半年前聽到新聞報道，說滿地可猶太人區一間公立圖書館將會易名為Mordecai Richler圖書館，然後主持人互相問你最熟悉的作品是哪本。我心想，即是作品列入教科書的大作家吧。
和Gervais談起，他說好好看啊他的書，最好看就是Barney's Version。臨離開滿地可前，給我在舊書店找到這書，買下一看，已經覺得好好笑。對我來說，看這書簡直就像聽Woody Allen說對白那樣，句句幽默抵死，原來猶太人幽默是有個譜的。
Barney's Version是本偽自傳。Mordecai Richler用Barney Panofsky這個主人翁來說一個生於加拿大三十年代、前半生在法國文藝圈打混的猶太人的故事。笑猶太人貪錢、笑魁北克人想獨立想到黐了線、笑藝術家朋友的上位作品，就是他飲到醉時有份用地拖加兩筆的；到最後，其實是笑自己畏首畏尾的荒誕人生。
讀著猶太人的自嘲，覺得和中國人的黑色幽默有點類似。看看余華的書或葛優的戲，都是好好笑但好苦，如出一轍。
"Hey, when I went to pass an exam on promotions, Gilbert was on the board then, he says to me, how come the Jews are smarter? I got two answers, I says. You’re wrong. There’s no such thing as a superhuman. But the only thing I got to tell you, if you take a dog and kick him around he’s got to be alert, he’s got to be more sharper than you. Well, we’ve been kicked around for two thousand years. We’re not more smarter, we’re more alert.
My other answer is the story about the Irishman and the Jew. How come you’re smarter? the Irishman asks the Jew. Well, we eat a certain kind of fish, the Jew says. In fact, I’ve got one right here, and he shows it to the Irishman. Christ, the Irishman says, I’d like to have that fish. Sure, the Jew says, give me ten bucks. So he gives it to him. Then the Irishman looks at it good and says, hey, that’s no fish, that’s a herring. So the Jew says, you see, you’re getting smarter already.”
