具体描述
内容简介
Revolutionary Road is an American classic and has been made into a film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio which is due for release in January 2009 Hailed as a masterpiece from the moment of its first publication, Revolutionary Road is the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, beautiful, and talented couple whose empty suburban life is held together by the dream that greatness is only just round the corner. With heartbreaking compassion and clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their hopes and ideals, betraying in the end not only each other, but their own best selves. 作者简介
Richard Yates was born in 1926 in New York and lived in California. His prize-winning stories began to appear in 1953 and his first novel, Revolutionary Road, was nominated for the National Book Award in 1961. He is the author of eight other works, including the novels A Good School, The Easter Parade, and Disturbing the Peace, and two collections of short stories, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness and Liars in Love. He died in 1992. 精彩书评
The rediscovery and rejuvenation of Richard Yates's 1961 novel Revolutionary Road is due in large part to its continuing emotional and moral resonance for an early 21st-century readership. April and Frank Wheeler are a young, ostensibly thriving couple living with their two children in a prosperous Connecticut suburb in the mid-1950s. However, like the characters in John Updike's similarly themed Couples, the self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled in their relationships or careers. Frank is mired in a well-paying but boring office job and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. As their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfillment are thrown into jeopardy. Yates's incisive, moving, and often very funny prose weaves a tale that is at once a fascinating period piece and a prescient anticipation of the way we live now. Many of the cultural motifs seem quaintly dated--the early-evening cocktails, Frank's illicit lunch breaks with his secretary, the way Frank isn't averse to knocking April around when she speaks out of turn--and yet the quiet desperation at thwarted dreams reverberates as much now as it did years ago. Like F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, this novel conveys, with brilliant erudition, the exacting cost of chasing the American dream. --Jane Morris, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. “Primary and forceful. . . . Revolutionary Road looks straight at us . . . and invites us to pay attention, have a care, take heed, and live life as if it mattered what we do.” —Richard Ford “A powerful treatment of a characteristically American theme…. A moving and absorbing story.”