图书标签: Naipaul
发表于2025-02-17
A Bend In The River pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2025
Review
'Brilliant and terrifying' Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"For sheer abundance of talent, there ca hardly be a writer alive who surpasses V.S. Naipaul." —The New York Times Book Review
"Confirms Naipaul's position as one of the best writers now at work." —Walter Clemons, Newsweek
"The sweep of Naipaul's imagination, the brilliant fictional frame that expresses it, are in my view without equal today." —Elizabeth Hardwick
115 of 124 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is not really fiction, April 14, 2000
By Ed Gibbon www.congocookbook.com (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Bend in the River (Paperback)
Naipaul's "A Bend in the River" is almost as much reportage as fiction. The novel is set in the city of Kisangani, on the Congo River in Congo (formerly the Zaire river in Zaire) -- though interestingly, the author never says this explicitly. I have never seen an account as to what Naipaul's experiences in Zaire were exactly, but he manages to tell the story of the early days of Zaire's independence, after colonial rule as the Belgian Congo.
The protagonist is a young Indian from the Eastern coast. ("Indian" in the sense of his ethnicity, his family has been in Africa longer than they can remember.) He has purchased a shop in Kisangani, and trys to build up his business as the "big man" consolidates power in the newly independent country. Things go from bad to worse, for the new shopkeeper and the country. Though this is fiction, every word is true.
Naipaul writes beautifully, and has many insights into Africa, colonialism, history, and life. This is one of the few books that I have read and enjoyed more than once.
Some people recommend Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" to readers looking for an "African" novel. But to recommend "Things Fall Apart" over "A Bend in the River" makes sense only if you can read just a single book about Africa. Achebe's novel is set in Nigeria; Naipaul's is about Zaire. It's like saying don't bother with "Brothers Karamozov", read "Great Expectations" instead. I should hope a serious reader would turn his attention to both.
(The last days of the Belgian Congo is the setting for Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible". Many good nonfiction stories from this time and place are found in "A Doctor's Life: Unique Stories" by William T. Close. A literary approach to the early days of the Belgian Congo is Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness".)
V.S.奈保尔(1932—2018 )
英国著名作家。1932年生于特立尼达岛上一个印度移民家庭,1950年进入牛津大学攻读英国文学,毕业后迁居伦敦。
50年代开始写作,著有《米格尔街》、《斯通先生与骑士伙伴》、《自由国度》、《大河湾》、“印度三部曲”、《非洲的假面剧》等。20 01年荣获诺贝尔文学奖。
茂密的丛林中,谁才是真正的“非洲人”,还是只是一些无足轻重的人,“在这个世界上没有位置”? 奈保尔提出了问题,他是一个局外人,《大河湾》中对非洲的描述更像来自一个旅行者,就像萨林姆对“大人物”总统的看法,一个遥远地方的形象,只挂在墙壁上。这影响了作品所能达到...
评分《大河湾》这部小说,其主旨是写一个非洲人在复杂多变的历史与现实环境中寻找自我意识,寻求生存意义;而对非洲尤其是中部那条河流的描写,更让这部小说看起来更加具有严肃与纯正的文学意味。 但我不想对这部小说的严肃主旨多加评论,因为这样的好评论已经无数。我只想说说在...
评分茂密的丛林中,谁才是真正的“非洲人”,还是只是一些无足轻重的人,“在这个世界上没有位置”? 奈保尔提出了问题,他是一个局外人,《大河湾》中对非洲的描述更像来自一个旅行者,就像萨林姆对“大人物”总统的看法,一个遥远地方的形象,只挂在墙壁上。这影响了作品所能达到...
评分依然选取了移民视角,展现一地一国的变迁,主人公一出场,就面临一个身份的问题——家族早早移民于此,丢失历史,却又拘泥于传统,来得太久以至于无路可退,与当地人无法融合,在动荡乱世中无法保护自己。无法自处,这个问题不仅在印度裔身上产生,也在早已失去征服者姿态的阿...
评分摘自《中华读书网》 作者:博览群书 奈保尔不懈追求观察和叙述的新方式,在他为小说作出的墓志铭体现了他一贯的逆向思维。在推出一系列也许用“文学性自传”这样的术语更为贴切的虚构作品(《到达者之谜》,《世道人心》)后,他说,小说作为一种文学样式已经死亡,当代...
A Bend In The River pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2025