内容简介
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.
全书由九十四封书信构成,分别是女主人公西莉亚写给上帝,妹妹内蒂以及爱慕的女性黑人布鲁斯歌手萨格的书信,信中所提及的故事,构成了西莉亚整个关于童年的回忆以及现今生活的画面。小说以书信体格式来记录故事是一个非常独特的方法,这也形成了本书独特的魅力,另外书信中姓名的留白(即所有男性的名字作者都用“——”来表示),也带给读者非常不一样的感受。
《紫色》的情节并不复杂,故事的年代大约在20世纪初到第二次世界大战前夕,背景是美国南方佐治亚乡村。十四岁的黑人女孩西丽被后父奸污,生下两个孩子。多病的母亲不了解真相活活气死了。她的孩子被后父抢走失踪,她本人又被迫嫁给已有四个孩子的鳏夫。丈夫另有所爱,对她百般虐待,而她受旧思想旧习俗的影响只是自叹命苦,从不反抗,只在给上帝写的信里倾诉内心的痛苦。她对丈夫毫无感情,甚至不愿意叫他的名字,只称他为某某先生。善良的西丽发现后父和丈夫都对妹妹耐蒂不怀好心,便帮助她离家出走。另一方面,她任劳任怨地把丈夫前妻的儿女抚养成人。大儿子哈波结婚以后,想像父亲那样使唤打骂老婆,但儿媳妇索菲亚生性倔强,不肯对丈夫俯首贴耳唯命是从,在生了好几个孩子以后还是离开了哈波。西丽丈夫以前的情人,歌唱家莎格患重病流落街头。某某先生把她接到家里,她在西丽的精心护理下恢复了健康,两人成了知心朋友。莎格开导西丽要充分认识自己的聪明才智,要跟大男子主义思想作斗争,主动争取女人应有的权利。莎格的启发开阔了西丽的眼界,她开始用新的眼光观察世界、考虑问题。后来,莎格发现西丽的丈夫一直把耐蒂从非洲写来的信件秘密收藏起来不让她知道。西丽在愤怒之余决定脱离某某先生,跟莎格去孟菲斯。她走出家庭学习缝纫,成为手艺精湛的裁缝,开起裁缝铺,过上了独立自主的生活。某某先生经过痛苦的思想斗争,认识到过去大男子主义思想的错误,向西丽作了诚恳的检讨,获得了西丽的原谅。他们不再是夫妻,但成了知心朋友。西丽的妹妹耐蒂出走后到黑人牧师塞缪尔家干活,又随他们去非洲做传教士。她发现牧师的一儿一女就是西丽失去的孩子。塞缪尔一家在非洲生活得很艰难,他妻子染上非洲疟疾不治身亡。英国殖民者为种植橡胶肆意破坏当地奥林卡人民的土地和村落。塞缪尔和耐蒂赶到英国向教会求救,但遭到冷落和侮辱。他们返回非洲时当地人民对他们大为失望,纷纷投奔住在森林深处反抗白人的母布雷人。耐蒂此时已经跟塞缪尔结成夫妻,决心带着儿子亚当、女儿奥莉维亚及儿媳妇塔希回国。小说结尾处,西丽跟妹妹和儿子、女儿重新团聚,过上快乐的生活。
作者简介
Alice Walker won the Pulitzer prize and the American Book Award for The Color Purple. She is the author of many bestselling novels, essays and collections of poetry.
艾丽丝·沃克,美籍黑人,曾受邀拜访马丁·路德·金家中,并参与了《我有一个梦想》演讲,1972年至威尔斯利大学任教,开设了“妇女文学”课程,是美国大学中最早开设的女性研究课程之一。后受邀出任《女性》杂志编辑,并在刊文中首次提出“Womanist”(女权主义)一说。
精彩书评
"Intense emotional impact . . . Indelibly affecting . . . Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer."
—The New York Times Book Review
"Places Walker in the company of Faulkner."
—The Nation
"Superb . . . A work to stand beside literature of any time and place."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"The Color Purple is an American novel of permanent importance."
—Newsweek
"Marvelous characters . . . A story of revelation . . . One of the great books of our time."
—Essence
精彩书摘
You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy.
Dear God,
I am fourteen years old. I am I have always been a good
girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what
is happening to me.
