作者：[美]伊迪丝·华顿
出版社：辽宁人民出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
纯真年代试读：
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (24 January 186
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-11 August 19
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) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer！《4
》￥4￥（4）！ She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928
and 1930. Wharton combined her insider！《15
》￥15￥（15）！s view of America's privileged classes with a brilliant, natural wit to write humorous, incisive novels and short stories of social and psychological insight. She was well acquainted with many of her era's other literary and public figures, including Theodore Roosevelt.The Bedside Classics of World Literature, Philosophy and Psychology
Designed to make all English classic works available to all readers, The Bedside Classics bring you the world's greatest literature, philosophy, psychology books that have stood the test of time - at specially low prices. These beautifully designed books will be proud addictions to your bookshelf. You' ll want all these time-tested classics for your own reading pleasure. The titles of the fifth set of The Bedside Classics are:
Emily Dickinson' s Poems - Three Series by Emily Dickinson ¥27.00
The Complete Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe ¥19.00
Notre-Dame De Paris by Victor Hugo ¥35.00
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka ¥17.00
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton ¥20.00
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ¥14.00
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ¥23.00
The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau by Jean-Jacques Rousseau ¥40.00
Martin Eden by Jack London ¥25.00
The Divine Comedy Paradise by Dante Alighieri ¥
10
.00The Confessions of St. Augustine by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo ¥
18
.00Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup ¥
15
.00Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland(Volume II) ¥29.00
Swann's Way - Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust ¥31.00
The World as Will and Idea by Arthur Schopenhauer (Volume I) ¥32.00
For the online order, please use the 2-dimentional bar code on the back cover. If you have any suggestions, please go to the publisher's weibo: http://weibo.com/lrs 2009. Or visit the publisher's web-side. Or call 024-23284321.
General Preface
Millions of Chinese are learning English to acquire knowledge and skills for communication in a world where English has become the primary language for international discourse. Yet not many learners have come to realize that the command of the English language also enables them to have an easy access to the world literary classics such as Shakespeare's plays, Shelley's poems, mark Twain's novels and Nietzsche's works which are an important part of liberal-arts education. The most important goals of universities are not vocational, that is, not merely the giving of knowledge and the training of skills.
In a broad sense, education aims at broadening young people's mental horizon, cultivating virtues and shaping their character. Lincoln, Mao Zedong and many other great leaders and personages of distinction declared how they drew immense inspiration and strength from literary works. As a matter of fact, many of them had aspired to become writers in their young age. Alexander the Great (35
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-323 B.C.) is said to take along with him two things, waking or sleeping: a book and a dagger, and the book is Iliad, a literary classic, by Homer. He would put these two much treasured things under his pillow when he went to bed.Today, we face an unprecedented complex and changing world. To cope with this rapid changing world requires not only communication skills, but also adequate knowledge of cultures other than our own home culture. Among the most important developments in present-day global culture is the ever increasing cultural exchanges and understanding between different nations and peoples. And one of the best ways to know foreign cultures is to read their literary works, particularly their literary classics, the soul of a country's culture. They also give you the best language and the feeling of sublimity.
Liaoning People's Publishing House is to be congratulated for its foresight and courage in making a new series of world literary classics available to the reading public. It is hoped that people with an adequate command of the English language will read them, like them and keep them as their lifetime companions.
