Mr. Fox

《Mr. Fox》是英國才女作家海倫‧奧耶耶美(Helen Oyeyemi)的第四部小說。男主角Mr. Fox是一位作家，陷於妻子Daphne和情婦Mary之間的三角戀中。其實Mary是存在於作家幻想中的繆思女神，Mr. Fox因她創作出許多愛情故事，但她卻從小說裡走了出來，進入Mr. Fox夫妻的真實生活……。

　　作者以英國民間故事的殺妻者"Mr. Fox"(或稱藍鬍子)為小說男主角命名，隱喻Mr. Fox也有謀害女性的習性。不同的是，這些女人都是小說中的虛構人物。而情婦Mary Foxe的命名，同樣來自英國民間故事殺妻者"Mr. Fox"中的女主角Mary。

　　情婦Mary在書中勇敢對抗著想致她於死的情夫Mr. Fox，希望能憑一己之力讓Mr. Fox改變誘殺她的主意。於是，她敦促Mr. Fox寫下一個又一個迷人的戀愛童話故事，也藉此堅定兩人永恆的愛情。(文/博客來編譯)

　　

　　From a prizewinning young writer, a brilliant and inventive story of love, lies, and inspiration.

　　Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding, and the fairy tales don’t get complicated. In this book, the celebrated writer Mr. Fox can’t stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It’s not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently.

　　Mary challenges Mr. Fox to join her in stories of their own devising; and in different times and places, the two of them seek each other, find each other, thwart each other, and try to stay together, even when the roles they inhabit seem to forbid it. Their adventures twist the fairy tale into nine variations, exploding and teasing conventions of genre and romance, and each iteration explores the fears that come with accepting a lifelong bond. Meanwhile, Daphne becomes convinced that her husband is having an affair, and finds her way into Mary and Mr. Fox’s game. And so Mr. Fox is offered a choice: Will it be a life with the girl of his dreams, or a life with an all-too-real woman who delights him more than he cares to admit?

　　The extraordinarily gifted Helen Oyeyemi has written a love story like no other. Mr. Fox is a magical book, endlessly inventive, as witty and charming as it is profound in its truths about how we learn to be with one another.

 

　　

Helen Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria and raised in London. She is the author of The Icarus Girl, which was completed before her nineteenth birthday, The Opposite House, which was a nominee for the 2008 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and White is for Witching, which won the 2010 Somerset Maugham Award.