编辑推荐
《蝇王》描述在一场未来的核战争中,一架飞机带着一群孩子从本土飞到南方疏散。飞机被击落,孩子们乘坐的机舱落到一座世外桃源般的、荒无人烟的珊瑚岛上。起初孩子们齐心协力,后来由于害怕所谓的“野兽”分裂成两派,以崇尚本能的专制派压倒了讲究理智的民主派而告终。
内容简介
William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them—the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories—and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible.
Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.
Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic.
《蝇王》是英国作家、诺贝尔文学奖获得者威廉·戈尔丁的代表作,是一本重要的哲理小说,借小孩的天真来探讨人性的恶这一严肃主题。故事发生于想象中的第三次世界大战,一群六岁至十二岁的儿童在撤退途中因飞机失事被困在一座荒岛上,起先尚能和睦相处,后来由于恶的本性的膨胀起来,便互相残杀,发生悲剧性的结果。作者将抽象的哲理命题具体化,让读者通过阅读引人入胜的故事和激动人心的争斗场面来加以体悟,人物、场景、故事、意象等都深具象征意义。
作者简介
Born in Cornwall, England, in 1911 and educated at Oxford University, William Gerald Golding's first book, Poems, was published in 1935. Following a stint in the Royal Navy and other diversions during and after World War II, Golding wrote Lord of the Flies while teaching school. This was the first of several novels including Pincher Martin, Free Fall, and The Inheritors and a play, The Brass Butterfly, which led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
威廉·戈尔,小说家。1983年获诺贝尔文学奖金,代表作有《蝇王》、《继承人》、《塔尖》等。
精彩书评
"The most influential novel...since Salinger's Catcher in the Rye."
-- Time
"Lord of the Flies [is my selection for The Book That Changed My Life] because it is both a story with a message and because it is a great tale of adventure. My advice about reading is to do a lot of it."
-- Stephen King, for the National Book Foundation, The Book That Changed My Life
"[T]his brilliant work is a frightening parody on man's return (in a few weeks) to that state of darkness from which it took him thousands of years to emerge. Fully to succeed, a fantasy must approach very close to reality. Lord of the Flies does. It must also be superbly written. It is."
-- The New York Times Book Review
"[S]parely and elegantly written...Lord of the Flies is a grim anti-pastoral in which adults are disguised as children who replicate the worst of their elders' heritage of ignorance, violence, and warfare."
-- Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books
前言/序言
好的,这是一本关于探索人类本性、社会结构与道德困境的经典之作的详细简介,其内容完全不涉及您提到的《蝇王》: 《了不起的盖茨比》(The Great Gatsby) 一部关于“美国梦”的幻灭与永恒追寻的挽歌 F·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》不仅仅是一部小说,它是对20世纪20年代美国“爵士时代”的精准解剖,一曲对财富、爱情、阶级与时间流逝的华丽而又哀伤的咏叹调。故事的核心,是一场在虚假光芒与真实渴望之间挣扎的悲剧,深刻地探讨了“美国梦”如何在物质主义的浪潮中被扭曲、被玷污,最终走向不可避免的幻灭。 故事以尼克·卡拉威的视角展开。尼克,一位刚从西区搬到东部,试图在华尔街崭露头角的年轻中西部人,偶然间租下了西伊丽莎白(West Egg)一座普通却邻近奢华的别墅。西伊丽莎白代表着“新钱”——暴发户的浮华与喧嚣。与他对岸的东伊丽莎白(East Egg),则是象征着“旧钱”的优雅与傲慢,那里居住着世代相传的贵族。 尼克的邻居,就是那位神秘莫测的杰伊·盖茨比。 盖茨比的盛宴与孤寂的舞台 盖茨比的庄园是整个长岛社交圈的焦点。每周六的夜晚,他的宅邸都会上演一场场极尽奢靡的派对。无数衣着光鲜、来历不明的宾客涌入,他们饮用最昂贵的香槟,跳着最狂热的舞蹈,享受着主人慷慨提供的酒精与娱乐。然而,这些狂欢的参与者,很少有人真正认识盖茨比本人,他们只是利用他财富的余晖取暖。 盖茨比本人,这位谜一样的百万富翁,终日活在一种精心构建的、带着淡淡忧郁的神秘感之中。他从不参与自己的派对,只是站在高处,眼神中总是投射着一种近乎痛苦的期盼。尼克很快发现,这一切的奢靡、所有的派对、所有的财富累积,都只有一个目的:吸引一个人的注意——黛西·布坎南。 黛西是尼克的表妹,居住在东伊丽莎白,是尼克与盖茨比之间情感纠葛的枢纽。她嫁给了汤姆·布坎南,一个强壮、专横、继承了巨额财富、并且毫不掩饰自己风流韵事的社交名流。黛西的声音被描述为“充满了金钱的味道”,她美丽、迷人,却又带着一种令人心碎的脆弱和随波逐流的倾向。 过去的幽灵与未来的迷雾 尼克最终成为了盖茨比与黛西重新相遇的桥梁。在一次紧张而又充满期待的重逢后,盖茨比揭示了他生命中唯一的真实动机:他用五年时间来追逐黛西,五年前,在成为如今的“杰伊·盖茨比”之前,他只是一个贫穷的、充满抱负的军官。黛西是他所有梦想的化身,是他所有野心起飞的跑道。他相信,只要拥有足够的财富和地位,他就能抹去过去五年间发生的一切,重新回到那个决定性的夏天。 小说的高潮部分,不再是派对的喧闹,而是三股力量——盖茨比的执着、汤姆的傲慢与黛西的犹豫——在纽约一家酒店的套房里进行了一场不可调和的冲突。在这场对峙中,盖茨比那宏伟的“美国梦”开始崩塌。他发现,他所深爱和追求的黛西,并非那个纯洁的偶像,她被阶级、安全感和习惯牢牢地束缚住了,她无法真正抛弃她现有的安稳生活,去追逐一个建立在虚幻时间基础上的爱情。 坠落与永恒的象征 冲突的后果是灾难性的。在返回长岛的途中,一场意外的车祸彻底撕裂了所有人的生活,将谎言、不忠和隐藏的愤怒暴露无遗。盖茨比的理想主义,他为爱而建造的空中楼阁,在残酷的现实面前不堪一击。 小说的后半部分,是对社会道德沦丧的深刻反思。当悲剧发生后,那些曾经在盖茨比的派对上狂欢作乐的“朋友们”瞬间消失无踪,暴露了爵士时代的虚伪与冷漠。只有尼克,这个局外人,带着深深的幻灭感留了下来,成为了盖茨比悲剧的唯一见证者和记录者。 《了不起的盖茨比》最终落脚于对美国精神的追问:我们是否已经用对物质的无限渴望,出卖了最初的纯洁愿景?盖茨比的悲剧,不在于他没有追到黛西,而在于他将自己的全部生命和梦想,寄托于一个已经逝去、且永远无法复刻的“过去”。 尼克在小说的结尾,将目光投向了那片黑暗的水域,以及在遥远彼岸闪烁着的、盖茨比曾经日夜凝视的绿灯。那绿灯,成为了希望、未来、财富以及所有未竟之梦的永恒象征。菲茨杰拉德以其无可匹敌的优美和精准的语言,为我们描绘了一幅关于逝去青春、阶级鸿沟以及美国黄金时代背后那片忧伤底色的不朽画卷。这是一部关于时间、梦想与幻灭的经典之作,至今仍能震撼每一位追求“更好生活”的读者。