I am convinced that the series will make an important contribution to the literary education of the young people in china. At a time when the whole country is emphasizing “spiritual civilization”, it is certainly a very timely venture to put out the series of literary classics for literary and cultural education.Zhang ZhongzaiProfessorBeijing Foreign Studies UniversityJuly, 2013 Beijing
总序
经典名著的语言无疑是最凝练、最优美、最有审美价值的。雪莱的那句“如冬已来临，春天还会远吗？”让多少陷于绝望的人重新燃起希望之火，鼓起勇气，迎接严冬过后的春天。徐志摩一句“悄悄的我走了，正如我悄悄的来；我挥一挥衣袖，不带走一片云彩”又让多少人陶醉。尼采的那句“上帝死了”，又给多少人以振聋发聩的启迪作用。
读经典名著，尤其阅读原汁原味作品，可以怡情养性，增长知识，加添才干，丰富情感，开阔视野。所谓“经典”，其实就是作者所属的那个民族的文化积淀，是那个民族的灵魂缩影。英国戏剧泰斗莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》和《麦克白》等、“意大利语言之父”的但丁的《神曲》之《地狱篇》《炼狱篇》及《天堂篇》、爱尔兰世界一流作家詹姆斯·乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》及《一个艺术家的肖像》等、美国风趣而笔法超一流的著名小说家马克·吐温的《哈克历险记》以及《汤姆索亚历险记》等，德国著名哲学家尼采的《查拉图斯特拉如是说》及《快乐的科学》等等，都为塑造自己民族的文化积淀，做出了永恒的贡献，也同时向世界展示了他们所属的民族的优美剪影。
很多著名领袖如林肯、毛泽东等伟大人物，也都曾从经典名著中汲取力量，甚至获得治国理念。耶鲁大学教授查尔斯·希尔曾在题为《经典与治国理念》的文章，阐述了读书与治国之间的绝妙关系。他这样写道：“在几乎所有经典名著中，都可以找到让人叹为观止、深藏其中的治国艺术原则。”
经典名著，不仅仅有治国理念，更具提升读者审美情趣的功能。世界上不同时代、不同地域的优秀经典作品，都存在一个共同属性：歌颂赞美人间的真善美，揭露抨击世间的假恶丑。
读欧美自但丁以来的经典名著，你会看到，西方无论是在漫长的黑暗时期，抑或进入现代进程时期，总有经典作品问世，对世间的负面，进行冷峻的批判。与此同时，也有更多的大家作品问世，热情讴歌人间的真诚与善良，使读者不由自主地沉浸于经典作品的审美情感之中。
英语经典名著，显然是除了汉语经典名著以外，人类整个进程中至关重要的文化遗产的一部分。从历史上看，英语是全世界经典阅读作品中，使用得最广泛的国际性语言。这一事实，没有产生根本性变化。本世纪相当长一段时间，这一事实也似乎不会发生任何变化。而要更深入地了解并切身感受英语经典名著的风采，阅读原汁原味的英语经典作品的过程，显然是必不可少的。
辽宁人民出版社及时并隆重推出“最经典英语文库”系列丛书，是具有远见与卓识的出版行为。我相信，这套既可供阅读，同时也具收藏价值的英语原版经典作品系列丛书，在帮助人们了解什么才是经典作品的同时，也一定会成为广大英语爱好者、大中学生以及学生家长们挚爱的“最经典英语文库”。北京外国语大学英语学院北外公共外交研究中心欧美文学研究中心主任全国英国文学学会名誉会长张中载 教授2013年7月于北京
Is This Book for You?
揭开“纯真”的虚伪面纱——“最经典英语文库”第五辑之《纯真年代》导读刘秀玉纯真为“纯洁真挚”之意，与“世故、圆滑”相对。纯真可能是儿时的一块巧克力，青春期的一次暗恋，朋友间的一次义无反顾。纯真宛如生命中的花朵，人人向往，却经常被现实摧折。岁月可以冲淡许多过往，心底的纯真与美好却如鲜花般绽放，且近，且远。伊迪丝·华顿的经典之作《纯真年代》讲述的就是纯真的爱与理想跟社会现实之间纠缠不清的故事。
伊迪丝·华顿（1862—1937）是美国小说家，普利策奖得主，曾经三次获得诺贝尔文学奖提名。她还是一位设计师，擅长园艺和室内设计。伊迪丝·华顿从1880年开始发表小说，1905年出版的长篇小说《欢乐之家》使她跻身20世纪初最受欢迎的美国作家之一。她一生创作了19部中长篇小说，出版
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本短篇小说集，此外还有大量非小说作品。伊迪丝·华顿的小说大多从一个“知情者”的视角，幽默而入木三分地刻画了19世纪末纽约特权阶层的生活状态，充满智慧，文采飞扬。伊迪丝·华顿出生于纽约名门，与包括亨利·詹姆斯、西奥多·罗斯福在内的名流熟识。南北战争后，她跟随家人游历欧洲（1866-1872），期间学会了法语、德语和意大利语。年轻的伊迪丝对当时纽约上层社会流行的时尚和礼节不屑一顾，认为其肤浅而沉闷，压抑女性的精神。她渴望知识，费尽心思从父亲或者父亲朋友的图书馆借阅，但是母亲不允许她读小说，这条规定持续到她结婚。1885年，23岁的伊迪丝嫁给比她年长
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岁的波士顿富人爱德华·华顿。爱德华性情温和，尽管有相似的家庭背景，两人之间却没有太多共同语言。后来，爱德华患了精神病，1913
年伊迪丝·华顿与其离婚，此后定居巴黎，直至1937年去世。一战期间，伊迪丝·华顿曾经积极参加法国的抗战运动，为失业女性创造就业机会，帮助安置比利时难民，甚至多次亲临前线采访报道。为了表彰伊迪丝·华顿在一战中做出的贡献，1916
年法国总统授予她该国最高奖——法国荣誉军团勋章。1920年，伊迪丝·华顿出版了她的重要代表作《纯真年代》，赢得了从评论家到读者的广泛好评，短期内在欧美的销量就超过10万册。当年10月
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日的《纽约时报书评》指出：“美国人可以写出《纯真年代》这样的书，值得举国同欢。”1921年，《纯真年代》获得普利策奖，伊迪丝·华顿成为第一位获得该奖项的女性作家。《纯真年代》是伊迪丝·华顿创作的第12部小说。故事发生在19世纪70年代的纽约，也即所谓的“镀金时代”。贵族青年纽兰·阿切尔生长在传统礼教的家庭中，按部就班地与门当户对的美丽女子梅相恋。纽兰打算在欢迎梅的表姐埃伦·奥兰斯卡伯爵夫人的宴会上，宣布两人的婚期。埃伦的丈夫是贵族后裔，整天无所事事，不甘于命运摆布的埃伦毅然决然走出婚姻牢笼，返回故乡。离婚为当时纽约上流社会所不齿，埃伦因此被看作是离经叛道的荡妇。生性独立的埃伦却不以为然，在欢迎宴会上无拘无束，侃侃而谈。埃伦的真诚纯粹与梅的循规蹈矩形成巨大反差，纽兰立刻被埃伦吸引，两人互生情愫。可是，慑于传统习俗的淫威，纽兰不得已放弃内心的呼唤，与梅提前完婚。无爱的婚姻使纽兰更加苦闷，埃伦成为他摆脱痛苦的希望。当他终于下定决心要与心爱的人远走他乡时，梅怀孕了。知道这个消息后，埃伦断然离开纽兰，独自远赴巴黎，纽兰则回归家庭，从此开始忠实履行为人夫、为人父的家庭责任，以及上流社会出身带给他的社会职责。多年后，梅病逝，长子陪同已界老年的纽兰去巴黎。