Last spring after little Lucious come I heard them fussing. He was pulling on her arm. She say It too soon, Fonso, I ain't well. Finally he leave her alone. A week go by, he pulling on her arm again. She say Naw, I ain't gonna. Can't you see I'm already half dead, an all of these chilren.
She went to visit her sister doctor over Macon. Left me to see after the others. He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't. First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it.
But I don't never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook. My mama she fuss at me an look at me. She happy, cause he good to her now. But too sick to last long.
Dear God,
Mr. ______ finally come right out an ast for Nettie hand in marriage. But He won't let her go. He say she too young, no experience. Say Mr. ______ got too many children already. Plus What about the scandal his wife cause when somebody kill her? And what about all this stuff he hear bout Shug Avery? What bout that?
I ast our new mammy bout Shug Avery. What it is? I ast. She don't know but she say she gon fine out.
She do more then that. She git a picture. The first one
of a real person I ever seen. She say Mr. ______ was taking somethin out his billfold to show Pa an it fell out an slid under the table. Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman I ever saw. She more pretty then my mama. She bout ten thousand times more prettier then me. I see her there in furs. Her face rouge. Her hair like somethin tail. She grinning with her foot up on somebody motocar. Her eyes serious tho. Sad some.
I ast her to give me the picture. An all night long I stare at it. An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery. She be dress to kill, whirling and laughing.
Dear God,
I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy sick. But he just ast me what I'm talking bout. I tell him I can fix myself up for him. I duck into my room and come out wearing horsehair, feathers, and a pair of our new mammy high heel shoes. He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway.
Mr. ______ come that evening. I'm in the bed crying. Nettie she finally see the light of day, clear. Our new mammy she see it too. She in her room crying. Nettie tend to first one, then the other. She so scared she go out doors and vomit. But not out front where the two mens is.
Mr. ______ say, Well Sir, I sure hope you done change your mind.
He say, Naw, Can't say I is.
Mr. ______ say, Well, you know, my poor little ones sure could use a mother.
Well, He say, real slow, I can't let you have Nettie. She too young. Don't know nothing but what you tell her. Sides, I want her to git some more schooling. Make a schoolteacher out of her. But I can let you have Celie. She the oldest anyway. She ought to marry first. She ain't fresh tho, but I spect you know that. She spoiled. Twice. But you don't need a fresh woman no how. I got a fresh one in there myself and she sick all the time. He spit, over the railing. The children git on her nerve, she not much of a cook. And she big already.
Mr. ______ he don't say nothing. I stop crying I'm so surprise.
She ugly. He say. But she ain't no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And God done fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain't gonna make you feed it or clothe it.
Mr. ______ still don't say nothing. I take out the picture of Shug Avery. I look into her eyes. Her eyes say Yeah, it bees that way sometime.
Fact is, he say, I got to git rid of her. She too old to be living here at home. And she a bad influence on my other girls. She'd come with her own linen. She can take that cow she raise down there back of the crib. But Nettie you flat out can't have. Not now. Not never.
Mr. ______ finally speak. Clearing his throat. I ain't never really look at that one, he say.
Well, next time you come you can look at her. She ugly. Don't even look like she kin to Nettie. But she'll make the better wife. She ain't smart either, and I'll just be fair, you have to watch her or she'll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man.
Mr. ______ say How old she is?
He say, She near twenty. And another thing-She tell lies.
