In this remarkable blend of memoir and criticism, James Wood has written a master class on the connections between fiction and life. He argues that, of all the arts, fiction has a unique ability to describe the shape of our lives, and to rescue the texture of those lives from death and historical oblivion. The act of reading is understood here as the most sacred and personal of activities, and there are brilliant discussions of individual works – among others, Chekhov’s story ‘The Kiss’, W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants, and Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower.
Wood reveals his own intimate relationship with the written word: we see the development of a provincial boy growing up in a charged Christian environment, the secret joy of his childhood reading, the links he makes between reading and blasphemy, or between literature and music. The final section discusses fiction in the context of exile and homelessness. The Nearest Thing to Life is not simply a brief, tightly argued book by a man commonly regarded as our finest living critic – it is also an exhilarating personal account that reflects on, and embodies, the fruitful conspiracy between reader and writer (and critic), and asks us to re-consider everything that is at stake when we read and write fiction.
0 有用 为所欲为所欲为 2019-04-30 12:03:08
Wood真是细腻的学院派文学评论家,没有一直谈过于艰深的理论,而是不断回归文本本身,对于所提小说的细节分析得很妙,只可惜里面有些作家的书我没有读过,领会不到。最后一章讲“secular homelessness”,我觉得对于普通移民来说,这是culture shock造成的;对于异常敏感敏锐的小说家,无论身在何地,总会有种不合时宜、无所适从感吧。
4 有用 苏夫佳 2017-01-09 15:07:11
书里的大部分观点不算新颖,但是James Wood毕竟读书多,文笔也不错,还是值得一看的。最后一章"Secular Homelessness"更像是一篇私人的散文作品,夹杂着作者离开英国到美国定居的经历,写出了那种远离故土后心灵上漂泊无定的感受,还挺有感触……
0 有用 林临 2020-05-10 16:05:34
为第四章探讨移民,homelessness, homesickness加一星。前三章是很纽约客风格的文章,偶尔有一些闪光,但是就文学评论本身来说有佳句没有佳篇。最后一章探讨exile,homeless,有自身的经历显得太真诚了,或许我们从本质上来说是来到这个世界的流民,不是选择在这个地方生活就是那个地方生活,那个我们出生的地方真的能被叫做home吗?
0 有用 山止 2019-07-08 22:08:31
从生活察觉的小说,到小说撞击的生活
2 有用 Polyommatinae 2019-11-19 16:52:59
Wood重视文学作品中的细节在本质上就是一种轻逸的痛苦,这种痛苦相悖于生活中沉痛的打击,而是在转瞬即逝的小事中瞥到无法逃避的宿命感。如同纳博科夫将纸巾落下赋予“infinite listlessness",作家的职责就像他所说的那样,是rescue the life of things for their death. 同时,Metaphor的实质是identification,世界主义和后殖民主... Wood重视文学作品中的细节在本质上就是一种轻逸的痛苦,这种痛苦相悖于生活中沉痛的打击,而是在转瞬即逝的小事中瞥到无法逃避的宿命感。如同纳博科夫将纸巾落下赋予“infinite listlessness",作家的职责就像他所说的那样,是rescue the life of things for their death. 同时,Metaphor的实质是identification,世界主义和后殖民主义的浪潮将我们所有人都置身于他所描述的transcendental homelessness,这一切苦涩融入我们的血液后再次变成我们的文字,也同时变成我们的生命。 (展开)