BBC評(píng)選出的21世紀(jì)最偉大的12部小說(shuō).

　　在這個(gè)開(kāi)放喧囂的世紀(jì)，最偉大的小說(shuō)是什么?經(jīng)過(guò)全面嚴(yán)格的評(píng)判，BBC文化的掌門人簡(jiǎn)·席亞巴塔莉(Jane Ciabattari)聯(lián)系了幾十名書評(píng)家，包括《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》書評(píng)欄目(The New York Times Book Review)書評(píng)家波若·賽加爾(Parul Sehgal),《時(shí)代周刊》(Time magazine)雜志的圖書編輯列弗·格羅斯曼(Lev Grossman)，《華盛頓新聞報(bào)》(Newsday)的圖書編輯湯姆·比爾(Tom Beer)，“書癡”(Bookslut)的創(chuàng)始人杰薩·克里斯平(Jessa Crispin), 《百萬(wàn)》(The Millions)的創(chuàng)始人C·馬克斯·麥吉(C Max Magee),《書目雜志》(Booklist)的唐娜·西曼(Donna Seaman),《克柯斯書評(píng)》(Kirkus Reviews)的勞里·穆可尼克(Laurie Muchnick)，和其它的一些圖書界人士。我們要求每人選出新世紀(jì)以來(lái)，已出版的、最好的英文小說(shuō)。評(píng)論家們一共挑選出156部小說(shuō)，經(jīng)過(guò)投票，12部小說(shuō)中選。

　　Jfrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)杰弗里·尤金尼德斯《中性》12

　　"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974,” Eugenides writes in the opening lines of his novel. Middlesex bridged the gap between critical and commercial acclaim, as well, winning a Pulitzer and selling millions of copies.尤金尼德斯的這本書是如此開(kāi)篇的——“我曾‘二世為人’。第一次出生時(shí)，我是個(gè)女娃，那是1960年1月底特律一個(gè)毫無(wú)煙霧的日子;而后1974年8月，在密西根州佩托斯基附近的產(chǎn)房中我又以小男孩的面貌降臨于世?！薄吨行浴愤@本贏得普利策獎(jiǎng)又銷量上億的書，在評(píng)論界和商業(yè)上表現(xiàn)俱佳、名利雙收。

　　Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000)查蒂·史密斯《白牙》11

　　As White Teeth unfolds, it is chockablock with vivid scenes and characters, a portrait of postcolonial multicultural London: "Children with first and last names on a direct collision course. Names that secrete within them mass exodus, cramped boats and planes, cold arrivals, medical checks."當(dāng)《白牙》將故事娓娓道來(lái)，書中生動(dòng)的場(chǎng)景、鮮活的人物都躍然紙上，展現(xiàn)了后殖民時(shí)期多族裔混居的倫敦：“孩子們的名字就是文化碰撞的直接展示，隱含了大逃亡、擁擠的飛機(jī)船只、寒冷中抵達(dá)和醫(yī)療檢查等意思。”

　　Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)奇瑪曼達(dá)·恩戈齊·阿迪奇?！栋胼嘃S日》10

　　In her audacious and vividly imagined second novel, Adichie drew upon her ancestral past to write about the Biafra conflict, which traumatised her country and her family for three years after the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967 (her grandfather died in a rugee camp during the war).《半輪黃日》是阿迪奇埃寫的第二部小說(shuō)，其中語(yǔ)言大膽、極具想象力、表現(xiàn)生動(dòng)。阿迪奇埃追溯她祖先的過(guò)往，描寫了尼日利亞內(nèi)戰(zhàn)(1967-1970年尼日利亞?wèn)|部地區(qū)的伊博人實(shí)行分裂后爆發(fā)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，也叫比拉夫戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng))。在那場(chǎng)長(zhǎng)達(dá)3年的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，她的國(guó)家和家庭受到重創(chuàng)(其間，阿迪奇埃的外祖父在難民營(yíng)中去世)。

　　注：Biafra：比拉夫現(xiàn)屬尼日利亞的一部分，位于其東南角，居民多為伊博人(Igbo)。1967年比拉夫宣布獨(dú)立，而后開(kāi)始尼日利亞內(nèi)戰(zhàn)，直至1970年比拉夫重歸尼日利亞，為這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)拉上帷幕。有興趣的同學(xué)可以搜這本書的同名電影看~

　　Ian McEwan, Atonement (2001)伊恩·麥克尤恩《贖罪》9

　　McEwan’s haunting and beautifully crafted novel opens on a summer day in 1935, when 13-year-old Briony shows her mother a play she’s written to perform with her three young cousins the next evening.麥克尤恩這本小說(shuō)奪人心魄、文筆優(yōu)美。故事始于1935年的一個(gè)夏日，13歲的布萊歐妮向她的母親展示她創(chuàng)作的短劇，還準(zhǔn)備第二天晚上和三個(gè)表姐一起表演。

