新浪尚文

　　曾获得普利策新闻奖的《纽约时报》前总编约瑟夫·莱利维尔德近日出版了一本印度圣雄甘地的传记，书中他将甘地描绘成种族主义者、双性恋。这本传记已经引发巨大争议。

　　这本传记名为《伟大的灵魂：圣雄甘地和他为印度的奋斗》(Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi And His Struggle With India)，书中莱利维尔德极大地颠覆了甘地的传统形象。根据《华尔街日报》的报道，这本书“将甘地描述成双性恋，政治上无能、喜新厌旧，对于身边的人非常残酷。”

　　书中称，甘地不仅曾与18岁以下的少女同床共枕，他还曾与犹太裔德国建筑师赫尔曼·卡伦巴赫保持了相当长的一段同性恋关系，并因此于1908年抛弃了妻子。1914年，甘地与卡伦巴赫结束了恋情。他将目光转向17岁的侄孙女，劝说侄孙女和他一起裸体睡觉，“每晚拥抱”，有时甚至和多名女孩一起同床而卧。书中还有相当露骨的描写。

　　传记还大曝甘地是一名种族主义者。书中写道，当甘地在南非被捕时曾说了这样的话：“我们向一座专门关押非洲黑人的监狱出发，我们能够理解被与白人隔离，但把我们划归土著人一类却不能理解。非洲黑人是最不开化、不文明的一类人。”

　　目前该传记已经在网上引发巨大争议，甘地的拥护者批评这是对圣雄甘地的亵渎。日前《印度快报》、《印度时报》就书中的一些片断联系了莱利维尔德。莱利维尔德表示，甘地与卡伦巴赫的同性恋情不是他杜撰的，在由甘地本人创立的出版社Navajivan Trust出版的一些作品中就有记录。此外，莱利维尔德称他从未将甘地说成是双性恋，“‘双性恋’这个词从未在书中出现过。一些研究甘地的学者表示，将在仔细阅读完这本书后再做出评论。

　　Outrage over reviews of new Gandhi book

　　NEW DELHI: Thousands of books have been written on Mahatma Gandhi with each new one claiming to have discovered an unknown facet of his eventful life. When reviews of Pulitzer prize winner Joseph Lelyveld's "Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India" hit the newspapers in England and US claiming that the book says Gandhi was a bisexual and had a German-Jewish bodybuilder lover in Hermann Kallenbach it created immediate sensation。

　　But as the Daily Mail's review of the book created a storm in cyberspace, there was a barrage of protests not just from Gandhians who said this was "blasphemy", but from the book's author himself who denied having suggested anything of the sort. 

　　Lelyveld told TOI, "I do not allege that Gandhi is a racist or bisexual in 'Great Soul'. The word 'bisexual' nowhere appears in the book." He also denied having called Gandhi a racist. "The word 'racist' is used once to characterise comments by Gandhi early in his stay in South Africa, part of a chapter summarising his statements about Africans and his relations with them. The chapter in no way concludes that he was a racist or offers any suggestion of it." 

　　Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, one of the first to write on Gandhi's sexuality in 'Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality' and later in 'Mira and Mahatma', is yet to read the book but has gone through an ocean of archives on Gandhi and says he never discovered anything that the reviewers claim the book consists of. 

　　Kakar remembers finding references to Kallenbach during his research but not the way the reviewers have portrayed it. He says if the book has what reviewers claim then it is plain "stupid." "Gandhi always talked of complete love but it was of platonic kind," he says. Another eminent modern India historian who has read the book said, "The reviews are by Churchill fans and rightwingers." The Mahatma's grandson Gopal Gandhi said, "I will not comment till I read the book." 

　　But Gandhian scholar Tridip Suhrud, author of books like 'The Autobiography of The Story of My Experiments With Truth' not only interacted with Lelyveld when he was researching the book but has also read it. He is aghast with the reviews and swears by Lelyveld. Suhrud says the section on Kallenbach begins with a quote from him. 

　　"Lelyveld asks me what I think of Gandhi's relationship with Kallenbach and I say, 'It is almost like a couple'. The two had a deep bond that borders on attraction of platonic kind. Joseph is not talking about what the reviewers are claiming," Suhrud says. He explains that in the late 19th century and early 20th century men addressed each other in a way that can be construed now as lovers. 

　　He gives the instance of letters between Rabindranath Tagore and CF Andrews. "Andrews wrote to Tagore in a manner that might raise eyebrows today. But the context was different then as also the usage of words. Tagore addressed him as Charlie," Suhrud says. He also says reviewers claim that the book portrays Gandhi as a racist is factually incorrect. In fact, he says, the book chronicles his work with Zulus as well during the Boer War where he took up the cause of the blacks. 

　　Suhrud goes on to give full marks to Lelyveld and the book. He says it is the first political biography of Gandhi by an expert on apartheid. "It is a fascinating work. Lelyveld shows there is continuity in Gandhi as well as major points of departure. Gandhi of South Africa was not the same as Gandhi of Sabarmati ashram. And Gandhi of Sabarmati was not the same after Dandi March." Lelyveld agrees: "The aim of 'Great Soul' is to sift the evidence and facts of Gandhi's life and discuss them in a careful, responsible and balanced way."

　　(印度时报)

　　(宇轩)