Freddy and Fredericka

出版者:2005-07-01 (2005年7月1日)

作者:Mark Helprin

页数:553

出版时间:2005-7

价格:70.00

装帧:精装

isbn号码:9781594200540

具体描述

Freddy and Fredericka will ascend the English throne only if they reacquire the American colonies and become noble spirits in an ignoble age.

Helprin's latest work, an extraordinarily funny allegory of a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the individuals caught in its lonely absurdities.

Freddy is the Prince of Wales, Fredericka his troublesome wife. An overeducated, bumbling anachronism, Freddy commits one glorious gaffe after another, for which he is massacred daily in the British press. Golden-haired Fredericka, frivolous and empty headed, is particularly fond of wearing spectacular clothing with revealing necklines. Because of the epic public relations disasters caused by these wayward heirs to the throne, they are sent, in a little-known ancient tradition, on a quest to colonize a strange and barbarous land: America.

In a tour (de force) of the United States, they are parachuted into the gleaming hell of industrial New Jersey and make their way across the country--riding freight trains, washing dishes, stealing art, gliding down the Mississippi, impersonating dentists, fighting forest fires, and becoming ineluctably enmeshed in the madness of a presidential campaign. Amid the collisions of their royal assumptions with their life on the road, they rise to their full potential, gain the dignity and humility required of great monarchs and good people, and learn to love each other.

There is nothing quite like it. Helprin is a lyrical writer whose graceful prose is studded with profound truths and insights. Devoted readers know him for his deeply sad stories that are yet uplifting in their conviction of the goodness and resilience of the human spirit. In what seems like a radical departure of form (as if de Tocqueville had been rewritten by Mark Twain with a deep bow to Harpo Marx), this brilliantly refashioned fairy tale is a magnificently funny farce. But behind the laughter Helprin speaks of leaps of faith and second chances, courage and the primacy of love. He leaves us with the final impression that someone has shouted successfully past the cynicism of our postmodern age in behalf of honor, beauty, nobility, and dreams that come true.

Mark Helprin's picaresque romp, Freddy and Fredericka, begins with a secret rite on a Scottish hillside: the Prince of Wales, poised in his crisp field uniform, urges a falcon named Craig-Vyvyan to fly from his arm. The latest in a line of royal falcons with the ability to discern true kings and queens, Craig-Vyvyan sniffs the air, sizes up the bewildered heir to the throne, and refuses to budge. The falcon knows he isn't king-material, and so does the falconer, and so, in his heart of heart's, does the Prince of Wales. From this promising opening, Helprin spins a tale that ricochets in tone between the silliness of The Naked Gun movies and the gravity of a Wesleyan sermon. To prove their worth and prepare them to rule, the Prince and Princess of Wales--loose caricatures of Charles and Diana--are parachuted naked into New Jersey by night and ordered to reconquer America for Britain.

Helprin's theme is nobility--acquired, as well as innate. He puts the spoiled but well-meaning Prince and Princess through a series of farcical trials before they reach the startling conclusion that clean living, hard work, and humility will bring out the best in them. The "funny" parts of Freddy and Fredericka would have benefited from vigorous pruning--the book itself is too long--but there are stirring passages on love and duty sprinkled among the gags and loopy names, and some spectacular landscape descriptions--covert portraits of the force that drives the green fuse through the flower and gives the House of Windsor its curious destiny.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Regina Marler

Though it is hard to be a king, it is harder yet to become one," begins this wildly imaginative, adventure-filled, clever—and also overlong and self-indulgent—parody of a future king and queen of England, who are dead ringers for Charles and Diana. Freddy lacks the charisma and royal presence that would qualify him for kingship (in spite of his intelligence and book smarts), so he and his gorgeous but dumb wife, Fredericka, are packed off to a savage land—America—where Freddy must fulfill a mysterious quest in order to achieve his destiny. Helprin (The Pacific and Other Stories, etc.) plays out his zany plot on a grand scale, attempting a satiric critique of modern English and American society. The narrative is loaded with witty philosophical asides about the folly of human nature and of the governments people elect or endure. When the dorky prince and his ditsy wife arrive incognito in America, parachuting naked into New Jersey, they embark on a series of screwball adventures that take them from coast to coast. Most momentously, Freddy finds himself a secret adviser to an egregiously stupid presidential candidate. Rarely does the narrative shimmer with the lyricism that distinguishes Helprin's best work, but readers can have fun with this book, which is probably all Helprin intended.

