． Dead As They Come.叙事者为一富商，路过一间服装商店，爱上了橱窗里的假人模特（并为其起名为海伦）。不可自拔之下，去商店里以买衣服为名，强要店方买几送一，遂抱得美人归，两人过上快乐的生活。但是后来富商怀疑模特爱人与其司机有染，几天冷战后强奸模特爱人并致其“死”。此篇语言尤其漂亮，行云流水，如梦似幻。以一段为例，主人公带“爱人”回家：

Once I was a man hurrying by a shop window and glancing carelessly in…then I was a man in love, a man carrying his love in his arms through the rain to a waiting car. True, they had offered in the shop to fold and pack the clothees to save them from creasing. But show me the man who will carry his true love naked through the streets in a October rain. How I blabbered with joy as I bore Helen through the streets. And how she hung close to me, clinging tightly to my lapels like newborn monkey. Oh, my sweetness. Gently I laid her across the back seat of my car and gently drove her home.

5.In Between the Sheets.主人公为离异丈夫，与前妻关系冷淡。终于接上小学的女儿及其朋友来跟他度过一个假期，夜半时却发现年幼的女儿似乎另有秘密。

5． To and Fro. 这本书里只有这篇看了两遍，但还是没有看懂。好像是有关两人生活的意识流式的片段。没看明白，让我感觉很受挫。

6. Psychopolis. 讲的是一个在洛杉矶短居的英国人和他认识的几个朋友的事，最后他要去纽约前，几位朋友给他举办了一场派对。稍有点平淡。

这一段挺有意思：
There were long pointless days when I thought, everywhere on earth is the same. Los Angeles, California, the whole of the United States seemed to me then a very fine and frail crust on the limitless, subterranean world of my own boredom. I could be anywhere, I could have saved myself the effort and the fare. I wished in fact I was nowhere, beyond the responsibility of place. I woke in the morning stultified by oversleep. Although I was neither hungry nor thirsty, I ate breakfast because I dared not be without the activity. I spent ten minutes cleaning my teeth knowing that when I finished I would have to choose to do something else. I returned to the kitch, made more coffee and very carefully washed the dishes. Caffeine aided my growing panic. There were books in the living room that needed to be studied, there was writing that needed completion but the thought of it all made me flush hot withh weariness and disgust. For that reason I tried not to think about it, I did not tempt myself. It hardly occurred to me to set foot inside the living room.
carelessly in…then I was a man in love, a man carrying his love in his arms through the rain to a waiting car. True, they had offered in the shop to fold and pack the clothees to save them from creasing. But show me the man who will carry his true love naked through the streets in a October rain. How I blabbered with joy as I bore Helen through the streets. And how she hung close to me, clinging tightly to my lapels like newborn monkey. Oh, my sweetness. Gently I laid her across the back seat of my car and gently drove her home.