內容簡介
Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg's joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo's struggle to become a writer, Beth's tragedy, and Amy's artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May Alcott's childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.
作者簡介
Louisa May Alcott, born in 1832, was the second child of Bronson Alcott of Concord, Massachusetts, a self-taught philosopher, school reformer, and utopian who was much too immersed in the world of ideas to ever succeed in supporting his family. That task fell to his wife and later to his enterprising daughter Louisa May. While her father lectured, wrote, and conversed with such famous friends as Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau, Louisa taught school, worked as a seamstress and nurse, took in laundry, and even hired herself out as a domestic servant at age nineteen. The small sums she earned often kept the family from complete destitution, but it was through her writing that she finally brought them financial independence. "I will make a battering-ram of my head," she wrote in her journal, "and make a way through this rough-and-tumble world."
An enthusiastic participant in amateur theatricals since age ten, she wrote her first melodrama at age fifteen and began publishing poems and sketches at twenty-one. Her brief service as a Civil War nurse resulted in Hospital Sketches (1863), but she earned more from the lurid thrillers she began writing in 1861 under the pseudonym of A.M. Barnard. These tales, with titles like "Pauline's Passion and Punishment," featured strong-willed and flamboyant heroines but were not identified as Alcott's work until the 1940s.
Fame and success came unexpectedly in 1868. When a publisher suggested she write a "girl's book," she drew on her memories of her childhood and wrote Little Women, depicting herself as Jo March, while her sisters Anna, Abby May, and Elizabeth became Meg, Amy, and Beth. She re-created the high spirits of the Alcott girls and took many incidents from life but made the March family financially comfortable as the Alcotts never had been. Little Women, to its author's surprise, struck a cord an America's largely female reading public and became a huge success. Louisa was prevailed upon to continue the story, which she did in Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886.) In 1873 she published Work: A Story of Experience, an autobiography in fictional disguise with an all too appropriate title.
Now a famous writer, she continued to turn out novels and stories and to work for the women's suffrage and temperance movements, as her father had worked for the abolitionists. Bronson Alcott and Louisa May Alcott both died in Boston in the same month, March of 1888.
內頁插圖
精彩書摘
Playing Pilgrims
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,"grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
"It's so dreadful to be poor!"sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have lots of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
"We've got father and mother, and each other, anyhow,"said Beth, contentedly, from her corner.
The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly?
"We haven't got father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn't say "perhaps never,"but each silently added it, thinking of father far away, where the fighting was.
Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone, "You know the reason mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas, was because it's going to be a hard winter for every one; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don't;"and Megshook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.
"But I don't think the little we should spend would do any good. We've each got a dollar, and the army wouldn't be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintram for myself; I've wanted it so long,'said Jo, who was a bookworm.
"I planned to spend mine in new music,"said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth-brush and kettle-holder.
"I shall get a nice box of Faber's drawing pencils; I really need them," said Amy, decidedly.
"Mother didn't say anything about our money, and she won't wish us to give up everything. Let's each buy what we want, and have a little fun; I'm sure we grub hard enough to earn it,"cried Jo, examining the heels of her
boots in a gentlemanly manner.
"I know I do, teaching those dreadful children nearly all day, when I'm longing to enjoy myself at home," began Meg, in the complaining tone again.
"You don't have half such a hard time as I do," said Jo. "How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous, fussy old lady, who keeps you trotting, is never satisfied, and worries you till you''e ready to fly out of the window or box her ears?"
"It's naughty to fret, but I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world. It makes me cross; and my hands get so stiff, I can't practise good a bit." And Beth looked at her rough hands with a sigh that any one could hear that time.
"I don't believe any of you suffer as I do," cried Amy; "for you don't have to go to school with impertinent girls, who plague you if you don't know your lessons, and laugh at your dresses, and label your father if he isn't rich, and insult you when your nose isn't nice."
"If you mean libel I'd say so, and not talk about labels, as if pa was a pickle-bottle," advised Jo, laughing.
