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26 Mar 08

IMDb :: Boards :: Possession (2002) :: Interesting words by the author to share

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possession 小说英国文学

So I tried. My mind has been full since childhood of the rhythms of Tennyson and Browning, Rossetti and Keats. I read and reread Emily Dickinson, whose harsher and more sceptical voice I found more exciting than Christina Rossetti's meek resignation. I wanted a fierce female voice. And I found I was possessed - it was actually quite frightening - the nineteenth-century poems that were not nineteenth-century poems wrote themselves, hardly blotted, fitting into the metaphorical structure of my novel, but not mine, as my prose is mine.
I also believe that the third-person narrator has been much maligned in the recent past - it does not aspire or pretend to be "God"- simply the narrative voice, which knows what it does know. And I wanted to show that such a voice can bring the reader nearer the passions and the thoughts of the characters, without any obligation to admire the cleverness of the novelist. There is a nice irony about this- the writer and reader share what the critics and scholars cannot discover.
2 more annotations...
- And the Gestalt now? A green and gold and blue balloon, far away, untouchable. A writer can't think about novels that have gone away. The Gestalt of the one I am writing, about the 1960s, is a jagged harlequin pattern of coloured fragments and smoking bonfires. And there is something weak about the narrative line, or tension, connecting these, that I'm trying to deal with.
- the pleasure of fiction is narrative discovery

16 Feb 08

SparkNotes: Mrs. Dalloway: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

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dalloway 主题小说现代主义英国文学解读

English citizens, including
Clarissa, Peter, and Septimus, feel the failure of the empire as
strongly as they feel their own personal failures.
The Allies technically won the war, but the extent
of devastation England suffered made it a victory in name only.
Entire communities of young men were injured and killed. In 1916,
at the Battle of the Somme, England suffered 60,000 casualties—the
largest slaughter in England’s history. Not surprisingly, English
citizens lost much of their faith in the empire after the war. No
longer could England claim to be invulnerable and all-powerful.
Citizens were less inclined to willingly adhere to the rigid constraints
imposed by England’s class system, which benefited only a small
margin of society but which all classes had fought to preserve.
12 more annotations...
- Women in the novel, who have to view
  patriarchal English society from the outside, are generally more
  attuned to nature and the messages of voices outside the mainstream.
  Rezia, therefore, is able to see the old woman for the life force
  she is, instead of simply a nuisance or a tragic figure to be dealt
  with, ignored, or pitied.
- Opposite the Regent’s Park Tube station, an old woman
  sings an ancient song that celebrates life, endurance, and continuity.
  She is oblivious to everyone around her as she sings, beyond caring
  what the world thinks. The narrator explains that no matter what
  happens in the world, the old woman will still be there, even in
  “ten million years,” and that the song has soaked “through the knotted roots
  of infinite ages.”
- As
  Clarissa grows older, she reflects more but communicates less. Instead,
  she keeps her feelings locked inside the private rooms of her own
  soul, just as the old woman rattles alone around the rooms of her
  house. Nevertheless, the old woman also represents serenity and
  the purity of the soul. Clarissa respects the woman’s private reflections
  and thinks beauty lies in this act of preserving one’s interior
  life and independence.
- Peter Walsh plays constantly with his pocketknife, and
  the opening, closing, and fiddling with the knife suggest his flightiness
  and inability to make decisions. He cannot decide what he feels
  and doesn’t know whether he abhors English tradition and wants to
  fight it, or whether he accepts English civilization just as it
  is. The pocketknife reveals Peter’s defensiveness. He is armed with
  the knife, in a sense, when he pays an unexpected visit to Clarissa,
  while she herself is armed with her sewing scissors. Their weapons
  make them equal competitors. Knives and weapons are also phallic
  symbols, hinting at sexuality and power. Peter cannot define his
  own identity, and his constant fidgeting with the knife suggests
  how uncomfortable he is with his masculinity. Characters fall into
  two groups: those who are armed and those who are not. Ellie Henderson,
  for example, is “weaponless,” because she is poor and has not been
  trained for any career. Her ambiguous relationship with her friend
  Edith also puts her at a disadvantage in society, leaving her even
  less able to defend herself.
- The prime minister in Mrs. Dalloway embodies
  England’s old values and hierarchical social system, which are in
  decline.
- However, she identifies with Septimus’s wish to fight the
  cycle and go under, even if she will not succumb to the temptation
  herself.
- The narrative
  structure of the novel itself also suggests fluidity. One character’s
  thoughts appear, intensify, then fade into another’s, much like
  waves that collect then fall.
- Waves and water regularly wash over events and thoughts
  in Mrs. Dalloway and nearly always suggest the
  possibility of extinction or death.
- Trees, with their extensive
  root systems, suggest the vast reach of the human soul, and Clarissa
  and Septimus, who both struggle to protect their souls, revere them.
  Clarissa believes souls survive in trees after death, and Septimus,
  who has turned his back on patriarchal society, feels that cutting
  down a tree is the equivalent of committing murder.
- Traditional English society promotes a suppression
  of visible emotion, and since Shakespeare and poetry promote a discussion
  of feeling and emotion, they belong to sensitive people
  like Clarissa, who are in many ways antiestablishment.
- voicing his emotions
- Even as Clarissa celebrates the old
  woman’s independence, she knows it comes with an inevitable loneliness.

