The Ghost Road is a novel by Pat Barker, first published in 1995 and winner of the Booker Prize. It is the third volume of a trilogy that follows the fortunes of shell-shocked British army officers towards the end of the First World War. The other books in the trilogy are Regeneration and The Eye in the Door.
The war poet Siegfried Sassoon, who appears as a major character in the first book, Regeneration, is relegated to a minor role in this final volume, in which the main players are the fictional working-class officer, Billy Prior, and the real-life psychoanalyst, William Rivers. Thus Barker explores possible relationships between real people and fictional characters.
[edit] Plot summary
Prior, despite his new-found peace of mind and engagement to munitions worker Sarah, has been affected by the war and therefore does not have a lot of concern for his safety. Going along with this theme, he has a lot of risky sexual encounters; his only rule is that he never pays for sex - a rule he eventually breaks. This episode is a symbolic capitulation to the inevitability of his death at the Western Front, a fate he shares with the poet, Wilfred Owen.
Rivers, concerned for Prior's safety, finally recognises that his relationship with Prior, and his other patients for that matter, is deeply paternal. In contrast with upper-class officers like Sassoon, with whom Rivers has been able to form warm friendships, he has always found Prior a thorn in his side. As Prior returns to the front, Rivers reminisces uncomfortably about his childhood and research expeditions as a young anthropologist.
成名前“靠退稿笺打发日子”的女作家帕特·巴克(Pat Barker)意外赢获今年的英国布克小说奖,令英伦书界倍感惊奇,因为获奖名单揭晓前被认为最有望中奖的应该是9月间推出新作《摩尔人最后的叹息》(the Moor’s Last Sign)的小说家萨尔曼·拉什迪(Salman Rushdie)。
1943年出生于英格兰北方的巴克出身劳动阶层,曾就读于伦敦经济学院,从事文学创作前以教书为业。其祖母、母亲和姐姐都是吃苦耐劳的清洁工,从小由开小食店的祖父母养大的巴克对英国劳动妇女有着深厚情感,自1982年出版处女作《联盟街》(Union Street)后,她一直以劳动妇女的悲惨命运为题材进行写作,相继写出了《炸塌你的房子》(Blow Your House Down)和《世纪的女儿》(The Century’s Daugh-ter)等小说。她于1991年起开始以第一次世界大战为背景写作,先后出版了《再生》(Regeneration)、《门里的眼睛》(the Eye In the Door)和《幽灵之路》(The Ghost Road)小说三部曲。今年出版的《幽灵之路》为她赢得了众所瞩目的布克奖,并获得2万英镑奖金。她认为,创作此小说目的并不是让人们感受战争的恐怖,而是要人们思考为什么会发生战争以及战火带给人类社会的灾祸。她说,作品是受当年参加过战争的祖父激发而写就。
巴克是继A.S拜阿特(A.S Byatt)1990年获布克奖以后,又一个获此奖的女小说家。她在英国文坛甚有影响,处女作《联盟街》曾被改编成电影《斯坦利和艾丽丝》(Stanley And Iris),由著名影星简·方达和罗伯特·德尼罗主演。今年与她同获布克奖提名的除拉什迪外,还有3年前的布克奖得主巴里·昂斯沃思(Barry Unsworth)、澳大利亚小说家蒂姆·温顿(Tim Wintm)和南非作家贾斯廷·卡特赖特(Justin Cartwright)。
全称布克·麦康奈尔小说奖(Booker Mc-Connell Prize for Fiction)的布克奖设立于1969年,评奖经费由英国布克·麦康奈尔跨国公司提供,由5位资深文学评论家组成的评委对每年在英国和英联邦国家内用英文出版的小说进行评选,初次选出141部,经过评委6个月审读,再推举出6部(有时可达8部)入围终评,最后评出一名获奖者,奖金2万英镑。
年选一次的布克奖虽常因评奖结果引起争议,但也因其得奖作家的非凡功力而被认为当今英伦最有权威性的文学大奖,历届得主中不乏获奖后又获诺贝尔文学奖的纳丁·戈迪默和威廉·戈尔丁,以及因作品被拍成电影而名扬全球的实力派作家,比如《辛德勒名单》作者汤姆斯·基尼利和《余日残恋》作者石黑一雄。
Pat Barker
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Pat Barker (born May 8 1943[1]) is an English writer and historian. She published her first novel, Union Street, in 1982 and has since won critical acclaim for her First World War series, the Regeneration trilogy, a fictionalised account of the wartime experiences of the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the psychiatrist W. H. R. Rivers, and the fictional protagonist, Lt. Billy Prior. The final book in the trilogy, The Ghost Road, won the Booker Prize upon its publication.
