此文撰写于1971年,当时我正动笔写我的小说《预言家》。现在,我明白,我当时是用它来作为确定小说主题的又一种途径。这一主题即,一个人的祖籍应该是哪里?为什么?祖先——远古祖先及记忆中的祖先——对一个人本身意味着什么?直到我重读这些文章,我才意识到在用这主题写小说之前,我已经对这一主题写了如此之多;同样,我才意识到我是多么情不自禁地写了那条河流——出现于小说中的也是那同一条河流。 This article was written in 1971 when I was writing my novel The Prophet. Now, I understand that I was using it as yet another way of determining the subject of the novel. Why is this? Ancestors - ancient ancestors and ancestors in memory - what it means for an individual? It was not until I reread these articles that I realized that I was using this theme to write Before the novel, I had written so much on this subject; again, I realized how unforgivable I was about the river - the same river that appeared in the novel.