内容简介
The definitive edition of this beloved children's classic, featuring a wealth of accompanying illustrations and notes which take the reader further into both the story, and the tale of how it was written. Seldom has any book been so widely read and loved as J.R.R. Tolkien's classic tale, The Hobbit. Since its first publication in 1937 it has remained in print to delight each new generation of readers all over the world, and its hero, Bilbo Baggins, has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals: Alice, Pooh, Toad...As with all classics, repeated readings continue to bring new detail and perspectives to the reader's mind, and Tolkien's Middle-earth is a vast mine of treasures and knowledge, its roots delving deep into folklore, mythology and language. The Hobbit is, therefore, an ideal book for annotation: as well as offering a marvellous and entrancing story, it introduces the reader to the richly imagined world of Middle-earth, a world more fully and complexly realised in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Douglas Anderson's annotations make fascinating reading. Additionally, many of Tolkien's own illustrations embellish the text, and numerous illustrations from foreign editions exhibit an extraordinary range of visual interpretation. In an appendix there are details of the revisions made by Tolkien at various times to the publsihed text, which provide an uncommon and privileged glimpse into the special concerns of an exceptional and painstaking writer.
作者简介
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
约翰·罗纳德·瑞尔·托尔金(J.R.R. Tolkien)(1892-1973),英国文豪,天才的语言学家,牛津大学默顿学院英国语言与文学教授,1919—1920年牛津英语词典(OED)的编委。他以瑰丽的想像和精深的语言,建立了一个英语世界的全新神话体系。托尔金的雄心壮志不在于写作一个传奇故事,或一部史诗。在他所创作的一系列中洲史诗中,影响最为深远的是《霍比特人》(The Hobbit: There and Back Again) 和《魔戒》(The Lord of the Rings)。这两部巨作被誉为当代奇幻作品的鼻祖,至今已畅销2.5亿余册,被翻译成60余种语言。美国每年销售的大约一亿本平装书中,就有四分之一可以追溯到托尔金的作品。《魔戒》被票选为“两千年以来最重要的书”。由托尔金小说改编的电影《指环王》、《霍比特人》掀起21世纪奇幻文艺的全面复兴,世界拜倒在他脚下。
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精彩书评
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." The hobbit-hole in question belongs to one Bilbo Baggins, an upstanding member of a "little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves." He is, like most of his kind, well off, well fed, and best pleased when sitting by his own fire with a pipe, a glass of good beer, and a meal to look forward to. Certainly this particular hobbit is the last person one would expect to see set off on a hazardous journey; indeed, when Gandalf the Grey stops by one morning, "looking for someone to share in an adventure," Baggins fervently wishes the wizard elsewhere. No such luck, however; soon 13 fortune-seeking dwarves have arrived on the hobbit's doorstep in search of a burglar, and before he can even grab his hat or an umbrella, Bilbo Baggins is swept out his door and into a dangerous adventure. The dwarves' goal is to return to their ancestral home in the Lonely Mountains and reclaim a stolen fortune from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, they and their reluctant companion meet giant spiders, hostile elves, ravening wolves--and, most perilous of all, a subterranean creature named Gollum from whom Bilbo wins a magical ring in a riddling contest. It is from this life-or-death game in the dark that J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, would eventually spring. Though The Hobbit is lighter in tone than the trilogy that follows, it has, like Bilbo Baggins himself, unexpected iron at its core. Don't be fooled by its fairy-tale demeanor; this is very much a story for adults, though older children will enjoy it, too. By the time Bilbo returns to his comfortable hobbit-hole, he is a different person altogether, well primed for the bigger adventures to come--and so is the reader.
--Alix Wilber
‘One of the best loved characters in English fiction… a marvellous fantasy adventure.’
