「上星期，我從布宜諾斯艾利斯專程飛往那個日本小島，去尋找那令人嚮往的海洋圖書館。你知道，波赫士曾說：『圖書館是時光之門。』他的意思是，人們一旦走進圖書館內，遊走於一列又一列書架之間，選好了心儀之書，便會帶著它躲到安靜的角落，閒坐閱讀，讓自己一頭栽進書之世界去。
我們大概也明白，他談的是一種精神上的旅程。可是我告訴你，這兒是確切能夠讓人穿梭時空之地。
讓我嘗試解釋一下：這圖書館內，有這麼一張以銅片作枱面的巨大書桌，被安放於室內的正中央。銅片微微呈波浪狀，整天映照著窗外連綿不斷的樹影。每當我在桌前坐下，把書本平放其上，垂首靜靜閱讀，便有置身海洋懷抱的奇妙幻象，身體好像是不期然被一股如搖曳水中的安詳感包裹著。
頭一趟這樣感受到了，我便告訴自己，是這兒了。」
多年前，我曾經寫了這樣的一個故事，關於一個熱愛海洋與圖書館、同時渴望遊走世界尋覓寧靜之地的女孩，是因為讀到了阿根廷作家卡洛斯・M・多明格茲撰寫的《紙房子裡的人》，當中有這樣的一句：
「慾望是什麼東西呢？依我的觀察⋯⋯是想要找到它的極限，不過並不容易找到。」
多年後，我有了一位愛看海也愛閱讀的小小兒子。他幾乎每天也會央求去看海，幸好我們居住之地跟海邊只有十分鐘之隔。天氣稍一暖和，我們便會向著海洋方向牽手走去。每當看著那個間或平靜間或洶湧的大海，我便會想起位於日本瀨戶內海粟島圖書館內的這張黃銅書桌，那是2013年由Art Setouchi委任ETAT ARKITEKTER設計的其中一件圖書館物件 —— 它一直只存在於我的想像國度，卻也成了我最渴望擁有的東西。
也許，有一天，當我跟兒子看海時，我會告訴他關於這張桌子的故事。又也許，我們會決定牽手到粟島圖書館去，看看那邊的海洋，比較一下跟家附近的那一個，有什麼不一樣。
Last week, I went all the way from Buenos Aires to that small island in Japan, in order to find that Sea Library which I have always yearned for. As you know, Bourges once said, “Library is the door of time.” What he meant was, once you enter a library, walk among the bookshelves and choose the book you love, you will take it to a quiet corner, sit down to read, and let yourself enter its world.
We both probably understand that, he was talking about a spiritual journey. However, let me tell you, this library can indeed allow you to travel through time and space.
Let me try to explain: Inside this library, there is a huge brass reading table placed at the centre of the room. The brass table top is slightly wavy and it reflects the trees’ silhouettes outside the windows all day long. Whenever I sit down and put a book on top of it to read, I have this wonderful illusion of being embraced by the sea, as if I’m swaying in the water with a peaceful feeling.
The first time I felt this way, i told myself, this is it.
Many years ago, after reading La Casa de Papel by the Argentine novelist Carlos M. Dominguez, I had written a story about a girl who loves the sea and libraries, and longs to travel around the world to look for her ideal quiet place. Inside that novel, there is this line:
“What is desire? In my opinion… It’s about finding its limit, which is never easy.”
Many years later, I have a little son who loves both the sea and also books. Almost every day, he will beg to go and watch the sea. Fortunately, we live only ten minutes apart from the beach, so whenever the weather is warm, we will stroll towards the sea, hand in hand. At those moments, when I watch the sea with my son, whether it’s calm or rough, I will think of this brass table located at The Sea Library on Awashima Island in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. It was one of the items which ETAT ARKITEKTER was commissioned to design by Art Setouchi in 2013. It has always only existed in my own imagination, and is also what I most desire to have.
Perhaps one day, when I’m watching the sea with my son, I will tell him the story about this table, and then we will decide to visit this Sea Library, hand in hand. There, we will watch that sea, and compare it with the one near our home.
