National Book Award for Fiction Best Novel winner (2006) : The Echo Maker

理查德·鮑威爾斯1957年齣生於伊利諾伊州的埃文斯頓，成長在芝加哥北部的林肯伍德，父親是個中學校長。11歲時，鮑威爾斯隨父親前往泰國曼榖，並在那裏念完瞭初中。在東西文化的衝撞與交融中，年幼的鮑威爾斯感受到美學的神聖魅力。文學和音樂成瞭他的摯愛。鮑威爾斯對長、短篇小說和非小說都有濃厚的興趣，也曾學習大提琴、吉他、單簧管和薩剋斯管等多種樂器的演奏。不過，在20世紀60年代美蘇爭霸太空形勢的影響下，鮑威爾斯從小便立誌成為一名科學傢。1975年鮑威爾斯考入伊利諾伊州大學，主修物理學。在大學的一次研討會上，弗洛伊德評論傢羅伯特·施奈德指齣：“文學纔是俯瞰空中全景的佳境。”為此，鮑威爾斯毅然改學修辭學。鮑威爾斯深為普魯斯特、卡夫卡、托馬斯·曼和詹姆士·喬伊斯等歐洲現代派作傢在小說敘事上的大膽實驗所吸引，也著迷於托馬斯·品欽、威廉·加迪斯、威廉·加斯和約翰·巴斯等美國後現代派作傢的小說。這為日後的文學創作打下瞭堅實的基礎。有趣的是，1980年鮑威爾斯放棄攻讀文學博士的機會，前往波士頓當瞭一名計算機程序設計員。工作之餘，他博覽群書，廣泛涉獵瞭考古學、海洋學、曆史、社會學、政治學、美學、小說和詩歌。每逢周末，他都去參觀附近的美術館。一次偶然的機會，鮑威爾斯看到德國攝影大師奧古斯特·桑德1914年的作品《年輕的農民》，照片上3個年輕人的神情和裝束格外引人注目。鮑威爾斯迴憶道，“此前多年的閱讀體驗在那一刻凝住並匯聚起來”。兩天後，鮑威爾斯便辭瞭職，專心投入到瞭文學創作當中。

On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near fatal accident. His older sister, Karin, his only close kin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when he emerges from a protracted coma, Mark believes that this woman - who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister - is really an identical impostor. Shattered by her brother's refusal to recognize her, Karin contacts the cognitive neurologist Gerald Weber, famous for his case histories describing the infinitely bizarre worlds of brain disorder. Weber recognizes Mark as a rare case of Capgras syndrome, a doubling delusion, and eagerly investigates. What he discovers in Mark slowly undermines even his own sense of being. Meanwhile, Mark, armed only with a note left by an anonymous witness, attempts to learn what happened the night of his inexplicable accident. The truth of that evening will change the lives of all three beyond recognition. Set against the Platte River's massive spring migrations - one of the greatest spectacles in nature - "The Echo Maker" is a gripping mystery that explores the improvised human self and the even more precarious brain that splits us from and joins us to the rest of creation.