原来，梅临死前托付儿子帮助丈夫实现埋藏一生的心愿，去看望青年时期的爱人埃伦。故事的结局，一生牵挂的爱就在眼前，纽兰却失去了面对的勇气。尽管出身于19世纪末的美国上流社会，伊迪丝·华顿却成为美国上流社会最狡黠的批评者。《纯真年代》对19世纪末纽约社会的传统礼教提出质疑，但是并没有对当时的体制进行公开的谴责和抨击。《纯真年代》出版时，伊迪丝·华顿已经年届60，她谙熟小说中描绘的世界，也目睹了一战后社会发生的巨变。纽兰在故事结尾处自我安慰道：“回首往事，他尊重自己的过去，同时也为之痛心。说到底，旧的生活方式也有它好的一面。”这似乎也是作者的心声。传统与变革总是相伴相生，截然的新与旧、爱与恨原本就不存在。《纯真年代》创作完成于第一次世界大战之后，当时正是美国社会的转型期。战争的创伤以及极端的物质主义使美国人深切体验到理想幻灭和生存困境的痛苦。新旧交替的时代给人们带来更加宽松的活动空间，传统的因循守旧与崇尚个性的新价值观激烈碰撞。伊迪丝·华顿以女性作家特有的细腻和敏锐捕捉到时代气息，生动刻画出19世纪末20世纪初纽约上流社会的纯真与伪善，揭露了男性主导社会中女性在婚姻、家庭责任与个人自由之间的两难抉择。这样一个故事，让我们情不自禁地想起中国文学经典中的人物，比如《红楼梦》中的宝黛钗，比如《家》中的高觉新和钱梅芬。爱情悲剧后面，渗透着时代的无奈和社会礼教的残酷。正如纽兰在清理一生的悔恨与记忆时，清楚地知道，“他失落了一件东西：生命的花朵”。《纯真年代》诞生之初，评论界普遍认为它在商业上的成功远大于其文学上的成功。因此，20世纪70年代以前，伊迪丝·华顿一直被归于通俗作家之列，没有得到应有的重视。如今，《纯真年代》已经被公认为一部结构技巧堪称完美的现实主义杰作。可见，经得起时间考验的作品才是真正不朽的文学。只要这个世界是由男人和女人组成，只要人性不曾泯灭，《纯真年代》里发生的故事就会在不同的国度不断演绎下去，而纯真与伪纯真的纠葛将继续考问每个人的灵魂。愿“生命的花朵”永不凋零。
BOOK I
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n a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York.OThough there was already talk of the erection, in remote metropolitan distances ！《
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》￥14￥（14）！above the Forties, " of a new Opera House which should compete in costliness and splendour with those of the great European capitals, the world of fashion was still content to reassemble every winter in the shabby red and gold boxes of the sociable old Academy. Conservatives cherished it for being small and inconvenient, and thus keeping out the "new people" whom New York was beginning to dread and yet be drawn to; and the sentimental clung to it for its historic associations, and the musical for its excellent acoustics, always so problematic a quality in halls built for the hearing of music.It was Madame Nilsson's first appearance that winter, and what the daily press had already learned to describe as "an exceptionally brilliant audience"had gathered to hear her, transported through the slippery, snowy streets in private broughams, in the spacious family landau, or in the humbler but more convenient "Brown coupe." To come to the Opera in a Brown coupe was almost as honourable a way of arriving as in one's own carriage; and departure by the same means had the immense advantage of enabling one (with a playful allusion to democratic principles)to scramble into the first Brown conveyance in the line, instead of waiting till the cold-and-gin congested nose of one's own coachman gleamed under the portico of the Academy. It was one of the great livery-stableman's most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.
When Newland Archer opened the door at the back of the club box the curtain had just gone up on the garden scene. There was no reason why the young man should not have come earlier, for he had dined at seven, alone with his mother and sister, and had lingered afterward over a cigar in the Gothic library with glazed black-walnut bookcases and finial-topped chairs which was the only room in the house where Mrs. Archer allowed smoking. But, in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was "not the thing" to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not "the thing"played a part as important in Newland Archer's New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago.
