具体描述
内容简介
The Caldecott medal-winning d'Aulaires once again captivate their young audience with this beautifully illustrated introduction to Norse legends, telling stories of Odin the All-father, Thor the Thunder-god and the theft of his hammer, Loki the mischievous god of the Jotun Race, and Ragnarokk, the destiny of the gods. Children meet Bragi, the god of poetry, and the famous Valkyrie maidens, among other gods, goddesses, heroes, and giants. Illustrations throughout depict the wondrous other world of Norse folklore and its fantastical Northern landscape. 作者简介
Ingri Mortenson and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire met at art school in Munich in 1921. Edgar’s father was a noted Italian portrait painter, his mother a Parisian. Ingri, the youngest of five children, traced her lineage back to the Viking kings.
The couple married in Norway, then moved to Paris. As Bohemian artists, they often talked about emigrating to America. “The enormous continent with all its possibilities and grandeur caught our imagination,” Edgar later recalled.
A small payment from a bus accident provided the means. Edgar sailed alone to New York where he earned enough by illustrating books to buy passage for his wife. Once there, Ingri painted portraits and hosted modest dinner parties. The head librarian of the New York Public Library’s juvenile department attended one of those. Why, she asked, didn’t they create picture books for children?
The d’Aulaires published their first children’s book in 1931. Next came three books steeped in the Scandinavian folklore of Ingri’s childhood. Then the couple turned their talents to the history of their new country. The result was a series of beautifully illustrated books about American heroes, one of which, Abraham Lincoln, won the d’Aulaires the American Library Association’s Caldecott Medal. Finally they turned to the realm of myths.
The d’Aulaires worked as a team on both art and text throughout their joint career. Originally, they used stone lithography for their illustrations. A single four-color illustration required four slabs of Bavarian limestone that weighed up to two hundred pounds apiece. The technique gave their illustrations an uncanny hand-drawn vibrancy. When, in the early 1960s, this process became too expensive, the d’Aulaires switched to acetate sheets which closely approximated the texture of lithographic stone.
In their nearly five-decade career, the d’Aulaires received high critical acclaim for their distinguished contributions to children’s literature. They were working on a new book when Ingri died in 1980 at the age of seventy-five. Edgar continued working until he died in 1985 at the age of eighty-six.
Michael Chabon is the author of several books, including The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son and, most recently, Telegraph Avenue.,,,, 精彩书评
"…a mythological tour de force."
— The New York Times
"Out of print for many years, Norse Gods and Giants has been very handsomely reissued by the The New York Review Children’s Collection and retitled D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths. Featuring a sturdy sewn binding, the book arguably represents the pinnacle of the d’Aulaires’ achievement as storytellers and artists….the prose seems livelier and more robust in the Norse myths than in the Greek…Their retelling of the Greek myths for children had to pull its punches somewhat….but since sex doesn't feature as prominently in Norse mythology, this book is able to stay scrupulously faithful to the Edda and still maintain its PG rating. But not to worry: there’s still a lot of drinking, fighting and bad behavior, particularly on the part of fiery Thor, who is forever whacking frost giants on the head with his hammer, and the highly entertaining Loki, who is one of the most complicated and devious characters in anybody’s mythology, anywhere. Loki is the Bart Simpson of Norse mythology, forever pulling pranks, forever getting caught and forever talking his way out of the consequences…"
— The New York Times Book Review
"[These] works, especially the books of Norse and Greek myths, were and remain crucial to me, and now to my own children. The interest in mythology that was kindled by those two books has endured throughout my life, and has directly influenced my own writing in countless ways…The Norse book was always my favorite, though. I must have read it a dozen times at least by the time I was nine or ten."
