Knut Hamsun Remembers America

出版者:University of Missouri

作者:Hamsun, Knut/ Current, Richard Nelson (EDT)/ Current, Richard Nelson

页数:176

译者:TRL>Current, Richard Nelson

出版时间:2003-5

价格:$ 39.49

isbn号码:9780826214560

具体描述

When Americans remember him at all, they no doubt think of Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) as the author of Hunger or as the Norwegian who, along with Vidkun Quisling, betrayed his country by supporting the Nazis during World War II. Yet Hamsun, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1920 for his novel The Growth of the Soil, was and remains one of the most important and influential novelists of his time. Knut Hamsun Remembers America is a collection of thirteen essays and stories based largely on Hamsun’s experiences during the four years he spent in the United States when he was a young man. Most of these pieces have never been published before in an English translation, and none are readily available.

Hamsun’s feelings about America and American ways were complex. For the most part, they were more negative than positive, and they found expression in many of his writings—directly in his reminiscences and indirectly in his fiction. In On the Cultural Life of Modern America, his first major book, he portrayed the United States as a land of gross and greedy materialism, populated by illiterates who were utterly lacking in artistic originality or refinement. Although the pieces in this collection are not all anti-American, most of them emphasize the strangeness and unpleasantness, as the author saw it, of life in what he called Yankeeland.

Arranged chronologically, the pieces fall into three categories: Critical Reporting, Memory and Fantasy, and Mellow Reminiscence. The Critical Reporting section includes articles that appeared in Norwegian or Danish newspapers soon after each of Hamsun’s two visits to America and that give his views on a variety of American subjects, and includes an essay devoted to Mark Twain. Memory and Fantasy comprises narratives of life in America, most of which are presented as personal experiences but which actually are blends of fact and fiction. Mellow Reminiscence includes later and fonder recollections and impressions of the United States.

The pieces in this collection provide variations on a theme that runs through much of American history—European criticism of American ways. They give vivid, at times distorted, pictures of life as it was in the United States. They tell us something about the development of the worldview of a man who became a great writer, only to jeopardize his reputation by defending the Nazi oppressors of his own people. Knut Hamsun Remembers America will appeal to anyone interested in the history of American civilization or, more specifically, in the history of anti-Americanism.

作者简介

Richard Nelson Current is the author or editor of many books, including Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy and Those Terrible Carpetbaggers. Currently a resident of Natick, Massachusetts, he is University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

用户评价

这部作品最让我感到震撼的，是它对“记忆的不可靠性”这一母题的深刻探讨。作者似乎在不断地质疑他自己所叙述的一切，文本中充满了自我否定的声音和视角的不断摇摆。你永远无法确定哪个场景是真实的重现，哪个是经过时间过滤和自我美化的产物，甚至哪个是纯粹的虚构。这种内嵌的怀疑机制，使得读者也必须随时保持警惕，不能轻信任何一个被提出的“事实”。人物的行为逻辑也常常是晦涩难懂的，他们做出决定的瞬间往往缺乏明确的外部诱因，而似乎是源于某种更深层次的、无法言说的内在驱动力。这种对叙事权威性的不断解构，赋予了这部作品一种持久的生命力，因为它触及了人类经验中最核心的悖论：我们如何通过讲述故事来认识自己，而这个“讲述”本身又如何扭曲了我们所声称要记录的东西。它不是一部提供慰藉的怀旧录，而是一份关于认知局限性的深刻备忘录。

这本书的语言密度极高，简直是一场对词语精准度和意象丰富度的极限挑战。我必须承认，阅读它需要极大的专注力，因为错过任何一个介词的微妙变化，或者一个动词的时态转换，都可能导致对整段心境的误读。作者对于语法的运用，有时近乎于一种挑衅，他似乎在故意打破既有的语法规则，以求达到一种更贴合内心混沌状态的表达方式。这使得文本呈现出一种既古老又前卫的混合气质。它让人联想到一些十九世纪末期哲学思辨的沉重感，但行文的疏离和疏离感又带有明显的现代主义先驱的烙印。它要求读者不仅要理解字面意思，更要理解潜藏在词语背后的文化和历史重量。读完之后，感觉自己的词汇库被重新格式化了一遍，那些熟悉的词汇在新的语境下焕发出了完全不同的光彩，甚至是对一些基本概念的理解都产生了微妙的偏移。

如果用一个词来形容这本书带给我的整体观感，那便是“克制下的爆发”。作者似乎有一种魔力，能将最激烈的情感，用最朴素、甚至近乎冷峻的语言来承载。他的句子通常不长，词汇选择也相当精准，避开了所有浮夸或煽情的修饰，但正是这种极度的节制，使得文字的力量被压缩到了极致，一旦释放出来，便具有穿透人心的穿透力。我特别注意到他对于“沉默”的处理，很多时候，角色之间的交流是通过未说出口的话语、通过眼神的交汇、或者通过长久而尴尬的停顿时完成的。这种对白外信息的捕捉和放大，使得人物关系充满了张力和微妙的心理博弈。这不像是在阅读一个故事，更像是在偷窥一段真实发生过的、极其私密的内心独白。即便是描写宏大的自然景象，也少有铺张，而是通过捕捉一个微小的细节——比如苔藓的颜色，或者一缕斜射的阳光的角度——来暗示更深层次的永恒与易逝。

那种叙事上的跳跃性，初读时让人感到一丝眩晕，仿佛置身于一场没有明确路线的梦游。作者似乎故意打乱了时间的线性逻辑，将碎片化的记忆、突发的灵感、以及毫不相关的场景生硬地拼接在一起，形成了一种后现代主义的拼贴画效果。这种结构上的“失控”感，恰恰是其艺术魅力所在。它挑战了读者对于“完整故事”的传统期待，迫使我们去填补那些巨大的空白。我发现，每一次重读，都会因为心境的不同，而在不同的片段中找到新的意义的支点。比如，某个关于童年游戏的寥寥数语，在第一次阅读时可能被忽略，但在第二次阅读时，却可能成为理解整部作品中某种悲剧性预设的关键钥匙。这种文本的“开放性”是极高的，它拒绝被单一的解释所束缚，更像是一首结构松散却情感充沛的交响乐，每一个乐章的衔接都带着一种令人不安的偶然性。这使得每一次阅读体验都成为一次全新的、充满探索欲的考古工作。

这本厚重的文集，仿佛是一扇通往往昔的吱呀作响的木门，推开后扑面而来的是一股混合着海盐、烟草和陈年羊皮纸的气息。作者的笔触如同老照片的底片，在光影的反复冲洗下，那些模糊的轮廓逐渐变得清晰而锐利。我尤其欣赏他对于“失落”这一主题的反复叩问，那种深入骨髓的疏离感，并非简单的乡愁，而更像是一种文明冲突下的精神流放。他没有给出明确的答案，而是用一连串破碎的、近乎呓语般的场景，构建了一个关于身份认同的迷宫。那些关于自然景观的描绘，比如北方海岸线上永不停歇的风，或者广袤森林中寂静的雪夜，都带有强烈的象征意义，仿佛它们才是真正的、永恒的“故乡”。阅读过程中，我时常需要停下来，闭上眼睛，才能消化其中蕴含的巨大情绪张力。这本书的节奏是缓慢的，需要耐心去体会那种如同潮汐般反复退去的失落与回归的复杂心绪。它不是一本提供慰藉的书，而更像一面镜子，映照出每一个在时代洪流中努力抓住“自我”的灵魂的挣扎。