Mrs. Dalloway (Style): Information and Much More from Answers.com

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dalloway style 小说现代主义英国文学

According to the literary critic Alex Page, in "A Dangerous Day: Mrs. Dalloway and Her Double," "Septimus's character is in all essentials Clarissa's, but taken to a deadly extreme." Where Clarissa is isolated, Septimus is disassociated from reality; where Clarissa manages the disappointments and strictures society imposes upon her, Septimus buckles under greater pressures.
Woolf invented an elegant and efficient way of moving between and representing multiple characters' speech and thought; the clumsiness of excessive dialogue or of switching between sequences of different characters' thoughts presented in the first person is avoided. Related terms in literary criticism are re-ported thought and speech, free indirect discourse, and stream-of-consciousness.

SparkNotes: Mrs. Dalloway: Analysis of Major Characters

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dalloway 人物小说现代主义英国文学

he will never share Clarissa’s desire to truly and fully
communicate, and he cannot appreciate the beauty of life in the same
way she can. At one point, Richard tries to overcome his habitual
stiffness and shyness by planning to tell Clarissa that he loves her,
but he is ultimately too repressed to say the words, in part because
it has been so long since he last said them. Just as he does not understand
Clarissa’s desires, he does not recognize Elizabeth’s potential
as a woman. If he had had a son, he would have encouraged him to
work, but he does not offer the same encouragement to Elizabeth,
even as she contemplates job options. His reticence on the matter
increases the likelihood that she will eventually be in the same
predicament as Clarissa, unable to support herself through a career
and thus unable to gain the freedom to follow her passions.
Both Sally and Clarissa
have yielded to the forces of English society to some degree, but
Sally keeps more distance than Clarissa does. She often takes refuge
in her garden, as she despairs over communicating with humans. However,
she has not lost all hope of meaningful communication, and she still
thinks saying what one feels is the most important contribution
one can make to society.
4 more annotations...
- Clarissa intuits even
  his most veiled criticisms, such as when he remarks on her green
  dress, and his judgments strongly affect her own assessments of
  her life and choices. Despite his sharp critiques of others, Peter
  cannot clearly see his own shortcomings. His self-obsession and
  neediness would have suffocated Clarissa, which is partly why she
  refused his marriage proposal as a young woman. Peter acquiesces
  to the very English society he criticizes, enjoying the false sense
  of order it offers, which he lacks in his life. Despite Peter’s
  ambivalence and tendency toward analysis, he still feels life deeply.
- Peter acts as a foil to Richard, who is stable,
  generous, and rather simple. Unlike calm Richard, Peter is like
  a storm, thundering and crashing, unpredictable even to himself.
- Peter Walsh’s most consistent character trait is ambivalence
- He is sometimes overcome with the beauty in the world, but
  he also fears that the people in it have no capacity for honesty
  or kindness. Woolf intended for Clarissa to speak the sane truth
  and Septimus the insane truth, and indeed Septimus’s detachment
  enables him to judge other people more harshly than Clarissa is
  capable of. The world outside of Septimus is threatening, and the
  way Septimus sees that world offers little hope.

15 Feb 08

Mrs. Dalloway (Characters): Information and Much More from Answers.com

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dalloway 人物小说现代主义英国文学

The book's argument against these doctors is that they are primarily concerned with managing individual cases of social and psychological distress without being interested in the causes of such problems. Thus, these doctors are still a part of the problem.
Peter is defined mostly by his having been deeply in love with Clarissa Dalloway and by his intention, during his youth, to marrying her. In fact, he still seems to be in love with her, despite having married after she rejected him, and despite the fact that he is planning to marry for a second time.
5 more annotations...
- After Clarissa, Septimus is the character of most importance. His story parallels Clarissa's to a certain extent, as both characters are radically isolated and seem at odds with prevailing forces in the world.
- Clarissa's freedom and youth ended at Bourton when she decided to marry. That is, her life since Bourton has been one in which she is not so much her own person as Richard's wife.
- He arrives around the time Clarissa is thinking about marriage and presents himself as the perfect husband for her, in contrast to Peter. He is a politician and member of Parliament and the Conservative Party, demonstrating Clarissa's and his relative social and political conservatism, especially compared to Peter and Sally.
- Peter's notion that she is the "perfect hostess" sums up this suspicion of her weakness. Clarissa is well-off and does not work, putting her in a position to cultivate her preferences, which are the pursuits of beauty and social harmony. While she knows that these are worthy pursuits, she and her friends nevertheless wonder whether this is a wholly ethical way to live. The question she and they ask is whether or not she should be more like her husband or Lady Bruton and take a more obviously practical role in public and political life.
- she seems to desire isolation. She chooses Richard Dalloway over Peter Walsh as a husband not because she loves him more, but because she believes Richard will not consume all of her personality and time, or all of her emotional and intellectual reserves.

