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1. Catch 22 (1961) —— Joseph Heller 《第22条军规》——约瑟夫·海勒 I remember quite clearly that starting this book and even having read quite a way into it, I just could not understand what it was about or what was going on; I was disorientated, things did not seem real. As the book progressed I realized that this effect was a result ofHeller's genius. A classic anti-war novel, Heller brilliantly weaves a world of confusion before the eyes of the reader. At first you think Heller is describing some lunatic fictional world but his skill becomes clear when you realize that he is simply describing the insane reality of war. The book follows Yossarian, a bombardier in an American bomber squadron based in Europe and a host of other characters who reflect a range of responses to the madness they inhabit. 我记得相当清楚，在我开始读这本书时甚至在我读了不少文字之后我并不明白它在说什么。我失去了方向，书的内容仿佛不是真实的。随着情节的发展，我意识到这正是海勒的聪明才智所产生的效果。这是一本经典的反战小说，海勒巧妙地在读者面前编织了一个混乱的世界。一开始，你以为海勒是在描述一个疯狂的虚拟世界，但是当你意识到他仅仅是在描述极度愚蠢的战争现实时，他的技巧就显现出来了。这本书讲的是一个名为Yossarian的投弹手服役于美国驻欧洲轰炸部队的故事，这本书也反映了其它人物对疯狂的战争生活的感受。 2. To Kill a Mockingbird (1969) —— Harper Lee 《杀死一只知更鸟》——哈珀·李 This is a heartwarming moral tale. I read this book cover to cover in one sitting on the overnight train from Beijing to Hong Kong a few years ago. Set in a small conservative town in the Southern USA, the story is told from the perspective of the delightful Scout. On thesurface the book is a record of Scout's daily activities at play and school. However, in the background is revealed much about the adult world she will have to enter. Her Father, Atticus, standing by his code of ethics decides to oppose entrenched Southern racism and defend a black man in a rape case. Scout's innocent responses to the ensuing events form the core of the book. 这是一个暖人心房的道德故事。我是几年前在从北京到香港的通宵火车上从头到尾读完这本书的。故事的背景设在美国南部一个保守的小镇，令人愉快的斯考特是这个故事的叙述者。表面上，这个故事是斯考特每天的学习和玩耍活动记录，暗地里却是在揭示这个她即将踏入的成人世界的一切。她的父亲，艾提卡斯，出于自身的道德标准，决定反对根深蒂固的南部种族主义并为一位因强奸案被起诉的黑人辩护。斯考特对接连发生的事情的单纯反映组成了这本书的核心内容。 3. Dracula (1897) —— Bram Stoker 《德古拉》——布拉姆·斯托克 The supreme classic of all gothic literature, not to mention Victorian gothic, Bram Stoker's classic horror story has had a huge influence on popular culture. If you are familiar with Dracula through films or other media but have not read the book then I urge you to do so. However, this is not just a thriller, it is serious literature. Beyond the story of a lustful bloodsucking incarnation of evil, with all the appropriate themes of good and evil that entails, Dracula is also an important insight into the society of Victorian England where there was a great feeling of moral decline. Dracula, where the path to victory over evil lay in traditional Christianity, mirrors the conflict of the times. 哥特式文学中最伟大的经典著作，更不用说它在维多利亚哥特文学中的地位了。亚伯拉罕·斯托克经典的恐怖故事对流行文化产生了极大的影响。如果你是通过电影或其它媒介熟悉《德古拉》却没有读过这本书，那么我极力推荐你读一读。但是，它不仅仅是一本惊险小说，更是一部严肃的文学作品。《德古拉》超出了一个关于充满贪欲的吸血的邪恶化身的故事，伴随着所有关于善良和邪恶的恰当主题，它同时也是对道德观念衰败的维多利亚时期的英国的深入体察。在《德古拉》中，战胜邪恶的道路存在于传统的基督教义中，这也反映出了那个时代的矛盾与冲突。 4. Huckleberry Finn (1885) ——Mark Twain 《哈克贝利·费恩历险计》——马克·吐温 According to Ernest Hemingway this was the 'one book' from which 'all American literature came'. It is a somewhat idyllic tale of the free-spirited young Huck's adventures as he floats down the Mississippi with the run-away slave Jim. Narrated by the barely literate Huck, Twain seems to recreate the local speech astonishingly well, though I can't be sure, not being American let alone from anywhere near the area concerned. Huck's innocent descriptions of the characters and lives he encounters not only ring true but are filled with humour. Huck himself is an adorable character whose imagination and enthusiasm for playing roles nearly beat his good heart as the major reason for the reader's affection. Of great interest as a reflection of the times it remains a classic, despite its appearance as a 'book for boys', for its simple celebration of the goodness in human nature. 