Ian McEwan's Somerset Maugham Award-winning collection First Love, Last Rites brought him instant recognition as one of the most influential voices writing in England today. Taut, brooding, and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perversity can result from adolescent curiosity, and sheer evil might be the solution to unbearable loneliness. These tales are as horrifying as anything written by Clive Barker or Stephen King, but they are crafted with a lyricism and intensity that compel us to confront our secret kinship with the horrifying.
Ian McEwan is the bestselling author of more than ten books, including the novels The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize, and The Child in Time, winner of the Whitbread Award, as well as the story collections First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets. He has also written screenplays, plays, television scripts, a children’s book, and the libretto for an oratorio. He lives in London.
Biography
One of the most distinguished novelists of his generation, Ian McEwan was born in England and spent much of his childhood traveling with his father, an army officer stationed in the Far East, Germany, and North Africa. He graduated from Sussex University in 1970 with a degree in English Literature and received his MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.
McEwan burst upon the literary scene in the mid-1970s with two short story collections that highlighted with equal clarity his early predilection for disturbing, somewhat shocking subject matter and his dazzling prose style. Similarly, his 1978 debut novel, The Cement Garden, attracted as much attention for its unsettling storyline as for its stylistic brilliance. But even though his early work was saturated with deviant sex, violence, and death (so much so that he earned the nickname "Ian MacAbre"), he was never dismissed as a mere purveyor of cheap thrills. In fact, two of his most provocative works (The Comfort of Strangers and Enduring Love) were shortlisted for major U.K. awards.
As he has matured, McEwan has moved away from disquieting themes like incest, sadism, and psychotic obsession to explore more introspective human dramas. In an interview with The New Republic he described his literary evolution in this way:
"One passes the usual milestones in life: You have children, you find that whether you like it or not, you have a huge investment in the human project somehow succeeding. You become maybe a little more tolerant as you get older. Pessimism begins to feel something like a badge that you perhaps do not wear so easily. There is something delicious and reckless about the pessimism of being 21. And when you get older you feel maybe a little more delicate and hope that things will flourish. You don't want to take a stick to it."
Among many literary honors, McEwan has been awarded the Somerset Maugham Award for First Love, Last Rites (1976) and the Whitbread Prize for The Child in Time (1987). Nominated three times for the Booker Prize, he finally won in 1998 for Amsterdam. He has also received the WH Smith Literary Award and National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award for Atonement (2001) and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Saturday (2005).
十多年前我还在读英文系时,麦克尤恩出现在滞后的中文版英国文学史上的身份是80后新秀,跟在一大帮占据大篇幅的风流人物之后,和马丁•艾米斯这样的名门之后一起露了个小脸。但天才注定是一登场便要逞风雷之势的。1976年的惊世处女作《最初的爱情,最后的仪式》为他赢得了平...
评分刊于《外滩画报》(2010/5/5) 1975年,伊恩·麦克尤恩的第一本短篇小说集《最初的爱情,最后的仪式》便获得了萨姆塞特·毛姆奖。在这组短篇小说里,他以极具实验性的精神,把青春期的爱、性与死等母题一一尝试,试图找到自己的写作主题;他又以热爱的作家们为模仿对象,尝试...
评分十多年前我还在读英文系时,麦克尤恩出现在滞后的中文版英国文学史上的身份是80后新秀,跟在一大帮占据大篇幅的风流人物之后,和马丁•艾米斯这样的名门之后一起露了个小脸。但天才注定是一登场便要逞风雷之势的。1976年的惊世处女作《最初的爱情,最后的仪式》为他赢得了平...
评分一本小书,前后被名人的序评夹着,八篇小说,独立的文本,一以贯之的脉络,青春的朝气与幽暗,敏锐与颓废,极度的狂想与沉湎,少年时代的一个个横切面,铺陈出华丽的残酷。麦克尤恩的笔法精湛,小说中色泽明亮与幽暗对称,彷徨与狂想并存;青春的绿草地上,满是幽灵的幻影...
评分十多年前我还在读英文系时,麦克尤恩出现在滞后的中文版英国文学史上的身份是80后新秀,跟在一大帮占据大篇幅的风流人物之后,和马丁•艾米斯这样的名门之后一起露了个小脸。但天才注定是一登场便要逞风雷之势的。1976年的惊世处女作《最初的爱情,最后的仪式》为他赢得了平...