--Daily Mail
前言/序言
图书简介:中土世界的序章与荣耀 本册精选的文学作品,带您领略一个跨越时空的史诗篇章,探索比尔博·巴金斯那段改变了他一生的非凡旅程。这不是一个关于英雄的简单故事,而是一部对勇气、友谊、贪婪与失落进行深刻探讨的寓言,其深度与广度远超表面上的奇幻冒险。 故事的核心:一个不情愿的冒险家 故事的主人公,比尔博·巴金斯,是一位生活在夏尔宁静田园风光中的霍比特人。霍比特人,这个低调、热爱美食、安逸且极度厌恶“意外事件”的种族,构成了故事初期的世界观基石。他们的生活哲学是安稳、圆满,对外界的纷扰不屑一顾。然而,这份平静被一位充满神秘色彩的巫师甘道夫和十三位来自遥远山脉的矮人所打破。 矮人们的领袖索林·橡木盾,决心夺回他们世代相传的宝藏,那宝藏被邪恶的巨龙史矛革占据在孤独山脉的深处。比尔博,这位被命运选中,却对此毫无心理准备的霍比特人,被卷入了这场注定九死一生的远征。他从一个只关心下午茶和壁炉的“绅士”,逐渐蜕变成一个有担当、懂得牺牲和智慧的旅者。 旅途的考验:从舒适到严酷的洗礼 这段旅程本身就是对人性(或者说,霍比特性)的极端考验。他们穿过了阴森的迷雾山脉,在那里,比尔博遭遇了他一生中最重要的转折点——遇到了咕噜,并意外地获得了那枚改变了中土世界命运的“至尊魔戒”。这个小小的发现,不仅为他后来的冒险奠定了基础,也为未来更宏大的冲突埋下了伏笔。 他们面对了凶残的食人妖、幽灵般的半兽人、仁慈却又高深莫测的巨鹰。在幽暗密林的黑暗中,他们与被囚禁的森林精灵国王周旋,并在危急关头依靠比尔博的急智(以及他的隐形能力)得以脱身。 每一次遭遇,无论是与强大的敌人交锋,还是与奇特的种族交流,都迫使比尔博超越他自身设定的界限。他学会了如何隐藏、如何说谎、如何在绝望中找到一线希望。他的成长并非通过武力,而是通过善良、同情心和一种根植于平凡之中的坚韧。 主题的深度:金钱、权力与回归 小说不仅仅描绘了宏大的战斗场面,它更深入地探讨了更微妙的主题。史矛革的宝藏,那堆积如山的黄金、珠宝和古老的器物,是故事冲突的直接诱因。但这份财富的真正力量,在于它对持有者的腐蚀性。我们看到索林·橡木盾,这位原本高贵的领袖,如何被“龙的病”——对财富的贪婪——所吞噬,变得偏执、易怒,甚至愿意为了黄金与盟友反目。 比尔博在目睹了这份贪婪的力量后,做出了一个极为关键的选择:他宁愿放弃自己应得的份额,甚至冒着生命危险去劝解昔日的伙伴,也要维护和平与公道。这突显了故事最核心的道德信息:真正的价值不在于物质的积累,而在于精神的纯净与人际关系的维系。 史诗的收尾:五军之战与最终的转变 故事的高潮在孤独山脉外爆发——五军之战。这是一场涉及矮人、人类、精灵、半兽人与座狼的混战,其规模预示着未来更大规模的冲突。在这场混乱中,比尔博展现了他作为和平缔造者的潜力,他不再是那个只知道躲藏的懦夫,而是敢于直面混乱,试图弥合裂痕的人。 战后,比尔博带着他应得的、但远非他所奢求的财富回到了夏尔。然而,他已经不再是出发时的那个霍比特人了。他的回归不仅是地理上的,更是精神上的。他学会了欣赏那些他曾经认为理所当然的美好——宁静的街道、友善的邻居、温暖的炉火。但现在,这些美好有了更深刻的意义,因为他知道,它们是值得为之奋斗和牺牲的。 文学价值:一个时代的缩影 这部作品以其独特的叙事风格著称,它既有儿童文学的明快和想象力,又蕴含着成年人才能完全理解的复杂主题和文化底蕴。叙述者以一种亲切、略带讽刺的口吻,引导读者进入中土世界的设定,同时穿插着大量的民间传说、歌曲和诗歌,极大地丰富了世界的纹理。 它不仅是一个独立的故事,更是对后续宏大史诗的奠基之作。它巧妙地将中土世界的历史、地理和种族背景熔于一炉,为后来的神话构建打下了坚实的基础,让读者得以一窥那片广袤、充满古老魔法与未卜先知的土地的最初风貌。阅读它,就是踏上探索人类本性,体验一次由平凡走向非凡的心灵旅程。