HARDY THE NOVELIST

出版者:Obscure Press

作者:DAVID CECIL

页数:156 pages

出版时间:February 14, 2006

价格:$26.45

装帧:HB

isbn号码:9781846648267

具体描述

Book Description

HARDY THE NOVELIST BY DAVID CECIL THIS study was composed as a course of lectures. I fear that, transferred to the printed page, its mode of expression may seem at once too colloquial and too declamatory, too loose in structure and too emphatic in phrase, not to jar on a fastidious taste. If so, I hope my critics will remember that it was designed to be heard by an audience, not perused by a solitary reader and will grant me their indulgence. May I also take this occasion to thank the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, first for doing me the honour of inviting me to deliver the Clark Lectures, and secondly for the warmth of their welcome to me during my sojourn in their stately courts. D.C. CERTAINLY it is gratifying to be asked to deliver the Clark Lectures. Yet, when I first sat down seriouslyto consider the task before me, gratification changed to despondency. For these lectures meant literary criticism and, somehow, I found myself disinclined to add to the already formidable bulk of literary criticism. That spirit of disillusionment which, we are told, is characteristic of the present age, had begun, like the thin rays of a winter daybreak, to penetrate the antique seclusion of my College rooms, revealing their contents in a grey and. disenchanting light. I examined the rows of critical books which lined my shelves sound old fashioned works with titles like Towards a Theory of Comedy and i8th Century Influences in Romantic Poetry, or lively modern cantankerous books called Rhythm as Pattern and fEefragedy of Coleridge and was filled with a sense of futility. It is true that they were, most of them, ingenious and learned works and reading them was a pleasant enough occupation. Nor was it more harmful, I dare say, than gazing out of the window and watching the tawny leaves drift and circle one after another down the waters of the River Thames, But it was about as fruitful. For what, after all, was the good of it? How far did all this erudition and industry and illtemper make any difference to my appreciation of letters ? What living connection was there between thesebooks and the feeling stirred in me by reading Hamlet or The Ancient Mariner? The answer, I am afraid, is that there was very little. The reason that so much criticism is unprofitable is that the critics do not stick to their subject This subject is books. In every generation certain books are written which are works of art, which we read not fo any ulterior motivenot for instruction or edificationbu for the same reason that we go to a picture gallery or conceit: because reading them is in itself a satisfying experience. These books are the critics subject they art what he starts with, they are the cause and justification oi his existence. It is his function to illuminate our appreciation of them, to define the nature of the satisfaction they give, to analyse the circumstances conditioning their production and the arts by which they make their impressior This ought to be enough,work for any one man. Critics, however, seldom seem to think so.

用户评价

这本书的语言风格，用一个词来形容就是“克制而有力”。作者似乎非常抗拒使用华丽辞藻来堆砌画面感，他的文字更像是一把经过千锤百炼的利刃，干净利落，直指核心。然而，这种看似平实的叙述中，却蕴含着巨大的情感张力。我常常感觉，那些没有被直接说出口的话，那些隐藏在人物沉默之下的巨大能量，比任何激烈的争吵都更具冲击力。例如，在描写两位主要人物关系破裂的那个关键场景，作者几乎没有使用任何形容词来渲染气氛，仅仅是通过他们之间精准的动作和停顿，就将那种无法挽回的疏离感表现得淋漓尽致。这种高超的“留白”技巧，使得读者不得不调动自己的全部想象力去填补那些空白，从而将阅读体验变成了一种共同的创作过程。这本书对于那些痴迷于文学技艺的读者来说，简直是一堂生动的写作大师课，展示了如何用最经济的文字去承载最复杂的情感重量。