In 1965 Barker completed a degree in international history at the London School of Economics[2] and subsequently studied at Durham University marrying David Barker, a now retired Zoology Professor at the institution. Their daughter Anna Ralph published her own novel The Floating Island (Hutchinson, ISBN 10: 0091795559) in 2007.
Barker's biographer is Sharon Montieth.[3].
[edit] Books
Union Street (1982)
Blow Your House Down (1984)
The Century's Daughter (also known as Liza's England; 1986)
The Man Who Wasn't There (1989)
Regeneration Trilogy :
Regeneration (1991)
The Eye in the Door (1993)
The Ghost Road (1995)
Another World (1998)
Border Crossing (2001)
Double Vision (2003)
Life Class (2007)
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我通常对长篇小说持谨慎态度,因为很多作品往往在中段出现叙事疲软的现象,但这部作品的后劲非常足。它真正的高光时刻,我认为出现在结尾的收束阶段。作者并没有选择一个简单粗暴的“大团圆”或完全绝望的结局,而是留下了一个开放式的、却又在情感上令人信服的句点。这种处理方式极其考验作者的功力,因为它要求在收束所有主要矛盾的同时,还能为读者的想象力保留足够的空间。 收尾部分的力度在于其回响。书页合上之后,故事本身似乎在你的脑海中继续上演,那些未被明确解释的细节和人物最终的命运,引发了持续的讨论欲。它不仅仅是“结束”了,更像是“沉淀”了下来。它迫使你去反思,究竟哪些是真正发生过的,哪些是基于误解和创伤的重建。这种耐人寻味的结局,成功地提升了整部作品的艺术价值,使其超越了单纯的类型小说范畴,具备了更长久的阅读生命力。
评分这本书的叙事节奏把握得实在是一绝,简直像一位经验老到的音乐指挥家在掌控着乐章的起伏。起初,故事像是一条蜿蜒的河流,缓缓铺陈开来,带着一种略显迷蒙的、初春清晨的雾气,让你觉得一切都笼罩在一种若有似无的悬念之中。作者并没有急于抛出重磅炸弹,而是耐心地用大量细腻的笔触去勾勒人物的内心世界和他们所处的环境细节。读到中间部分,节奏陡然加快,就像是快板的加入,那些看似不经意的线索开始如同被激活的机关,相互碰撞、牵引,让你有一种屏住呼吸去追逐的感觉。 情节的张力在关键时刻达到了顶峰,那种紧张感并非来自血腥暴力的堆砌,而是源于人物在道德困境中的挣扎和抉择的艰难。我尤其欣赏作者处理高潮部分的方式,它不是一个单一的爆发点,而更像是一系列连锁反应,每一步都无可避免,却又出乎意料。当真相逐渐浮出水面时,那种“原来如此”的恍然大悟感,伴随着一丝丝不易察觉的悲凉,让人回味悠长。这种步步为营的叙事策略,让读者在不知不觉中,就已经完全沉浸到了作者构建的世界观里,很难抽离出来。
评分这本书的整体氛围营造得极其到位,我必须强调它的“质感”。它不是那种喧闹浮躁的娱乐产品,而更像是一件经过时间沉淀的、带有独特气味的艺术品。通篇弥漫着一种淡淡的、挥之不去的忧郁气息,这种忧郁不是无病呻吟,而是源于对人性弱点的深刻洞察和对周遭环境的冷峻观察。它成功地捕捉到了一种“迷失感”——角色在物理空间和心理空间上的双重迷失。 这种氛围的成功,很大程度上归功于对“空间”的独特处理。书中所描绘的场景,无论是荒凉的郊区还是拥挤的室内,都仿佛被赋予了某种沉重的历史或未言明的秘密,成为角色内心世界的延伸和投射。当你读到某一段描述时,甚至能感受到那种略带寒意的、夜晚独有的寂静,以及在这种寂静中潜藏的某种不安。这种沉浸式的体验,让阅读变成了一种深入探索角色灵魂深处的旅程。
评分从文学性上来说,这本书的文字功底令人叹服,它拥有那种老派小说家才有的沉稳与厚重感,但语言风格却又极其现代和流畅,没有丝毫的晦涩难懂。作者的遣词造句仿佛经过精心的打磨,每一个形容词和动词的选择都恰到好处,精准地传达了那种特定的氛围。我印象特别深刻的是对场景的描绘,那不是简单的背景板,而是充满了生命力的存在。比如对某条古老街道的刻画,那种湿漉漉的石板路、空气中弥漫的陈旧气味,甚至是光线投射的角度,都仿佛能穿透纸面,让你真真切切地感受到那份历史的重量和时间的流逝。 更难得的是,作者在叙事中融入了大量的哲学思辨,但处理得非常高明,它并非生硬地插入说教,而是自然地从人物的困惑和行为中流淌出来。关于“记忆的不可靠性”和“个体身份的构建”等主题,在故事推进的同时被反复叩问,引发读者深思。这种将严肃主题融入引人入胜的故事之中的能力,无疑是区分优秀作品与平庸之作的关键所在。读完合上书的那一刻,我感觉自己不仅仅是读了一个故事,更像是完成了一次精神上的小小的洗礼。
