Before I Say Good-Byeを読んでいます。 この小説には死者とコミュニケーションが取れる人がいるとか、私にとっては非常に怪しげに思える話が何度も出てきます。
Nell noted that in some of the books the author wrote about a person’s “aura.” That last day, she thought, the day of the explosion, when I saw Winifred, there seemed to be a kind of blackness around her. According to what I’ve read here, I was seeing her aura. That blackness, according to these books, is a symbol of death.
“aura”は日本語にもなっていて、特別に何かに秀でた人とか、有名な俳優などにオーラを出している人がいると言うのを聞いた事があります。残念ながら私はそんな人にあったことはありませんが。オーラーは褒め言葉として使われ、上の引用文に出てくる様なネガティブな意味はないと思っていましたので、辞書にこのようなネガティブなオーラの説明があるか確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A supposed emanation surrounding the body of a living creature, viewed by mystics, spiritualists, and some practitioners of complementary medicine as the essence of the individual, and allegedly discernible by people with special sensibilities.: She started by telling me how she could see my aura was full of negative energy and that she could rid me of it.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a feeling or character that a person or place seems to have: There's an aura of sadness about him.
確かに、ネガティブなオーラもあるのですね。