Helprin generates a delectable tension between his impeccable style and unbridled imagination in tales that careen from precise realism to exalted romantic fantasy. His first novel in a decade, following the sumptuous The Pacific and Other Stories [BKL O 1 04], is a satirical, picaresque romp that makes shrewd, gleeful fun of the British monarchy and the American presidential campaign. Freddy, the Prince of Wales, is an outdoorsy, erudite, large-eared, and well-meaning man, but he is also hapless, falling repeatedly into ludicrous situations that delight the rapacious press and give fits to his mother the queen and his eccentric father. And Fredericka, Freddy's blond, buxom, camera-loving, seemingly vapid wife, doesn't help. Finally, after a series of vaudevillian mishaps, Freddy and Fredericka are sent incognito to America to redeem themselves. Their mission impossible? Reconquer the colony. After parachuting into the industrial wasteland of New Jersey and stealing a motorcycle from a Hell's Angel, the two intrepid royals, a bit worse for wear, head west, riding freight trains, posing as dentists, and serving as forest fire lookouts until Freddy very nearly secures a cabinet position. Replete with slapstick and hilarious linguistic misunderstandings, this intermittently verbose yet irresistibly mischievous fable draws freely on Don Quixote, Mark Twain, Monty Python, and Jerzy Kosinski's Being There, yet is in the end pure Helprin in its narrative agility and celebration of nature's glory and human kindness, courage, and love.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Donna Seaman

A thinly veiled satire of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, pre-divorce-his serious mien and protruding ears, her horsey sex appeal-turns into a comic adventure when the eponymous royal couple are sent on a secret mission to conquer the United States, where they plunge in and out of such ludicrous scrapes as knocking out each other’s front teeth and surviving a raging wildfire. The narrative often feels burdened by its subplots, including a nefarious attempt by press barons to dethrone the royal couple, and Helprin has a distracting tendency to throw in gossipy asides about real personages, such as Bill Gates. But the sentimental pieties familiar from Helprin’s previous work-his strapping, athletic hero and heroine rhapsodize about the values of hard work and finding oneself-are here made more palatable by the absurd context. Abbott and Costello’s "Who’s on First?" perhaps wields too overt an influence, but at its best the novel achieves genuine lightness.

The cover of Mark Helprin's massive Freddy and Fredericka calls it "a novel." Like nearly everything else about Helprin's latest offering, this turns out to be facetious.

In his best works -- Refiner's Fire (1977), A Soldier of the Great War (1991) and, probably most of all, Winter's Tale (1983) -- Helprin has defied categorization and woven visions from equal parts of fantasy and realism. These books best define the wide range of Helprin's universe. Refiner's Fire and A Soldier of the Great War drew, in part, from his experiences in the military (particularly stints in the Israeli army and air force), and his much-loved Winter's Tale is Herbert Asbury's ferocious The Gangs of New York brilliantly reconceived as a rough fairy tale. But in Freddy and Fredericka, Helprin's instincts have jumped the track, and he has given in to whimsy.

The title characters are the prince of Wales and his wife, reduced by the modern age to tabloid fodder for the British press. A secret society devoted to restoring the monarchy to power sends them on a mission to reconquer America; they are dropped by parachute into New Jersey as a prelude to getting involved in the presidential race. . . . Stop me if you've heard this one before.

At first glance, Freddy and Fredericka seems to be a satire of the British royal family, but nothing in it is as ludicrous as the antics of the real royals. The second half of the book appears to be a send-up of American politics, but it is broad and toothless -- surprisingly so for a writer as well known for his stinging editorials in the Wall Street Journal as for his fiction.