Mrs. Dalloway (Plot Summary): Information and Much More from Answers.com

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dalloway 女性小说英国文学

The narrative then dis-cusses doctors such as Bradshaw, questioning the methods and assumptions by which they diagnose and practice.
As Peter leaves the park, he walks by an old vagrant woman singing a song; Septimus and Lucrezia pass the same woman at the same time, and so the narrative shifts to the couple again. A
6 more annotations...
- Moving back to Peter, the reader finds that he is still musing about the past, how Clarissa is a snob who loves high society, and how her snobbery and love of comfort led her to choose Richard Dalloway over himself for a husband.
- Much of this section is Septimus' point of view, and so the reader gets a glimpse into the workings of his distressed and strained mind.
- He ends up in Regent's Park (where the book left Septimus and Lucrezia)
- With this visit, the past enters the present forcibly, as the man who preoccupied Clarissa's thoughts that morning appears in person.
- The public sounds of the car backfiring and an "aeroplane" roaring overhead allowed Woolf to register, besides the points of view of Septimus and Lucrezia, the points of view of a number of passersby who are not major characters in the book.
- The sound of the car backfiring facilitates a shift in which character's point of view dominates the narrative. Septimus Warren Smith, a major character, is introduced in this way.

19 Jan 08

黄金书屋---红玫瑰与白玫瑰

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小说张爱玲

振保把手抵着玻璃窗，清楚地觉得自己的手，自己的呼吸，深深悲伤着。他想起碗橱里
有一瓶白兰地酒，取了来，倒了满满一玻璃杯，面向外立在窗口慢慢呷着。烟鹂走到他背
后，说道：“是应当喝口白兰地暖暖肚子，不然真要着凉了。”白兰地的热气直冲到他脸
上，他变成火眼金睛，掉过头来憎恶地看了她一眼。他讨厌那样的殷勤罗唆，尤其讨厌的
是：她仿佛在背后窥伺着，看他知道多少。
振保自己是高高在上，了望着这一对没有经验的奸夫淫妇。
44 more annotations...
- 某次他代表厂方请客吃中饭，是黄梅天，还没离开办公室已经下起雨来。他雇车兜到家
  里去拿雨衣，路上不由得回想到从前，住在娇蕊家，那天因为下了两点雨，天气变了，赶回
  去拿大衣，那可纪念的一天。下车走进大门，一直包围在回忆的淡淡的哀愁里。进去一看，
  雨衣不在衣架上。他心里怦的一跳，仿佛十年前的事又重新活了过来。他向客室里走，心里
  继续怦怦跳，有一种奇异的命里注定的感觉。手按在客室的门钮上，开了门，烟鹂在客室
  里，还有个裁缝，立在沙发那一头。一切都是熟悉的，振保把心放下了，不知怎的蓦地又提
  了上来。他感到紧张，没有别的缘故，一定是因为屋里其他的两个人感到紧张。
- 烟鹂得了便秘症，每天在浴室里一坐坐上几个钟头——只有那个时候是可以名正言顺地
  不做事，不说话，不思想；其余的时候她也不说话，不思想，但是心里总有点不安，到处走
  走，没着落的，只有在白色的浴室里她是定了心，生了根。她低头看着自己雪白的肚子，白
  皑皑的一片，时而鼓起来些，时而瘪进去，肚脐的式样也改变，有时候是甜净无表情的希腊
  石像的眼睛，有时候是突出的怒目，有时候是邪教神佛的眼睛，眼里有一种险恶的微笑，然
  而很可爱，眼角弯弯的，撇出鱼尾纹
- 烟鹂在旁看着，着实气不过，逢人就叫屈，然而烟鹂很少机会遇见人。振保因为家里没
  有一个活泼大方的主妇，应酬起来宁可多花两个钱，在外面请客，从来不把朋友往家里带。
  难得有朋友来找他，恰巧振保不在，烟鹂总是小心招待，把人家当体己人，和人家谈起振
  保：“振保就吃亏在这一点——实心眼儿待人，自己吃亏！唉，张先生你说是不是？现在这
  世界是行不通的呀！连他自己的弟弟妹妹也这么忘恩负义，不要说朋友了，有事找你的时候
  来找你——没有一个不是这样！我眼里看得多了，振保一趟一趟吃亏还是死心眼儿。现在这
  时世，好人做不得的呀！张先生你说是不是？”朋友觉得自己不久也会被归入忘恩负义的一
  群，心里先冷了起来。振保的朋友全都不喜欢烟鹂，虽然她是美丽娴静的最合理想的朋友的
  太太，可以作男人们高谈阔论的背景。
- 振保由窗子里往外看，蓝天白云，天井里开着夹竹桃，街上的笛子还在吹，尖锐扭捏的
  下等女人的嗓子。笛子不好，声音有点破，微觉刺耳。
  