这本书最让我印象深刻的是它对“环境与人物相互塑造”的深刻洞察。这个故事的发生地——那个被作者详细描绘的小镇,简直可以算得上是“活着的”角色。它不是一个简单的背景板,而是具有强大生命力和影响力的存在,它塑造了镇上居民的性格,限制了他们的可能性,甚至成为了他们情感表达的某种隐喻。作者对于地方志和民间传说的引用,非常自然地融入了主线情节,使得整个故事的底色变得厚重而神秘。它让你思考,我们是否真的能摆脱我们成长环境的烙印?那些代代相传的习俗、那些集体无意识的恐惧,是如何潜移默化地影响我们的人生轨迹的?这种对“地域性”的极致挖掘,让这本书超越了单纯的个人故事范畴,上升到了一种对特定文化现象的探讨。它让我对那些看似平静的、封闭的社区产生了浓厚的兴趣,想要去探究其内部复杂的社会动力学,无疑是一部非常值得反复品读的佳作。
评分我必须承认,这本书的氛围感是压倒性的,它弥漫着一种挥之不去的、难以名状的忧郁。这不是那种廉价的、矫揉造作的伤感,而是一种根植于人物命运深处的、关于“失落”和“错位”的深刻体会。故事中的人物似乎都活在一种永恒的黄昏之中,他们渴望连接,却又不断地因为自身的缺陷或外界的巨大压力而彼此疏离。特别是几段关于“回忆”的描写,那种模糊不清、带有滤镜的过去,与当下残酷现实的对比,让人感同身受。作者处理情感的克制也令人印象深刻,很多时候,最强烈的情绪是通过环境的描写、一个不经意的动作或者一句未说完的话来传达的,留下了大量的空间供读者自己去填补。读完后,我感觉自己像是参加了一场漫长而压抑的仪式,结束后虽然感到疲惫,但内心深处却得到了一种奇特的净化,仿佛那些潜藏在心底的、说不清道不明的情绪,终于找到了一个可以安放的容器。
评分这本书的开篇就有一种让人沉浸其中的魔力。作者用非常细腻的笔触描绘了一个发生在某个古老小镇上的故事,那种带着潮湿海风气息的画面感扑面而来,仿佛我真的能闻到空气中咸咸的味道,听到远处海鸥的鸣叫。叙事节奏把握得极好,不是那种急躁的推进,而是像慢镜头一样,一点点揭开人物内心的褶皱。我特别喜欢他描绘人物心理活动的方式,那种看似不动声色,实则暗流涌动的复杂性,让人不得不去揣测每个角色的动机。主角的挣扎与迷茫,那种介于青春期尾声与成人世界入口的尴尬状态,写得太真实了。我看着他做出的每一个选择,都能在自己的记忆深处找到类似的影子,这或许就是优秀文学作品的力量——它能跨越时间和空间,触及到我们最原始的情感共鸣。这本书不仅仅是在讲一个故事,更像是在探讨“身份认同”这个宏大主题,在那样一个封闭的环境里,个体如何定义自我,如何与外界既有的期待和束缚抗衡,描绘得入木三分,让人读完后久久不能平静,需要时间来消化那些隐藏在文字背后的巨大情感张力。
评分这本书的结构处理非常巧妙,它采用了非线性叙事,时间线在过去、现在和主角的内心独白之间不断跳跃、重叠。刚开始看的时候,我甚至需要拿张纸来梳理一下人物关系和事件的时间顺序,因为它毫不留情地打乱了我们习惯的阅读逻辑。但这种看似混乱的背后,却隐藏着一种更深层次的“真相”的揭示方式。作者似乎在暗示,我们的人生经验和记忆本身就是碎片化的,只有将这些碎片重新拼凑,才能看到事件的全貌,特别是那些被时间掩盖的、痛苦的真相。这种叙事上的大胆尝试,使得阅读过程充满了探索的乐趣。每次转换视角或者跳跃时间点,都会带来一种“啊哈!”的顿悟感,让原本平淡的情节瞬间充满了戏剧张力和新的解读空间。它考验读者的耐心,但绝对回报以智力上的极大愉悦,它在挑战我们对故事“应该如何讲述”的既有认知。
评分说实话,我一开始有点被这本书的语言风格劝退了,它不像现在流行的那种轻快流畅的现代小说,反而带有一种古典的、近乎巴洛克式的繁复和华丽。大量的比喻和象征手法穿插其中,初读时需要放慢速度,甚至需要反复咀嚼才能理解其深层含义。但这正是它的魅力所在,一旦适应了这种语调,你会发现作者的文字功力简直可以用“鬼斧神工”来形容。他构建的世界观是如此的自洽和立体,每一个场景的细节都经过精心雕琢,充满了象征意义。比如,书中反复出现的一种特定的植物,它不仅仅是背景装饰,更像是预示着某种命运的走向,这种伏笔的设置,充满了文学的匠气,但却不令人反感,反而让人心悦诚服。我甚至会想象,如果这本书被搬上银幕,那画面一定是极具冲击力的,光影和色彩的运用都会成为叙事的一部分。对于喜欢深度阅读和文字美学的读者来说,这本书无疑是一场盛宴,它要求读者投入心力,但回报的,是精神上的极大满足。
评分还不错,属于阴郁系列的,功底很扎实,基本上任何一篇都在读了两页之后能感觉紧张的情绪,会十分好奇接下来会发生什么。他让我有一点点想起卡夫卡的文字。最喜欢,夏日的最后一天,这一篇。剧院那场写得也不错,很有画面感。少给一颗星少给在这些题材我其实是不太喜欢的。
评分比较喜欢Homemade还有Conversation With a Cupboard Man(这两个算最清口味了的吧)McEwan大叔真蛮牛,用一种平淡得貌似琐碎的口吻向你讲着各种SM与人性的扭曲。
评分Firstly, it's Love. At last, it's Rites.
评分如果要说喜不喜欢我会说不喜欢因为真变态。可是读起来很有意思,妙得很。
评分太纯真,初恋和临终祈祷,应该再搞一本Last love first rites 呼应一下
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