Unraveling Threads: Essays on Inheritance

《解開生命的絲線：關於傳承的散文集》
從語言、家庭羈絆到臺灣歷史，布蘭達．林以一件件手作之物為線索，細膩梳理記憶如何被保存、代代相傳，以及照護如何成為家的形狀。

「觸覺記憶，似乎是最容易消逝的一種。」布蘭達．林（ Brenda Lin）在《解開生命的絲線》中如此寫道。
然而，在這些精緻動人的篇章裡，她也讓我們看見，觸覺如何承載個人、家庭與文化的記憶。

從嬰兒脫落後留下的臍帶，到母親收藏的古董手繡揹巾，林以一件件可觸摸的手工物件，串連起父母與子女、故鄉與離散者，也為照護的種種樣貌賦予具體質地。在漢字中，「糸」既與女性的勞動相關，也蘊含反覆練習與傳承之意；支撐父親心臟持續運作的支架，也由絲線般的網狀結構交織而成。而象徵命運紅線的「緣」，則是她為後來成為丈夫的那個人翻譯的第一個中文字。

離開數十年後，林帶著自己的年幼家庭重返臺灣。創作與照護的絲線，逐漸交織成經緯，引領她踏上一場不斷回返、重新理解歸屬的旅程。

這部書寫母職、語言、藝術與離散經驗的散文集，獻給每一位曾經回到故鄉，或努力為自己築起一個家的人。

A memoir-in-essays that, in its exploration of language, family ties, and Taiwanese history, distills how the handmade holds memory, inheritance, and the work of caretaking.

“Tactile memory feels like it is the easiest to lose,” brenda Lin writes in Unraveling Threads. But in these exquisite essays, she demonstrates just how the tactile bolsters personal, familial, and cultural memory. From the remnant of a baby’s umbilical cord to the antique hand-embroidered baby carriers her mother collects, Lin shows us how the tactile and handmade connect parents and children, homeland and diaspora, and give texture to caregiving’s many forms. As Lin writes, the radical for thread forms the basis of Chinese characters for women’s work, for practice through repetition, for inheritance. Threads form the mesh in the stent that keeps her father’s heart working. And yuan, the red thread of fate, is the first word she translated for her future husband. When Lin returns to Taiwan after decades away, this time with her young family, the threads of creativity and caretaking become the warp and weft of the continual process of homecoming. These essays on motherhood, language, art, and diaspora will resonate with anyone who has experienced the process of returning to, or building, a home.

Contents

Umbilical Cord
繫
On Baby Carriers
紅
Translation Is a Gift
緣
On Characters with the Radical 糸
糸
Home
網
On Women’s Work and Creativity
繡, 織, 編
Nationality
絡
On Collecting
系統
Interstitial Space
紓
On Containers and Containment
納
Language/Pattern/Writing
紋
On Inheritance
繼
Mao Dun Things
結

Acknowledgments