  是和美的春天的下午，振保看着他手造的世界，他没有法子毁了它。
- 振保上楼去擦脸，烟鹂在楼底下开无线电听新闻报告，振保认为这是有益的，也是现代
  主妇教育的一种，学两句普通话也好。他不知道烟鹂听无线电，不过是愿意听见人的声音。
- 振保远远坐着看他那女儿，那舞动的黄瘦的小手小腿。本来没有这样的一个孩子，是他
  把她由虚空之中唤了出来。
- 笃保有点坐不住——到他们家来的亲戚朋友很少有坐得住的——要走。烟鹂极力想补救
  方才的过失，振作精神，亲热地挽留他：“没事就多坐一会儿。”她眯细了眼睛笑着，微微
  皱着鼻梁，颇有点媚态。她常常给人这么一阵突如其来的亲热。若是笃保是个女的，她就要
  拉住他的手了，潮湿的手心，绝望地拉住不放，使人不快的一种亲热。
- 振保追想恰才那一幕，的确，是很见老了。连她的老，他也妒忌她。他看看他的妻，结
  了婚八年，还是像什么事都没经过似的，空洞白净，永远如此。
- 笃保来了，振保闲闲地把话题引
  到娇蕊身上，笃保磕了磕香烟，做出有经验的男子的口吻，道：“老了。老得多了。”仿佛
  这就结束了这女人。
- 蓝天上飘着小白云，街上卖笛子的人在那里吹笛子，尖柔扭捏的东方的歌，一
  扭一扭出来了，像绣像小说插图里画的梦，一缕白气，从帐里出来，涨大了，内中有种种幻
  境，像懒蛇一般要舒展开来，后来因为太瞌睡，终于连梦也睡着了
- 再过了一站，他便下车了。振保沉默了一会，并不朝她看，向空中问道：“怎么样？你
  好么？”娇蕊也沉默了一会，方道：“很好。”还是刚才那两句话，可是意思全两样了。
- 他还是兴兴头头忙
  着，然而渐渐显出疲乏了，连西装上的含笑的皱纹，也笑得有点疲乏。
- 振保这时候开始宿娼，每三个礼拜一次——他的生活各方面都很规律化的。和几个朋友
  一起，到旅馆里开房间，叫女人，对家里只说是为了公事到苏杭去一趟。他对于妓女的面貌
  不甚挑剔，比较喜欢黑一点胖一点的，他所要的是丰肥的屈辱。这对于从前的玫瑰与王娇蕊
  是一种报复，但是他自己并不肯这样想。如果这样想，他立即谴责自己认为是亵渎了过去的
  回忆。他心中留下了神圣而感伤的一角，放着这两个爱人。他记忆中的王娇蕊变得和玫瑰一
  而二二而一了，是一个痴心爱着他的天真热情的女孩子，没有头脑，没有一点使他不安的地
  方，而他，为了崇高的理智的制裁，以超人的铁一般的决定，舍弃了她
- 在一品香结婚，喜筵设在东兴楼——振保爱面子，同时也讲究经济，只要过得去就行
  了。他在公事房附近租下了新屋，把母亲从江湾接来同住。他挣的钱大部分花在应酬联络
  上，家里开销上是很刻苦的。母亲和烟鹂颇合得来，可是振保对于烟鹂有许多不可告人的不
  满的地方。烟鹂因为不喜欢运动，连“最好的户内运动”也不喜欢。振保是忠实地尽了丈夫
  的责任使她喜欢的，但是他对她的身体并不怎样感到兴趣。起初间或也觉得可爱，她的不发
  达的乳，握在手里像睡熟的鸟，像有它自己的微微跳动的心脏，尖的喙，啄着他的手，硬
  的，却又是酥软的，酥软的是他自己的手心。后来她连这一点少女美也失去了。对于一切渐
  渐习惯了之后，她变成一个很乏味的妇人。
- 订婚与结婚之间相隔的日子太短了，烟鹂私下里觉得惋惜的，据她所知，那应当是一身
  最好的一段。
- 振保一晚上都没睡好，清晨补了一觉，朦胧中似乎又有人趴在他身上哭泣，先还当是梦
  魇，后来知道是娇蕊，她又来了，大约已经哭了不少时。这女人的心身的温暖覆在他上面像
  一床软缎面子的鸭绒被，他悠悠地出了汗，觉得一种情感上的奢侈。
- 有时他偶然朝这边看一眼，她就乘机说话，说：“你别
  怕……”说他怕，他最怕听，顿时变了脸色，她便停住了。隔了些时，她又说：“我都改
  了……”他又转侧不安，使她说不下去了。她又道：“我决不连累你的，”又道：“你离了
  我是不行的，振保……”几次未说完的话，挂在半空像许多钟摆，以不同的速度滴答滴答
  摇，歌有各的理路，推论下去，各自到达高潮，于不同的时候当当打起钟来。振保觉得一房
  间都是她的声音，虽然她久久沉默着。
- 振保听他母亲的话，其实也和他自己心中的
  话相仿佛，可是到了他母亲嘴里，不知怎么，就先是玷辱了他的逻辑。他觉得羞惭，想法子
  把他母亲送去了。
- 振
  保在喉咙里“□（左口右恶〕”地叫了一声，立即往外跑，跑到街上，回头看那崔巍的公
  寓，灰赭色流线型的大屋，像大得不可想象的火车，正冲着他轰隆轰隆开过来，遮的日月无
  光。事情已经发展到不可救的阶段。他一向以为自己是有分寸的，知道适可而止，然而事情
  自管自往前进行了。跟她辩论也无益。麻烦的就是：和她在一起的时候，根本就觉得没有辩
