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发表于 2011-1-30 00:49:30
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Jan 29
Animal Farm (上)——忐忑不安的阅读过程
Animal Farm和1984我很早就听过了,大概知道它们是讲什么。今天早上朋友再次推荐,并且告诉我Animal Farm的动画片是英国历史上第一个完整动画电影(之前有动画片,但都是片段)“first full length animated movie in Britain”。我在吃过晚饭后翘个脚在书架前开始一页一页翻,到十点看完前五章大概一半,总体觉得很不错。
我刚开始准备第一遍阅读不做任何意义阐释,完全当童话故事来看,后来发现不可能:象征和暗指(symbol, analogy)味道实在太浓了,让人不由自主地阐释社会意义。当我嗅觉出这本书不可避免的symbolic手法时,我渐渐担心它会失去它的文学价值——猪不再像猪,猫完全失去猫的特征,一个个僵硬而单薄,只为了完成阐释作者政治理念任务。
确实,有好几页,当我读着粗糙的刻画、生硬的讽刺时,这种担心渐渐加大:比如动物暴动那几页,故事进行地很快,我读着感觉不到是一群动物在暴动,而是一群毫无色彩的人;又比如猪解释私吞牛奶的原因:
"We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us...It's for your sake that we drink that milk.." 这样夸大统治和被统治者的弱智,只会让小说最终演变成没有弹性的melodrama。不禁想大声对George Orwell喊:“文学、文学!别忘了这是文学小说,不是政治宣传单!仔细观察生活,拿出你的天赋来好好写。”
还好,每当我对故事失去信心,觉得有向社科类non-fiction发展趋势时,好的文学又接二连三冒出来了——机智的对话出现了,活泼的猫猫狗狗样子又显出来了—— 从我目前看完的一半来看,这样一流的文学功力还是占内容的大部分。
整个晚上的阅读过程总体挺开心的,不时的大笑称赞。作者文笔轻盈,非常轻松,很多精彩刻画effortlessly funny!!:
如开始Major对农场主的控诉:"Even the horses and the dogs have no better fate. You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds. As for the dogs, when they grow old and toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond."
爆笑,You, Boxer, the very day... - 好像控诉就发生在眼前;
great muscles lose their power... 多形象的暗指(allusion);
cut your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds...多鲜活的笔墨;
Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond....哈哈,最喜欢这个‘nearest',Orwell这里真是体验生活入微啊~
再看几段让我感到动物活起来的描写:
"He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive."
"The cat joined the Re-education Committee and was very active in it for some days. She was seen one day sitting on a roof and talking to some sparrows who were just out of her reach. She was telling them that all animals were now comrades and that any sparrow who chose could come and perch on her paw; but the sparrows kept their distance."
"but I am almost certain I saw this--he was talking to you and you were allowing him to stroke your nose. What does that mean, Mollie?"
作家要通过文学形式来讽刺政治人物,首先要在文学上取得成功——能让读者读着感到故事正发生在房间里——尽管一晚上偶尔失望,但总体感觉Orwell做到了文学的成功,确实是好作品。
希望明天读下半部分依旧有很多精彩... |
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