按照海明威的说法，这本小说是美国文学的起源。这有点像一个田园诗般的故事，讲的是崇尚自由的哈克和逃跑的奴隶沿着密西西比河顺流而下的冒险经历。故事由几乎是文盲的哈克口述，吐温对语言的再创造能力惊人地好，尽管对此我不十分确定，因为我不是美国人也不来自任何与那里相关的地方。哈克对他所遇到的人物以及他们的生活那天真的描述不仅真实而且充满幽默感。哈克本身就是一个可爱的人物，他的想像力和对扮演角色的热情几乎超越他的善良而成为本书打动读者的主要原因。作为对时代的反映，这本书是充满吸引力的，虽然从表面上看这是一本“写给男孩看”的书，但它始终是一部经典著作，因为它歌颂了人类本性中善良的一面。 5. Brave New World (1932) ——Aldous Huxley 《美丽的新世界》——阿尔道斯·赫胥黎 Huxley's classic portrait of a future dystopia founded upon genetic engineering that does away with, among other things, human suffering, is perhaps more relevant than ever with the recent scientific advances in genetics. The book follows the experiences of a misfit who fails to fit into this imaginary world created by Huxley through a blend of slavish consumerism and Soviet social control. This world, with no suffering or pain also lacks love, familial or otherwise, and it is this lack of emotion that Huxley suggests would be so dissatisfying. The book suggests humans need more than material satisfaction and cannot tolerate a lack of freedom. At a time when consumer culture appears to be taking grip around the world, Huxley's greatest novel remains provocative. 赫胥黎对未来世界那地狱般社会的经典描写建立在使人类摆脱苦难的基因工程基础上，现在看来，它比以往任何时候都与最新的基因科学紧密联系。这本书描绘的是一个不适应环境的人的经历，他无法适应赫胥黎创造出来的想像世界，这个世界充斥着盲目的消费主义观和苏联式的社会管制制度。这个世界没有磨难、没有痛苦，也缺乏爱和家庭的温暖等。正是由于情感的匮乏，在赫胥黎看来，是非常令人难过的。此书提出，人类需要的不仅仅是物质上的满足，对于自由的缺乏也是不能容忍的。在这个消费文化正在世界上大行其道的年代，赫胥黎这本最伟大的小说仍旧是具有启发意义的。 6. Animal Farm (1945) —— George Orwell 《动物庄园》——乔治·奥威尔 Orwell's highly symbolic story of a revolution that takes place on a farm is an allegory of Soviet Russia and particularly Stalin's rule. All the characters in the novel are representative of figures or features of the Soviet Union. These range from Stalin, to the Church to Soviet Industry. Other farms represent other countries, with which surprising alliances are made, such as Germany, or to which word of the revolution is spread. This is a highly detailed critique of the Soviet experiment but is not simply anti-Soviet, Orwell does not suggest that Christianity or capitalism are the solution for the farm. Ultimately, Orwell is very skeptical that any system of government can be perfect, despite its claims. Written in a delightfully simple style, Animal Farm is a very moving tale of exploitation and broken dreams. In the end one sees that without education people are doomed to be abused by their masters. 奥威尔极具象征意义的故事描述的是发生在一个农场上的革命故事，是一则关于前苏联尤其是斯大林统治时期的寓言。小说中所有的人物都代表了前苏联时期的人物类型或特征，包括斯大林、东正教和苏联工业。其它农场代表的是别的国家，包括那些结成了惊人同盟的国家，如德国，也包括那些受革命宣传影响的国家。这本书对苏式体制尝试进行了详尽的评论，但是，它并不只是简单的反苏著作。奥威尔并没有说基督教和资本主义才是挽救这个农场的良方。基本上，奥威尔对于哪一种形式的政府才是完美的体系是持相当怀疑的态度的，尽管许多政府都声称自己的体系是完美的。《动物庄园》拥有令人愉快的简单风格，是一个非常感人的关于剥削和破碎的梦的故事。在结尾，人们看到的是缺少教育的人们注定要被他们的主人虐待。 7. The Lord of the Rings (1954/55) ——J.R.R.Tolkien 《指环王》—— J.R.R.托尔金 Perhaps familiar now to people all around the world due to the films, the third of which was recently released, The Lord of the Rings has been one of the most popular English novels of the Twentieth Century. For sheer demonstration of imagination it is truly unrivalled. Tolkien invented not simply the world of Middle-Earth, where the story is set，but whole mythologies, religions and languages. Besides the three volumes that comprise The Lord of the Rings, there are many more books detailing the histories of the races of Middle-Earth. Once you realize this, then the richness of Tolkien's creation becomes clear. It is this glorious wealth of detail that makes the simple story of good and evil so enchanting and so unique. The book was recently voted Britain's favourite novel. 或许是出于电影的缘故，这本书现在被全世界人们所熟知，它的第三部最近已被推出。《指环王》成为了20世纪最受欢迎的英文小说之一。单就想像力这点而言，它确实是无与伦比的。