《傲慢與偏見》 作者:簡·奧斯汀 齣版信息: 經典文學,企鵝經典平裝版 字數: 約 40 萬字 --- 宏大時代背景下的愛情與階級肖像 《傲慢與偏見》(Pride and Prejudice)是英國文學巨匠簡·奧斯汀的巔峰之作,首次齣版於 1813 年。這部小說以其精妙的諷刺、栩栩如生的人物塑造以及對 19 世紀初英國鄉紳階層社會習俗的深刻洞察,被公認為世界文學史上最受歡迎的浪漫小說之一。它不僅僅是一個愛情故事,更是對那個時代社會結構、財富分配、婚姻動機以及個體精神成長的復雜探討。 故事的焦點集中在貝內特(Bennet)一傢,一個居住在赫特福德郡鄉間宅邸朗伯恩(Longbourn)的中産階級傢庭。貝內特先生是一位學識淵博但略帶犬儒主義的紳士,而貝內特夫人則是一位典型的“望子成龍”的母親,她的畢生目標就是確保她的五個女兒——簡、伊麗莎白、瑪麗、凱蒂和莉迪亞——都能通過一樁體麵的婚姻,獲得經濟上的保障和體麵的社會地位。在那個“一個有錢的單身漢若沒有妻子,必定會想娶個妻子”的時代背景下,婚姻往往是女性唯一的齣路。 人物群像:纔情與偏見的交織 小說最引人入勝之處,在於其對兩位核心人物——伊麗莎白·貝內特和菲茨威廉姆·達西先生——之間復雜關係的刻畫。 伊麗莎白·貝內特:作為二女兒,伊麗莎白是奧斯汀筆下最具活力和智慧的女性形象之一。她聰明、機敏、充滿活力,擁有敏銳的觀察力,卻也因此容易形成武斷的判斷。她的“偏見”(Prejudice)源於她對社會階層的敏感和對第一印象的固執堅守。當她初次見到富有且高傲的達西先生時,他的冷漠和排他性立即激發瞭她的反感,並輕易接受瞭那些對達西先生不利的流言蜚語。 菲茨威廉姆·達西先生:達西是 پ姆伯利(Pemberley)莊園的擁有者,擁有巨額財富和崇高地位。他的“傲慢”(Pride)主要體現在他對社會等級的嚴格區分和對那些他認為地位低下者流露齣的輕視。他英俊、正直,但在社交場閤中顯得格格不入,這種傲慢使他難以融入周圍的環境,也為他與伊麗莎白的誤解埋下瞭伏筆。 核心衝突:誤解、審視與自我修正 小說的敘事節奏精準地圍繞著這對冤傢展開。他們的初次相遇充滿瞭火花與摩擦。達西先生對伊麗莎白的欣賞,被他內心的階級偏見所壓製,導緻他錶現得極其粗魯;而伊麗莎白則將他的冷漠解讀為對她傢境的衊視。 情節的關鍵轉摺點齣現在達西先生令人震驚的第一次求婚。這次求婚充滿瞭傲慢的自我肯定,他強調瞭伊麗莎白傢庭的低微和自己對她的“屈尊遷就”,這徹底激怒瞭伊麗莎白,使她拒絕瞭他,並指責他破壞瞭她姐姐簡的幸福,以及對待年輕軍官威剋姆的卑劣行徑。 達西先生隨後寫給伊麗莎白的信,構成瞭小說的核心部分。這封信不僅澄清瞭他針對簡和賓利先生的乾預(齣於對簡感情真摯程度的懷疑),也揭露瞭威剋姆的真實品性——一個狡猾的騙子。這封信迫使伊麗莎白開始痛苦的自我審視。她意識到,正是她的“偏見”使她對達西先生的正直視而不見,卻對威剋姆的甜言蜜語深信不疑。 階級與道德的復雜探討 《傲慢與偏見》的偉大之處在於,它沒有簡單地將人物劃分為好與壞。奧斯汀通過豐富的次要人物來映射當時的社會現實: 簡·貝內特與查爾斯·賓利:代錶瞭天真、純潔的愛,但他們的關係因外界的乾預(主要是達西先生的擔憂)而受阻,突顯瞭社會身份對愛情的製約。 夏洛特·盧卡斯:伊麗莎白最好的朋友,為瞭經濟安全而嫁給瞭平庸而勢利的威廉·柯林斯先生。夏洛特的選擇是那個時代女性殘酷現實的縮影,與伊麗莎白對愛情的堅持形成瞭鮮明對比。 威剋姆:一個典型的社會寄生蟲,他依靠外錶和口纔來剝削他人,反映瞭社會中不勞而獲者的虛僞。 達西的姑媽凱瑟琳·德·包爾女士:一位極端的貴族代錶,她對社會地位的癡迷達到瞭荒謬的程度,是傲慢的極緻體現。 身份的洗禮與最終的圓滿 故事的高潮發生在伊麗莎白訪問達西的宏偉莊園—— پ姆伯利。在那裏,她看到瞭達西先生與僕人、妹妹相處時的和藹可親,以及他莊園的井井有條。這次經曆徹底顛覆瞭她先前形成的偏見。 然而,貝內特傢族的聲譽危機——小妹莉迪亞與威剋姆的私奔——再次將二人置於考驗之中。當伊麗莎白得知是達西先生,匿名且慷慨地齣麵解決醜聞,挽救瞭貝內特傢族的榮譽時,她對達西的感情徹底轉變為深刻的尊重與愛慕。達西先生也在此過程中放下瞭對社會階層的傲慢,承認瞭伊麗莎白一傢善良的品質。 最終,兩人都通過對自身缺陷的深刻反思,完成瞭精神上的成長。達西學會瞭謙遜,伊麗莎白學會瞭審慎。他們的結閤,超越瞭金錢或地位的考量,成為瞭基於相互理解、尊重和真摯愛意的理想範例。 文學價值與持久影響 《傲慢與偏見》的敘事風格以其機智的對話和諷刺性的旁白著稱。奧斯汀的高超之處在於,她能以一種輕鬆幽默的筆觸,不動聲色地揭示齣人性中的弱點和社會的虛僞。小說探討的核心主題——愛情如何戰勝階級偏見、自我認識的重要性,以及在維護個人尊嚴與接受現實之間的平衡——至今仍具有強大的現實意義,這也是它能夠跨越兩個世紀,持續吸引無數讀者的不朽魅力所在。這部作品是英格蘭鄉村生活、婚姻市場以及成熟心智成長的永恒寫照。