　　"Briony was hardly to know it then, but this was the project's highest point of fulfillment," McEwan writes. "Nothing came near it for satisfaction, all else was dreams and frustration."That evening, Briony witnesses her 15-year-old cousin Lola being assaulted in the darkened woods. Her testimony implicates Robbie, her sister Cecilia's boyfriend from Cambridge and son of the family house maid, and he is jailed.麥克尤恩寫到：“布里奧妮幾乎不知道那已經(jīng)是她劇本最成功的時(shí)刻了，其他的設(shè)想都只是些白日夢(mèng)，不能為她帶來(lái)任何滿足，甚至?xí)屗龂L到沮喪的滋味?！蹦翘焱砩?，布里奧妮親眼目睹了自己15歲的表姐羅拉在黑暗的樹(shù)叢中被強(qiáng)暴。她的證詞暗示了她姐姐塞西莉亞來(lái)自劍橋的男友羅比——家中女仆的兒子——就是犯人，而后他便入獄了。

　　In a second section, McEwan gives a panoramic account of the harrowing evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, with Robbie among those saved. Realising she has ruined Cecilia and Robbie's lives, Briony works as a nurse during the Blitz in a third section. As McEwan follows these characters through six decades, Briony's search for redemption evolves into a meditation on the power of art.在書中第二部分，麥克尤恩用全景的方式描繪了1940年頹敗的敦刻爾克大撤退，羅比是其中的幸存者。布里奧妮意識(shí)到自己毀了塞西莉亞和羅比的一生，她在書中的第三部分的閃電戰(zhàn)期間成為了一名護(hù)士。麥克尤恩的《贖罪》跨越60年時(shí)間，一生懺悔的布里奧妮最后將情感注入筆下成就了藝術(shù)之魂。

　　注：強(qiáng)烈推薦本書改編電影《贖罪》(2007)，主演詹姆斯·麥卡沃伊(一美顏值滿分!)、凱拉·奈特莉。同時(shí)還有本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇的醬油戲。

　　Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2012)本·方汀《比利·林恩漫長(zhǎng)的中場(chǎng)休息》8

　　Eight rookies from the US army’s Bravo squad, fresh from a firight with Iraqi insurgents, are dubbed war heroes by the Fox News cable channel. Their two-week stateside victory tour ends with a halftime salute at a Dallas Cowboys game. Fountain gives us a memorable narrator in 19-year-old Billy Lynn, with his combination of lust,bedazzlement and post-traumatic stress disorder.在與伊拉克叛亂者的交火結(jié)束沒(méi)多久，美國(guó)軍隊(duì)刺殺小組的八名新兵便被?？怂剐侣?lì)l道標(biāo)榜為戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)英雄。他們?cè)诿绹?guó)國(guó)內(nèi)歷時(shí)兩周的勝利巡演，最終以達(dá)拉斯牛仔隊(duì)橄欖球球賽的中場(chǎng)表演畫上句號(hào)。方汀為我們呈現(xiàn)的是一位讓人記憶猶新的講述者，他是19歲的比利·林恩。與此同時(shí)，我們得以一窺比利的欲望、茫然困惑以及創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙(post-traumatic stress disorder，縮寫PTSD)。

　　注：李安導(dǎo)演已經(jīng)確定要將這本書拍成電影!該片的編劇西蒙·比弗尤還曾憑借《貧民窟的百萬(wàn)富翁》(Slumdog Millionaire)獲過(guò)奧斯卡最佳改編劇本獎(jiǎng)。Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010)珍妮弗·伊根《惡棍來(lái)訪》7

　　“Time is the stealth goon, the one you ignore because you are so busy worrying about the goons right in front of you.” Egan says. Egan’s Proustian meditation on time, fame and music won the National Book Critics Circle and Pulitzer awards.伊根寫道：“時(shí)間——是人們總是因?yàn)槊τ趯ふ覔?dān)憂眼前的‘惡棍’而忽略的‘隱藏惡棍’?！币粮鶎?duì)時(shí)間、名譽(yù)和音樂(lè)的普魯斯特式思考成就了此書，使其榮膺美國(guó)國(guó)家書評(píng)人獎(jiǎng)和普利策獎(jiǎng)。

　　Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000)邁克爾·夏本《卡瓦利爾和克萊伊的神奇冒險(xiǎn)》6

