加拿大作家、諾獎得主愛麗絲·門羅(Alice Munro)逝世兩個月後,她的小女兒安德麗娜·斯金納近日對加拿大媒體《多倫多星報》披露,自己在童年時曾遭繼父侵犯。母親對此知情,卻仍然選擇與繼父共同生活。
The youngest daughter of acclaimed Canadian Nobel laureate Alice Munro has said that her step-father sexually assaulted her as a child, and that her mother stayed with him even after learning of the abuse.In an essay published in the Toronto Star on Sunday, Andrea Robin Skinner described how her step-father began assaulting her in the summer of 1976 when she was nine years old and he was in his 50s.
斯金納表示:“我不想再看到任何採訪、傳記或活動不提及我所經歷的現實,也忽視我母親面對真相時選擇保護施虐者的事實。”
"I never wanted to see another interview, biography or event that didn’t wrestle with the reality of what had happened to me, and with the fact that my mother, confronted with the truth of what had happened, chose to stay with, and protect, my abuser," she said.
“我想要的是對發生在我身上的真相的公開記錄,希望我的故事也能成為人們講述的我母親故事的一部分。”斯金納說。
愛麗絲·門羅,加拿大小說家,諾貝爾文學獎得主,以書寫普通人的生活、體現生活的複雜性著稱,作品包括《公開的秘密》《逃離》等。她的系列作品通常聚焦於她成長的安大略省小鎮的生活,並因對女性和女孩細緻入微的描繪而贏得讚譽。

1992年,在寫給母親門羅的一封信中,安德麗娜向母親袒露,“親愛的媽媽,這個秘密我隱藏了16年:在我9歲時,蓋瑞(繼父)對我進行了性侵犯。我的一生都在恐懼你會責怪這一切。”
“Dear Mom,” the letter read, according to The Star. “Please find a spot alone before you read this … I have been keeping a terrible secret for 16 years, Gerry abused me sexually when I was 9 years old. I have been afraid all my life that you would blame me for what happened.”

女兒的信 來源:多倫多星報
安德麗娜·斯金納是愛麗絲·門羅與吉姆·門羅的小女兒,出生於1966年。1974年門羅與丈夫吉姆離婚,1976年與第二任丈夫、地理學家蓋瑞·弗蘭姆林(Gerry Fremlin)結婚。斯金納上學時與父親和繼母住在維多利亞,假期與母親和繼父居於安大略省克林頓市。
安德麗娜回憶,1976年,50多歲的繼父爬上了她的床,對9歲的她進行了侵犯。斯金納說她把這件事告訴了繼母,後者又告訴了斯金納的父親。其父沒有就這件事與門羅對質。
Skinner confided in her stepmother, who told James Munro, Skinner's father. James Munro did not confront his ex-wife about the abuse, and the assault continued with no adult intervention, Skinner wrote.
經受這種虐待和家人的沉默讓斯金納成年後患上了嚴重的偏頭痛和厭食症。安德麗娜二十多歲時,門羅對短篇小說中一個因繼父性虐待而自殺的人物表示同情。斯金納寫道,正是在這之後,她決定告訴母親自己遭受的虐待。當25歲的安德麗娜終於透過一封信向母親坦白了真相後,卻大失所望。門羅告訴斯金納,她覺得自己被背叛了,並把這種性虐待比作婚外情,稱斯金納的反應讓她失望。

蓋瑞承認了與斯金納的關係,卻將矛頭轉向了未成年的繼女,稱她是在撒謊和編造,“是她進入了我的房間進行‘性的冒險’,如果她害怕,完全可以隨時離開,但她表現得相當逢迎甚至主動。”他甚至引用納博科夫的《洛麗塔》描述他對於斯金納的性侵犯。
門羅收到斯金納的信後與蓋瑞分居。“但幾個月後繼父就來找媽媽(門羅)和好,媽媽真的同意複合了。她無法忍受孤獨和跟他分離,她告訴我,她不能沒有他,”門羅的二女兒回憶說。
Fremlin, meanwhile, wrote his own letters at the time to the family – excerpts of which were published by The Star – in which he admitted the abuse but blamed Ms Skinner. "Andrea invaded my bedroom for sexual adventure," Fremlin wrote.In response, Fremlin wrote letters to Munro and the family, threatening to kill Skinner if she ever went to the police. He also threatened to expose photos he took of Skinner when she was a girl.

繼父的信 來源:多倫多星報
上世紀九十年代,隨著門羅在文壇的地位如日中天,一家人彷彿達成了一種默契,這件事成為了家庭中“公開的秘密”。這種沉默中有懷疑、有無知、有恐懼、也有懦弱,還有對名聲隕落的恐懼。
2005年,距離9歲的她被繼父侵犯已長達近30年,安德麗娜向安大略省警方提起控訴,時年80歲的繼父被判有罪,獲緩刑和兩年假釋。直到蓋瑞2013年去世,愛麗絲·門羅始終與他生活在一起。在他去世幾個月後,82歲的門羅被授予了那一年的諾貝爾文學獎。
Munro went back to Fremlin and stayed with him until he died in 2013, Skinner wrote. Munro allegedly said “that she had been ‘told too late,’ she loved him too much, and that our misogynistic culture was to blame if I expected her to deny her own needs, sacrifice for her children, and make up for the failings of men. She was adamant that whatever had happened was between me and my stepfather. It had nothing to do with her," Skinner wrote in her essay.In 2005, Ms Skinner reported the abuse to Ontario police, presenting the letters written by Fremlin. Police charged him with indecent assault. He pleaded guilty, but "the silence continued", Ms Skinner wrote, because of Munro's fame.
編輯:李雪晴
實習生:劉書瑞
來源:英國廣播公司 美國全國公共廣播電臺 介面文化等
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