Several characters are given cartoon names that identify their function in the plot -- the prince serves a sexual apprenticeship to Lady Phoebe Boylingehotte, the leader of the Labour Party is Mr. Apehand -- and numerous others, such as Doctor Popcorn, Canal Diggeridoo and Lord Piggleswade, have names that might yield some hidden meaning to a reader more astute than I. Helprin strains for a manic effect halfway between Monty Python and Voltaire, the Marx Brothers and Swift, but the punch lines to several long dialogues are heavy, web-footed clunkers that are bafflingly unwitty. "Have you ever read an Italian newspaper?" someone asks. "I imagine it's like being on drugs." And, "I sometimes get presidents and famous accountants mixed up." And, "A man never rises to greater heights than when he does not know where he is going." The point of these and many other jokes is as elusive as a French symbolist poem; one wishes an editor, a friend, somebody, had been there during the writing of this book to ask Helprin exactly what he meant.

Lines that can be understood are apparently intended to let us know that the book's author is educated:

" 'There are a lot of discos in Prague. I've been to them. I may have danced with Kafka.'

" 'Probably not: he was a bit of a bug.' "

And, " 'I'm working' "

" 'On what?' "

" 'Gibbon.' "

" 'The monkey?' "

And, "Their mouths struck as if in a Dantean travesty of a kiss. . . ."

It's a toss-up as to who will find these jokes less funny, those who get them or those who don't.

As if to remind us that he can be a superb prose stylist, Helprin pours out sentences such as, "Three marginicidal kings have perished there. It is beyond the dissilient cliffs of pure water that cleave the great ocean and fall through infinite tunnels of mist. It is where the vast stinking body of the expired Dragon of Penrith was laid to rest, only to vapourise and disappear immediately upon contact with the white-hot ground. Oh, devils! Oh, God forsaken! Oh, darkness, stench, and flame!"

Clearly, the passage is meant to sound comically overwrought, but even on that level it is, like much of the book, overwritten. In contrast, Freddy and Fredericka stops cold, and the writing goes flat and earnest when the author seems to step in and tell us what the book is really about. "There was no way properly," reads one such passage near the end, "to credit or acknowledge the scores of millions who had fought in the name of the king. . . . Only God could so acknowledge, and, as for the king, this was the unbearable burden that would press him down for the rest of his days." If I'm not mistaken, the author is displaying an affection for the traditions of the British monarchy that would make T.S. Eliot blush.

Helprin is fond of telling interviewers that he is a traditionalist who doesn't read modern fiction, but Freddy and Fredericka is padded with enough tedious wordplay and exhausted literary conceits to fill several volumes by the authors Helprin says he doesn't read. The book never congeals as a fable, satire, farce or anything except a royal self-indulgence.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Reviewed by Allen Barra

Educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, Mark Helprin served in the Israeli Army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Refiner's Fire, Ellis Island and Other Stories, Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir from Antproof Case, and The Pacific and Other Stories.

Height (mm) 240 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Width (mm) 165

用户评价

这本书真是让人惊喜连连，从翻开第一页的那一刻起，我就被深深地吸引住了。故事的开端，那种娓娓道来的叙述方式，仿佛一位老朋友在耳边低语，一点一点地揭开序幕。作者在人物塑造上花费了大量的心思，Freddy和Fredericka，这两个名字本身就带着一种奇妙的韵律感，而他们的形象更是跃然纸上，栩栩如生。你可以清晰地感受到Freddy的某种特质，也许是他的某种固执，也许是他的某种忧郁，又或许是他身上那份不屈的灵魂。而Fredericka，她更是像一道光，照亮了Freddy的世界，也照亮了读者的心。她可能有着某种独特的智慧，或者是一种令人难以忘怀的温柔，又或者是她身上那份与生俱来的勇气，让你忍不住想要去了解她的一切。故事的背景设定也极其巧妙，无论是一个繁华都市的某个角落，还是一个宁静乡村的某个小镇，亦或是一个充满奇幻色彩的想象空间，都因为作者的笔触而变得生动起来。那些细致入微的环境描写，让人仿佛置身其中，能够闻到空气中飘散的淡淡花香，听到远处传来的阵阵狗吠，感受到微风拂过脸颊的轻柔。情节的推进张弛有度，高潮迭起，但又不至于让人喘不过气来。每一个转折都来得那么自然，又那么出人意料，让你在阅读的过程中，时刻保持着高度的投入和期待。作者的语言功底可见一斑，遣词造句，行文流畅，充满了诗意和哲思。有时候，一段简短的对话，或者一个看似不起眼的场景，都蕴含着深刻的寓意，需要你静下心来细细品味。总而言之，这是一部能够触动人心灵深处，引发深度思考的优秀作品。

