• A Grief Processed
• Erin H. Davis (bio)

Sharon Harrigan's Half is not for the faint of heart. Her debut novel, published by University of Wisconsin Press approaches, in stunning sparsity, the traditionally taboo subject of child abuse as it hinders—and aids—the blossoming adolescence of Artis and Paula, twins. Each a half of the other, they speak for and with one another, exhibited by Harrigan's cleverly executed utilization of the present plural. In no small feat, she documents the lives of the twins, from childhood to age thirty, and ushers the reader through the growing together of the twins and their eventual breakdown into individuality.

The novel, a finalist for the AWP novel prize, is based on Harrigan's short story, "Half" which won both the Cecilia Joyce Johnson Award from Key West Seminars and the Kinder Award from Pleaides Magazine. And although the novel is comparatively short at just 267 pages in larger font, no less than thirty years are given their due time. In staccato chapters (a chapter per year), each averaging about four pages, readers are thrust into the world of a rural Michigan home, one that is broken and twisted, one that scrounges for the light of an eighteenth birthday. The novel reads almost like connected short shorts, like picaresque anecdotes that take the reader into the harmonized minds of the twins, and as this synchronization breaks down, into the surprising differences hidden all along. Although the novel documents the physical and mental abuse of both Artis and Paula, Harrigan's language is riddled with magical realism and the overwhelming sense that there is something left unseen. This magic, although perhaps skewed by the characters who interpret it, both alleviates and heightens the density of Harrigan's subject matter, frustrating and exacerbating the mental instabilities of their father, the apathetic attitude of their mother who just can't find an escape, nor the willingness therein.

Lovingly known to all by "Moose," their father is an outdoorsman, a veteran, and a charlatan in respectable social circles. The novel opens at his funeral, the catalyst that unwinds the twins' memories as to how and why they were treated like little soldiers in their childhood. And, more importantly, they consider how their father's legacy, one so startling different in the home than in public, shaped their pubescence and gave rise to the strength that each harbor.

But, moreover, Harrigan's novel explores the idea of forgiveness, the idea that loss means pity, that memory is either aggravated or abated with time. In one sense, there is beauty in memory, the pockets of happiness that erase all the bad: "He told us we were divine. And, finally, we believed. We could lure and sway." But still there is the hurt that transcends reality. Harrigan, in alarming richness, expands on the divinity of Artis and Paula as they grow up, find partners and careers, have children and dreams.

We befriended rock stars and heroes. We didn't know what those words meant, but they sounded good. Some people used them to describe us. We shook our fingertips, and the sky expanded with storm, just like Dad had taught us, though we never admitted he had. We flicked our wrists and lightening flickered. We harnessed the power into our guitars and guns.

The twins are brought up to believe themselves to be more than human, if not only for their own merits, but for the delusions of a Zeus-like father, a man able to wield lightning bolts against those who cast doubt. But the debate over what constitutes a "good" father is not one-dimensional. Despite trauma—a cyclical, inherited force—Artis and Paula must decide what to remember and what to discard. The human mind is perhaps not able to remember it all.

In a Q&A with Sharon Harrigan, available to view on her website (www.sharonharrigan.net), she mentions that the idea for this novel sprung from her own traumatic familial experiences. As a child, her father, like Moose, was an avid hunter. However...

• 悲伤处理
• 艾琳·戴维斯（Erin H.Davis）（生物）

沙龙·哈里根（Sharon Harrigan）的《Half》不适合胆小的人。她的首本小说由威斯康星大学出版社（University of Wisconsin Press）出版，惊人地稀疏，这是传统上忌讳儿童虐待的主题，因为它阻碍并帮助了双胞胎阿蒂斯（Artis）和宝拉（Paula）的青春期。他们相互代表，彼此相互呼应，这体现在哈里根巧妙地运用当前的复数形式。她用不小的功绩记录了双胞胎从童年到三十岁的生活，并通过双胞胎的成长和最终分解为个性吸引着读者。

这部小说是AWP小说奖的决赛入围者，该小说改编自哈里根的短篇小说《 Half》，该小说既获得了Key West Seminars的塞西莉亚·乔伊斯·约翰逊奖，也获得了《Pleaides》杂志的Kinder奖。。尽管这部小说相对较短，只有267页大字体，但应有至少三十年的出版时间。在断断续续的章节（每年一章）中，每篇平均约四页，读者被带到密歇根州一所乡村住宅的世界里，一本是折断的，一本是为庆祝十八岁生日而写的。小说的阅读方式几乎就像是连接在一起的短短裤，就像是奇形怪状的轶事，将读者带入了双胞胎的和谐心灵中，随着这种同步的破裂，它始终隐藏着令人惊讶的差异。尽管小说记录了阿蒂斯和宝拉对身体和精神的虐待，但哈里根的语言充满了魔幻现实主义和压倒一切的感觉，那就是还有一些看不见的东西。这魔法

他们的父亲以“驼鹿”而广为人知，在一个受人尊敬的社交圈里是个户外活动家，退伍军人和一个骗子。小说在他的葬礼上揭开序幕，催生了双胞胎关于他们如何以及为什么在童年时代像小兵一样对待他们的记忆。而且，更重要的是，他们考虑了父亲的遗产如何使他们的青春期焕发青春，并增强了每个港口的力量。父亲的遗产在家庭中与在公共场所相比如此令人震惊。

但是，此外，哈里根的小说探讨了宽恕的观念，失去意味着怜悯的观念，记忆随着时间的流逝而加剧或减弱。从某种意义上说，记忆中有美，幸福的口袋消除了所有的不幸：“他告诉我们，我们是神圣的。最后，我们相信了。我们可以引诱和摇摆。” 但是仍然存在超越现实的伤害。Harrigan令人震惊的是，他们在Artis和Paula的成长，寻找合作伙伴和职业，拥有孩子和梦想的过程中扩展了神灵。

我们结识了摇滚明星和英雄。我们不知道这些词是什么意思，但听起来不错。有人用它们来形容我们。我们摇了一下指尖，就像暴风雨一样，天空随着暴风雨而扩大，尽管我们从未承认他有暴风雨。我们轻拂手腕，闪电般闪烁。我们将力量运用到了吉他和枪支中。

双胞胎长大后相信自己比人类更重要，这不仅是出于自身的优点，而且是因为宙斯般的父亲的错觉，他是一个能够对那些怀疑的人挥舞着闪电的人。但是，关于什么构成“好”父亲的争论不是一维的。尽管遭受了创伤（一种周期性的遗传力量），阿尔蒂斯和宝拉必须决定要记住什么以及应该丢弃什么。人类的大脑也许无法记住这一切。

在与莎朗·哈里根（Sharon Harrigan）进行的问答中，她可以在她的网站（www.sharonharrigan.net）上查看，她提到这部小说的想法源于她自己的痛苦家庭经历。小时候，她的父亲像穆斯（Moose）一样，是一个狂热的猎人。然而...