編輯推薦
《蠅王》描述在一場未來的核戰爭中,一架飛機帶著一群孩子從本土飛到南方疏散。飛機被擊落,孩子們乘坐的機艙落到一座世外桃源般的、荒無人煙的珊瑚島上。起初孩子們齊心協力,後來由於害怕所謂的“野獸”分裂成兩派,以崇尚本能的專製派壓倒瞭講究理智的民主派而告終。
內容簡介
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.
《蠅王》是英國作傢、諾貝爾文學奬獲得者威廉·戈爾丁的代錶作,是一本重要的哲理小說,藉小孩的天真來探討人性的惡這一嚴肅主題。故事發生於想象中的第三次世界大戰,一群六歲至十二歲的兒童在撤退途中因飛機失事被睏在一座荒島上,起先尚能和睦相處,後來由於惡的本性的膨脹起來,便互相殘殺,發生悲劇性的結果。作者將抽象的哲理命題具體化,讓讀者通過閱讀引人入勝的故事和激動人心的爭鬥場麵來加以體悟,人物、場景、故事、意象等都深具象徵意義。
作者簡介
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·戈爾,小說傢。1983年獲諾貝爾文學奬金,代錶作有《蠅王》、《繼承人》、《塔尖》等。
精彩書評
"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,這是一本關於探索人類本性、社會結構與道德睏境的經典之作的詳細簡介,其內容完全不涉及您提到的《蠅王》: 《瞭不起的蓋茨比》(The Great Gatsby) 一部關於“美國夢”的幻滅與永恒追尋的挽歌 F·斯科特·菲茨傑拉德的《瞭不起的蓋茨比》不僅僅是一部小說,它是對20世紀20年代美國“爵士時代”的精準解剖,一麯對財富、愛情、階級與時間流逝的華麗而又哀傷的詠嘆調。故事的核心,是一場在虛假光芒與真實渴望之間掙紮的悲劇,深刻地探討瞭“美國夢”如何在物質主義的浪潮中被扭麯、被玷汙,最終走嚮不可避免的幻滅。 故事以尼剋·卡拉威的視角展開。尼剋,一位剛從西區搬到東部,試圖在華爾街嶄露頭角的年輕中西部人,偶然間租下瞭西伊麗莎白(West Egg)一座普通卻鄰近奢華的彆墅。西伊麗莎白代錶著“新錢”——暴發戶的浮華與喧囂。與他對岸的東伊麗莎白(East Egg),則是象徵著“舊錢”的優雅與傲慢,那裏居住著世代相傳的貴族。 尼剋的鄰居,就是那位神秘莫測的傑伊·蓋茨比。 蓋茨比的盛宴與孤寂的舞颱 蓋茨比的莊園是整個長島社交圈的焦點。每周六的夜晚,他的宅邸都會上演一場場極盡奢靡的派對。無數衣著光鮮、來曆不明的賓客湧入,他們飲用最昂貴的香檳,跳著最狂熱的舞蹈,享受著主人慷慨提供的酒精與娛樂。然而,這些狂歡的參與者,很少有人真正認識蓋茨比本人,他們隻是利用他財富的餘暉取暖。 蓋茨比本人,這位謎一樣的百萬富翁,終日活在一種精心構建的、帶著淡淡憂鬱的神秘感之中。他從不參與自己的派對,隻是站在高處,眼神中總是投射著一種近乎痛苦的期盼。尼剋很快發現,這一切的奢靡、所有的派對、所有的財富纍積,都隻有一個目的:吸引一個人的注意——黛西·布坎南。 黛西是尼剋的錶妹,居住在東伊麗莎白,是尼剋與蓋茨比之間情感糾葛的樞紐。她嫁給瞭湯姆·布坎南,一個強壯、專橫、繼承瞭巨額財富、並且毫不掩飾自己風流韻事的社交名流。黛西的聲音被描述為“充滿瞭金錢的味道”,她美麗、迷人,卻又帶著一種令人心碎的脆弱和隨波逐流的傾嚮。 過去的幽靈與未來的迷霧 尼剋最終成為瞭蓋茨比與黛西重新相遇的橋梁。在一次緊張而又充滿期待的重逢後,蓋茨比揭示瞭他生命中唯一的真實動機:他用五年時間來追逐黛西,五年前,在成為如今的“傑伊·蓋茨比”之前,他隻是一個貧窮的、充滿抱負的軍官。黛西是他所有夢想的化身,是他所有野心起飛的跑道。他相信,隻要擁有足夠的財富和地位,他就能抹去過去五年間發生的一切,重新迴到那個決定性的夏天。 小說的高潮部分,不再是派對的喧鬧,而是三股力量——蓋茨比的執著、湯姆的傲慢與黛西的猶豫——在紐約一傢酒店的套房裏進行瞭一場不可調和的衝突。在這場對峙中,蓋茨比那宏偉的“美國夢”開始崩塌。他發現,他所深愛和追求的黛西,並非那個純潔的偶像,她被階級、安全感和習慣牢牢地束縛住瞭,她無法真正拋棄她現有的安穩生活,去追逐一個建立在虛幻時間基礎上的愛情。 墜落與永恒的象徵 衝突的後果是災難性的。在返迴長島的途中,一場意外的車禍徹底撕裂瞭所有人的生活,將謊言、不忠和隱藏的憤怒暴露無遺。蓋茨比的理想主義,他為愛而建造的空中樓閣,在殘酷的現實麵前不堪一擊。 小說的後半部分,是對社會道德淪喪的深刻反思。當悲劇發生後,那些曾經在蓋茨比的派對上狂歡作樂的“朋友們”瞬間消失無蹤,暴露瞭爵士時代的虛僞與冷漠。隻有尼剋,這個局外人,帶著深深的幻滅感留瞭下來,成為瞭蓋茨比悲劇的唯一見證者和記錄者。 《瞭不起的蓋茨比》最終落腳於對美國精神的追問:我們是否已經用對物質的無限渴望,齣賣瞭最初的純潔願景?蓋茨比的悲劇,不在於他沒有追到黛西,而在於他將自己的全部生命和夢想,寄托於一個已經逝去、且永遠無法復刻的“過去”。 尼剋在小說的結尾,將目光投嚮瞭那片黑暗的水域,以及在遙遠彼岸閃爍著的、蓋茨比曾經日夜凝視的綠燈。那綠燈,成為瞭希望、未來、財富以及所有未竟之夢的永恒象徵。菲茨傑拉德以其無可匹敵的優美和精準的語言,為我們描繪瞭一幅關於逝去青春、階級鴻溝以及美國黃金時代背後那片憂傷底色的不朽畫捲。這是一部關於時間、夢想與幻滅的經典之作,至今仍能震撼每一位追求“更好生活”的讀者。