泛读的作家与作品.doc

1、The first seven years ：Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), American novelist and short-story writer, most of whose books focus on the Jewish experience in America. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Malamud was educated at the City College of New York and Columbia University. Beginning in 1961 he taught at Bennin

2、gton College. Malamuds first novel, The Natural (1952), reworks the legend of the Holy Grail as an allegorical fantasy about a star baseball player (see Allegory). His second novel, The Assistant (1957), is concerned with Jewish themes and reflects the sad, impoverished Brooklyn scenes of his childh

3、ood. The Fixer (1966), for which Malamud received the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is a poignant novel (based on a true story) of the suffering of a Russian Jewish workman sentenced unjustly to prison; it demonstrates how human beings can come through suffering to an affirmative view of life. Th

4、e Tenants (1971), about the relationship between a Jewish man and a black man, deals with inner-city tensions. Malamuds later novels include Dubins Lives (1979), about a writer of biographies, and Gods Grace (1982). Malamuds short stories mix an abiding compassion for Jewish life with subtle touches

5、 of wry humor. They have been collected in The Magic Barrel (1958), Idiots First (1963), Pictures of Fidelman (1969), and Rembrandts Hat (1973); a complete collection, The Stories of Bernard Malamud, was published in 1983.Through the tunnel:多 丽 丝 莱 辛 （ Doris Lessing， 1919 年 10 月 22日 ） 是 当 代 英 国 最 重

6、要 的 作 家 之 一 ， 被 誉 为 继 伍 尔 芙之 后 最 伟 大 的 女 性 作 家 ， 并 几 次 获 得 诺 贝 尔 文 学 奖 提 名以 及 多 个 世 界 级 文 学 奖 项 。 在 2007 年 10 月 11 日 ，瑞 典 皇 家 科 学 院 诺 贝 尔 奖 委 员 会 宣 布 将 2007 年 度 诺 贝尔 文 学 奖 授 予 这 位 英 国 女 作 家 。 Doris lessing 多丽丝莱辛荣获 2007 年诺贝尔文学奖，成为该奖项自 1901年创立以来最年长的获奖者。诺贝尔委员会颁奖给莱辛的理由是：“她以怀疑主义、激情和想象力审视一个分裂的文明，她登上了这方面女性

7、体验的史诗巅峰。”莱辛笔耕五十多年，是位多产作家。除了长篇小说，还著有诗歌、散文、剧本、短篇小说等。Notes:convent n.女修道院 emancipated adj.被解放的fatalistic adj.宿命论的martyrdom n.殉难；殉道 subjugation n.屈服；从属Mr Lovedays little outing: Evelyn Waugh 伊夫林 沃， （1903）英国作家，全名阿瑟 伊夫林圣约翰沃，1903 年 10 月 28 日生于英国汉普斯特德。其父阿瑟沃系英国著名出版商兼文学批评家，也是一位虔诚的英国圣公会教徒。伊夫林沃从小就受到两方面的环境薰陶：宗教与

8、书本。沃的父母给孩子读故事，并与他们一起讨论作品。沃在 7 岁时就写过一个题为赛马的诅咒的短箱小说，并被收入一个成人作品集中出版。他和他的哥哥长大后都成为作家，与儿时的家庭影响关系颇大。沃上中学时，被父亲送到圣公会教会学校，每天早晚两次礼拜，周末则要去 3 次。据沃本人回忆，他当时并不觉得这种宗教仪式过于繁琐。1921 年至 1924 年，沃在牛津大学的赫特福德学院学习，1924 年遂转入希瑟利艺术学校学习绘画。不久之后，沃便发现绘画亦非其爱好，又去当中学教员，可两年之内被开除了 3 次，从此开始酗酒，并企图自杀。直到 1927 年，沃才正视现实，开始从事家人所擅长的文学创作。他先试笔创作了数

9、篇短篇，还写了传记文学，1928 年发表了第一部长篇小说衰落与瓦解 ，一举成名。此后，沃专心写作，先后出版了长篇小说 20余部，短篇小说集两部，以及书信集数部，其中被誉为佳作的有：衰落与瓦解 ， 一抔土 （1934） 、 旧地重游（1945） 、 荣誉之剑 （1965）等。沃曾于 40 年代后期为旧地重游搬上银幕一事访问好莱坞，并根据此间搜集的素材创作了受爱戴的 （1948） ，这是他最畅销的长篇小说之一。出身文学世家的 Evelyn waugh 最初表现出叛逆家庭传统的倾向。20 年代早期就读于牛津大学时，他更感兴趣的是装饰艺术而非文学，但因成绩差而被迫离校，转入一家艺术学校，后来又做过小学

10、校长，两年内被三个学校辞退。这一连串的挫折最终将 waugh 拨归正途，他迟疑地拿起笔，开始了一个漫长的过程。四十年后，这个“英语文学史上最具摧毁力和最有成果的讽刺小说家，以及最伟大的文体家”回首当年，一言以蔽之：“我一开始是显然是个傻瓜。 ”Waugh 在 25 岁时结束了他的傻瓜生涯，小说衰亡以其讽刺锋芒和叛逆姿态引起文坛关注。继之以邪恶的躯体和黑祸 ，风格如故，技巧与内涵篇篇推进，奠定了他作为一流讽刺小说家的文学声名。 衰亡是一部带有喜剧色彩的讽刺小说。描写天真直率的主人公paul 被牛津大学开除后，进入社会开始自立的过程中的离奇遭遇。Paul 在一连串混乱而堕落的事件中是一个被动的观测

