Admired by T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Graham Greene, and Dylan Thomas, Djuna Barnes was the most influential and prolific female writer in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s. The Modern Library is proud to include--for the first time--her most critically acclaimed novel, Nightwood, which was praised by The Washington Post Book World as "a masterpiece of modernism." Dorothy Allison, author of the National Book Award-nominated novel Bastard Out of Carolina, has written an Introduction especially for this edition, in which she defends Nightwood as a lesbian classic.
First published in the United States in 1937, Nightwood is a novel of bold imagining and passionate, lyrical prose. Described by the author as the soliloquy of "a soul talking to itself in the heart of the night," the novel creates a dreamlike world in which time ceases to exist and in which human beings transform into animals. At Nightwood's center are the love affairs of Robin Vote--a character based on Barnes's lover, Thelma Wood. Robin marries Felix Volkbein, an eccentric aristocrat, whom she meets in Paris, and whom she abandons years later for the American Nora Flood. But Nora cannot contain Robin, either, and Robin in turn deserts her for the larcenous Jenny Petherbridge. Rich in irony and symbolism, Nightwood brilliantly depicts the all-consuming power of erotic obsession in language that twists and turns, drawing the reader into a labyrinth of meaning and revelation. This edition also includes T. S. Eliot's Introduction to the 1937 American edition.
Elizabeth Hardwick wrote, "Djuna Barnes is a writer of wild and original gifts. . . .To her name there is always to be attached the splendor of Nightwood, a lasting achievement of her great gifts and eccentricities---her passionate prose and, in this case, a genuineness of human passions."
0 有用 - 2025-12-24 19:42:36 德国
在我察觉到核心情节之前,TS的序言和作者的行文就已经吸引了我,开头寥寥几笔就勾勒出了Felix这个沉溺于过去的虚伪虚荣的角色。相较于其他小说,Barnes的语言确实有着poetic prose。夸张戏剧化的对话与诸多引用也是塑造人物形象的一部分。Robin作为三角恋的核心,她在我眼中反而是比较空洞难以触摸的,反倒是她的两位女友Nora和Jenny都显得更像生活中的人。也许最后一章就是最好的说明,N... 在我察觉到核心情节之前,TS的序言和作者的行文就已经吸引了我,开头寥寥几笔就勾勒出了Felix这个沉溺于过去的虚伪虚荣的角色。相较于其他小说,Barnes的语言确实有着poetic prose。夸张戏剧化的对话与诸多引用也是塑造人物形象的一部分。Robin作为三角恋的核心,她在我眼中反而是比较空洞难以触摸的,反倒是她的两位女友Nora和Jenny都显得更像生活中的人。也许最后一章就是最好的说明,Nora亲眼见证着她试图去占有的爱人成为一个她无法理解也无法拥有的陌生存在。精致繁复的语言之下,某种难以言说的野性的东西最终暴露出来。面对某些根本性的存在痛苦孤独与欲望时,精心打磨过的语言苍白徒劳,甚至具有欺骗性。Nora和Jenny试图用语言来理解占有她,最终Robin一声犬吠显得无比嘲弄。 (展开)
0 有用 Phaedra 2009-07-25 14:35:56
语言很漂亮。单纯的语言折磨。
0 有用 bongabang 2007-10-23 11:43:06
The storyline is kind of depressing because of Vote's roller-coaster mood. The literature is beautifully done, but the whole thing is still not that clear to me, especially in regards to its philosoph... The storyline is kind of depressing because of Vote's roller-coaster mood. The literature is beautifully done, but the whole thing is still not that clear to me, especially in regards to its philosophical intertwined as well as social behavioral. (展开)