·张 慈·
以小说《裸者与死者》闻名于世的美国犹太裔作家诺曼·梅勒(Norman Mailer),11月11日凌晨因肾衰竭病逝于纽约西奈山医院,享年84岁。美国作家中,老烧包诺曼·梅勒是我最喜欢的一位,苍促整理以下这篇文章以悼念。
诺曼·梅勒死了,诺贝尔文学奖又欠下一笔血债。如果今年给了他,老头难说可以多活个三两年。但是,他的立场不对,歧视女性,对女权运动不买帐,就算活到一百岁,大概诺奖也跟他无缘的。《纽约时报》头版发了梅勒去世的消息,配了他晚年的照片。转到内页,占满31两大版版面,回顾这位美国文学史风骚出格的作家的一生,并配了他各时期的照片。
这家伙一生时时要在风口浪尖,他是他同时代作家里最公开的野心勃勃的作家,他不仅跟同时代的同行比,更将自己跟托尔斯泰和妥思托罗斯基并论。他一生最爱出风头,永远要站在舞台的中心。他酗过酒,嗑过药;由泡妞狂又成为爱家好男人;曾参选纽约市长,反战斗士,反女权斗士;嘻皮士存在主义者;肇事者,好斗人士。常为一些鸡毛蒜皮的事争斗不休,并因此寻得灵感,写出他一些最好的作品。每次当他遇到评论家,哪怕是最友好的,他也要立刻张开爪牙,将人家打翻在地再踏上一只脚。
以第二次世界大战为题的小说中,诺曼·梅勒的《裸者与死者》(The Naked and the Dead)是出类拔萃的一部。小说的深度在于它不是简单地记叙了一场旷日持久的攻坚战,而是以战争为背景来反映更为深广的社会和历史主题。这部《裸者与死者》是诺曼·梅勒的成名作。作品的内涵丰富,深刻。这个发生在南太平洋一个小岛上的故事让读者看到美国军队内部官兵之间的关系,看到美国社会的一个缩影。因此《裸者与死者》超出了战争文学的范畴,是一部带有象征意义的书,主题在于表现兽性与理想在人类心灵中的搏斗。书名中的“裸者”,寓意“无遮无掩”、“毫无保障”,也可以理解为“人性已经暴露到赤裸裸的地步”。
《裸者与死者》我觉得是梅勒写得最好的一部。它属于美国文学创作主流的现实主义和社会批判小说,但也具有浓烈的自然主义色彩。诺曼·梅勒以军队生活中的恐怖相压力,集中反映了社会生活对美国人的威胁和压迫,以军队的森严等级象征战后的美国社会等级,以战争的荒唐代表整个社会存在的不合理性,在卡明斯和赫思的对立上,作者以高超的手法对战争的历史和哲学含义,甚至对整个人生和社会的存在及意义进行发掘。最后赫恩被摧垮,权力打倒理智,兽性战胜人性。这一结局代表了作者对未来的悲观看法,梅勒似乎以此来告诫美国公众,要警惕法西斯主义在这个国家的复苏和蔓延,除非人们有足够的力量扼止它,否则必将带来严重恶果。这种有刺激性的主题冲破了以往战争小说的创作思想,或许这正是《裸者与死者》格外受到公众欢迎的一个原因。小说的创作手法也是十分成功的。语言是士兵们熟悉的粗犷的“战壕语言”,毫无做作之感。艺术上作者采用多斯?派索斯“时间机器”的手法,自然的插入和倒叙使作品的层次丰富鲜明,结构严谨有序,使人产生一种强烈的艺术整体感。
据说梅勒是一个好斗奢侈的浪子,“好斗”是他相似于海明威的地方。他说过“好好干一架我才能继续写作”。多年来,他给世人留下的印象是好斗的浪子过着奢侈的生活。他酗酒、爱打架、抽大麻,结婚6次,留下9个孩子。梅勒的个人生活像他所活的时代一般喧闹。梅勒一生中多次触犯法律,不是酗酒,就是当众闹事,唯一一次入狱是上世纪,60年代末,他在反对越战的抗议活动中被捕。
老诺曼死前还在写他2007年的小说《林中的古堡》。他的一些快制作、在经济压力下写出的书,虽并不如他所期望的那么好,但是,它们没有一本是会被遗亡,或没有他特色的印记的。如果说他到头来也没有写出一本他说的“大作品”——伟大的美国小说,那也不是因为没有过尝试的愿望。梅勒的小说总是不太好读,这本《森林城堡》也不例外。叙述者Dieter是个魔鬼,在撒旦的领导下培养年幼的希特勒。这跟梅勒1997年的小说《圣子的福音》(Gospel according to the Son)用耶稣的角度叙事正好相反。读过全文的评论者觉得这篇小说“有点像刘易斯的《地域来鸿》(The Screwtape Letters)的心理分析版”。这里选译小说开头几句:“我现在在美国,这个奇怪的国家。如果我不得不有点耐性,那是因为在这里,时间的流逝对我没有任何意义,而且这个国家让人失去反叛的念头。”;“我知道我会闯进一片纷争的海洋,因为我必须连根拔起许多传统的信念。一想到这个,我的灵魂中就爆发出一阵喧啸。”
——这些语言是我喜欢梅勒的原因。
□ 读者投稿
- Re: 华夏快递 : 张慈:美国作家诺曼?梅勒去世posted on 11/17/2007
很小的时候,在中国青年上看到过一篇张慈的文章,讲她从云南的个旧到北京 生活的故事,非常地感动,讲她如何艰难,遭受东家的白眼。。。以至于至今都记住这个名字和故事。 不知这个张慈 是不是她 - Re: 华夏快递 : 张慈:美国作家诺曼?梅勒去世posted on 11/17/2007
諾曼·梅勒
[编辑首段]维基百科,自由的百科全书
諾曼·梅勒 (1948年)諾曼·梅勒(Norman Mailer,(1923年-2007年11月10日)),新澤西州人,美國著名作家、小說家。作品主題多挖掘剖析美國社會及政治病態問題,風格以描述暴力及情欲著稱。代表作也是他第一部著作、以第二次世界大戰為背景之小說。
一生結婚6次,子女9人。名言是:「支持我寫作的動力是對美國的愛與失望」。
獎項
1968年第一次榮獲普利茲獎,作品:夜晚軍隊。
1979年第二次榮獲普利茲獎,作品:劊子手之歌。 - posted on 11/17/2007
Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.
Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe, Mailer is considered an innovator of creative nonfiction, a genre sometimes called New Journalism, but which covers the essay to the nonfiction novel. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize twice and the National Book Award once. In 1955, Mailer, together with Ed Fancher and Dan Wolf, first published The Village Voice, which began as an arts- and politics-oriented weekly newspaper initially distributed in Greenwich Village. In 2005, he won the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from The National Book Foundation.
Biography
Norman Mailer (born Norman Kingsley) was born to a well-known Jewish family in Long Branch, New Jersey. His father, Isaac Barnett, known as Barney, was a flamboyant South Africa-born accountant, and his mother, Fanny Schneider, daughter of the town's unofficial rabbi, ran a housekeeping and nursing agency. Mailer's sister, Barbara, was born in 1927.[1] He was brought up in Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Boys' High School and entered Harvard University in 1939, where he studied aeronautical engineering. At Harvard, he became interested in writing and published his first story at the age of 18. After graduating in 1943, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. In World War II, he served in the Philippines with 112th Cavalry. He was not involved in much combat and completed his service as a cook, [2] but the experience provided enough material for The Naked and the Dead.
Literary career
Novels
In 1948, before continuing his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, Mailer published The Naked and the Dead, based on his military service in World War II. It was hailed by many as one of the best American wartime novels and named one of the "one hundred best novels in English language" by the Modern Library.
Barbary Shore (1951) was a surreal parable of Cold War left politics set in a Brooklyn rooming-house. His 1955 novel The Deer Park drew on his experiences working as a screenwriter in Hollywood in the early 1950s. It was initially rejected by six publishers due to its sexual content.
Essays
In the mid-1950s, Mailer became increasingly known for his counter-culture essays. In 1955, he was one of the founders of The Village Voice.[1] In Advertisements for Myself (1959), Mailer's essay "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster" (1957), examined violence, hysteria, sex, crime and confusion in American society, in fiction and journalism. He wrote numerous book reviews and essays for The New York Review of Books and Dissent Magazine.
Other
Other works include: The Presidential Papers (1963), An American Dream (1965), Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967), Armies of the Night (1968, awarded a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award), Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968), Of a Fire on the Moon (1970), The Prisoner of Sex (1971), Marilyn (1973), The Fight (1975), The Executioner's Song (1979, awarded a Pulitzer Prize), Ancient Evenings (1983), Harlot's Ghost (1991), Oswald's Tale (1995), and The Castle in the Forest (2007).
In 1968, he received a George Polk Award for his reporting in Harper's magazine.
In addition to his experimental fiction and nonfiction novels, Mailer produced a play version of The Deer Park (staged at the Theatre De Lys in Greenwich Village in 1967[3]), and in the late 1960s directed a number of improvisational avant-garde films in a Warhol style, including Maidstone (1970), which includes a brutal brawl between Norman T. Kingsley, played by himself, and Rip Torn that may or may not have been planned. In 1987, he adapted and directed a film version of his novel Tough Guys Don't Dance, starring Ryan O'Neal, which has become a minor camp classic.
Activism
A number of Mailer's nonfiction works, such as The Armies of the Night and The Presidential Papers, are political. He covered the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1992, and 1996. In 1967, he was arrested for his involvement in anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. Two years later, he ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic Party primary for Mayor of New York City, allied with columnist Jimmy Breslin (who ran for City Council President), proposing New York City secession and creating a 51st state.
In 1980, Mailer spearheaded convicted killer Jack Abbott's successful bid for parole. In 1977, Abbott had read about Mailer's work on The Executioner's Song and wrote to Mailer, offering to enlighten the author about Abbott's time behind bars and the conditions he was experiencing. Mailer, impressed, helped to publish In the Belly of the Beast, a book on life in the prison system consisting of Abbott's letters to Mailer. Once paroled, Abbott committed a murder in New York City six weeks after his release, stabbing to death 22-year-old Richard Adan. Consequently, Mailer was subject to criticism for his role; in a 1992 interview, in the Buffalo News, he conceded that his involvement was "another episode in my life in which I can find nothing to cheer about or nothing to take pride in."
In 1989, Mailer joined with a number of other prominent authors in publicly expressing support for colleague Salman Rushdie in the wake of the fatwa, or death sentence, issued against Rushdie by Iran's Islamic government for his having authored The Satanic Verses.
- posted on 11/18/2007
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张慈, 从《流浪北京》到《四海为家》
http://guihualianpian.blog.sohu.com/59635932.html
《流浪北京》:虚伪的姿态
http://wenxinshe.landaishu.com/home/news_read.asp?NewsID=16907 “海外华文作家档案”第6期:张慈卷
July wrote:
很小的时候,在中国青年上看到过一篇张慈的文章,讲她从云南的个旧到北京 生活的故事,非常地感动,讲她如何艰难,遭受东家的白眼。。。以至于至今都记住这个名字和故事。 不知这个张慈 是不是她
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