John A. Baker lives with his wife in Essex. He has had assorted jobs, including chopping down trees and pushing book trolleys in the British Museum. In 1965 he gave up work and lived on the money he had saved, devoting all his time to his obsession - the peregrine. He re-wrote his account of this bird five times before submitting it for publication. Although he had no ornithological training and had never written a book before, when The Peregrine was published in 1967 it was received with enthusiastic reviews and praise for his lyrical prose. Later that year he was awarded the distinguished Duff Cooper prize. He was also awarded a substantial Arts Council grant. His second book, The Hill of Summer, was published in 1969 and was also received with unanimous praise by the critics.
From fall to spring, J.A. Baker set out to track the daily comings and goings of a pair of peregrine falcons across the flat fen lands of eastern England. He followed the birds obsessively, observing them in the air and on the ground, in pursuit of their prey, making a kill, eating, and at rest, activities he describes with an extraordinary fusion of precision and poetry. And as he continued his mysterious private quest, his sense of human self slowly dissolved, to be replaced with the alien and implacable consciousness of a hawk.
It is this extraordinary metamorphosis, magical and terrifying, that these beautifully written pages record.
發表於2025-02-11
The Peregrine 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
按:本文節譯自《landmarks》(地標)一書,由作者羅伯特·麥剋法倫(Robert Macfarlane)授權刊於《私傢地理》2015年9月十周年特輯彆冊,請勿轉載。發錶時有修改。 本章是對《遊隼》一書的評論,欣聞該書中文版即將上市,本文或可有助於預熱。 本文的翻譯先於《遊隼》,故引用...
評分距離譯稿完成已經有一段時間瞭,但當我坐下來寫這篇譯後記時,一些畫麵仍不斷重現⋯⋯一個男人,站在高高的海堤上,群鳥紛飛,在他臉上投下瀑布般的倒影。北海遼闊無邊際。那個人走在曠野,那個人等在河榖,那個人躲避著農場上充滿敵意的眼睛,緩慢,安靜,沒什麼錶情,忽...
評分前幾日生病,空齣大段時間。 於是躺在床上把《遊隼》又翻瞭一遍。 真是好。雖然是第一百次感嘆。 對於看瞭太多遍的《遊隼》,我幾次想提筆講它,臨紙卻忐忑瞭,因為我始終懷有一種隱憂,擔心自己最高的贊譽,不過是一個人與一種精神間自私的共鳴。 “我一直渴望成為外在世界的...
評分貝剋的《遊隼》總讓我想起哪吒,它閑來無事就飛齣來嚇其他鳥,把它們嚇得驚慌失措四處逃竄它就若無其事地飛走瞭。烏鴉是個社會鴉,它會凶狠地飛齣來攆遊隼,驅逐它,有時它們還會打一架。每天齣來嚇嚇鳥群基本上是遊隼的熱身活動,他說它追趕鳥兒就像狗追趕著蝴蝶一樣,它有時...
評分圖書標籤: 自然 文學 WernerHerzog推薦 英國 我想讀這本書 赫爾佐格 通識 鳥類學
本以為能看到作者“乘天地之正,禦六氣之辯,以遊無窮”般的開闊,可惜隻看到瞭一個孤寂受睏的靈魂。
評分無法用語言錶達我對這文字對癡。
評分一本非常文藝,非常素淡的書
評分一本非常文藝,非常素淡的書
評分英文看得還蠻吃力的,關鍵其實蠻枯燥的,十年如一日觀察同一種鳥。適閤鳥類愛好者。中譯本好評如潮是因為翻譯好,有詩意的享受。但英文隻有偶爾的迷離、與隼的對峙比較有意思,絕大部分都隻是語言科學般的精確。對瞭,對照鳥書的英文索引看還不錯,遊隼獵物一覽!哈哈哈。
The Peregrine 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載