前言/序言
好的,这是一本关于美国南方历史、女性成长与社会变革的深刻小说简介。 --- 《静默之声:棉花田的低语与希望的微光》 作者: 艾米莉亚·詹姆斯 (Amelia James) 出版年份: 2023年 页数: 580页 装帧: 精装 内容提要 《静默之声》是一部史诗般的家庭叙事,它以极其细腻且不加粉饰的笔触,描绘了美国二十世纪初期,在阿拉巴马州偏远农业社区中,三代非裔美国女性的挣扎、韧性与最终的觉醒。这不是一个关于简单的苦难记录,而是一曲关于如何在极端压抑的环境中,通过人际连接、自我发现和对教育的渴望,重新构建自我价值的赞歌。 历史的重量与个人的微光 故事始于1918年,主要围绕着玛莎·简·斯通展开。玛莎的童年被密集的棉花种植园的劳作和根深蒂固的种族隔离制度所塑造。她的世界由日出到日落的辛勤劳动构成,由家族世代相传的民间故事和福音歌曲所慰藉。作者詹姆斯以极具现场感的描写,刻画了那个时代南方农场生活的艰辛——泥土的芬芳、赤脚踩踏在灼热土地上的痛感,以及空气中永远挥之不去的尘土和汗水的味道。 玛莎的母亲,一个沉默而坚韧的女性,深知“沉默是生存的唯一语言”,她将对自由的渴望深深地埋藏在心底,并试图通过严格的纪律保护女儿免受外界的残酷。然而,玛莎的内心充满了对未知世界的强烈好奇。她偷窃邻近白人家庭废弃的教科书,在昏暗的煤油灯下,用捡来的铅笔,模仿着她只能模糊辨认的字母。对知识的追求,成为她对抗命运的第一道微弱但坚定的防线。 连接与背叛的罗网 随着故事的推进,我们进入了二十年代末期,玛莎进入了青年时代。她嫁给了一个老实但被父权思想束缚的男人,生活似乎已经定型。然而,一次偶然的机会,玛莎结识了在小镇建立初级学校的非裔教师——伊莱亚斯·霍金斯。伊莱亚斯不仅带来了书本上的知识,更带来了关于“进步”和“北方城市”的全新概念。他向玛莎展示了一种可能性:一个人的价值不应由肤色或出身决定。 这段友谊,既是启蒙,也带来了巨大的风险。在那个时代,任何超出传统规范的女性交往,都会被视为对社群稳定的威胁。小说极其精妙地处理了女性友谊与社会压力之间的张力。玛莎必须在维护家庭名声与追求个人精神自由之间做出艰难抉择。詹姆斯笔下的女性关系,复杂而真实,充满了互相支持,也夹杂着因生存压力而产生的嫉妒和不理解。 北迁的幻灭与重建 故事的高潮发生在“大迁徙”的浪潮中。为了给女儿——小玛莎(一个充满活力的、对未来抱有远大理想的孩子)——一个更好的教育环境,玛莎做出了一个改变一生的决定:带着家人前往芝加哥。 芝加哥的“镀金年代”景象与她想象中的天堂大相径庭。她面对的是拥挤的公寓、陌生的工业噪音、以及一种不同于南方的、更为隐蔽的歧视。她的丈夫在工厂的工作不稳定,而她发现,即使在北方,女性也难以获得体面的收入。 小玛莎的成长线索在这部分变得尤为突出。她目睹了母亲为了生存而不得不做出的妥协,也继承了祖母的韧劲和母亲对知识的渴望。在芝加哥的学校里,小玛莎展现出惊人的学习天赋,她将南方家庭代代相传的口述历史与书本知识相结合,开始以一种全新的、批判性的视角审视家族的历史。 主题的深度挖掘 《静默之声》深入探讨了几个核心主题: 1. 声音的找回(Finding Voice): 小说细致地描绘了女性如何从被教导“保持安静”的环境中,逐步找到发出自己声音的勇气。这种声音的表达,不仅仅是语言上的,更是通过艺术(如纺织和音乐)和行动(如参与工会组织)实现的。 2. 土地与流离(Land and Displacement): 失去了对南方土地的连接,意味着失去了根基。小说探讨了移民群体在新的城市环境中,如何努力重建一种“精神上的家园”,以及对故乡复杂的情感——既是痛苦的回忆,也是身份的来源。 3. 教育作为解放的工具: 知识被描绘成一种比金钱更强大的货币。无论是玛莎偷来的残破书籍,还是小玛莎在黑人大学获得的学位,教育都是打破代际贫困循环的关键钥匙。 写作风格与文学价值 艾米莉亚·詹姆斯的叙事风格朴实而充满诗意。她擅长捕捉细节,使得场景栩栩如生。她避免了将人物脸谱化,即使是那些看似压迫性的角色,也展现了其人性的挣扎和复杂性。小说结构宏大,横跨了半个多世纪的美国历史变迁,它不仅是对一个家庭的记录,也是对美国社会转型期中,被边缘化群体集体记忆的有力还原。 《静默之声》是一部令人心碎却又充满鼓舞力量的作品,它提醒我们,真正的自由,往往始于内心的觉醒,并在无声的坚持中获得最终的胜利。它是一份献给那些在沉默中守护希望的女性的,永恒的纪念碑。