The second reason for his delay was a personal one. He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation. This was especially the case when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that—well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna's stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more significant moment than just as she was singing: "He loves me—he loves me not—HE LOVES ME! —" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.
She sang, of course, "M'ama! " and not "he loves me, " since an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences. This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded: such as the duty of using two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair, and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole.
"M'ama ... non m' ama ..." the prima donna sang, and"M'ama! ", with a final burst of love triumphant, as she pressed the dishevelled daisy to her lips and lifted her large eyes to the sophisticated countenance of the little brown Faust-Capoul, who was vainly trying, in a tight purple velvet doublet and plumed cap, to look as pure and true as his artless victim.
Newland Archer, leaning against the wall at the back of the club box, turned his eyes from the stage and scanned the opposite side of the house. Directly facing him was the box of old Mrs. Manson Mingott, whose monstrous obesity had long since made it impossible for her to attend the Opera, but who was always represented on fashionable nights by some of the younger members of the family. On this occasion, the front of the box was filled by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lovell Mingott, and her daughter, Mrs. Welland;and slightly withdrawn behind these brocaded matrons sat a young girl in white with eyes ecstatically fixed on the stagelovers. As Madame Nilsson's "M'ama! "thrilled out above the silent house (the boxes always stopped talking during the Daisy Song) a warm pink mounted to the girl's cheek, mantled her brow to the roots of her fair braids, and suffused the young slope of her breast to the line where it met a modest tulle tucker fastened with a single gardenia. She dropped her eyes to the immense bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley on her knee, and Newland Archer saw her white-gloved finger-tips touch the flowers softly. He drew a breath of satisfied vanity and his eyes returned to the stage.
No expense had been spared on the setting, which was acknowledged to be very beautiful even by people who shared his acquaintance with the Opera houses of Paris and Vienna. The foreground, to the footlights, was covered with emerald green cloth. In the middle distance symmetrical mounds of woolly green moss bounded by croquet hoops formed the base of shrubs shaped like orange-trees but studded with large pink and red roses. Gigantic pansies, considerably larger than the roses, and closely resembling the floral pen-wipers made by female parishioners for fashionable clergymen, sprang from the moss beneath the rose-trees; and here and there a daisy grafted on a rose-branch flowered with a luxuriance prophetic of Mr. Luther Burbank's far-off prodigies.
