1、An Appreciation of American LiteratureUnit 2 Herman Melville英美文学欣赏（第四版）高级实用英语系列教材u作者简介作者简介赫尔曼梅尔维尔（Herman Melville,18191891），美国小说家、诗人。英美文学欣赏（第四版）他出生纽约名门，家境富足，兄妹八人，他排行第三，幼年博览群书。十一岁时，经商的父亲破产。梅尔维尔辍学做工，补贴家用。先后做过的工作包括：银行职员，农场工人，皮货店伙计，小学教师等各种职业，二十岁到货船上当水手，去了英国利物浦。后来到一条捕鲸船上当水手，在漫无归期的漂泊中，因为难耐孤独，他离船上岛，在南太平洋一个
2、有食人生番之称的部落里生活一个多月。后来搭另一艘捕鲸船离开，又卷入一场暴乱，被船长放逐在塔希提岛。麦尔维尔逃脱后在另一条捕鲸船上当镖枪手。船行至夏威夷，他参加美国海军，退役后回到美国波士顿，开始小说写作。英美文学欣赏（第四版）四年的海上生涯给了他无尽的写作素材。他的早期作品多是海上小说，主要有：波里尼西亚三部曲，包括泰比（Typee，1846）、奥姆（Omoo，1847）、玛迪（Mardi，1849），以及白外套（White-Jacket，1850）。这些小说融游记、历险、随笔、哲思为一体，为梅尔维尔赢得了名声。其他作品还有广场的故事（Piazza Tales，1856）与水手比利巴德（Bil
3、ly Budd，1924）。白鲸（Moby-Dick，1851）是他的代表作，被认为是美国最伟大的小说之一。美国内战爆发之后，转向诗歌写作，出版诗集战事集：内战诗歌（Battle Pieces:Civil War poems，1866）。麦尔维尔在晚年，大多作品受到冷遇，作家去世时几乎被人遗忘。20世纪20年代，麦尔维尔才有声名重震，确立了他在美国文学史上应有的地位。英美文学欣赏（第四版）u作品欣赏作品欣赏Moby-Dick白鲸结构恢弘，气势不凡，运用一个无辜者、幸存者的视角，讲了一个誓死报仇的船长与一条庞大无比的鲸鱼的遭遇。英美文学欣赏（第四版）小说是第一人称叙事，叙述者以实玛利（Ishma
4、el）是一个厌烦了陆地生活的年轻人。他到披谷德号（the Pequod）捕鲸船上当水手，船长埃哈伯（Ahab）是个有很多经验的捕鲸船长，在一次捕鲸中，被一条名叫莫比迪克的抹香鲸劈掉了一条腿。他发誓报仇，带领一船人寻找白鲸。经过三天的追杀，最后的结局是鱼死船毁人亡。英美文学欣赏（第四版）小说情节简单，内容却很丰富。它写到了鲸鱼的方方面面，是关于鲸鱼的百科全书。这又是一部大海之书，通过与大海朝夕相处的水手写出来，形成了一部丰富多彩的海洋启示录，大海之美的描写随处可见。这还是一部幸存者的故事，是反思反省之书，叙述者是一位捕鲸船上的幸存者，他讲述了自己独自生还的故事。这还是一部充满想象力的波澜壮阔的史
5、诗。通过描写人对鲸鱼的追击，作者提出了对人与海洋生物、人与自然关系的庄严拷问，也是对人如何与自己相处，如何面对自己的野心、雄心、仇恨等的深沉思考。小说结构层层推进，节奏缓急有序，文字描写很有诗意。它把鲸鱼知识与捕鲸故事穿插叙述，对大海的描写波澜壮阔，气势磅礴。捕鲸场面则惊险刺激，动人心魄。英国小说家劳伦斯说它是迄今为止写海洋的最伟大的作品，它在灵魂中唤起敬畏。这也是英国小说家毛姆所著的巨匠与杰作中所列十位作家中唯一入选的美国小说，称赞作品风格壮观、雄辩，达到了完美的地步。英美文学欣赏（第四版）u作品欣赏作品欣赏选文为小说第41章。前一章写埃哈伯船长出面鼓动船员，跟他一起追猎白鲸。这一章主要是对
6、白鲸的猜想及其象征意义的扩展。本章第一段写了叙述者不由自主的盲从，然后追述了其实很少人见过的白鲸如何经过各种荒诞无稽的流言和人们的添油加醋、异想天开的谣言，成为恐惧、迷信的对象。进而回忆了船长与白鲸的遭遇，描写了船长偏执、疯狂、近乎病态的报复心理的形成过程。船长善于操控舆论，蛊惑人心。他巧妙地对水手心理暗示和诱导，挑动船员追随他，把自己个人的仇恨变成集体的疯狂。英美文学欣赏（第四版）在埃哈伯眼里，鲸鱼不仅仅是一条伤害了他的鱼，而是任何可以激起他报复心、嫉妒心的存在。白鲸改变了他对世界的理解。他不仅把白鲸当成了敌人，复仇的对象，还把白鲸看成现象背后的真相，生活中一切不如意因素背后的原因，一个无处
7、不在的、强大到让他发狂的对手。最后，他把白鲸看成人生的目的，命运的挑战。对鲸鱼的追杀之旅成为自我探寻之旅，蛊惑人心之旅，真相求索、复仇与命运、挑战与雄心之旅。对于水手来说，这是人性考验，恐惧、屈服，追逐、杀戮之旅。对于叙述者来说，这是灵魂洗礼之旅。人们对白鲸的想象也在不断改变。这些都给作品注入了比一个复仇故事深远得多的容量。英美文学欣赏（第四版）I,Ishmael,was one of that crew;my shouts had gone up with the rest;my oath had been welded with theirs;and stronger I shouted,
8、and more did I hammer and clinch my oath,because of the dread in my soul.A wild,mystical,sympathetical feeling was in me;Ahabs quenchless feud seemed mine.With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and revenge.注解
9、：1.Ishmael：以实玛利，小说的叙述者，名字取自圣经。小说尾声引用圣经旧约约伯记说，“唯有我一人逃脱，来报信于你。”喻指叙述者为幸存者，报告世人以全船人的性命换来的教训。2.“因为内心的恐惧，我叫喊得越响亮，我的誓言越是板上钉钉。”意思指叙述者和其他水手一样，受到船长的蛊惑，立下誓言向白鲸报仇。3.Ahabs quenchless feud：埃哈伯难以抑制的仇恨，指埃哈伯船长对白鲸的敌视。英美文学欣赏（第四版）And as for those who,previously hearing of the White Whale,by chance caught sight of him;i
10、n the beginning of the thing they had every one of them,almost,as boldly and fearlessly lowered for him,as for any other whale of that species.But at length,such calamities did ensue in these assaultsnot restricted to sprained wrists and ankles,broken limbs,or devouring amputations-but fatal to the
11、last degree of fatality;those repeated disastrous repulses,all accumulating and piling their terrors upon Moby Dick;those things had gone far to shake the fortitude of many brave hunters,to whom the story of the White Whale had eventually come.注解：1.those repeated disastrous repulses,upon Moby Dick：这