  论的需要，一切都是极其明白清楚，他们彼此相爱，而且应当爱下去。没有她在跟前，他才
  有机会想出诸般反对的理由。像现在，他就疑心自己做了傻瓜，入了圈套。她爱的是悌米
  孙，却故意的把湿布衫套在他头上，只说为了他和她丈夫闹离婚，如果社会不答应，毁的是
  他的前程。
- 艾许太太笑道：“那好极了，我丈夫简直是‘溺爱’中国东西呢！”听她那远方
  阔客的口吻，决想不到她丈夫是有一半中国血的。
- 这艾许小姐抿着红嘴唇，不大做声，在那尖尖的白桃子脸上，一双深黄的眼睛窥
  视着一切。女人还没得到自己的一份家业，自己的一份忧愁负担与喜乐，是常常有那种注意
  守候的神情的。艾许小姐年纪虽不大，不像有些女人求归宿的“归心似箭”，但是都市的职
  业女性，经常地紧张着，她眼眶底下肿起了两大块，也很憔悴了。不论中外的“礼教之大
  防”，本来也是为女人打算的，使美貌的女人更难到手，更值钱，对于不好看的女人也是一
  种保护，不至于到处面对着失败。现在的女人没有这种保护了，尤其是地位没有准的杂种姑
  娘。艾许小姐脸上露出的疲倦与窥伺，因此特别尖锐化了些。
- 也有时候说到她丈夫几时回来。提到这个，振保脸上就现出黯败的微笑，眉梢眼梢往下
  挂，整个的脸拉杂下垂像拖把上的破布条。这次的恋爱，整个地就是不应该，他屡次拿这犯
  罪性来刺激他自己，爱得更凶些。娇蕊没懂得他这层心理，看见他痛苦，心里倒高兴，因为
  从前虽然也有人扬言要为她自杀，她在英国读书的时候，大清早起来没来得及洗脸便草草涂
  红了嘴唇跑出去看男朋友，他们也曾经说：“我一夜都没睡，在你窗子底下走来走去，走了
  一夜。”那到底不算数。当真使一个男人为她受罪，还是难得的事。
- 她说：“我真爱上了你了。”说这话的时候，她还带着点嘲笑的口气。“你知道么？每
  天我坐在这里等你回来，听着电梯工东工东慢慢开上来，开过我们这层楼，一直开上去了，
  我就像把一颗心提了上去，放不下来。有时候，还没开到这层楼就停住了，我又像是半中间
  断了气。”振保笑道：“你心里还有电梯，可见你的心还是一所公寓房子。”娇蕊淡淡一
  笑，背着手走到窗前，往外看着，隔了一会，方道：“你要的那所房子，已经造好了。”振
  保起初没有懂，懂得了之后，不觉呆了一呆。他从来不是舞文弄墨的人，这一次破了例，在
  书桌上拿起笔来，竟写了一行字：“心居落成志喜。”其实也说不上喜欢，许多唧唧喳喳的
  肉的喜悦突然静了下来，只剩下一种苍凉的安宁，几乎没有情感的一种满足。
- 以后，他每天办完了公回来，坐在双层公共汽车的楼上，车头迎着落日，玻璃上一片
  光，车子轰轰然朝太阳驰去，朝他的快乐驰去，他的无耻的快乐——怎么不是无耻的？他这
  女人，吃着旁人的饭，住着旁人的房子，姓着旁人的姓。可是振保的快乐更为快乐，因为觉
  得不应该。
- 昨天晚上忘了看看有月亮没有，应当是红色的月牙。
- 他还是在外面吃了晚饭，约了几个朋友上馆子，可是座上众人越来越变得言语无味，面
  目可憎。振保不耐烦了，好容易熬到席终，身不由主地跳上公共汽车回寓所来，娇蕊在那里
  弹钢琴，弹的是那时候最流行的《影子华尔兹》。振保两只手抄在口袋里，在阳台上来回走
  着。琴上安着一盏灯，照亮了她的脸，他从来没看见她的脸那么肃静。振保跟着琴哼起那支
  歌来，她仿佛没听见，只管弹下去，换了支别的。他没有胆量跟着唱了。他立在玻璃门口，
  久久看着她，他眼睛里生出泪珠来，因为他和她到底是在一处了，两个人，也有身体，也有
  心。他有点希望她看见他的眼泪，可是她只顾弹她的琴，振保烦恼起来，走近些，帮她掀琴
  谱，有意打搅她，可是她并不理会，她根本没照谱，调子是她背熟了的，自管自从手底悠悠
  流出来。振保突然又是气，又是怕，仿佛他和她完全没有什么相干。他挨紧她坐在琴凳上，
  身手拥抱她，把她扳过来，琴声嘎然停止，她娴熟地把脸偏了一偏——过于娴熟地，他们接
  吻了。振保发狠把她压到琴键上去，砰訇一串混乱的响雷，这至少和别人给她的吻有点两样
  罢？
- 振保像做贼似的溜了出去，心里只是慌张。起初是大惑不解、及至想通了之后还是迷
  惑。娇蕊这样的人，如此痴心地坐在他大衣之旁，让衣服上的香烟味来笼罩着她，还不够，
  索性点起他吸剩的香烟……真是个孩子，被惯坏了，一向要什么有什么，因此遇见了一个略
  具抵抗力的，便觉得他是值得思念的。婴儿的头脑与成熟的妇人的美是最具诱惑性的联合。
  这下子振保完全被征服了。
- 振保一晚上翻来覆去的告诉自己这是不妨事的，娇蕊与玫瑰不同，一个任性的有夫之妇
  是最自由的妇人，他用不着对她负任何责任，可是，他不能不对自己负责。想到玫瑰就想到
