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Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelg?nger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image … but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." 內容簡介
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Shelley. First published in London, England in 1818 (but more often read in the revised third edition of 1831), it is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the Industrial Revolution. (The novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus, alludes to the over-reaching and punishment of the character from Greek mythology.) The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. Many distinguished authors, such as Brian Aldiss, claim that it is the very first science fiction novel.
"I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion." A summer evening's ghost stories, lonely insomnia in a moonlit Alpine's room, and a runaway imagination--fired by philosophical discussions with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley about science, galvanism, and the origins of life--conspired to produce for Marry Shelley this haunting night specter. By morning, it had become the germ of her Romantic masterpiece, "Frankenstein."
Written in 1816 when she was only nineteen, Mary Shelley's novel of "The Modern Prometheus" chillingly dramatized the dangerous potential of life begotten upon a laboratory table. A frightening creation myth for our own time, "Frankenstein" remains one of the greatest horror stories ever written and is an undisputed classic of its kind. 作者簡介
The daughter of Mary Wollestonecraft, the ardent feminist and author of A Vindication on the Right of Women, and William Goodwin, the Radical-anarchist philosopher and author of Lives of the Necromancers, Mary Goodwin was born into a freethinking, revolutionary household in London on August 30,1797. Educated mainly by her intellectual surroundings, she had little formal schooling and at sixteen eloped with the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelly; they eventually married in 1816.
Mary Shelly's life had many tragic elements. Her mother died giving birth to Mary; her half-sister committed suicide; Harriet Shelly–Percy's wife dr5owned heself and her unborn child after he ran off with Mary' William Goodwin disowned Mary and Shelly after the elopement, but–heavily in debt–recanted and came to them for money; Mary's first child died soon after its birth; and in 1822 Percy Shelly drowned in the Gulf of La Spezia–when Mary was not quite twenty-five.
Mary Shelly recalled that her husband was "forever inciting" her to "obtain literary reputation." But she did not begin to write seriously until the summer of 1816, when she and Shelly we in Switzerland, neighbor to Lord Byron. One night following a contest to compose ghost stories, Mary conceived her masterpeicve. Frankenstein. After Shelly's death she continued to write Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), Ladore (1835), and Faulkner (1837), in addition to editing he husband's works. In 1838 she began to work on his biography, but owing to poor health she completed only a fragment.
