具體描述
內容簡介
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. 作者簡介
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. 精彩書評
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.
《遠方與迴響:一部關於美國郊區夢碎與個體掙紮的史詩》 作者:[此處填寫一本與《革命之路》風格、主題相似但實際不同的虛構書籍名稱] 譯者:[虛構譯者名稱] 齣版社:[虛構齣版社名稱] 齣版日期:[虛構日期] 裝幀:精裝/平裝(請根據您的實際需求選擇,此處假設為精裝) 內容簡介 《遠方與迴響》並非僅僅是一部描繪特定時代背景的社會圖景,它更像是一部深入人心的心理探險,直抵二十世紀中葉美國社會中産階級精神睏境的核心地帶。這部宏偉的作品,以其細膩入微的筆觸和對人性復雜性的深刻洞察,構建瞭一個充滿張力和潛在悲劇的敘事空間。 故事主要圍繞著艾倫·哈珀(Allan Harper)和貝絲·哈珀(Beth Harper)這對夫婦展開,他們是“美好生活”的典範,居住在康涅狄格州一個精心修剪的郊區——“橡樹溪榖”(Oak Creek Valley)。這個名字本身就帶有強烈的諷刺意味:錶麵的寜靜與繁茂之下,隱藏著精神上的乾涸與停滯。 艾倫,一位在波士頓地區一傢大型保險公司擔任中層管理人員的男人,聰明、雄心勃勃,卻又被日常的重復性工作和對“真正價值”的追求所摺磨。他渴望成為一名思想傢、一位有所建樹的知識分子,而非僅僅是一個推銷“安全感”的推銷員。他與同事們在午餐時討論哲學、藝術和未曾實現的抱負,這些談話如同麻醉劑,暫時緩解瞭他在朝九晚五生活中的空虛感。然而,每當他迴到那棟有著完美草坪的房子,麵對妻子和兩個孩子時,那種未能實現的野心便如毒藤般纏繞上來,令他感到窒息。 貝絲,艾倫的妻子,一個曾經充滿活力和藝術天賦的女性,為瞭傢庭和丈夫的事業,將自己對戲劇和寫作的熱愛深埋。她是一個矛盾的結閤體:她既是維護傢庭秩序的堅韌支柱,又是渴望被理解、被看到的靈魂。她對艾倫的“理想主義”既懷有支持的希望,又深知其不切實際的危險。貝絲的世界在廚房、花園和社區聚會中被壓縮,她的內心深處醞釀著一種對被限製的、被定義的生活的無聲反抗。 主題的深度挖掘:理想與現實的鴻溝 小說的核心衝突,在於“夢想”與“日常”之間不可調和的張力。橡樹溪榖代錶著二戰後美國夢的物質實現:穩定的收入、兩輛車、為孩子規劃的未來。然而,作者極其精準地捕捉到,當物質需求得到滿足後,精神上的飢渴便會爆發。 艾倫和貝絲的婚姻,成為瞭這場精神危機的縮影。他們之間的交流常常是無效的,充滿瞭未說齣口的指責和互相投射的期望。他們渴望的“遠方”——無論是職業上的突破,還是精神上的解放——最終都被證明隻是一個不斷後退的地平綫。他們試圖通過對彼此的理想化來填補內心的空洞,但最終,這種理想化隻會導緻更深的失望和怨恨。 關鍵人物的塑造與社會群像 小說並未將焦點局限於哈珀夫婦,它巧妙地引入瞭一係列色彩鮮明的配角,他們共同構成瞭橡樹溪榖的社會生態係統: 羅伊·麥剋唐納(Roy McDonald):艾倫的鄰居,一位似乎完全適應瞭郊區生活的成功銷售員。他代錶著一種“務實”的滿足感,是艾倫心中最警惕的對照物——一個“真正成功”的人,還是一個精神上的僵屍? 海倫·卡彭特(Helen Carpenter):社區中的活躍分子,她對“進步”的熱情,實際上掩蓋瞭她對維持現狀的深刻依戀。她通過組織活動來建立自己的存在感,但她的熱情往往流於錶麵。 年輕一代的觀察者:哈珀傢的兩個孩子,他們以一種近乎天真的殘酷,觀察著父母的掙紮,並在無意中揭示瞭成人世界的虛僞。他們是未來一代的投影,其未來走嚮也籠罩在父母未解睏境的陰影之下。 敘事風格與結構 本書采用瞭一種冷靜、剋製卻又充滿內在張力的敘事風格。作者擅長使用環境描寫來烘托人物的心理狀態。橡樹溪榖的陽光、修剪整齊的灌木、周日的教堂鍾聲,都被賦予瞭一種令人不安的完美感,仿佛隨時都會被某種更本質的、更原始的情感所撕裂。 敘事綫索在艾倫的內心獨白、貝絲的沉思以及第三人稱的客觀描述之間流暢切換,讓讀者得以全麵體驗到這對夫婦被睏住的感覺。小說的高潮部分,往往不是通過戲劇性的事件來推動,而是通過一係列細微的、不可挽迴的誤解、一次次未被抓住的溝通機會,以及最終對彼此真實麵目的承認——這種承認本身,比任何爭吵都更具破壞性。 超越時代的共鳴 盡管故事設定在二十世紀中葉,但《遠方與迴響》探討的問題具有跨越時代的普遍性:個體在社會期望與自我真實需求之間的拉扯;婚姻中“成為彼此的救贖者”的重擔;以及我們如何定義“成功”——是物質的纍積,還是精神上的完整? 這部作品邀請讀者直麵一個令人不安的真相:有時候,最讓人感到恐懼的“革命之路”,並非外部世界的顛覆,而是通往內心深處的旅程,那條路可能最終通嚮的,並非宏偉的遠方,而是迴蕩著未竟之夢的空曠迴響。它是一部關於錯失機會、關於選擇的重量,以及關於如何與一個不完美的自己和不完美的世界共存的深刻寓言。 這本書,是獻給所有曾經相信自己注定要做“更偉大的事情”,卻發現自己被睏在日常瑣碎中的人。