  那天晚上，在野地的汽车里，他的举止多么光明磊落，他不能对不住当初的自己。
- 她早已开门进去了，又探
  身过来将甬道里电灯啪的一关。振保在黑暗中十分震动，然而徒然兴奋着，她已经不在了。
- 振保这方面把手搁在门钮上，表示不多
  谈，向她点头笑道：“怎么这些时候都没有看见你？我以为你像糖似的化了去了！”他分明
  知道是他躲着她而不是她躲着他，不等她开口，先抢着说了，也是一种自卫。无聊得很，他
  知道，可是见了她就不由得要说玩笑话——是有那种女人的。
- 也许……也许还
  是她的身子在作怪。男子憧憬一个女子的身体的时候，就关心到她的灵魂，自己骗自己说是
  爱上了她的灵魂。唯有占领了她的身体之后，他才能够忘记她的灵魂。也许这是唯一的解脱
  的方法。
- 振
  保晓得：“你喜欢忙人？”娇蕊把一只手按在眼睛上，笑道：“其实也无所谓。我的心是一
  所公寓房子。”振保笑道：“那，可有空的房间招租呢？”娇蕊去不答应了。
- 正喝着茶，外面门铃响，振保有点坐立不定，再三地道：“是你请的客罢？你不觉得不
  过意么？”娇蕊只耸了耸肩。振保捧着玻璃杯走到阳台上去道：“等他出来的时候，我愿意
  看看他是怎样的一个人。”娇蕊随后跟了出来道：“他么？很漂亮，太漂亮了。”振保倚着
  阑干笑道：“你不喜欢美男子？”娇蕊道：“男人美不得，男人比女人还要禁不起惯。”振
  保半阖着眼睛看着她微笑道：“你别说人家，你自己也是被惯坏了的。”娇蕊道：“也许。
  你倒是刚刚相反。你处处克扣你自己，其实你同我一样的是一个贪玩好吃的人。”振保笑了
  起来道：“哦？真的吗？你倒晓得了！”娇蕊低着头，轻轻去拣杯中的茶叶，拣半天，喝一
  口。振保也无声地吃着茶。不大的工夫，公寓里走出一个穿西装的从三层楼上望下去，看不
  分明，但见他急急地转了个弯，仿佛是憋了一肚子气似的。振保忍不住又道：“可怜，白跑
  了一趟！”娇蕊道：“横竖他成天没事做。我自己也是个没事做的人，偏偏瞧不起没事做的
  人。我就喜欢在忙人手里如狼似虎地抢下一点时间来——你说这是不是犯贱？”
- 阿妈送了绿茶来，茶叶满满的浮在水面上，振保双手捧着玻璃杯，只是喝不进嘴里。他
  两眼望着茶，心里却研究出一个缘故来了。娇蕊背着丈夫和那姓孙的藕断丝连，分明嫌他在
  旁碍眼，所以今天有意的向他特别表示好感，把他吊上了手，便堵住了他的嘴。其实振保绝
  对没年心肠去管他们的闲事。莫说他和士洪够不上交情，再是割头换颈的朋友，在人家夫妇
  之间挑拨是非，也是犯不着。可是无论如何，这女人是不好惹的。他又添了几分戒心。
- 振保谢了她，看了她一眼。他穿着的一件曳地长袍，是最鲜辣的潮湿的绿
  色，沾着什么就染绿了。她略略移动了一步，仿佛她刚才所占有的空气上便留着个绿迹子。
  衣服似乎做得太小了，两边迸开一寸半的裂缝，用绿缎带十字交叉一路络了起来，露出里面
  深粉红的衬裙。那过份刺眼的色调是使人看久了要患色盲症的。也只有她能够若无其事地穿
  着这样的衣服。
- 振保当着她，总好像吃醉了酒怕要失仪似的，搭讪着便踱到阳台上来。冷风一吹，越发
  疑心刚才是不是有点红头涨脸了。他心里着实烦恼，才同玫瑰永诀了，她又借尸还魂，而且
  做了人家的妻。而且这女人比玫瑰更有程度了，她在那间房里，就仿佛满房都是朱粉壁画，
  左一个右一个画着半裸的她。怎么会净碰见这一类女人呢？难道要怪他自己，到处一触即
  发？
- 振保抱着毛巾立在门外，看着浴室里强烈的灯光的照耀下，满地滚的乱头发，心里烦恼
  着。他喜欢的是热的女人，放浪一点的，娶不得的女人。这里的一根已经做了太太而且是朋
  友的太太，至少没有危险了，然而……看她的头发！——到处都是她，牵牵绊绊的。
- 王太太还在对着镜子理头发，头发烫得极其蜷曲，梳起来很费劲，大把大把撕将下来，
  屋子里水气蒸腾，因把窗子大开着，夜风吹进来，地下的头发成团飘逐，如同鬼影子。
- 闻名
  不如见面。她那肥皂塑就的白头发下的脸是金棕色的，皮肉紧致，绷得油光水滑，把眼睛像
  伶人似的吊了起来。一件条纹布浴衣，不曾系带，松松合在身上，从那淡墨条子上可以约略
  猜出身体的轮廓，一条一条，一寸寸都是活的。世人只说宽袍大袖的古装不宜于曲线美，振
  保现在方知道这话是然而不然。他开着自来水龙头，水不甚热，可是楼底下的锅炉一定在烧
  着，微温的水里就像有一根热的芯子。龙头里挂下一股子水一扭一扭流下来，一寸寸都是活
  的。振保也不知想到哪里去了。
- 他对他自己那晚上的操行充满了惊奇赞叹，但是他心里是懊悔的。背着他自己他未尝不
  懊悔。
  