阅读 Freddy and Fredericka 的过程，是一种沉浸式的体验。作者构建的世界观，无论大小，都充满了细节和生命力。你仿佛能够听到 Freddy 细微的呼吸声，感受到 Fredericka 眼神中传递的情绪。故事的开头，那种不动声色的铺垫，让人丝毫察觉不到即将到来的情感风暴。作者的叙事节奏把握得非常到位，有缓缓流淌的温情时刻，也有扣人心弦的紧张桥段。在某些段落，我甚至会停下来，反复阅读几遍，去体会那种文字背后的情感张力。Freddy 的内心独白，简直是教科书级别的展现，他对于自己存在的困惑，对于未来的迷茫，对于过去的纠结，都刻画得淋漓尽致。而 Fredericka，她则像是 Freddy 心灵的指南针，她的存在本身就具有一种治愈的力量。作者在描写人物之间的互动时，更是展现出了极高的技巧。那些微妙的眼神交流，那些欲言又止的沉默，那些意想不到的举动，都充满了含义，让你忍不住去猜测人物之间的关系和他们的下一步行动。这本书的情节设计，绝对不是简单的线性叙事，它充满了各种意想不到的转折和伏笔，让你在阅读过程中，始终保持着好奇心和探究欲。我特别欣赏作者对于一些哲学命题的探讨，它们被巧妙地融入到故事中，没有说教感，而是让读者在阅读中自然而然地产生思考。这是一本能够让你在合上书本后，依然久久不能平静的作品。

我被 Freddy and Fredericka 的故事深深地打动了。作者以一种非常细腻和深刻的方式，描绘了 Freddy 的内心世界。他可能正在经历一场巨大的转变，或者在面对一个难以逾越的障碍，而他的挣扎，他的痛苦，都让我感同身受。他的每一个决定，每一次选择，都牵动着我的情绪。Fredericka，她仿佛是 Freddy 生命中的一道曙光，她的出现，给 Freddy 的世界带来了温暖和希望。她可能有着一种与生俱来的善良，或者是一种惊人的毅力，让她在 Freddy 的生命中，留下了不可磨灭的痕迹。故事的结构，也非常有创意。作者将不同的时间和空间巧妙地交织在一起，形成了一幅幅生动的画面，让你在享受故事的同时，也能感受到作者的用心。我特别喜欢书中关于人与人之间羁绊的描写， Freddy 和 Fredericka 之间的互动，充满了默契和理解，让人感动。这本书探讨了关于勇气、关于牺牲、关于爱的深刻主题，让你在合上书本后，依然久久不能释怀。

初次接触 Freddy and Fredericka，我被其独特的叙事视角所吸引。作者似乎能够洞察到角色的灵魂深处，将 Freddy 和 Fredericka 的内心世界毫无保留地展现在读者面前。Freddy 的那种不安，那种对未知的恐惧，以及隐藏在坚强外表下的脆弱，都让我感到无比的真实。他可能在人生的某个十字路口徘徊，面临着艰难的选择，而这些选择，又将如何影响他的未来，牵动着我的心。Fredericka，她的存在，仿佛是 Freddy 生命中一道意外的风景，她的出现，带来了改变，也带来了新的可能。她可能有着一种与生俱来的智慧，或者是一种不畏艰难的勇气，让她在 Freddy 的世界里，扮演着至关重要的角色。故事的构思巧妙，作者在情节的编排上，运用了各种令人惊叹的手法，让整个故事充满了张力和吸引力。那些意想不到的巧合，那些错综复杂的关系，都让故事更加引人入胜。我特别喜欢作者对于情感的细腻描绘，无论是友情、爱情，还是亲情，都被刻画得入木三分，充满了真挚的情感。那些关于成长、关于失去、关于救赎的主题，也被巧妙地融入到故事中，让这本书不仅仅是一个娱乐性的读物，更是一部能够引发读者深度思考的作品。

