编辑推荐
《纸牌屋》被两次改编成电视剧,1990年英国BBC将《纸牌屋》改编成电视剧后广受好评,被评为英国史上最伟大的政治剧之一。美剧第一季于2013年2月开播以来,迅速风靡全球,奥巴马即将客串!他和白宫、国会山多位政要均是剧集的铁杆粉丝!第二季将于2014年2月14日开播,更有奥斯卡影后朱迪·福斯特加盟。
亲历官场的畅销作家,著书杰作一时风靡:
作者迈克尔·道布斯是英国政治家,他1975年步入政坛,开始为保守党议员撰写演讲稿,很快崭露头角,被称为“威斯敏斯特的娃娃脸杀手”,后任政府特别顾问和撒切尔政府幕僚长,最终于保守党副主席的职位上退休,2010年被英王室册封为男爵。1989年,他写的英国官场小说《纸牌屋》大获好评,迅速成为畅销书作家。
国家领导人王岐山、美国总统奥巴马多次向属下推荐《纸牌屋》:
国家领导人王岐山多次向下属推荐《纸牌屋》并表示关注主角命运,奥巴马也多次表示他最喜欢的美剧是《纸牌屋》。
真实可感的政界博弈,激烈精彩的权力游戏:
作者用娓娓道来的笔触讲述了一个心狠手辣的政治老手如何凭一己之力将首相扳倒的精彩故事。作者曾是撒切尔夫人的幕僚长,还曾是保守党副主席,所以他写的官场小说真实可感,精彩异常。
内容简介
The #1 bestselling novel that inspired the hit Netflix series.
A dark tale of greed, corruption, and unquenchable ambition, House of Cards reveals that no matter the country, politics, intrigue and passion reign in the corridors of power.
Francis Urquhart has his hand on every secret in politics—and is willing to betray them all to become prime minister. Mattie Storin is a tenacious young reporter who has a knack for finding the real stories hidden behind the spin. When she stumbles upon a scandalous web of intrigue and financial corruption at the very highest levels, she vows to reveal the truth. But to do so she must battle her own demons and risk everything, even her life.
House of Cards is a classic political thriller reinvented for a new generation.
在首相连任竞选中功不可没的党鞭长弗朗西斯·厄克特本以为自己会入内阁任职,不料未能如愿。于是他暗中发誓要取代背叛自己的首相,搞垮所有的对手。他利用自己能够掌握内阁机密和掌握党内人士隐秘的优势,操控了一个又一个官员,并利用《每日纪事报》里想成为一线政治记者的玛蒂·斯多林,令她在媒体上大做文章。
初战告捷后,他旋即指派手下对内阁展开大规模围剿,紧紧咬住所有人的弱点,除掉了一个又一个对手,扫清了一个又一个障碍,然而他的阴谋也在慢慢地暴露。他最终能否登上首相宝座,而知道越来越多内幕的玛蒂又能否安然周旋于权力斗争中,并实现自己的理想呢?
作者简介
Michael Dobbs is also Lord Dobbs of Wylye, a member of the British House of Lords. He is Britain's leading political novelist and has been a senior adviser to Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron. His bestselling books include House of Cards, which was made into an award winning TV series in the UK and is currently being remade into a major US television series by Kevin Spacey and the director David Fincher.
迈克尔·道布斯,1948年出生于英国赫特福德郡,毕业于牛津大学,1975年步入政坛,开始为保守党议员撰写演讲稿,很快崭露头角,被称为“威斯敏斯特的娃娃脸杀手”,后任政府特别顾问和撒切尔政府幕僚长,最终于保守党副主席的职位上退休,2010年被英王室册封为男爵。
他同时也是畅销书作家,共著有《纸牌屋》等十余部畅销作品。1989年,他讲述英国官场故事的处女作小说《纸牌屋》大获好评,次年被BBC改成电视剧,风靡全球。道布斯顺势又写出另外两部厄克特小说《玩转国王》、《最后一章》,完整交代了这位政坛枭雄的精彩一生,这两部小说也都被BBC改编成电视剧。2013年,好莱坞知名导演大卫·芬奇和奥斯卡影帝凯文·史派西联袂出手,再次将《纸牌屋》搬上荧屏,一经播出,再次火爆全球。
《纸牌屋》的戏剧化诞生
二十五年前发生的一桩错误完完全全改变了我的一生。当时我身处一座叫做戈佐的小岛上,心情很是苦闷。我开始抱怨身边的一切——太阳、大海,特别是全新的畅销书。很快我的人生伴侣就受不了了。“别他妈这么自大了,”她说,“要是你觉得你能写得更好,那看在上帝的份儿上,赶紧动笔吧。我是来度假的,可不是来听你拿那本破书发牢骚的!”