  这件事他不大告诉人，但是朋友中没有一个不知道他是个坐怀不乱的柳下惠。他这名声
  是传出去了。
- 车里的谈话也是轻轻
  飘飘的，标准英国式的，有一下没一下。
- 玫瑰进的是英国学
  校，就为了她是不完全的英国人，她比任何英国人还要英国化。英国的学生是一种潇洒的漠
  然。对于最要紧的事尤为潇洒，尤为漠然。
- 也许每一个男子全都有过这样的两个女人，至少两个．娶了红玫瑰，久而久之，红的变
  了墙上的一抹蚊子血，白的还是“床前明月光”；娶了白玫瑰，白的便是衣服上的一粒饭粘
  子，红的却是心口上的一颗朱砂痣。
- 灯已经亮了，可是太阳
  还在头上，一点一点往下掉，掉到那方形的水门汀建筑的房顶上，再往下掉，往下掉，房顶
  上仿佛雪白地蚀去了一块。振保一路行来，只觉荒凉。

22 Dec 07

Book review -- Dylan Thomas ADVENTURES IN THE SKIN TRADE AND OTHER STORIES

www.webster.edu/...thomas-skin.html - Preview

小说文学日记阅读

All in all, I enjoyed about ½ the book, and was either mystified or bored by the other ½. I tend like his poetry better.
Let’s get the first thing straight. People who have come must go. People must know where they’re going, otherwise the world could not be conducted on a sane basis. The streets would be full of people just wandering about, wouldn’t they? Wandering about and having useless arguments with people who know where they’re going.

I was very struck in this section to similarities to this theme which comes up later in 20th century literature in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot and Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story.
2 more annotations...
- “…people are all mad in the world. They don’t know where they are going, they don’t know why they’re where they are, all they want is love and beer and sleep.” The group adds to the list of aims: music, dancing and sex, sex, sex.
- It is a wonderful comic romp of near madness and dreaminess.

05 Nov 07

Short Stories: The Open Window

www.eastoftheweb.com/...OpeWin.shtml - Preview

小说

"I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve."

Romance at short notice was her speciality.
Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.
8 more annotations...
- She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her appearance.
- Framton Nuttel endeavoured to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come.
- "A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel," said Mrs. Sappleton; "could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of goodby or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost."
- Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with a dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction.
- To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly topic
- Here the child's voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human.
- An undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.
- Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting one of the letters of introduction came into the nice division.

13 Sep 07

天黑以后，日出之前 (评论: 天黑以后)

