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中文版介绍
《人性的枷锁》是英国19世纪知名作家威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆的长篇半自传体小说，也是其代表作品，于1915年出版，作品尽管在批评界有所争议，但出版后便长印不衰，受到了极大的欢迎，也被翻拍成影视作品。小说以第一人称的视角叙述了主人公菲利普前半生的迷惘、探索、失望、挫折、和痛苦。作品的主题是命运羁绊之下的人性的自由。
情节简介
菲利普天生跛足，自幼失去双亲，自卑的心理深深植根在他的生活中。他在伯父凯里牧师和伯母路易莎的抚养下长大，伯父对其较为冷淡，但伯母悉心照料，给予他母亲般的温暖。菲利普自幼酷爱文学，在伯父的书房里找到寄托。伯父伯母希望菲利普到牛津学习神学，以后成为神父，把他送到一所宗教气氛浓厚的寄宿学校学习。在那里，虽然菲利普崭露了学习的天份，但生性腼腆的他并不能融入到学校生活中，也因为跛足受尽嘲笑。[1]随后，菲利普不顾伯父的反对，远赴德国海德堡求学，在那里结识了英国人海沃德和美国人威克斯，开始对神学产生质疑。在一个假期回到英国家中时，菲利普同威尔金森小姐互生情愫但并不真心相恋，在回到德国后便逐渐停止通信。
之后，菲利普到伦敦成为一名会计学徒，但他对枯燥的生活感到厌倦，很快就转而到巴黎学习艺术，在巴黎学了两年绘画。在巴黎，菲利普结交了一些朋友，其中有毫无天分、脾气怪异的普莱斯小姐。普莱斯小姐暗中喜欢菲利普，后来因为穷困无助和绝望而自杀。
菲利普最终意识到自己在艺术上资质平平，不会有所建树，而伯母的死讯传来，菲利普回到英国，并决定去伦敦学医。在伦敦，菲利普爱上了女招待米尔德，但米尔德并不喜欢菲利普，而且天性自私，拒绝了菲利普的追求，同他人发生关系并怀孕。在追求失败后，菲利普转向女作家诺拉的怀抱。之后米尔德被人抛弃，又找到了菲利普，菲利普同诺拉分手，努力接济米尔德生活。但米尔德随后恋上了菲利普的朋友哈利并再次离开。
当菲利普再次遇到米尔德时，发现她再次被抛弃，成为妓女。此时的菲利普已不再爱她，但因为怜悯而收留了她。米尔德试图引诱菲利普未果，一怒之下逃走。后来菲利普知晓她孩子病死，再次沦落风尘。
菲利普后来因投资南非矿山失败而破产，不得不在商店里打工。但最终因得到伯父死后留下的遗产而再次回到医学院，取得医生资质。后来菲利普同多次帮助过自己的医生阿瑟尔尼的女儿萨利相恋，并得知她怀孕的消息。菲利普果断放弃之前游历的计划，同萨利订婚。
作品评价
本书问世后，收到诸多作家和评论家的高度评价，认为他是"融汇了作家真挚感情，体现了作家真实思想的感人之作"；它"以质朴无华的文体，出色地表达了一种深沉的、甚至是悲剧性的情感"，"给人留下坦率而真诚的印象"。美国著名批判现实主义作家西奥多·德莱塞在一篇题为《现实主义者眼里的〈人生的枷锁〉》的文章中，把这部小说称为"天才的著作"，称毛姆为"艺术大师"。这部小说自出版以来，始终未绝版，至今仍广为世界各国读者所传诵。一九六六年，英国著名批评家西亚尔·柯诺利将此书列入"现代文学运动巨著一百种"，说明它在英国文学史上具有不可忽视的地位。
http://baike.baidu.com/view/6959160.htm
英文版简介
Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention."[1] Maugham, who had originally planned to call his novel Beauty from Ashes, finally settled on a title taken from a section of Spinoza's Ethics.[2] The Modern Library ranked Of Human Bondage #66 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Plot
The book begins with the death of Helen Carey, the mother of nine-year-old Philip Carey. Philip's father Henry had died a few months before, and the orphan Philip, born with a club foot, is sent to live with his Aunt Louisa and Uncle William Carey.