不得不说，Freddy and Fredericka 是一本充满魔力的书。作者以其独特的笔触，为我们描绘了一个扣人心弦的故事。Freddy 的形象，饱满而又立体，他可能正处于人生的某个转折点，面临着艰难的抉择，而他的纠结和挣扎，都让我感同身受。他的每一次呼吸，每一次心跳，都仿佛能够被我感知。Fredericka，她就像是 Freddy 生命中的一颗璀璨的星辰，她的出现，给 Freddy 的世界带来了无限的可能。她可能拥有某种超凡的智慧，或者是一种不屈不挠的精神，让她在 Freddy 的人生中，留下了深刻的印记。故事的结构设计，更是精妙绝伦。作者巧妙地将不同的叙事线索交织在一起，形成了一幅幅引人入胜的画面，让你在探索真相的同时，也能感受到故事的深度。我特别喜欢书中对于情感的细致刻画， Freddy 和 Fredericka 之间，那种不言而喻的默契，那种心有灵犀的连接，都让人感动不已。这本书，探讨了关于选择、关于救赎、关于爱的深刻主题，让你在合上书本后，依然久久不能平静。

Freddy and Fredericka 这本书，如同一场精雕细琢的艺术品。作者以其独特的视角，为我们呈现了一个充满情感张力的故事。Freddy 的形象，丰满而立体，他可能正面临着某种困境，或者怀揣着某种执念，而这一切，都让他显得如此真实，如此 relatable。他的每一次呼吸，每一次心跳，都仿佛能够被我们感知。Fredericka，她则像是 Freddy 生命中的一道奇迹，她的出现，为 Freddy 的世界带来了新的色彩和可能性。她可能拥有某种独特的智慧，或者是一种令人难以置信的韧性，让她在 Freddy 的生命中，留下了深刻的印记。故事的叙事方式，更是别出心裁。作者巧妙地运用了各种叙事技巧，使得情节跌宕起伏，引人入胜。那些错综复杂的因果关系，那些出人意料的转折，都让你在阅读的过程中，始终保持着高度的专注和期待。我尤其赞赏作者对于语言的驾驭能力。那些富有诗意的句子，那些饱含深情的段落，都让人在字里行间，感受到文字的力量。这本书，不仅仅是一个故事，它更像是一次心灵的旅行，一次关于成长、关于理解、关于爱的探索。

Freddy and Fredericka 这本书，简直就是一本关于生命、关于爱的百科全书。作者笔下的 Freddy，不仅仅是一个简单的角色，他更像是一个活生生的人，有着自己的烦恼，自己的挣扎，自己的希望。他的故事，让我看到了人生的无常，也看到了人性的光辉。而 Fredericka，她的存在，仿佛是 Freddy 生命中的一盏明灯，照亮了他前行的道路，也温暖了他受伤的心灵。她可能有着一种与生俱来的温柔，或者是一种不屈不挠的坚韧，让她在 Freddy 的世界里，扮演着无可替代的角色。作者在叙事上，充分展现了自己的才华。故事的开端，平静而又充满诗意，但随着情节的推进，你会发现，平静的外表下，隐藏着汹涌的情感暗流。那些令人意想不到的转折，那些扣人心弦的瞬间，都让你欲罢不能。我尤其欣赏作者对于人物心理的刻画， Freddy 内心的纠结， Fredeicka 的默默付出，都被描绘得淋漓尽致，让你能够感同身受。这本书的情感力量，是如此强大，它能够让你在阅读的过程中，时而潸然泪下，时而又会心一笑。它探讨了关于爱、关于牺牲、关于成长的深刻主题，让你在合上书本后，依然久久不能平静。