11、者和承受者：恶在滋生，善被惩罚，根本没有行为标准可以遵循；他生活在一个“离道德观和离童话一样遥远的世界中。 ”他是 waugh 喜剧中典型的叙事者形象：居中而立，无所不察，却又退避而求中立，被愤怒和荒唐感所围绕。Possessions:George Ewart Evans (1909, Abercynon, South Wales 1988) was a Welsh-born schoolteacher, writer and folklorist who became a dedicated collector of oral history and oral tradition in th

12、e East Anglian countryside from the 1940s to 1970s, and produced eleven books of collections of these materials.After serving in the Royal Air Force with wireless equipment during the Second World War, he moved briefly to London, and then in 1947 to the remote Suffolk village of Blaxhall, where his

13、wife taught in the school. He then began to write, first stories, poetry and film scripts for the BBC, and then writing a book about the people of the village of Blaxhall. This work (Ask The Fellows Who Cut The Hay) was, after many rejections, published by Faber and Faber in 1956, and the same house

14、 published the ten further books of similar character which Evans wrote over the next three decades.The Evans family lived relatively simply, moving their home in the neighbourhood to Needham Market and Helmingham to follow the teaching posts, and at his wifes retirement they settled down finally in

15、 Brooke, a small Norfolk village, where George continued to write. Evans made extensive collections of oral history on tape relating to East Anglia, its village life, rural culture and dialect in a painstaking and sympathetic way, gathering anecdotes of the trades, the poverty, the migrant workers,

16、and the pre-modern rural way of life which was then still lingering in that comparatively sequestered corner of England.The legacy:弗 吉 尼 亚 伍 尔 芙 （ Virginia Woolf1882 年 1 月25 日 1941 年 3 月 28 日 ） 。 英 国 女 作 家 ， 批 判 家 ，意 识 流 小 说 的 代 表 人 物 之 一 。 墙 上 的 斑 点 是 她 第 一篇 典 型 的 意 识 流 作 品 。 （ 被 认 为 是 二 十 世 纪 现 代

17、主 义 与女 性 主 义 的 先 锋 之 一 。 在 两 次 世 界 大 战 期 间 ， 伍 尔 芙 是伦 敦 文 学 界 的 核 心 人 物 ， 她 同 时 也 是 布 卢 姆 茨 伯 里 派（ Bloomsbury Group） 的 成 员 之 一 。 其 最 知 名 的 小 说包 括 戴 洛 维 夫 人 （ Mrs. Dalloway） 、 灯 塔 行 （ To the Lighthouse） 、 雅 各 的 房 间 （ Jakobs Room） 。最 近 关 于 伍 尔 芙 的 研 究 大 多 关 注 于 三 个 方 向 ： 女 权 主 义 、同 性 恋 倾 向 及 抑 郁 症 病 史

18、 。The bet:Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: , pronounced nton pavlvt txf; 29 January O.S. 17 January 1860 15 July O.S. 2 July 1904) was a Russian short-story writer, playwright and physician, considered to be one of the greatest short-story writers in the history of world literature.1 His career as

19、a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.23 Chekhov practised as a doctor throughout most of his literary career: “Medicine is my lawful wife“, he once said, “and literature is my mistress.“4Chekhov renounced the theatre after the d

20、isastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896; but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavskis Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Uncle Vanya and premiered Chekhovs last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a special challen

21、ge to the acting ensemble5 as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a “theatre of mood“ and a “submerged life in the text.“6Chekhov had at first written stories only for the money, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influen

22、ced the evolution of the modern short story.7 His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, later adopted by James Joyce and other modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure.8 He made no apologies for the difficulti

23、es this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.The blue cross:Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England on the 29th of May, 1874. Though he considered himself a mere “rollicking journalist,“ he was actually a prolific and gifted wri

24、ter in virtually every area of literature. A man of strong opinions and enormously talented at defending them, his exuberant personality nevertheless allowed him to maintain warm friendships with people-such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells-with whom he vehemently disagreed. Chesterton had no

25、difficulty standing up for what he believed. He was one of the few journalists to oppose the Boer War. His 1922 Eugenics and Other Evils attacked what was at that time the most progressive of all ideas, the idea that the human race could and should breed a superior version of itself. In the Nazi exp

26、erience, history demonstrated the wisdom of his once “reactionary“ views. His poetry runs the gamut from the comic The Logical Vegetarian to dark and serious ballads. During the dark days of 1940, when Britain stood virtually alone against the armed might of Nazi Germany, these lines from his 1911 Ballad of the White Horse were often quoted: I tell you naught for your comfort,Yea, naught for your desire,Save that the sky grows darker yetAnd the sea rises higher.Though not written for a scholarly audience, his biographies of authors and historical figures