在女儿的书堆里看到了这本薄薄的小说 The Stranger,130页不到。 读之前并不知道作者Camus是谁,只是因为短,因为书中女儿的笔迹捡起来读的(估计她读时是高中课堂上要求的)。上班有空时,又从网上下载了小说,后来发现网上下载的版本和女儿纸版的是不同人翻译的,所以读完网上的版本又读了一遍纸印的,准备写读书心得时,才发现The Stranger的中文译名是《局外人》,一个似曾相识的名字,也知道了作者卡缪是法国哲学家、作家、剧作家,在他44岁那年拿了诺贝尔文学奖,成为史上第二位最年轻的诺贝尔奖获得者。
小说被译成很多其他语言,光英语就有四个版本,书名L'Estranger译成英语有英美两个不同翻译, The Stranger(美)和 The Outsider(英), 中文书名译成《局外人》非常准确。
这个理念也在小说中得到体现。小说最后当M被判处后回到了监狱,他仰望黑夜星空,第一次敞开心扉面对宇宙的冷漠,想到曾经的快乐,他并不痛苦,唯一的希望竟然是自己上断头台的那天,有很多围观者,能在他们的憎恨唾骂中不孤独地离世。在他看来,人30岁死和70岁死没有区别,人活着没有意义。他也拒绝相信来生,拒绝仰望闪烁在天堂的拯救者的荣光。他对这个世界不再眷恋,不再牵挂 ("a world which ceases to concern me forever"),他是安详地在等待死的来临。
卡缪的《局外人》曾经在法国《世界日报》(Le Monde) 评选的"100本二十世纪之书"(100 books of the century)中名列榜首,是经典之作。他的作品发人深省,小说通过主人公M的死告诉世人,离经叛道是有代价的,生命的代价,过去如此,现在也一样。
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In January 1955, Camus wrote:
I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: "In our society any man who does not weep at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death." I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.[2]
All normal people, I added as on afterthought, had more or less desired the death of those they loved, at some time or another.
The world and the human being is not in itself absurd. The concept emerges through the juxtaposition of the two, where life becomes absurd due to the incompatibility between human beings and the world they inhabit.
There is no meaning in the world beyond what meaning we give it.
Life is purposeless. Any attempt at finding meaning is utterly absurd.
From The Myth of Sisyphus
"He would have to push a rock up a mountain; upon reaching the top, the rock would roll down again, leaving Sisyphus to start over. Camus sees Sisyphus as the absurd hero who lives life to the fullest, hates death, and is condemned to a meaningless task."
回复 'SCNC' 的评论 : SCNC好! You know what,我女儿读高中时,有些名著读不懂,也想借Cliff notes,我是不鼓励她的。比如你这里说的,"Meursault is an avid sleeper" 这句就不对,如果我没有记错的话,小说里M只有被关在监狱里一天睡16-17个小时来打发时间,其他时候并非如此的。
人在社会这个大群体面前是渺小的,犹如蚍蜉撼树一样,one cannot easily get granted to be left alone.同意你说的,人和社会有着千丝万缕的联系,割不断的。谢谢你的留言!
SCNC 发表评论于
For most of us, we are connected to this society, from opinions , real life experience all come from this society. Unless you cut off all connections.
SCNC 发表评论于
CNG,it is the same, you ask society to leave you alone, but the society can also ask you to leave them alone.
cng 发表评论于
“just leave me alone”, 很简单的要求,但其实又是最难的。
SCNC 发表评论于
Meursault is an avid sleeper. ... Meursault views society as a stranger to himself because they do not do things the same way he does. He understands that people view the world differently, but does not know why. Simultaneously, people view Meursault as a stranger because he is so withdrawn and secluded from everyone
He seemed so cocksure, you see. And yet none of his certainties was worth one strand of a woman's hair.
Living as he did, like a corpse, he couldn't even be sure of being alive. It might look as if my hands were empty. Actually, I was sure of myself, sure about everything, far surer than he; sure of my present life and of the death that was coming. That, no doubt, was all I had; but at least that certainty was something I could get my teeth
into — just as it had got its teeth into me. I'd been right, I was still right, I was always right.
谢谢菲儿!
暖冬cool夏 发表评论于
回复 '7grizzly' 的评论 : Sorry,"me" is autoselected as capitalized. It is a short story. I was not impressed at the beginning, as the tone is quite monotonous and even boring:) It is an easy read though. Thanks for your visit.
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thanks for introducing . Sounds like an interesting book that may give the reader ideas and vocabulary to deal with the world.
小溪姐姐 发表评论于
谢谢暖冬介绍,这故事也有点儿中国人老话‘顺者昌 逆者亡’的意思吧,反右文革中说真话的,都倒大霉。
暖冬cool夏 发表评论于
回复 'spot321' 的评论 : 点点好! 是啊,他可能性格有点怪,有点冷漠,但是不失为一个好人,老实人,不虚伪。但是现实就是,他这样的人是局外人,不知道play the game.悲哀啊。谢谢点点。
暖冬cool夏 发表评论于
回复 '7grizzly' 的评论 : I saw the second quote when I researched him online, and I did again just now. You are right he is not a complete nihilist. "He believed that life is an adventure without final meaning, but still worth experiencing."
Jusr saw online that his most famous quote is,"Don't walk in front of Me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind Me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and just be my friend."
Thanks for your sharing, my friend.
- The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
- In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.