读完这本书，我花了很长时间才从那种沉浸感中抽离出来。坦白讲，这本书的整体基调是偏向悲凉和宿命论的，它探讨的主题非常宏大，涉及了社会阶层固化、个人理想在巨大历史洪流中的渺小与无力。作者似乎并不想给出任何轻松的答案或光明的结局，相反，他更倾向于揭示人性的幽暗面以及命运的无常。我尤其记得有一个配角，他的命运线索虽然只占了全书很小一部分篇幅，但作者对他的描绘却出乎意料地丰满和令人心碎，那份对“错位”和“不被理解”的描摹，至今仍在我脑海中挥之不去。这本书的结构处理非常成熟，尽管篇幅不短，但几乎没有冗余的情节，每一个场景、每一次对话，似乎都在为最终那个略显沉重的结论添砖加瓦。如果你期待那种情节跌宕起伏、反转再反转的爽文体验，那这本书可能会让你失望；但如果你追求的是对生命本质和人性困境的深刻哲学思辨，那么这本书的价值就体现出来了。

从社会背景来看，这本书对特定历史时期欧洲某一阶层的日常生活描摹达到了惊人的细致程度。我不是历史专家，但从书中对衣食住行、社交礼仪乃至日常用语的精确捕捉来看，作者无疑是下了苦功进行考据的。这种扎实的基础为整个故事提供了无比坚实的支撑，使得即便虚构的人物和事件，也带着一种“历史真实感”。我特别喜欢作者在不经意间穿插进去的那些关于当时艺术思潮、政治风波的侧写，这些内容并非喧宾夺主，而是恰到好处地为人物的行为动机提供了合理的时代注脚。它让我清晰地认识到，个体命运是如何被时代的大潮裹挟和塑造的。这本书的优点在于，它既是精彩的文学叙事，又像是一部经过精心打磨的社会风俗史，让人在享受故事的同时，也获得了对那个时代更深一层的理解。读完后，我感觉自己像是刚刚经历了一段漫长而有意义的旅程，虽然疲惫，但收获颇丰。

初读此作，给我的直观感受是，作者似乎在极力避免任何迎合现代阅读习惯的轻佻和浮躁。这本书的叙事视角非常独特，它时而像一个全知全能的上帝，冷眼旁观着人间的悲喜剧；时而又会突然切换到某个特定角色的主观感受中，那种强烈的代入感常常让我措手不及。我特别欣赏作者在处理时间线上的手法，那种非线性的叙事结构，像一张巨大的网，将过去、现在、未来巧妙地编织在一起，要求读者必须保持高度的注意力才能跟上他的思路。有那么几个章节，我甚至需要拿起笔做一些简单的标记，以区分不同时间点上发生的关键事件，这在现代小说中是相当少见的挑战。这本书的对白设计也极具匠心，那种充满时代感的腔调，夹杂着一些现在已经不太使用的词汇，读起来韵味十足，但同时也增加了理解的门槛。总而言之，它不是一本可以让你在通勤路上随便翻阅的消遣之作，它需要你正襟危坐，准备好进行一场智力上的深度对话。

这本书，说实话，我当初拿到手的时候，光看那个封面设计，就觉得它透着一股子老派的优雅劲儿，那种硬朗的字体，配上略显斑驳的背景色，让人立刻联想到二十世纪初期的文学气息。我得承认，我当时是冲着作者的名头去的，毕竟在文学圈子里，他算是个响当当的名字，虽然他的作品不算大众畅销书，但绝对是评论家们津津乐道的那一类。刚翻开第一页，我就被作者那种细腻入微的笔触给抓住了，他描写环境的功力简直是一绝，寥寥数语就能勾勒出一个栩栩如生的场景，让你仿佛身临其境，呼吸着那个时代特有的尘土和湿气。而且，他对人物心理的刻画更是深入骨髓，那种复杂、矛盾的情感纠葛，被他剖析得淋漓尽致，你甚至能感觉到角色内心的每一次颤抖和挣扎。我花了整整一个周末才读完这本书的开头部分，主要是因为我习惯性地会停下来，反复咀嚼那些精妙的措辞，生怕错过任何一个细微的暗示或伏笔。这本书的节奏一开始略显缓慢，它不急于抛出惊天动地的事件，而是专注于构建一个坚实、可信的世界观和人物关系网，这对于喜欢慢热型文学的读者来说，简直是饕餮盛宴。