Augustus

John Williams (1922–1994) was born and raised in northeast Texas. Despite a talent for writing and acting, Williams flunked out of a local junior college after his first year. He reluctantly joined the war effort, enlisting in the Army Air Corps, and managed to write a draft of his first novel while there. Once home, Williams found a small publisher for the novel and enrolled at the University of Denver, where he was eventually to receive both his B.A. and M.A., and where he was to return as an instructor in 1954.He remained on the staff of the creative writing program at the University of Denver until his retirement in 1985. During these years, he was an active guest lecturer and writer, editing an anthology of English Renaissance poetry and publishing two volumes of his own poems, as well as three novels, Butcher’s Crossing, Stoner, and the National Book Award–winning Augustus (all published as NYRB Classics).Daniel Mendelsohn was born in 1960 and studied classics at the University of Virginia and at Princeton, where he received his doctorate. His essays and reviews appear regularly in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review. His books include The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million; a memoir, The Elusive Embrace; and the collection Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture, published by New York Review Books. He teaches at Bard College. His essay in the September 25, 2014 issue will appear as the introduction to a new translation of The Bacchae by Robin Robertson, to be published in September by Ecco.

出版者:NYRB Classics

作者:John Williams

页数:336

出版时间:2014-8-19

价格:USD 15.95

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9781590178218

图书标签:JohnWilliams历史小说约翰·威廉斯古罗马English美国文学文学

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In Augustus, his third great novel, John Williams took on an entirely new challenge, a historical narrative set in classical Rome, exploring the life of the founder of the Roman Empire. To tell the story, Williams turned to the epistolary novel, a genre that was new to him, transforming and transcending it just as he did the western in Butcher’s Crossing and the campus novel in Stoner. Augustus is the final triumph of a writer who has come to be recognized around the world as an American master.

读后感

凯文伯明翰在《最危险的书》序言曾写过一句我自认为非常漂亮的话， 他说：“当你打开一本书，你就进入了一段漫长旅途的尽头。” 这种感觉，在读历史小说时只会更甚，你当然可以依据史实知道每一本这样小说的结局——放逐在外的皇子成功继承大统亦或是权倾朝野的奸臣最终株连九...  

盖乌斯·屋大维·恺撒，人称奥古斯都，是罗马帝国第一位元首，为罗马带来了两个世纪的和平与繁荣。关于他的史料从不匮乏且毁誉参半：作为一个不算太坏的独裁者，他如何平衡私欲和善举？作为一个有表演欲的政治家，我们又能在史料中读到多少真实？ 约翰·威廉斯无意深究历史细节...  

首先，威廉斯的这部小说体现出一种克制力，一种克制自我的能力。他在这种文风的基础上，试图去真正地还原历史，体现出对历史强烈的敬畏感。我估计他写这部小说所花的力气明显要比那两部要大得多，因为这要阅读很多的历史文献，他需要认识每个历史人物的形象与性格，了解他们的...  

他被尊为“奥古斯都”，他把二月抽出了一天；他是八月名称的由来；他是历史上伟大帝国的开创者；他被历史选中，也同样选择了历史，他就是盖乌斯·屋大维·奥古斯都，罗马帝国的开创者。周末资本市场停盘，闲来无事续接前篇读完了约翰·威廉斯的历史文学巨著《奥古斯都》，值得...

by 谷立立 约翰·威廉斯的一生贯穿着同一个关键词：拒绝。终其一生，他拒绝被定义、被归类，拒绝成为公众瞩目的文化明星，拒绝循规蹈矩地做传道授业的文学教授，只愿我行我素、我手写我心地诠释一位真正作家的本色。这倒不是说他一生庸庸碌碌、无所作为。事实上，他在文学上的...  

用户评价

今年晚春和初冬把这本书听了两遍，细腻与壮阔比起尤瑟纳尔的《哈德良回忆录》均有过之而无不及，念的也非常好。

今年晚春和初冬把这本书听了两遍，细腻与壮阔比起尤瑟纳尔的《哈德良回忆录》均有过之而无不及，念的也非常好。

书信，总是带着风，千里飘摇。信封中，是灵魂碎片，有情意绵绵，有暗流汹涌，有剑拔弩张，有沧海桑田。John Williams不仅容纳书信，还有公文，辞令，日记...透过精心安排，于虚实之间，构建出奥古都斯一生之波澜。此谓形式。再者，长篇小说之结构最见作家的功力。第一部，征服史，即成功史。第二部，私生活，即失败史。前两部，均为人言，由此一笔一画雕刻奥古都斯之轮廓。第三部，是“本尊”之正声，是灵魂奥义，亦是巨大彩蛋。John Williams的奥古都斯，一去莎士比亚剧作中之阴险狡诈，树立正面形象，由神至人，令读者切肤共鸣。就如“命运”二字，“命”为注定，而“运”为偶然，命在前，运在后，命定与意外摩擦，不断侵蚀，回望中，方沧桑。生命，不论伟大或卑微，都不免通向极致：面对自我。而自我，即孤岛，即牢笼。

为Williams打call

波澜壮阔 潸然泪下