— Michael Chabon
好的,这是一本图书的详细简介,内容不涉及《D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths [精装] [5-9岁]》: --- 《星辰之子的秘密航程:跨越银河的古老传说》 作者: 伊莱亚斯·凡·德·维尔德 装帧: 精装典藏版 适读年龄: 10岁以上(或具备一定阅读能力的青少年及成人) 导言:当群星低语时 宇宙,是永恒的谜团。在人类文明的曙光时分,那些仰望星空最早的先驱者们,试图用故事来描绘他们所见的,那些闪烁的光点背后的秩序与混沌。 《星辰之子的秘密航程》并非简单的科幻小说,它是一部融合了失落的古代天文学、被遗忘的哲学思辨以及对宇宙尺度下生命意义追问的史诗级作品。本书的主角,艾尔文,是生活在一个被先进技术包裹却精神贫瘠的未来世界中的年轻历史学家。他偶然发现了一批被视为“异端文献”的古老星图残卷,这些残卷记载的并非我们所熟知的星座体系,而是一套跨越数万光年的、被某个早已消亡的超文明所建立的“宇宙轴线”。 这部作品的核心,是关于“种子文明”的宏大叙事。它探讨了一个令人深思的问题:如果宇宙中存在着无数文明,它们是否都遵循着一个共同的生命周期?当一个文明的科技发展到足以操控恒星能源时,它会选择征服,还是选择升华? 第一部:零号星门的呼唤 故事始于“新雅典”,一个漂浮在木星同步轨道上的巨型空间站。艾尔文在研究被禁的“前理性时代”的航海日志时,发现了一个反复出现的符号——一个扭曲的沙漏,周围环绕着三颗相互吸引的行星。这个符号,被古老记录称为“零号星门”。 艾尔文坚信,这不仅仅是一个象征,而是一个实际存在的、跨越星系航行的入口。他的发现立即引起了“中央指导委员会”(GCC)的注意。GCC代表着当前人类文明的最高权力,他们奉行严格的“内向发展”原则,认为一切对外星文明的探索都是对现有社会秩序的威胁。 在忠诚的机械师导师卡西乌斯的帮助下,艾尔文盗取了一艘被封存的、装备有“量子纠缠驱动器”的实验性飞船——“奥德赛之翼”。他们逃离了新雅典的重力井,踏上了一条未经规划的、直指已知宇宙边缘的航程。 第二部:失落的算法与共振频率 艾尔文的旅程并非孤独的。他发现“奥德赛之翼”的导航系统连接着一个休眠的人工智能——“先知者-7”。“先知者-7”的语言是纯粹的数学和音乐,它引导艾尔文穿越一系列危险的宇宙现象:反物质风暴、引力奇点,以及被称为“时间回响区”的超空间乱流。 本书的精髓在于对“共振”的哲学探讨。零号星门并非物理隧道,而是需要特定频率才能开启的维度节点。艾尔文必须学习如何解析那些失落文明留下的“情感算法”——一种基于集体意识频率来调控时空结构的古老技术。 他遇到的第一个文明遗迹位于仙女座旋臂的边缘,一个被冰冻的、围绕着一颗红巨星运行的巨大环状结构。这里没有尸体,没有战争的痕迹,只有宏伟的、却已停止运作的能量汇集器。艾尔文通过破译遗迹中的全息记录得知,这个文明并未毁灭,而是选择了“合一”——他们将自己的意识上传到宇宙背景辐射中,成为一种无所不在的“信息海洋”。 第三部:星际遗嘱与生命之梯 随着航程的深入,艾尔文逐渐理解了“种子文明”的真正含义。他们并非征服者,而是播种者。他们散布着改造行星生态、促进低等生命进化的“生命之钥”。 在航程的终点,一个被中子星遗迹环绕的黑暗星云深处,艾尔文找到了“零号星门”的钥匙——一个漂浮在绝对零度中的水晶结构。当他触碰水晶时,他接收到了来自亿万年前的信息洪流: 这是一个关于宇宙生命周期、能量守恒以及“存在之熵”的终极解释。信息表明,每一个文明都有一段固定的“辉煌期”,这段时期之后,他们必须做出选择:要么自我毁灭,要么升级到更高维度的存在。那些选择“合一”的文明,成为了宇宙自我修复机制的一部分。 艾尔文面临着一个抉择:他可以将这些知识带回新雅典,彻底颠覆GCC建立的秩序,冒着引发文明内战的风险;或者,他可以利用星门,跟随前人的脚步,放弃肉身,融入信息海洋,从而实现自身的“升华”。 结语:旅程的延续 本书的结尾是开放而充满希望的。艾尔文没有立即做出最终选择。他驾驶着“奥德赛之翼”,带着对宇宙的全新理解,调转船头,返回人类已知的星域。 他明白,知识本身并不会带来救赎,只有运用知识的智慧才能。星辰之子的秘密航程,是一场关于探索、理解与责任的史诗。它邀请读者一同思考:在浩瀚的宇宙尺度下,我们所珍视的文明、历史和个体生命,究竟拥有何种分量?而真正的自由,是否在于不断地超越自身的局限? 这部作品以其严谨的科学想象力、深邃的哲学思考和宏大的叙事结构,为读者提供了一次超越太阳系的阅读体验。它是一封写给所有对未知怀有敬畏之心的人们的邀请函。 ---