The Harp and the Shadow

出版者:Mercury House

作者:Alejo Carpentier

页数:176

译者:Thomas Christensen

出版时间:1992-1-1

价格:GBP 10.50

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9781562790240

作者简介

Alejo Carpentier was director of Cuba's National Press, which published many millions of volumes in an ambitious program, and for some years was Cuba's ambassador to France. A composer and musicologist, he consciously applied the principles of musical composition in much of his work. Imprisoned for political activity in 1928, he escaped with the aid of Robert Desnos, a French surrealist poet, to Paris, where he joined the literary circle of surrealists Louis Aragon, Tristan Tzara, and Paul Eluard. According to Carpentier surrealism influenced his style and helped him to see "aspects of American life he had not previously seen, in their telluric, epic, and poetic contexts." Carpentier articulated a theory of marvelous reality, "lo real maravilloso," with an almost surrealistic sense of the relationship among unrelated, or antithetical, elements, often from distinct ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The Lost Steps (1953) takes the form of a diary of a Cuban musician and intellectual who seeks escape from civilization during his trip to a remote Amazon village in search of native musical instruments. The short stories "The Road to Santiago," "Journey to the Seed," and "Similar to Night," present time as subjective rather than historical, and capable of remarkable personal variations. In his novel The Pursuit, printed in The War of Time (1958), whose title is an allusion to a line from Lope de Vega defining a man as "a soldier in the war of time, presents time similarly. "The Kingdom of This World (1949) deals with the period of Henri Christophe and the slave revolts in Haiti. Its circular structure presents the inevitable recurrence of tyranny and the need for eternal struggle against it. Reasons of State (1976), is another notable addition to the gallery of Latin American fictional portraits of dictators. It uses Carpentier's love for baroque style and parody to raise complex questions about the nature of revolution.

用户评价

总体而言，这是一部非常具有“野心”的作品，它不满足于仅仅讲述一个引人入胜的故事，更试图在结构上挑战传统的叙事边界。书中某些章节的视角切换，处理得非常大胆，甚至有些跳跃，但最终所有的线索又奇迹般地收束在一起，这种复杂的结构安排，显示出作者对整体布局有着近乎偏执的掌控欲。这种结构上的复杂性，使得初次阅读可能会略感吃力，需要一定的耐心去梳理人物关系和时间线索。但一旦适应了作者设定的节奏和逻辑框架，你会发现这种复杂的结构恰恰是支撑起其宏大主题的必要骨架。它不是那种可以轻松消遣的作品，更像是一座需要被仔细探索和破解的文学迷宫，值得反复钻研。

从文学语言的角度来看，这部小说的文字功底堪称一绝。它的句法结构变化多端，时而使用凝练、充满力量的短句来表达决断和冲击力，时而又展开华丽、富有音乐性的长句来描绘心境的流淌或场景的广阔。我尤其欣赏作者对意象的运用，许多看似不相关的元素，被作者以一种近乎魔幻的方式联系在一起，形成了一种独特的象征体系，丰富了文本的解读空间。阅读过程中，我常常需要停下来，反复品味某些段落，就像品鉴一首精心谱写的乐曲，体会那种音韵之美和节奏变化。这种对语言形式的极致追求，让阅读本身变成了一种美学享受，远超故事内容的范畴。

我向来对那些过于说教或者道德感过剩的作品敬而远之，但这部作品的高明之处就在于，它将深刻的哲学思考和人性的探讨，巧妙地融入到了日常的、甚至是琐碎的事件之中。作者似乎并不急于给你一个明确的“对”与“错”的答案，而是提供了一面多棱镜，让你从不同的角度审视那些亘古不变的人类困境——关于选择、关于牺牲、关于真相的相对性。每一次看似简单的决定背后，都蕴含着复杂的情感拉扯和伦理抉择。这种处理方式，使得文本充满了思辨的魅力，读完后，我发现自己对生活中的一些既定观念产生了动摇和重新审视，这才是真正优秀文学作品的价值所在，它拓宽了读者的心智边界。

说实话，这本书的叙事节奏掌控得如同精准的钟表机械，滴答作响，却又充满了出人意料的张力。开头部分铺垫得极其巧妙，看似松散的线索，实则暗藏玄机，为后续的高潮做了完美的铺垫。进入中段后，情节开始加速，如同山洪爆发，各种矛盾冲突集中爆发，那种步步紧逼的压迫感，让人手心冒汗，不得不翻页再翻页，生怕错过任何一个关键的转折。更难能可贵的是，即使在最紧张的时刻，作者也从未放弃对细节的雕琢，那些不经意的对话、一个眼神的交汇，都可能成为解开谜团的关键钥匙。这种高超的叙事技巧，让阅读体验变得极其丰富和刺激，完全不是那种平铺直叙、一眼望到底的作品能比拟的。它要求读者全神贯注，但也给予了最丰厚的回报。

这部作品，我一口气读完，那种沉浸感实在太强了，简直像被一股无形的力量拽进了另一个时空。作者的笔触细腻得令人发指，每一个场景的描绘都充满了层次感和生命力。特别是对角色内心世界的挖掘，简直是教科书级别的示范。你会清晰地感受到人物的挣扎、迷茫与最终的顿悟，那种情感的起伏跌宕，让你忍不住跟着他们一同呼吸、一同心痛。书中对环境的刻画也极其到位，无论是宏大的自然景观还是细微的生活片段，都通过精妙的语言组织，立体地呈现在读者眼前，仿佛能闻到空气中的味道，触摸到物件的质感。它不仅仅是在讲述一个故事，更像是在构建一个完整而自洽的微观宇宙，让人流连忘返，久久不能抽离。读完之后，我花了很长时间才从那种强烈的情绪共鸣中走出来，回味无穷。