在她的“鼓励”和鞭策下,我开始沉下心来。我一手握着笔,一手握着酒瓶。三瓶过后,我想我找到了自己的主人公——他的名字缩写是“FU”,同时也想出了一个大概的情节,于是乎,弗朗西斯·厄克特和《纸牌屋》就这样诞生了。
——迈克尔·道布斯
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精彩书评
This blood-and-thunder tale, lifelike and thoroughly cynical, certainly carries the ring of authenticity ... a great triumph.' - Independent
'The exciting thriller that has Westminster buzzing. Here is a political thriller writer with a marvellous inside track knowledge of government.' - Daily Express
'It has pace, a beguiling authenticity and a cast of Achilles heels.' - Daily Telegraph
'What a brilliant creation F.U. is.' - Sunday Telegraph
近期王岐山曾向纪检干部们推荐了美国政治剧《纸牌屋》。《纸牌屋》改编自英国同名小说,描述议院和首相的权力角逐。消息称,王岐山在提及这部作品时,非常重视剧中“党鞭”这一政治角色。“党鞭”一词源于英国,指议会内的代表其政党的领袖人物,负责督导同党议员,并维持议会党团纪律,多为党内专业人士。《纸牌屋》讲述了英国保守党党鞭长弗朗西斯?厄克特起起伏伏的政治生涯。
——摘自《凤凰周刊》2013年第34期刊出文章《王岐山脸谱》
“这是个无比刺激的故事,生动真实,引人入胜,充满了对这个世界的冷嘲热讽,同时也让人有身临其境之感……这本书真是大获全胜。”
——《独立报》
“这个令人兴奋的惊悚故事充满了威斯敏斯特的‘风情’。这个政治悬疑故事作家曾经是政府的圈内人,对这些事情有着深刻的了解。《纸牌屋》结构紧凑,发人深省,精彩万分。”
——《每日快报》
“弗朗西斯·厄克特是个多么精彩的人物啊!”
——《星期日电讯报》
精彩书摘
One
Thursday, June 10
It seemed scarcely a moment since she had made it back home, stumbling up the last step in exhaustion, yet already the morning sun was sticking thumbs in her eyes as it crept around the curtain and began to nestle on her pillow. She turned over irritably. Her head was thick, her feet sore, and the bed beside her empty. Helping finish off that second bottle of Liebfraumilch had been a lousy idea. She'd let down her defenses, got herself stuck in a corner with some creep from the Sun who was all acne and innuendo. She'd had to spill the last of the wine down his shirt before he'd backed off. She took a quick peek under the duvet, just to make sure she hadn't screwed up completely and he wasn't lurking there. She sighed; she hadn't even got round to taking off her socks.e
Mattie Storin beat her pillow into submission and lay back once again. She deserved a few extra moments in bed; she knew she wouldn't get any sleep tonight. Election night. Day of Damnation. Voters' Vengeance. The past few weeks had been ferocious for Mattie, under siege from her editor, stretched too tightly between deadlines, tossed between excitement and exhaustion. Maybe after this evening she could take a few days off, sort her life out, find a better quality of both wine and man to spend her evening with. She pulled the duvet more closely around her. Even in the glare of the early summer sun she felt a chill.
It had been like that ever since she had left Yorkshire almost a year before. She'd hoped she could leave all the accusations and the anger behind her, but they still cast a cold shadow that followed her everywhere, particularly into her bed. She shivered, buried her face in the lumpy pillow.
She tried to be philosophical. After all, she no longer had any emotional distractions, nothing to get in the way of discovering whether she really had what it took to become the best political correspondent in a fiercely masculine world. Only herself to bother about, not even a cat. But it was difficult to be philosophical when your feet were freezing. And when you didn't have any clean laundry. She threw back the duvet and clambered out of bed, only to discover that her underwear drawer was bare. She'd miscalculated, forgotten, too much to do and so little time to do any of it, least of all the bloody washing. She searched other drawers, every corner, made a mess but found nothing. Damn, she was glad no man had to watch her do this. She dived into her laundry basket, ferreted around and came up with a pair of knickers a week old but only a day worn. She turned them inside out, stepped into them. Ready for battle. With a sigh Mattie Storin threw open the bathroom door and got on with her day.
* * *
As dusk began to settle across the June skies, four sets of HMI mercury oxide television lamps clicked on with a dull thud, painting the front of the building with high intensity power. The brilliant light pierced deep behind the mock Georgian fa?ade of the Party's headquarters. A curtain fluttered at a third floor window as someone took a quick glance at the scene outside.