In the centre of this enchanted garden Madame Nilsson, in white cashmere slashed with pale blue satin, a reticule dangling from a blue girdle, and large yellow braids carefully disposed on each side of her muslin chemisette, listened with downcast eyes to M. Capoul's impassioned wooing, and affected a guileless incomprehension of his designs whenever, by word or glance, he persuasively indicated the ground floor window of the neat brick villa projecting obliquely from the right wing.
"The darling! " thought Newland Archer, his glance flitting back to the young girl with the lilies-of-the-valley. "She doesn't even guess what it's all about." And he contemplated her absorbed young face with a thrill of possessorship in which pride in his own masculine initiation was mingled with a tender reverence for her abysmal purity. "We' ll read Faust together ... by the Italian lakes ..." he thought, somewhat hazily confusing the scene of his projected honey-moon with the masterpieces of literature which it would be his manly privilege to reveal to his bride. It was only that afternoon that May Welland had let him guess that she "cared" (New York's consecrated phrase of maiden avowal), and already his imagination, leaping ahead of the engagement ring, the betrothal kiss and the march from Lohengrin, pictured her at his side in some scene of old European witchery.
He did not in the least wish the future Mrs. Newland Archer to be a simpleton. He meant her (thanks to his enlightening companionship) to develop a social tact and readiness of wit enabling her to hold her own with the most popular married women of the "younger set, " in which it was the recognised custom to attract masculine homage while playfully discouraging it. If he had probed to the bottom of his vanity (as he sometimes nearly did) he would have found there the wish that his wife should be as worldly-wise and as eager to please as the married lady whose charms had held his fancy through two mildly agitated years;without, of course, any hint of the frailty which had so nearly marred that unhappy being's life, and had disarranged his own plans for a whole winter.
How this miracle of fire and ice was to be created, and to sustain itself in a harsh world, he had never taken the time to think out; but he was content to hold his view without analysing it, since he knew it was that of all the carefully-brushed, white-waistcoated, button-hole-flowered gentlemen who succeeded each other in the club box, exchanged friendly greetings with him, and turned their opera-glasses critically on the circle of ladies who were the product of the system. In matters intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than any other man of the number. Singly they betrayed their inferiority; but grouped together they represented "New York, " and the habit of masculine solidarity made him accept their doctrine on all the issues called moral. He instinctively felt that in this respect it would be troublesome—and also rather bad form—to strike out for himself.
"Well—upon my soul! " exclaimed Lawrence Lefferts, turning his opera-glass abruptly away from the stage. Lawrence Lefferts was, on the whole, the foremost authority on "form" in New York. He had probably devoted more time than any one else to the study of this intricate and fascinating question; but study alone could not account for his complete and easy competence. One had only to look at him, from the slant of his bald forehead and the curve of his beautiful fair moustache to the long patent-leather feet at the other end of his lean and elegant person, to feel that the knowledge of "form" must be congenital in any one who knew how to wear such good clothes so carelessly and carry such height with so much lounging grace. As a young admirer had once said of him: "If anybody can tell a fellow just when to wear a black tie with evening clothes and when not to, it's Larry Lefferts." And on the question of pumps versus patent-leather "Oxfords" his authority had never been disputed.
"My God! " he said; and silently handed his glass to old Sillerton Jackson.
Newland Archer, following Lefferts's glance, saw with surprise that his exclamation had been occasioned by the entry of a new figure into old Mrs. Mingott's box. It was that of a slim young woman, a little less tall than May Welland, with brown hair growing in close curls about her temples and held in place by a narrow band of diamonds. The suggestion of this headdress, which gave her what was then called a"Josephine look, " was carried out in the cut of the dark blue velvet gown rather theatrically caught up under her bosom by a girdle with a large old-fashioned clasp.The wearer of this unusual dress, who seemed quite unconscious of the attention it was attracting, stood a moment in the centre of the box, discussing with Mrs. Welland the propriety of taking the latter's place in the front right-hand corner; then she yielded with a slight smile, and seated herself in line with Mrs. Welland's sister-in-law, Mrs. Lovell Mingott, who was installed in the opposite corner.
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