—The Atlantic Monthly“The great Gatsby of my time.”—Kurt Vonnegut“Yates allows his characters to reveal themselves-- which they do with an intensity that excites the reader's compassion [and] interest.”—The New York Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
《远方与回响:一部关于美国郊区梦碎与个体挣扎的史诗》 作者:[此处填写一本与《革命之路》风格、主题相似但实际不同的虚构书籍名称] 译者:[虚构译者名称] 出版社:[虚构出版社名称] 出版日期:[虚构日期] 装帧:精装/平装(请根据您的实际需求选择,此处假设为精装) 内容简介 《远方与回响》并非仅仅是一部描绘特定时代背景的社会图景,它更像是一部深入人心的心理探险,直抵二十世纪中叶美国社会中产阶级精神困境的核心地带。这部宏伟的作品,以其细腻入微的笔触和对人性复杂性的深刻洞察,构建了一个充满张力和潜在悲剧的叙事空间。 故事主要围绕着艾伦·哈珀(Allan Harper)和贝丝·哈珀(Beth Harper)这对夫妇展开,他们是“美好生活”的典范,居住在康涅狄格州一个精心修剪的郊区——“橡树溪谷”(Oak Creek Valley)。这个名字本身就带有强烈的讽刺意味:表面的宁静与繁茂之下,隐藏着精神上的干涸与停滞。 艾伦,一位在波士顿地区一家大型保险公司担任中层管理人员的男人,聪明、雄心勃勃,却又被日常的重复性工作和对“真正价值”的追求所折磨。他渴望成为一名思想家、一位有所建树的知识分子,而非仅仅是一个推销“安全感”的推销员。他与同事们在午餐时讨论哲学、艺术和未曾实现的抱负,这些谈话如同麻醉剂,暂时缓解了他在朝九晚五生活中的空虚感。然而,每当他回到那栋有着完美草坪的房子,面对妻子和两个孩子时,那种未能实现的野心便如毒藤般缠绕上来,令他感到窒息。 贝丝,艾伦的妻子,一个曾经充满活力和艺术天赋的女性,为了家庭和丈夫的事业,将自己对戏剧和写作的热爱深埋。她是一个矛盾的结合体:她既是维护家庭秩序的坚韧支柱,又是渴望被理解、被看到的灵魂。她对艾伦的“理想主义”既怀有支持的希望,又深知其不切实际的危险。贝丝的世界在厨房、花园和社区聚会中被压缩,她的内心深处酝酿着一种对被限制的、被定义的生活的无声反抗。 主题的深度挖掘:理想与现实的鸿沟 小说的核心冲突,在于“梦想”与“日常”之间不可调和的张力。橡树溪谷代表着二战后美国梦的物质实现:稳定的收入、两辆车、为孩子规划的未来。然而,作者极其精准地捕捉到,当物质需求得到满足后,精神上的饥渴便会爆发。 艾伦和贝丝的婚姻,成为了这场精神危机的缩影。他们之间的交流常常是无效的,充满了未说出口的指责和互相投射的期望。他们渴望的“远方”——无论是职业上的突破,还是精神上的解放——最终都被证明只是一个不断后退的地平线。他们试图通过对彼此的理想化来填补内心的空洞,但最终,这种理想化只会导致更深的失望和怨恨。 关键人物的塑造与社会群像 小说并未将焦点局限于哈珀夫妇,它巧妙地引入了一系列色彩鲜明的配角,他们共同构成了橡树溪谷的社会生态系统: 罗伊·麦克唐纳(Roy McDonald):艾伦的邻居,一位似乎完全适应了郊区生活的成功销售员。他代表着一种“务实”的满足感,是艾伦心中最警惕的对照物——一个“真正成功”的人,还是一个精神上的僵尸? 海伦·卡彭特(Helen Carpenter):社区中的活跃分子,她对“进步”的热情,实际上掩盖了她对维持现状的深刻依恋。她通过组织活动来建立自己的存在感,但她的热情往往流于表面。 年轻一代的观察者:哈珀家的两个孩子,他们以一种近乎天真的残酷,观察着父母的挣扎,并在无意中揭示了成人世界的虚伪。他们是未来一代的投影,其未来走向也笼罩在父母未解困境的阴影之下。 叙事风格与结构 本书采用了一种冷静、克制却又充满内在张力的叙事风格。作者擅长使用环境描写来烘托人物的心理状态。橡树溪谷的阳光、修剪整齐的灌木、周日的教堂钟声,都被赋予了一种令人不安的完美感,仿佛随时都会被某种更本质的、更原始的情感所撕裂。 叙事线索在艾伦的内心独白、贝丝的沉思以及第三人称的客观描述之间流畅切换,让读者得以全面体验到这对夫妇被困住的感觉。小说的高潮部分,往往不是通过戏剧性的事件来推动,而是通过一系列细微的、不可挽回的误解、一次次未被抓住的沟通机会,以及最终对彼此真实面目的承认——这种承认本身,比任何争吵都更具破坏性。 超越时代的共鸣 尽管故事设定在二十世纪中叶,但《远方与回响》探讨的问题具有跨越时代的普遍性:个体在社会期望与自我真实需求之间的拉扯;婚姻中“成为彼此的救赎者”的重担;以及我们如何定义“成功”——是物质的累积,还是精神上的完整? 这部作品邀请读者直面一个令人不安的真相:有时候,最让人感到恐惧的“革命之路”,并非外部世界的颠覆,而是通往内心深处的旅程,那条路可能最终通向的,并非宏伟的远方,而是回荡着未竟之梦的空旷回响。它是一部关于错失机会、关于选择的重量,以及关于如何与一个不完美的自己和不完美的世界共存的深刻寓言。 这本书,是献给所有曾经相信自己注定要做“更伟大的事情”,却发现自己被困在日常琐碎中的人。