The Quiet American

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2005-09-12 16:34

这本书有奇特的吸引力。一方面太压抑，屡屡有看不下去，掩卷而走的冲动；另一方面人物生动刻骨，你放下了还是悬着心记挂着要回去；当然你知道最后结局如何，可是打开书的时候，那些人物还活着，你也就贪恋的想知道他们的思绪情感。他作记者的底子在，小说应该是虚构的，我读起来有读新闻报导的不寒而栗感。比如<quiet american> 里fowler 跟一小组法国军队时军队听到人声开枪，进去发现尸体是母亲抱着孩子的，大家都很难堪，法国军官几乎是谴责的看fowler , 好像是他逼的自己开枪。这种一瞬间不合理的迁怒，真实到极点。我又要说了，只有最天才的小说家有这样细微的捕捉能力，张爱玲写<秧歌>的时候，铅华洗净，许多细节也有这么传神。
生活里愉快的真实和不愉快的真实都有，我实在是不喜欢读不愉快的东西。(对，就那么鸵鸟。)<沉静的美国人>把不愉快的东四跟愉快的搅在一起，读者搀和着读下去，读的比能忍受的不愉快要多的多，回过神来起来极其郁闷。fowler 的性格里，自私到可耻，他的疲乏却超过了自私，让我们不能彻底的讨厌他，疙瘩的不行。pyle 天真热情招人喜欢，但是唯其因次，我们完全理解他的顺理成章，造成这样大的祸害，看起来完全不可避免。小人物的可恨有可怜之处，pyle 的可恨连一点可怜之处都欠奉。他的聪明，能力，信仰，一根筋的跟由急切的热情促成的无知和自以为是绞在一起，匆匆谋杀了无辜的路人，还悄悄的将美国往越战的泥潭里又拖了几步。

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-13 7:24

小K是跳上了Graham Greene的大车了还是为读书会而读这本书的啊？

别人都不信，只有我拜倒在地佩服他对美国人的国民性的总结，太精辟了

。

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2005-09-13 9:17

勉强算上了greeneland 吧，这是我看的第三本。我喜欢这套书封面好看，印刷精良。我在想下一本看什么，oriental express 看了个开头，没什么兴趣。又想避免跟宗教政治直接有关的。
谁不信？我觉得他对美国人国民性的描写，对英国人国民性的描写，都是深刻入骨啊！他是回答所有关于文学写作技巧悖论的最佳答案--人物写的有个性又有特性，作者个人经验思想情绪是否可以在小说里暴露，怎么把自己不深刻了解的人物写的徐徐如生，平衡珠玑之言和平实描写的比例。

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-13 9:40

If you liked The End of the Affair and prefer to see him tearing his heart out, I recommend Dr. Fisher (or Bomb Party in Geneva), one of his late works.

He likes to call his novels "Escape Entertainment." I agree with you, he doesn't fluff and bullshit. Doesn't write a character or a plot twist to make the reader feel good.

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2005-09-13 10:15

<The End of Affair> is so good but so sad.

I find it total strange that I can totally relate to both characters. I cried when reading the book, and remained depressed for quite a long time after finishing it.

I would prefer something light after <The Quiet American>. <Travels With My Aunt>, for example, is my favourite type of entertainment. Which of his other book is like that?

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-13 10:33

Don't know. You might try Our Man in Havana. I have not read it, but hear it's kind of a satire of international espionage.

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-13 11:07

铅华洗净，许多细节也有这么传神

That's because their intention of writing is primarily to convey ideas and draw characters, to tell the reader something honestly and with urgency, but NOT to show off how clever the author is. That's why I find pretension and high-brow condescension so tiresome. That's why I cannot get into Nabokov no matter how much I acknowledge his cleverness and talent. Style or substance are not mutually exclusive, but too much style almost always hinders the effectiveness of delivering the substance. Which would one choose to sacrifice is key.

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-14 6:36

小K好更新啦。

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2005-09-14 9:10

今天就这么多

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-15 12:46

fowler 的性格里，自私到可耻，他的疲乏却超过了自私，让我们不能彻底的讨厌他，疙瘩的不行

我不能彻底讨厌他，是因为看他象照镜子一样。一边读着一边冷汗都下来了，因为他的confession每句话我全都从骨子里明白理解，甚至他努力用cynicism掩盖起来的理想主义。

这本书，尤其是对照时局来看，简直真实得恐怖。

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2005-09-21 6:51

小K你还写不写了？害得我一天跑进来看几次。

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2005-09-21 8:41

等周末写。

笑嘻嘻 · Post by **笑嘻嘻** » 2005-09-26 14:43

后来呢？

密斯张三 · Post by **密斯张三** » 2006-08-29 13:17

greenland我来了，我后知后觉地往大车上蹦达道。

据手头这本书的前言讲，as an adolescent greene attempted suicide on numerous occasions and at sixteen underwent psychiastric treatment.