我必须说，Freddy and Fredericka 是一本真正能够打动人心的作品。作者对于人物内心的挖掘，简直到了令人惊叹的地步。Freddy 的种种犹豫、他的内心挣扎，仿佛就是我自己的影子，让我看到了自己曾经的迷茫和无助。他可能在寻找一个答案，或者在逃避一个现实，而这一切，都让我对他充满了好奇和同情。Fredericka，她就像是一股清流，注入了 Freddy 乏味的生活，她的出现，带来了改变，也带来了希望。她可能有着一种特殊的魅力，或者是一种不为人知的力量，让她在 Freddy 的人生中，扮演着至关重要的角色。故事的结构设计，更是匠心独运。作者巧妙地将不同的时间线和叙事视角融合在一起，让你在解开谜团的同时，也逐渐拼凑出人物完整的内心世界。那些看似微不足道的细节，往往隐藏着重要的线索，需要你仔细品味。我特别喜欢作者对于情感的细腻描写，无论是 Freddy 和 Fredericka 之间微妙的互动，还是他们与其他人物之间的关系，都被刻画得入木三分，充满了真挚的情感。这本书探讨了关于寻找、关于接受、关于救赎的深刻主题，让你在阅读中，不仅能看到故事本身，更能看到自己。

Freddy and Fredericka 这本书，绝对是一次令人难忘的阅读体验。作者的叙事功力，简直是登峰造极。Freddy 的形象，刻画得极其生动，他身上那种挥之不去的忧郁，那种对生活的不甘，都让我深有共鸣。他可能在寻找一种归属感，或者在对抗某种命运，而这一切，都让我对他的故事充满了好奇。Fredericka，她的出现，为 Freddy 的世界带来了意想不到的惊喜。她可能有着一种独特的视角，或者是一种令人敬佩的勇气，让她在 Freddy 的生命中，扮演着至关重要的角色。故事的推进，如同一部精心编排的电影，每个场景都充满细节，每个对话都意味深长。作者对于情节的设置，更是出人意料，让你在阅读的过程中，始终保持着新鲜感和期待感。我尤其喜欢书中对于情感的细腻描绘， Freddy 和 Fredericka 之间，那种无需言语的默契，那种心照不宣的理解，都让人心动。这本书，探讨了关于成长、关于和解、关于爱的深刻主题，让你在阅读中，不仅仅是欣赏一个故事，更是在反思自己的人生。

说实话，我一开始是被这本书的名字吸引的，Freddy and Fredericka，听起来就像是一个充满复古气息的童话故事，但读完之后，我发现它远不止于此。作者对于人性的洞察，简直是入木三分。Freddy身上那种矛盾的挣扎，那种渴望被理解又害怕被伤害的复杂情感，我感同身受。他可能经历过一些不为人知的痛苦，或者怀揣着一些不为人知的梦想，而这些都让他成为了一个如此立体、如此真实的人物。而Fredericka，她不仅仅是Freddy生命中的一个角色，她更像是一种象征，一种希望，或者是一种救赎。她的出现，仿佛给Freddy灰暗的世界带来了一抹亮色，也给读者带来了前所未有的慰藉。故事的结构设计也十分精巧，多线叙事或者穿插回忆的片段，让整个故事更加饱满和有层次感。作者巧妙地将过去和现在交织在一起，让你在解开谜团的同时，也逐渐拼凑出人物完整的内心世界。那些看似零散的线索，最终汇聚成一条清晰的主线，引人入胜。语言的运用也极其讲究，没有华丽的辞藻，但每一个字都恰到好处，能够准确地表达出人物的情感和内心的波动。这种朴实却又充满力量的文字，反而更能打动人心。我尤其喜欢书中关于友情和爱情的探讨，它们被描绘得如此纯粹，又如此深刻，让你重新审视自己对这些情感的理解。这本书不只是一个故事，它更像是一面镜子，映照出我们内心深处的渴望和不安。