　　Booklist senior editor Donna Seaman notes this book is “a timeless inquiry into our tragic proclivity for hate and war, our abiding need for stories and our persistent longing for magical powers and transcendence.”這張書單的高級(jí)編輯唐娜·西曼稱贊這本書“是作者超越時(shí)間界限發(fā)出的疑問(wèn)——它向人類對(duì)于仇恨與戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)悲劇性的傾向、渴望故事的長(zhǎng)久需求以及不懈追求魔力和超越發(fā)問(wèn)?！?/p>

　　Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections (2001)喬納森·弗蘭岑《糾正》5

　　This “astonishing third novel – a masterpiece of voice, character, and storytelling – is both epic and intimate.” Franzen’s edgy multigenerational family saga, winner of a US National Book Award, was among the first novels to capture the zeitgeist of the century’s first decade.“這本(弗蘭岑)出人意料的第三本小說(shuō)是一部杰作，書中人物的發(fā)言、所刻畫的角色以及其講故事的功力都無(wú)可挑剔。書既具有史詩(shī)般的恢弘又言語(yǔ)親昵?！边@部長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)獲得了美國(guó)國(guó)家圖書獎(jiǎng)，展現(xiàn)了多世代家庭中緊張的關(guān)系，它也是捕捉到二十世紀(jì)第一個(gè)十年時(shí)代精神的先驅(qū)小說(shuō)之一。

　　Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004)瑪里琳·羅賓遜《基列家書》4

　　Critic Karen R Long says, “This multi-generational story inculcates a desire for transcendence, and makes a case for spiritual life in the 21st Century – its own kind of miracle. Gilead will be read in 100 years.”評(píng)論家凱倫·R·朗談道：“這個(gè)故事橫跨多代人，書中反復(fù)灌輸?shù)氖侨藗儗?duì)超越的渴望，還展現(xiàn)出21世紀(jì)的精神生活。它本身便是個(gè)奇跡。《基列家書》在未來(lái)的100年中仍會(huì)被人傳閱?！?/p>

　　注：Gilead——基列，圣經(jīng)里古巴勒斯坦的地名。

　　Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009)希拉里·曼特爾的《狼廳》3

　　Mantel’s boldly reimagined saga of 16th Century Europe is told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell (with Henry VIII as a supporting character). It has been filmed as a new BBC miniseries.希拉里的這部作品從托馬斯·克倫威爾的視角大膽地對(duì)16世紀(jì)的歐洲進(jìn)行重構(gòu)，而亨利八世(則一反常態(tài)地)在書中扮演配角。這本長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)已經(jīng)被拍成了BBC新系列短劇。

　　Edward P Jones, The Known World (2003)愛(ài)德華·A·瓊斯《已知的世界》2

　　Set in 1855 on the plantation of Henry Townsend – born a slave, now a slave-owner – The Known World is a triumph of empathy, immersing readers in a complex moral time without making simple judgments. It also “takes an unflinching and engrossing view of America's messy history”.故事發(fā)生在1855年。經(jīng)營(yíng)種植園的亨利·湯森雖然現(xiàn)在是奴隸主，卻有著奴隸出生?！兑阎氖澜纭方o人的代入感很強(qiáng)，它成功讓讀者陷入一個(gè)復(fù)雜的道德處境，難以輕易做出判斷。這本小說(shuō)還“果敢地講述了美國(guó)混亂的歷史，引人入勝”。

　　Junot Díaz, The Bri Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)胡諾特·迪亞斯《奧斯卡·瓦奧短暫而奇妙的一生》1

　　1. Junot Díaz, The Bri Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)胡諾特·迪亞斯的《奧斯卡·瓦奧短暫而奇妙的一生》(2007年出版)

　　The winner in this BBC Culture critics’ poll is Junot Diaz’s first novel, about New Jersey ghetto-nerd Oscar, who dreams of being the Dominican-American Tolkien and finding love. Critic and author Rigoberto Gonzalez notes, “The work re-energised these questions: Who is American? What is the American experience?”胡諾特·迪亞斯的處女作位列于BBC文化檔評(píng)論家投票的榜首。小說(shuō)的主人公是新澤西貧民窟一個(gè)名叫奧斯卡的書呆子。他夢(mèng)想著成為多米尼加裔美國(guó)版的托爾金(英國(guó)文豪，以嚴(yán)肅奇幻作品《霍比特人》、《魔戒》聞名)并找到真愛(ài)。評(píng)論家兼作家里戈韋托·岡薩雷斯評(píng)論道：“這部作品讓人們不禁要重新思索：怎樣定義美國(guó)人?美國(guó)經(jīng)歷又是什么?”