Early chapters relate Philip's experience at the vicarage. Louisa tries to be a mother to Philip, but his uncle takes a cold disposition towards him. Philip's uncle has a vast collection of books, and Philip enjoys reading to find ways to escape his mundane existence. Less than a year later, Philip is sent to a boarding school. His uncle and aunt wish for him to eventually attend Oxford. Philip's disability makes it difficult for him to fit in. Philip is informed that he could have earned a scholarship for Oxford, which both his uncle and school headmaster see as a wise course, but Philip insists on going to Germany.
In Germany, Philip lives at a boarding house with other foreigners. Philip enjoys his stay in Germany. Philip's guardians decide to take matters into their own hands and they convince him to move to take up an apprenticeship. He does not fare well there as his co-workers resent him because they believe he is a "gentleman". He goes on a business trip with one of his managers to Paris and is inspired by the trip to study art in France. In France, Philip attends art classes, makes new friends, like Fanny Price, a poor talentless art student who does not get along well with people. Fanny Price falls in love with Philip, but he is unaware and does not return her feelings. After her money runs out, she commits suicide, leaving Philip to tend to her affairs.
Bette Davis and Leslie Howard in the 1934 film versionPhilip realizes that he will never be a professional artist. He returns to his uncle's house, and eventually decides to go to England to pursue his late father's field. He struggles at medical school and comes across Mildred. He falls desperately in love with her, although she does not show any emotion for him. Mildred tells Philip she is getting married, leaving him heartbroken; he subsequently enters into an affair with Norah Nesbit, a kind and sensitive author of penny romance novels. Later, Mildred returns, pregnant, and confesses that the man for whom she had abandoned Philip had never married her.
Philip breaks off his relationship with Norah and supports Mildred financially though he can ill afford to do so. To Philip's dismay she falls in love with his good friend Harry Griffiths, and disappears. Philip runs into Mildred again when she is so poor she has resorted to prostitution and, feeling sympathy for her, takes her in to do his housework, though he no longer loves her. When he rejects her advances, she becomes angry at him, destroys most of his belongings and leaves forever. In shame, and quickly running out of money, Philip leaves the house for good.
While working at a hospital, Philip befriends family man Thorpe Athelny. Athelny has lived in Toledo in Spain, enthusing about the country, and is translating the works of San Juan de la Cruz. Meanwhile, he invests in mines but is left nearly penniless because of events surrounding the Boer War. He wanders the streets aimlessly for a few days before the Athelnys take him in and find him a department store job, which he hates. His talent for drawing is discovered and he receives a promotion and raise in salary, but his time at the store is short lived. After his uncle William dies, Philip inherits enough money to allow him to finish his medical studies and he finally becomes a licensed doctor. Philip takes on a temporary placement at a hospital with Dr. South, an old, rancorous physician whose wife is dead and whose daughter has broken off contact with him. However, Dr. South takes a shine to Philip's humour and personable nature, eventually offering Philip a stake in his medical practice. Although flattered, Philip refuses.
He soon goes on a small summer vacation with the Athelnys at a village in the countryside. There he finds that one of Athelny's daughters, Sally, likes him. They have an affair, and when she thinks she is pregnant, Philip decides to accept Dr. South's offer, and to marry Sally instead. They meet in the National Gallery where, despite learning that it was a false alarm, Philip becomes engaged to Sally concluding that "the simplest pattern, that in which a man was born, worked, married, had children, and died, was likewise the most perfect."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Human_Bondage |
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难忘一刻－ 也许不只是一刻 (2005-1-31) 小李飞刀 
发表于 2013-6-13 13:29
发表于 2013-6-24 22:44
