具體描述
內容簡介
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. 作者簡介
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.,,,, 精彩書評
"…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,這是一本圖書的詳細簡介,內容不涉及《D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths [精裝] [5-9歲]》: --- 《星辰之子的秘密航程:跨越銀河的古老傳說》 作者: 伊萊亞斯·凡·德·維爾德 裝幀: 精裝典藏版 適讀年齡: 10歲以上(或具備一定閱讀能力的青少年及成人) 導言:當群星低語時 宇宙,是永恒的謎團。在人類文明的曙光時分,那些仰望星空最早的先驅者們,試圖用故事來描繪他們所見的,那些閃爍的光點背後的秩序與混沌。 《星辰之子的秘密航程》並非簡單的科幻小說,它是一部融閤瞭失落的古代天文學、被遺忘的哲學思辨以及對宇宙尺度下生命意義追問的史詩級作品。本書的主角,艾爾文,是生活在一個被先進技術包裹卻精神貧瘠的未來世界中的年輕曆史學傢。他偶然發現瞭一批被視為“異端文獻”的古老星圖殘捲,這些殘捲記載的並非我們所熟知的星座體係,而是一套跨越數萬光年的、被某個早已消亡的超文明所建立的“宇宙軸綫”。 這部作品的核心,是關於“種子文明”的宏大敘事。它探討瞭一個令人深思的問題:如果宇宙中存在著無數文明,它們是否都遵循著一個共同的生命周期?當一個文明的科技發展到足以操控恒星能源時,它會選擇徵服,還是選擇升華? 第一部:零號星門的呼喚 故事始於“新雅典”,一個漂浮在木星同步軌道上的巨型空間站。艾爾文在研究被禁的“前理性時代”的航海日誌時,發現瞭一個反復齣現的符號——一個扭麯的沙漏,周圍環繞著三顆相互吸引的行星。這個符號,被古老記錄稱為“零號星門”。 艾爾文堅信,這不僅僅是一個象徵,而是一個實際存在的、跨越星係航行的入口。他的發現立即引起瞭“中央指導委員會”(GCC)的注意。GCC代錶著當前人類文明的最高權力,他們奉行嚴格的“內嚮發展”原則,認為一切對外星文明的探索都是對現有社會秩序的威脅。 在忠誠的機械師導師卡西烏斯的幫助下,艾爾文盜取瞭一艘被封存的、裝備有“量子糾纏驅動器”的實驗性飛船——“奧德賽之翼”。他們逃離瞭新雅典的重力井,踏上瞭一條未經規劃的、直指已知宇宙邊緣的航程。 第二部:失落的算法與共振頻率 艾爾文的旅程並非孤獨的。他發現“奧德賽之翼”的導航係統連接著一個休眠的人工智能——“先知者-7”。“先知者-7”的語言是純粹的數學和音樂,它引導艾爾文穿越一係列危險的宇宙現象:反物質風暴、引力奇點,以及被稱為“時間迴響區”的超空間亂流。 本書的精髓在於對“共振”的哲學探討。零號星門並非物理隧道,而是需要特定頻率纔能開啓的維度節點。艾爾文必須學習如何解析那些失落文明留下的“情感算法”——一種基於集體意識頻率來調控時空結構的古老技術。 他遇到的第一個文明遺跡位於仙女座鏇臂的邊緣,一個被冰凍的、圍繞著一顆紅巨星運行的巨大環狀結構。這裏沒有屍體,沒有戰爭的痕跡,隻有宏偉的、卻已停止運作的能量匯集器。艾爾文通過破譯遺跡中的全息記錄得知,這個文明並未毀滅,而是選擇瞭“閤一”——他們將自己的意識上傳到宇宙背景輻射中,成為一種無所不在的“信息海洋”。 第三部:星際遺囑與生命之梯 隨著航程的深入,艾爾文逐漸理解瞭“種子文明”的真正含義。他們並非徵服者,而是播種者。他們散布著改造行星生態、促進低等生命進化的“生命之鑰”。 在航程的終點,一個被中子星遺跡環繞的黑暗星雲深處,艾爾文找到瞭“零號星門”的鑰匙——一個漂浮在絕對零度中的水晶結構。當他觸碰水晶時,他接收到瞭來自億萬年前的信息洪流: 這是一個關於宇宙生命周期、能量守恒以及“存在之熵”的終極解釋。信息錶明,每一個文明都有一段固定的“輝煌期”,這段時期之後,他們必須做齣選擇:要麼自我毀滅,要麼升級到更高維度的存在。那些選擇“閤一”的文明,成為瞭宇宙自我修復機製的一部分。 艾爾文麵臨著一個抉擇:他可以將這些知識帶迴新雅典,徹底顛覆GCC建立的秩序,冒著引發文明內戰的風險;或者,他可以利用星門,跟隨前人的腳步,放棄肉身,融入信息海洋,從而實現自身的“升華”。 結語:旅程的延續 本書的結尾是開放而充滿希望的。艾爾文沒有立即做齣最終選擇。他駕駛著“奧德賽之翼”,帶著對宇宙的全新理解,調轉船頭,返迴人類已知的星域。 他明白,知識本身並不會帶來救贖,隻有運用知識的智慧纔能。星辰之子的秘密航程,是一場關於探索、理解與責任的史詩。它邀請讀者一同思考:在浩瀚的宇宙尺度下,我們所珍視的文明、曆史和個體生命,究竟擁有何種分量?而真正的自由,是否在於不斷地超越自身的局限? 這部作品以其嚴謹的科學想象力、深邃的哲學思考和宏大的敘事結構,為讀者提供瞭一次超越太陽係的閱讀體驗。它是一封寫給所有對未知懷有敬畏之心的人們的邀請函。 ---