托尔金创造了充满神话、宗教和语言中土世界。除了《指环王》这三部书外，其它书也详细地介绍了中土族的历史故事。一旦你意识到了这一点，托尔金那丰富的创造力就显得清晰可见了。正是这种出色的细节描述让这个简单的有关善良和邪恶的故事变得如此迷人和如此独特。这本书最近被评为英国最受欢迎的小说。 8. Kim (1901) ——Rudyard Kipling 《吉姆》——卢迪亚·吉卜林 Kim is a novel that nowadays is regarded with some ambivalence. Set in British India, Kipling is an unambiguous supporter of Empire. He is very often patronizing about India and Indians. However, it is still a fantastic novel that, besides showing us much about the British colonial world and India specifically, is also a book about identity, East and West. Perhaps written originally as an adventure book for boys there are two main elements in the novel. First is his Buddhist Lama's search for detachment from the world, secondly is Kim's role as a spy in the British secret service. Despite Kipling's colonial attitude to India, he clearly loved the country and this novel will generate affection on the part of a reader who till now knows little of that great land. However, of course one can never ignore the prejudice that ultimately lay at the heart of Kipling's attitude to India. 《吉姆》是一本在今天受到褒贬不一的小说。故事背景设置在英属印度，吉卜林是大英帝国的坚定支持者。他常常对印度和印度人以恩人自居。然而，这仍旧是一本极好的小说，它向我们展示了大不列颠殖民世界尤其是印度当时的状况，同时，这也是一部关于身份的小说，东方身份和西方身份。或许这本书最初只是作为一本给男孩们看的冒险书而创作的。在书中，吉姆的性格里包含了两个特点。第一种是他那佛教喇嘛式的遁世探求特点，第二种是他作为英国秘密机构的间谍所固有的特点。抛开吉卜林作为印度殖民者所持有的态度，他显然是热爱印度的。这本小说能激发直到现在还对那片伟大的土地知之甚少的读者的热情。然而，我们绝对不能忽视吉卜林对印度的态度中存在的根本性偏见。 9. Things Fall Apart (1958) —— Chinua Achebe 《破碎之物》——奇奴·阿齐比 Set in a turn of the century village in Africa, Things Fall Apart, is a portrayal of the clash between traditional culture and the new 'modern' world brought by the Europeans. The book shows the central character Okonkwo struggling to find meaning and place in the new world that results from this clash. Achebe has said that he wanted not only to force Europeans to question their assumptions about 'savage' Africa but also to force Africans who have accepted the Europeans’ stereotypes to have more belief in their traditional cultures. In the sense that this book illustrates the pain of fundamental cultural upheaval, it is highly relevant all around the world. Moreover, as a story about an individual's battle with what he believes it is a story relevant to all people. 将背景设置在世纪之交的非洲村庄，《破碎之物》描写的是传统文化与欧洲人带来的新“现代”世界的冲突。该书展现了主人公Okonkwo在充满着冲突的新世界中如何挣扎着去寻找生活的意义和方位。阿齐比说过，他想要做的不仅仅是迫使欧洲人质疑他们对所谓“野蛮的”非洲的想像，而且也要让那些接受了欧洲模式的非洲人对自己民族的传统文化多保留一些信仰。这本书阐明了因根本的文化巨变所带来的痛苦，就此而言，这个故事对整个世界都是有启发意义的。此外，作为一个关于个人与自身信仰之间的斗争故事，它与所有人都是相关的。 10. Sophie's Choice (1979) —— William Styron 《苏菲的选择》——威廉·斯蒂伦 This is a book that bares some of the major scars of western culture. The story is mainly about the influence of the Holocaust, but it is told by a man steeped in the culture of the Southern USA and carrying all the burden of those states' slave owning history. Despite these broad topics that involved so many individuals in vast tragedy this is anovel of personal destruction and ruin. There lies at the center of this terrible story a choice so horrible that Sophie's life and mind can never recover. The power of this revelation is like a high speed express train hitting the reader straight in the face. This is truly a book that remains with you forever. The crushing destruction of the choice Sophie had to make cannot be rationalized bya system of ethics. There is no way of reasoning that a hard but necessary choice was made. It was a result of pure evil and the book narrates the effect of evil on a human being's life. 一本揭开了西方文化主要伤疤的书。这个故事主要描述了“犹太集中营大屠杀”所造成的影响，它是由一个浸润在美国南部文化里的人所讲述的，这个人肩负了南部各洲蓄奴历史的重担。除开这些悲剧，这还是一本关于人性毁灭和崩溃的小说。这个骇人的故事是围绕着一个极端恐怖的选择主题展开的，这个选择之恐怖，令苏菲的生活和精神都无法恢复常态。此书就像一列高速行驶的火车，直面读者撞击而来。这确实是一本令人难以忘记的书。苏菲必须做出的选择所带来的毁灭性后果是不符合道德伦理的。无需设想，她最后做出了艰难却必要的选择，这完全是因邪恶而产生的。此书讲述的正是邪恶对人类的生活产生的影响。 |
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