标题有翻作《文静的美国人》的，算是粗泛宽广＝》细密微妙的形容词翻译转换体现。

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2006-08-29 14:31

我害羞的说，这么久没写完的帖子都被翻出来了啊。

tiffany · Post by **tiffany** » 2006-08-29 14:39

我悄悄的在心里拍手称了一下儿快

密斯张三 · Post by **密斯张三** » 2006-08-29 14:42

谁让你还挂着抗体牛的牌子啊。其实悄悄撤了，大家也不知道你没写完，还显着言之不尽，纸短情长，一声叹息，意犹未尽，回味无穷，绕梁三日，等等，等等。

森林的火焰 · Post by **森林的火焰** » 2006-08-29 15:16

三小姐好不好把你这上面这一串儿都信达雅地翻成英文？比如talk about it infinitely, paper is too short for emotion, a sigh, the sentiment is not finished yet, backtaste never ends, hover around the beam for three days, etc., etc....

密斯张三 · Post by **密斯张三** » 2006-08-29 18:09

你这不是都信达雅好了嘛。想让我夸你就直说嘛。你不说我怎么知道哩。

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-09-25 13:41

A couple of days ago I skimmed a few pages in the "definitive, authorized" biography of Graham Greene -- volume 3 of a 3-volume, gigantic biography, by Norman Sherry. I am sure this is just my bias and not the author's fault, but I thought the writing was pedantic, lame, and ... silly. The records of every letter and every conversation Graham had with his friends and colleagues and lovers are piled together with some obvious and the most elementary logic. Case in point, at one time Greene went to Jerusalem for a trip, and some society there (can't remember whether it was governmental or private) gave him an award of some sort. Even the previous recipients were not all Jewish. Nevertheless someone (some sort of professor) jumped out and attacked this choice. He claimed that there were signs in Greenes early novels (Brighton Rock, for example) that he harbored anti-semetic ideology, therefore was undeserving of the award. Greene responded with little drama that he intended no antisemetic messages in his writing, but yes, it's possible that he was not immune to the general sentiment in the years between WWI and WWII. He added (characteristically I thought) at the end, "... but many people did [resist the general hostility against Jews]." The biographer then went on to defend Greene against the charge from this single professor that he was antisemetic. "Greene was by no means anti-semetic. If anything, he is always for victims." He goes on and on. There was another professor, he cited, who attacked Greene for "not Catholic" enough.

Can you blame me for harboring contempt for academics in literary criticism and "soft sciences" (perhaps economics not included) who make a comfortable living writing and "researching" and publishing and teaching such nonsense? Don't they have better things to do? And thank god for the kind biographer's favorable judgment of Greene as "not an antisemite", since he had such an extensive knowledge of Greene the person and his most private letters and exchanges.

I almost wonder if Greene chose Sherry to write his own biography because he is so dense and oblivious and ... stupid, and thus he does not have to risk being revealed by an otherwise more insightful biographer. He would rather tolerate the ass-kissing idiot than facing the risk of being understood and penetrated, face to face, when he was alive. He was probably too shy and self-conscious for such an exposure. Someone like Greene defies biography. It is pointless to read anything other than facts and his own words. Perhaps a contemporary with a sense of humor and irreverence would produce something worth a look. In general I don't think he can or should or need be defined. He is real, and the definitions are artificial, feeble, and dead, and utterly meaningless.

You may laugh at me but I find it funny (in funny ha-ha and funny ironic) that Norman Sherry is not only American but a Texan no less...

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2006-09-25 20:15

I almost wonder if Greene chose Sherry to write his own biography because he is so dense and oblivious and ... stupid, and thus he does not have to risk being revealed by an otherwise more insightful biographer.

也可能是他的pratical joke , “如果读者要了解我，看小说就可以了，何必偷懒读传记？虚构的小说在某种层次上更真实反应我的想法。”我不相信他介意别人看穿他。我觉得他好像从来不介意人性里卑劣自私的东西。