The moth also saw the lamps. It was waiting for the approaching night, resting in a crevice of one of the nearby towers of St. John, the graceful church built by Wren in the middle of Smith Square. The church had long been deconsecrated, St. John dismissed, but its four limestone towers still dominated this now godless square in the heart of Westminster. They stared down, frowning in disapproval. But not the moth. It began to tingle with excitement. It stretched its wings, drawn by ten thousand watts and a million years of instinct.
The moth strained in the early evening air, forcing its body along the river of light. It flew above the heads of the growing crowd, beyond the bustle and gathering pace of preparations. Nearer and nearer it flew, eager, passionate, erratic, ambitious, heedless of everything other than the power it was being drawn to, power beyond dreams, beyond resistance. It had no choice.
There was a bright flash as the moth's body hit the lens a millisecond before its wings wrapped around the searing glass and vaporized. Its charred and blackened carcass gave off little vapors of despair as it tumbled toward the ground. The night had gained its first victim.
* * *
Another of the night's early victims was propping up the varnished bar at the Marquis of Granby, just around the corner from the growing commotion. The original Marquis of Granby had been a popular military figure more than two hundred years earlier and had more pubs named after him than any other figure in the land, but the marquis had succumbed to politics, lost his way, and died in debt and distress. Much the same fate lay in store for Charles Collingridge, according to his many tolerant friends. Not that Charlie Collingridge had ever been elected, but neither had the marquis, it wasn't the done thing in those early days. Collingridge was in his midfifties, looked older, worn, and hadn't had a particularly glorious military career, two years of national service that had left him with little more than a sense of his own inadequacy in the order of life. Charlie had always tried to do the decent thing but he was accident prone. It happens when you have a drinking habit.
His day had started early with a shave and a tie, but now the stubble was beginning to show and the tie was hanging at half-mast. The eyes told the barman that the large vodka he had served two glasses ago hadn't been the first of the day. But Charlie was a genial drunk, always ready with a smile and a generous word. He pushed his empty glass back across the counter.
"Another?" The barman asked, dubious.
"And one for yourself, my good man," Charlie replied, reaching for his wallet. "Ah, but it seems I'm a little short," he muttered, staring at a solitary note in disbelief. He searched through his pocket and pulled out keys, a gray handkerchief, and a few coins. "I'm sure, somewhere..."
