这座城市最著名且仍罕有匹敌的记录者当属查尔斯狄更斯。他为伦敦小说定下的模板至今仍未过时,各行各业的角色在其叙述中粉墨登场,眼花缭乱,纷纷攘攘,世态万象。在他笔下的伦敦,富贵阶级与贫苦人家低头不见抬头见,大善人和诈骗犯并肩痛饮麦芽酒。无生命的角色也同有生命的一样栩栩如生:奥利弗特弗斯特待过的那家阴暗凄凉的车间,与这个可怜的小乞儿本身或是他邪恶的朋友亚瑟道奇比起来,同是一段传奇;即使工业时期的浓雾早已散去,那幽灵般灰蒙蒙的雾霾仍笼罩在伦敦的形象周围,挥之不去。
Few novelists have so successfully managed such vast and varied casts. In contrast,Sherlock Holmes rattled through the silent streets his cases invariably depend on a fewplayers. Yet Conan Doyle did almost as much as Dickens to establish another enduringtheme of London-lit: that every character conceals a secret. No wonder the capital is such apopular setting for crime fiction, from Margery Allingham to Ruth Rendell.
少有几个小说家像狄更斯这样,笔下的人物鱼龙混杂,截然迥异,处理起来却依旧得心应手。相反,歇洛克福尔摩斯的车轮辘辘驶过寂静的街道他的故事里一贯只牵涉寥寥几个人物。但柯南道尔同样确立了伦敦小说另一个经久不衰的主题:人人皆有秘密,就这一点其几可与狄更斯比肩。难怪从马杰里艾林翰到露丝蓝戴尔的作品,犯罪小说常常以伦敦为背景。
【2015考研英语阅读最好最坏的城市】相关文章:
最新
2016-10-18
2016-10-11
2016-10-11
2016-10-08
2016-09-30
2016-09-30