www.douban.com/1000447 - Preview

小说文学日本村上春树

看来遵纪守法、勤奋工作、有家室有事业的白领社会中坚，“潜藏的恶”的爆发固然是书中的一个主要矛盾和情节推动力，但爱丽与玛丽的姐妹之情亲疏之别呢？她们两个关于自身社会化过程中遭遇的挤压和苦痛以及应对之法呢？高桥从一个不错的乐手打算向法律界有为青年转化的决心呢？他关于法与罪的思考、对于死刑加诸于人的痛苦呢？“爱丽与无面人”的情节呢？薰、蟋蟀们的故事呢？——这么许多的内容，与中国无关，与人内心潜藏之恶无关。
与以往不同的是，小说一开头，就用了类似电影化的视角和旁白，让读者和它一起扮演全知式视角的上帝，扮演CS游戏中的Ghost视角。不过我不喜欢，看最前面几段文字，简直就是在描述《新警察故事》的开头；后面又不厌其烦地提醒读者：我们是一个视点，没有质量没有体积，我们的存在不影响在场的其他任何事物，我们只能观察、不能左右环境……这样急迫地提醒读者去疏离文本，提醒我们叙述者的存在和“你正在阅读”的事实，和整本书要写的主题似不相干，于是就显出几分无聊。
5 more annotations...
- 还是那样的男、女主角。敏感，喜欢读书、音乐和欧洲文艺片，瘦削，“普通平凡”但从内心里就不认为自己像普通人那样猥琐没大脑，因为太有原则，太注重自己的感觉。
- 　毋宁说，这一切关乎社会大机器对个人的要求规训/个人的驯服与挣扎，关乎个人社会化过程中的“超我”形成与潜藏的“本我”，关乎意识与潜意识，关乎暴力的合法性与非法性，关乎社会的规则与潜规则……所以，村上一再写到照镜子，一再提及镜面/屏幕两面的两个世界和存在。他告诉我们，在黑夜笼罩之后，一切都不再与白日里一样，两个世界之间的边缘更加模糊不辨，人们内心更加柔软善变，野兽更加危险，爱也变得更有力量，镜子两面更加容易转变，我们更容易沉入另一个自己。
- 　依旧有一点点“拜物”
- 本书那由电视屏幕作界面、吞吐美少女浅井爱丽的“无面人”之屋。村上君技巧娴熟地在“现实/虚幻”的平行世界中跳跃，让情节貌似齐头并进，却又不知何时在哪里交汇。他的双线结构并非二元对立，但却像“平行宇宙”那样有着小异而大同的比照关系
- 　村上君表现了对镜子的迷恋，浅井玛丽、白川都曾在镜前凝视自己，而镜中的那个人在村上笔下仿佛与其本体独立，甚至在本体离开后依然存在、屹立、凝视。如果把电视屏幕当成另一种镜子，作者亦对“互相观看”的情形很感兴趣，虚构了无面人和爱丽透过电视屏幕互相观看（或者说，“我们”——作者与读者——共同在屏幕这边代替爱丽观看）的场景。勿庸置疑，作者有意识地叙述了这些细节；但动机是什么？暗喻人内心的自我矛盾与分裂？表现世界对于迷惑盲目的人而言是多么难于捉摸又冷酷中立？仅是增加某种神秘主义噱头的写作小花招？又或是作者本人潜意识的流露？

互文 (评论: 天黑以后)

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小说文学日本村上春树

我寫「afterdark」這本小說，花了一年多的時間，雖然什麼都沒有準備，但是開頭的場景，「Ｄenny’s、深夜、女孩在讀書，男孩進來，走過再退回來，去問淺井瑪麗」的這個部分，是在我剛寫完「海邊的卡夫卡」之後不久，不知道為了什麼已經寫好了，好像是素描的底稿般，然後放到抽屜裡，心想什麼時候可以用，之後一年多，我一直在腦中裡想著，但是什麼小說也沒寫，當然不是什麼都沒做，我寫些散文、做些翻譯，不過這個場景好像是無止境的錄影帶在腦裡播放，同樣的鏡頭反覆播來播去，在腦裡輾轉了一年多，突然有一天，覺得已經可以就此寫小說，便開始動筆了，寫得相當快，二、三個月就寫好了。他手中的扑克分别是Ｄenny’s、深夜、女孩在讀書，男孩進來，走過再退回來，去問淺井瑪麗，如何讲述完整的黑夜里的故事则需要他以上帝般的伟大权利，组合，联系，完成整幅的牌面，胜券在握。

01 Sep 07

Laurie Colwin: A Story Too Short but Still in Print (washingtonpost.com)

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作家小说文学

She loved, and knew a lot about, classical music,
chamber music in particular. Similarly, most of the writers she loved
had been around for a while; indeed, her own most direct literary
ancestor was Jane Austen, as is made charmingly clear by a brief passage
from the title story of "The Lone Pilgrim":

"Oh, domesticity! The wonder of dinner plates and cream pitchers.
You know your friends by their ornaments. You want everything. If Mrs.
A. has her mama's old jelly mold, you want one too, and everything else
that goes with it -- the family, the tradition, the years of having
jelly molded in it. We domestic sensualists live in a state of longing,
no matter how comfortable our own places are."
"I'm real old-fashioned," Laurie once said of herself, which was
true but only up to a point. She adored beautiful old things but rarely
had enough money to buy them; when she got a writing grant from the
federal government, she went right out and bought herself an antique
dining room table.
1 more annotations...
- A decade after her lamentably premature death, Laurie Colwin enjoys
  a distinction that eludes all but the luckiest among living writers: All
  her books are still in print. Never a best-selling writer, she attracted
  an ardent following that has remained steadfast and recruits new
  devotees by word of mouth.