12、些不断发生的灾难性的反击日积月累都把它们的恐惧算在了白鲸头上。英美文学欣赏（第四版）The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them,till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung.That intangible malignity which has been from the beginning;t
13、o whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the worlds;which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue devil;-Ahab did not fall down and worship it like them;but deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred white whale,he pitted himself,all mutilated,against
14、 it.All that most maddens and torments;all that stirs up the lees of things;all truth with malice in it;all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain;all the subtle demonisms of life and thought;all evil,to crazy Ahab,were visibly personified,and made practically assailable in Moby Dick.He piled up
15、on the whales white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down;and then,as if his chest had been a mortar,he burst his hot hearts shell upon it.英美文学欣赏（第四版）注释：注释：1.as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies：（白鲸）成为所有那些恶毒力量的偏执狂的化身。2.That intan
16、gible malignity：那种难以捉摸的恶。3.which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue devil:古代东方的拜蛇教徒敬奉魔鬼的铸像。ancient Ophites：古代以蛇为智慧的象征而崇拜的人。因为在伊甸园中，蛇引诱夏娃吃禁果，获得知识。4.He piled uponfrom Adam down：他把自亚当以来所有人类的全部恼怒和愤恨都集中在那头鲸鱼的白色背峰上。from Adam down：自亚当以来，自有人类以来。英美文学欣赏（第四版）Human madness is oftentimes
17、a cunning and most feline thing.When you think it fled,it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form.Ahabs full lunacy subsided not,but deepeningly contracted;like the unabated Hudson,when that noble Northman flows narrowly,but unfathomably through the Highland gorge.But,as in his
18、 narrow-flowing monomania,not one jot of Ahabs broad madness had been left behind;so in that broad madness,not one jot of his great natural intellect had perished.That before living agent,now became the living instrument.If such a furious trope may stand,his special lunacy stormed his general sanity
19、,and carried it,and turned all its concentred cannon upon its own mad mark;so that far from having lost his strength,Ahab,to that one end,did now possess a thousand fold more potency than ever he had sanely brought to bear upon any one reasonable object.英美文学欣赏（第四版）注释：注释：1.Ahabs full lunacythrough th
20、e Highland gorge.：埃哈伯的十足的疯狂并没有减退，而是收敛得更深了；好像水势不减的哈得孙河，这个高贵的北方佬正在流经狭隘而深不可测的高地峡谷。Hudson：（地名）哈得孙河。the Highland gorge：（地名）高地峡。2.That before living agent,now became the living instrument.：以前是生命行动的主体，现在变成了活生生的工具。意为埃哈伯的仇恨使他丧失理性，使自己的生命成为一心复仇的工具。英美文学欣赏（第四版）Questions1.How do you interpret the symbol of Moby-D
21、ick?2.What is your view of Ahabs revenge?Do you agree with him or not?英美文学欣赏（第四版）n QuotationsIgnorance is the parent of fear.Herman MelvilleTo produce a mighty book,you must choose a mighty theme.No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea,though many there be that have tried it.Herman Melville英美文学欣赏（第四版）英美文学欣赏（第四版）中国人民大学出版社出版发行中国人民大学出版社出版发行版权所有版权所有 侵权必究侵权必究
