内容简介
This richly textured novel of courtship and marriage explores the dichotomies between the rigidly stratified South and the upstart industrial North during England's mid-Victorian era. Called "an admirable story" by Charles Dickens, the book is the turbulent tale of Margaret Hale, a woman torn between her sympathy for discontented millworkers and her love for the factory's wealthy owner.
作者简介
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was born in London in 1810, but she spent her formative years in Cheshire, Stratford-upon-Avon and the north of England. In 1832 she married the Reverend William Gaskell, who became well known as the minister of the Unitarian Chapel in Manchester’s Cross Street. As well as leading a busy domestic life as minister’s wife and mother of four daughters, she worked among the poor, traveled frequently and wrote. Mary Barton (1848) was her first success. Two years later she began writing for Dickens’s magazine, Household Words, to which she contributed fiction for the next thirteen years, notably a further industrial novel, North and South (1855). In 1850 she met and secured the friendship of Charlotte Bront?. After Charlotte’s death in March 1855, Patrick Bront? chose his daughter’s friend and fellow-novelist to write The Life of Charlotte Bront? (1857), a probing and sympathetic account, that has attained classic stature. Elizabeth Gaskell’s position as a clergyman’s wife and as a successful writer introduced her to a wide circle of friends, both from the professional world of Manchester and from the larger literary world. Her output was substantial and completely professional. Dickens discovered her resilient strength of character when trying to impose his views on her as editor of Household Words. She proved that she was not to be bullied, even by such a strong-willed man. Her later works, Sylvia’s Lovers (1863), Cousin Phillis (1864) and Wives and Daughters (1866) reveal that she was continuing to develop her writing in new literary directions. Elizabeth Gaskell died suddenly in November 1865. Patricia Ingham is senior research fellow and reader at St. Anne's College, Oxford. She is the general editor of Thomas Hardy's fiction in Penguin Classics and edited Gaskell's North and South for the series.
精彩书评
"[An] admirable story … full of character and power" —Charles Dickens
前言/序言
好的,这是一本关于十九世纪英国社会变迁的引人入胜的小说。 《南方与北方》(North and South) 作者:伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔(Elizabeth Gaskell) 背景与主题 这部作品是伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔的代表作之一,创作于维多利亚时代中期,深刻地反映了工业革命对英国社会结构、阶级关系以及人与人之间理解产生的巨大冲击。小说以其敏锐的社会洞察力和细腻的心理刻画,描绘了从田园牧歌式的南方到机器轰鸣、阶级矛盾尖锐的北方工业城镇的剧烈转变。 故事的核心冲突建立在地理和文化上的对比之上。南方,以其传统、相对宁静的农业生活为代表,象征着旧有的社会秩序和绅士阶层的价值观;而北方,以米尔顿(Milton,影射曼彻斯特)为代表,则是新兴工业力量的中心,那里充斥着工厂的烟雾、工人的疾苦,以及资本家阶层对效率和利润的狂热追求。 人物与情节 小说的叙事围绕着女主人公玛格丽特·黑尔(Margaret Hale)展开。玛格丽特是一位受过良好教育、富有同情心和强烈道德感的南方年轻女子。由于父亲,一位受过高等教育的牧师,经历了信仰危机,决定辞去南方教区的职位,全家不得不从宁静的哈姆郡(Helstone)搬迁至米尔顿。 这次突如其来的搬迁,是玛格丽特人生和世界观的剧烈转折点。她必须适应一个完全陌生的环境——一个充斥着噪音、贫困与阶级对立的工业城市。 在米尔顿,玛格丽特结识了两位关键人物,他们代表了当时社会对立的两极: 约翰·桑顿(John Thornton): 年轻、雄心勃勃的工厂主。他白手起家,凭借过人的精力和商业头脑在竞争激烈的工业界中占据了一席之地。桑顿的视角代表了资本的力量和对“进步”的坚定信念。他对玛格丽特的初次相遇充满了误解,认为她傲慢、不了解劳动者的真实困境。然而,随着两人在共同危机中的接触,他对玛格丽特的看法逐渐转变,她身上那种维护弱者的坚定品质深深吸引了他。 尼古拉斯·希金斯(Nicholas Higgins): 一位富有尊严和智慧的工人领袖。希金斯代表了工厂底层人民的集体心声。他经历了生活的磨难,对工厂主阶层抱有根深蒂固的不信任,但同时他也珍视家庭和社区的团结。 故事情节在玛格丽特努力适应新生活的同时,逐步升级。她试图弥合南方优雅与北方现实之间的鸿沟,积极关注工人的生活状况,并试图理解他们为何反抗。 小说的高潮之一发生在一次工人罢工期间。玛格丽特卷入了工人和工厂主之间的冲突,她试图在两者之间斡旋,保护她认为受到不公正对待的人。在一次混乱的示威活动中,她无意中介入了一场暴动,并勇敢地站出来保护了被工人围攻的约翰·桑顿。这一举动,虽然出于保护一个她过去所不理解的人的目的,却在两人之间播下了深刻的联结。 社会洞察与深度探讨 《南方与北方》远不止于一个简单的爱情故事,它是一部深入探讨社会经济和道德哲学的作品: 1. 阶级与偏见: 盖斯凯尔无情地揭示了阶级偏见的双向性。南方的贵族习气使玛格丽特一开始轻视了北方实干家的价值,而北方的工人们则因贫困和被压迫而对所有上层人士充满敌意。小说推动读者思考,真正的“文明”和“道德”是否应以地域或财富来划分。 2. 工业化的后果: 作品细致描绘了工业城市的环境污染、工人的艰苦工作条件(包括童工问题),以及资本家为了维护利润而采取的冷酷措施。盖斯凯尔呼吁工业巨头们不仅要关注效率,更要承担起对员工的社会责任。她认为,资本家与工人之间不应是零和博弈,而是需要建立一种相互依赖、相互尊重的关系。 3. “知道”与“感受”的对比: 玛格丽特最初的同情是基于书本上的知识,一种抽象的怜悯。只有当她亲身处于米尔顿的烟雾之中,目睹了希金斯一家所承受的痛苦时,她的理解才真正转化为行动。这象征着盖斯凯尔对知识分子阶层的挑战——真正的社会改革需要深入现场,建立人与人之间真实的联系。 4. 女性的角色: 玛格丽特是维多利亚时代文学中一个强有力的女性形象。她独立思考,敢于挑战社会规范(例如,她拒绝接受桑顿在特定情境下的求婚,因为她认为自己的动机不纯,这在当时是极其大胆的)。她并非一个等待拯救的淑女,而是一个积极参与并试图改善她所处世界的行动者。 文学价值 盖斯凯尔的叙事风格融合了现实主义的精确与浪漫主义的情感深度。她对米尔顿的描写,虽然残酷,却充满了对生活本质的尊重。她成功地描绘了两位主角如何从最初的误解和对立,通过共同的经历和对彼此正直品格的认可,最终实现了深刻的和解与爱慕。 这部小说最终探讨的核心问题是:如何在现代的工业社会中,重建人与人之间真诚、平等和富有同情心的关系? 它证明了,真正的和谐并非来自于对立双方的简单隔离,而是来自于彼此跨越阶级藩篱的理解与合作。