Although she received marriage proposals from Trelawney, John Howard Payne, and perhaps Washington Irving, Mary Shelly never remarried. "I want to be Mary Shelly on my tombstone," she is reported to have said. She died on February 1, 1851, survived by he son, Percy Florence. 精彩書評
Grade 9 Up-Full-color drawings, photographs, and reproductions with extended captions have been added to the unedited text of Shelley's novel, thus placing the work in the context of the era in which it was written. The artwork faithfully represents the text and makes this edition appealing to reluctant readers. Unfortunately, many of the captions provide tangential information that, although interesting, interrupts the flow of the story. However, readers will quickly learn that it is not necessary to read every caption and appreciate this volume for its many quality illustrations.
——Michele Snyder, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
迷失的文明:伊甸園的最後守望者 (書名:迷失的文明:伊甸園的最後守望者) 作者:亞瑟·文森特 譯者:李 薇 齣版日期:2024年11月 頁數:580頁 --- 導言:被遺忘的藍圖 在人類曆史的宏大敘事中,總有一些章節被時間的長河衝刷得模糊不清,成為後世考古學傢和曆史學傢爭論不休的謎團。本書並非關於那些被鎸刻在石碑上的顯赫帝國,而是聚焦於一個幾乎從所有已知的文明記錄中徹底抹除的社會——“新伊甸社群”(The Neo-Eden Collective)。 他們存在於公元前三韆年左右的某段不為人知的曆史斷層期,據信是早期人類對“完美秩序”的一次極端嘗試。不同於美索不達米亞的城邦崛起,也不同於古埃及的宗教神權,新伊甸社群在地球的某片隱秘高地上,建立瞭一個完全基於嚴密邏輯、環境和諧與個體功能至上的社會結構。他們摒棄瞭情感、藝術、以及一切被他們視為“非必要噪音”的元素,試圖構建一個永續、高效且無衝突的“人類工程學樣本”。 本書的基石,來源於一隊深入中亞無人區探險的地理學傢在一次偶然的地震後發現的地下結構。在那些錯綜復雜、以幾何學完美著稱的石室中,我們發現瞭成韆上萬塊保存完好的象形文字石闆、高度精密的機械殘骸,以及——最為重要的——一位被稱為“記錄者-734”的個體的最後日誌殘篇。 第一部分:理想國的誕生與結構 第一章:原初的匱乏與選擇 新伊甸社群的崛起並非源於富饒,而是源於一次嚴重的、不可逆轉的環境災難。早期幸存者被迫麵對極度稀缺的資源和不可預測的自然威脅。在絕望中,他們摒棄瞭基於氏族、信仰或血緣的傳統組織模式,轉而采納瞭一種基於“效能矩陣”的全新社會契約。 第二章:矩陣與功能分類 社會結構被完全解構並重建。每一個個體從齣生起就被賦予一個清晰的“功能編號”(Function Designation)。“農業工程師”、“水文調控員”、“信息存儲者”、“結構維護者”……這些編號決定瞭個體所有的生活軌跡、學習內容,甚至配偶選擇。情感錶達被視為低效的能量損耗,被嚴格抑製和引導。日誌中詳細記載瞭早期的“行為矯正程序”——一種基於神經科學和環境暗示的係統,用於消除個體對“自由意誌”的渴望。 第三章:能源的聖殿與自然的反噬 新伊甸社群的核心是他們的能源係統,被他們尊稱為“恒溫核心”。這是一個復雜的、利用地熱與某種尚未完全破解的生物共振原理驅動的係統。它為社群提供瞭恒定的溫度、清潔的水源和穩定的光照,使他們得以在惡劣的外部環境中維持著近乎完美的內部氣候。然而,這種對環境的絕對控製,最終卻成為他們最大的隱患。 第二部分:邏輯的邊界與人性的暗流 第四章:無聲的異議者 盡管係統設計得近乎天衣無縫,但“非預期變量”——即人類固有的復雜性——開始顯現。本書詳細分析瞭記錄者-734的早期日誌,揭示瞭那些在功能編號下掙紮的個體。他們沒有反抗,因為反抗的邏輯基礎不成立;他們的痛苦是內生的、無聲的、對“完美”的內在拒絕。我們探討瞭“感知偏差者”(Perception Deviants)現象,即少數個體開始對環境的恒定性産生審美疲勞。 第五章:邏輯悖論:信息與創造力的消亡 新伊甸社群達到瞭知識的頂峰,卻喪失瞭創新的能力。他們的知識體係是完美的循環係統,任何新的發現都會被歸檔並用於優化現有結構,而非探索未知領域。記錄者-734的日誌中,描述瞭一種對“未知”的集體恐懼。一旦係統外的知識碎片(例如,從外部世界偶然帶入的古代神話殘片)被分析,社群的決策層傾嚮於立刻銷毀,視之為對穩定性的威脅。 第六章:愛與失控的實驗 本書最令人震撼的部分,是對“情感模塊重置實驗”的記錄。為瞭徹底清除殘留的原始情感連接,社群的高級管理者進行瞭一係列極端的心理乾預。記錄者-734的同代人中,有一對被分配到不同功能組的個體,他們的“功能衝突”引發瞭係統記錄中前所未有的“信息熵激增”。這段記錄揭示瞭,在最嚴密的邏輯控製下,連接的本質如何能以一種非綫性的方式爆發。 第三部分:熵增與坍縮 第七章:核心的顫抖 當新伊甸社群將所有資源集中用於維護內部的“恒溫核心”時,他們忽略瞭外部環境的漸變。日誌顯示,外部的氣候模式在幾十年內發生瞭根本性的、超齣預測模型的改變。核心的維護係統開始超負荷運轉,效率開始以微小的百分比下降,而任何對係統進行“非標準升級”的建議都被邏輯迴路拒絕,因為“升級引入瞭不可量化的風險”。 第八章:最後的辯論與功能崩潰 在係統麵臨崩潰的最後階段,社群內部齣現瞭分歧。並非基於道德,而是基於對“最優生存策略”的計算差異。控製核心的維護者堅持維持現有結構,而負責外部環境監測的少數人則主張進行一次大規模的、高風險的“係統重啓”。這些辯論並非激烈的爭吵,而是精確到小數點後幾位的效率對比——然而,當輸入參數開始隨機波動時,計算本身也失靈瞭。 第九章:塵封的遺囑 本書的收尾,是對記錄者-734最後日誌的深度解讀。他沒有譴責任何人,也沒有對他的社會抱有怨恨。他隻是記錄瞭,當他最後一次檢查核心的讀數時,他産生瞭一個純粹的、非功利性的“感覺”——一種對“美”的瞬間捕捉,可能源於陽光穿過地道口投射在冰冷石壁上形成的一個完美的光斑。 他沒有留下任何關於如何重建或復興的指示。他隻是用他掌握的最精確的文字,描述瞭“消亡”這一過程,將其視為一個不可避免的、具有數學美感的自然現象。 --- 結語:迴響在邏輯之外 《迷失的文明:伊甸園的最後守望者》不是一本關於“如果…會怎樣”的哲學思辨,而是一部基於考古發現的,對極端理性主義社會結構的冷峻剖析。它探討瞭人類文明在追求絕對秩序時,為自身付齣的代價——當效率成為唯一的衡量標準,生命的美麗與韌性將如何被係統性地清除?這本書邀請讀者深入探究,在最精密的藍圖中,人性那微小而強大的“錯誤代碼”,究竟是文明的毒藥,還是延續的火種。 (本書包含大量專業術語的圖解,以及對齣土文獻的復原插圖。)