"The note will do," the barman replied. "Nothing for me, thanks. It's going to be a long night."
"Yes. It will. My younger brother, Hal, you know him?"
The barman shook his head, pushed the drink across the varnish, glad the old drunk was out of money and soon out of his bar.
"You don't know Hal?" Charlie asked in surprise. "You must." He sipped. "Everyone knows Hal." Another sip. "He's the Prime Minister."
前言/序言
《傲慢与偏见》:一部关于爱情、阶级与自我认知的经典之作 作者:简·奥斯汀 (Jane Austen) 出版信息:平装版 --- 作品概述:一场关于心智与情感的优雅交锋 《傲慢与偏见》是简·奥斯汀最具代表性的长篇小说之一,它以其机智的对话、对社会风俗入木三分的观察以及对复杂人物内心的细腻刻画,稳居世界文学经典之列。故事背景设定在十八世纪末至十九世纪初的英国乡村,围绕着班内特(Bennet)家族,特别是二女儿伊丽莎白(Elizabeth Bennet)的成长与爱情展开。这部作品不仅仅是一部浪漫喜剧,更是一面映照当时社会阶层、婚姻制度以及个人成见与偏见的镜子。 核心主题的深度剖析 1. 傲慢与偏见:认知的藩篱 小说的标题直接点明了贯穿始终的核心冲突。达西先生(Mr. Darcy)的“傲慢”源于他显赫的家世和社会地位,使他自视甚高,对平民阶层表现出不加掩饰的轻蔑。这种傲慢,首先体现在他对班内特家族社交圈的鄙夷,以及对伊丽莎白家庭背景的介意。 与之相对的是伊丽莎白的“偏见”。她聪明、敏锐,但性情中带着一股强烈的独立精神和对既有权威的不信任。她最初对达西先生的印象,被韦翰(Wickham)的甜言蜜语和达西先生初次见面的失礼行为所固化。这种先入为主的判断,使她拒绝接受任何与她既有观念相悖的事实,哪怕证据确凿。 小说的精妙之处在于,作者并没有将傲慢和偏见简单地归咎于某一方,而是展示了它们如何相互作用、相互强化,最终导致了双方之间巨大的误解和痛苦。直到双方经历了一系列的事件和深刻的反思,他们才得以逐步剥去蒙蔽心智的外衣,看清对方的真实面貌。 2. 婚姻、金钱与社会地位 在当时的英国,婚姻对于没有丰厚继承权的女性来说,是唯一的经济保障和向上流动的途径。班内特先生的遗产只能由男性继承,这意味着班内特太太的首要任务便是为五个女儿找到富有的丈夫。 小说细致地描绘了不同婚姻模式: 功利主义的婚姻: 夏洛特·卢卡斯(Charlotte Lucas)为了安全和稳定,嫁给了令人厌烦的柯林斯先生(Mr. Collins),这反映了当时许多女性在经济压力下的无奈选择。 激情与鲁莽的结合: 莉迪亚(Lydia Bennet)与韦翰的私奔,是家族名誉的巨大危机,展示了不计后果的激情可能带来的毁灭性后果。 建立在理解与尊重基础上的结合: 简(Jane Bennet)与宾利先生(Mr. Bingley)的结合,以及伊丽莎白与达西先生的最终结合,是奥斯汀所推崇的理想典范——建立在共同价值观和相互尊重之上的伙伴关系。 3. 阶级界限的挑战与跨越 达西先生与伊丽莎白之间的障碍不仅是个性上的差异,更是根深蒂固的社会阶级差异。达西对“门第”的执着,体现了旧贵族的保守与僵化。然而,伊丽莎白的智慧和正直,以及她家人(除了简)表现出的粗俗,也挑战了达西关于社会地位与个人价值之间关系的固有认知。 小说的高潮之一,是达西先生在德比郡(Darcy's estate, Pemberley)的庄园中,伊丽莎白得以窥见他作为主人、作为兄弟的另一面。德比郡的富丽堂皇与达西的细致周到形成鲜明对比,使得伊丽莎白开始重新评估她的偏见。反之,达西也通过伊丽莎白对家庭的忠诚和在危机中的表现,认识到自己对“体面”的衡量标准存在偏差。 人物群像的生动刻画 伊丽莎白·班内特: 充满活力、思想独立,是奥斯汀笔下最受喜爱的女主角之一。她的机智和爱开玩笑的天性,使她在保守的社交圈中显得独树一帜。她的“智慧”是她最大的资本,但她的“偏见”也差点让她错过真爱。 菲茨威廉·达西先生: 起初是高傲、冷漠的形象,但他内心深处拥有坚定的原则和高尚的品德。他的傲慢是伪装,是对不真诚社交的抵触。他为爱做出的改变——帮助班内特家族解决莉迪亚的危机,显示了他真正的骑士精神。 班内特夫妇: 班内特先生的讽刺和对家庭琐事的逃避,与班内特太太的庸俗和对婚姻的过度焦虑形成了鲜明的对比,共同营造了家庭环境的喜剧色彩与潜在的悲剧风险。 宾利与简: 简的善良和温和,常常使她显得缺乏主见,容易被他人的意见影响。宾利的单纯和容易受人摆布,使他们两人的恋情经历了不必要的波折。 柯林斯先生与罗斯小姐(Lady Catherine de Bourgh): 这两位角色是社会僵硬教条和虚伪礼仪的缩影。柯林斯先生的谄媚和自我感觉良好,以及罗斯小姐的专横跋扈,为小说增添了必要的喜剧张力和对社会势利的批判色彩。 叙事风格与文学价值 奥斯汀的叙事充满了“自由间接引语”的运用,使得读者能够直接进入人物的内心世界,体验他们的想法和感受,而无需冗长的心理分析。这种技巧使得叙事流畅、对话尖锐、充满机锋。 小说中的幽默是含蓄而精准的,它来源于对人物性格弱点的巧妙揭示,而非低俗的笑料。奥斯汀的文字精确、优雅,每一个形容词和对话都服务于人物塑造和情节推进。 跨越时代的共鸣 尽管背景设定在两个多世纪前,《傲慢与偏见》之所以经久不衰,是因为它探讨了人类永恒的主题:如何在追求真爱与实现个人价值之间取得平衡;如何克服自身的认知缺陷去理解他人;以及真诚的自我认知是通往幸福的唯一路径。伊丽莎白与达西最终的结合,象征着个人成长、理智与情感的圆满统一,是所有时代读者都能从中获得慰藉与启示的伟大爱情故事。 这部作品不仅仅是英格兰乡村生活的田园牧歌,更是一部关于人类情感复杂性、社会规范约束以及最终如何通过爱与理解实现救赎的深刻寓言。