评分人物塑造是这本书最闪光的部分之一,每一个角色都立体得仿佛随时会从书页中走出来,带着他们自己的复杂性和难以言喻的缺陷。他们不是非黑即白的符号,而是充满了灰色地带的活生生的人。主角的内心挣扎尤其深刻,他身上那种无法逃脱的宿命感与偶尔迸发出的反抗精神形成了强烈的戏剧冲突。你既会为他的痛苦感到心痛,又会因为他某些自私或错误的决定而感到无奈和气愤,这种复杂的情感投射,正是优秀人物塑造的标志。 配角群像同样出彩,即便是出场篇幅不多的角色,也都有着自己清晰的动机和背景故事,他们的存在不是为了推动主角,而是为了构建一个更加真实可信的社会生态。作者巧妙地利用不同角色的视角和理解差异,来展现事件的不同侧面,这使得整个故事的叙事维度更加丰富饱满,避免了单一视角的局限性。读者在阅读过程中,就像是在与一群真实的人进行深度对话,感受到人与人之间关系的微妙和脆弱。
评分“Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them. This moment in this tent already had the quality of remembered experience.”三部曲的终篇,视线主要集中在历史人物、心理医生Rivers和虚构的中级军官Prior身上。战争(毫不出奇地)使人身心俱疲,不同的人以不同的方式挣扎。比起死亡,徒劳感更令人绝望。“...in trench times he was old. A generation lasted six months...”
评分“Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them. This moment in this tent already had the quality of remembered experience.”三部曲的终篇,视线主要集中在历史人物、心理医生Rivers和虚构的中级军官Prior身上。战争(毫不出奇地)使人身心俱疲,不同的人以不同的方式挣扎。比起死亡,徒劳感更令人绝望。“...in trench times he was old. A generation lasted six months...”
评分“Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them. This moment in this tent already had the quality of remembered experience.”三部曲的终篇,视线主要集中在历史人物、心理医生Rivers和虚构的中级军官Prior身上。战争(毫不出奇地)使人身心俱疲,不同的人以不同的方式挣扎。比起死亡,徒劳感更令人绝望。“...in trench times he was old. A generation lasted six months...”
评分“Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them. This moment in this tent already had the quality of remembered experience.”三部曲的终篇,视线主要集中在历史人物、心理医生Rivers和虚构的中级军官Prior身上。战争(毫不出奇地)使人身心俱疲,不同的人以不同的方式挣扎。比起死亡,徒劳感更令人绝望。“...in trench times he was old. A generation lasted six months...”
评分“Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them. This moment in this tent already had the quality of remembered experience.”三部曲的终篇,视线主要集中在历史人物、心理医生Rivers和虚构的中级军官Prior身上。战争(毫不出奇地)使人身心俱疲,不同的人以不同的方式挣扎。比起死亡,徒劳感更令人绝望。“...in trench times he was old. A generation lasted six months...”
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