大河灣
出版日期:1999-4-26
作者:Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul,V.S. 奈波爾
页数:400页
内容概要
奈波爾出生於1932年的千里達，不過他的家族是個來自印度的移民家族。奈波爾的祖父本來是北印度的印度教徒，因應大英帝國啟動的帝國內移民，在十九世紀末以契約勞工身分，來到千里達。奈波爾曾在《幽黯國度》一書中描述道：「我祖父來自印度，但他從不曾向我們描述這個國家的山川文物，因此，對我們來說，印度並不是真實的－它只不過是存在於千里達這個小島外面的茫茫太虛中的一個國家。」奈波爾六歲時，全家搬到千里達首府西班牙港，在那裡他進入最好的小學和中學就讀，到了1950年，奈波爾十八歲，申請到獎學金，進入牛津大學「大學院」攻讀英國文學。
1953年大學畢業後，他先是留在倫敦為英國廣播公司(BBC)工作，不過與生俱來的作家血液仍然蠢蠢欲動，他沒有忘記自己對寫作的濃厚興趣，做過幾年的自由投稿作家後 ,他在1957年出版小說《神祕按摩師》，馬上獲得當年萊思紀念獎，1958年出版《艾薇拉的投票權》，1959年《米蓋爾大街》又獲得毛姆獎，到了 1961年，奈波爾寫出以他父親為基準性格的《畢斯華士先生的屋子》，佳評不斷，被公認是奈波爾一生代表作，確立了他在英語小說家中的地位。
奈波爾於1960年開始旅行，寫作、研究、旅遊成為他關懷世道的方式，他把遊記當作小說寫，作品時常帶有自傳成份，除次之外，在奈波爾的作品中，無論是虛構或報導，政治題材都占了相當大的比重。六○年代奈波爾曾在烏干達住過一年，有機會就近感受當時非洲各地的政治變動、它鼓起的期許及帶來的苦難。因此，他有兩部小說就以非洲為場景（《身在自由邦》及《大河灣》。）
作者简介
奈波爾未曾明言《大河灣》發生於何處。不過，讀者不用怎麼推想，就知道這則一九六三年至七三年的故事是剛果（薩伊）的歷史；位於大河灣道岸上無名的城鎮也可斷定是剛果東北部的省府基桑加尼(Kisangani)。
《大河灣》寫的，就是剛果那段內戰頻仍、人民流離失所的歷史。
二次大戰結束後，歐洲人紛紛自殖民地撤退，非洲國家也一個個獨立起來，邁向現代世界。然而急遽的變革帶給非洲人民的只是茫然、不安和騷動，抗爭四起，到處都是流血叛變。
東海岸發生大規模血腥屠殺之後，「新世代的非洲」終於來臨了。是的，殖民政府走了，此時掌權的總統是頭戴豹皮非洲酋長帽，手裡握著權杖的軍人。他用盡心力鞏固他神般的地位，在這個大河轉彎處的國家裡，大大小小的建築物，學校，商舖，旅館，大漢堡店，都掛著他偉大的照片，接受全民的敬仰。他用「公民同志」稱呼人民，表示平等，卻又建立「國家園區」，讓少數人特享歐洲文明。
故事主人翁沙林，在此做生意，過著挺不錯的生活，嗜好是到希臘俱樂部打回力球。我想他就是奈波爾的化身吧，這個敏感略帶憂鬱的人，敏銳地觀看修斯曼神父的犧牲，費迪南的被教育，英達爾的掙扎，馬赫許的人生哲學‧‧‧這一切因歷史、文化、種族交錯發生在大河灣的動盪
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精彩书评 (总计1条)
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I has spent totally a month in the summer holiday to finish the book -a bend in the river. It is a story that happened in a remote African country, but a lack of my knowledge of different culture and history make the book a little hard for me to understand. But treating it as one of my loved book, I still want to share something with you.Firstly, I would like to retell the story in my words shortly. In the beginning of the story, Salim-the dramatis personae of the story left his home on the east coast and driven to the centre of Africa to manage a small shop in a new village at the bend in the river. It is a new country and the local residents treated Salim as a foreigner, which always made Salim solitary. Then he met a couple who escaped from their home-country because of their free love was not allowed in their families. The similar situation in which they were all being treated as outsiders made them be friends. Metty-a little servant of Salim's family came to and lived with him because the servant policies had been abolished. During the period when they were together, they had developed a new relationship in which Metty was either Salim's servant and friend. Then a good consumer-Zabeth- came to Salim's shop and asked him to help to look after her son who would study in the village. The boy was called Ferdinand, but there were some collision between Ferdinand and Salim. It may be a result of the fact that Ferdinand wanted to show up his European-style education learnt in the school to Salim but Salim did not like it and always wanted to show something different to Ferdinand. Sometimes later, the boy's study was ended when the school manager -Father Huismans- was killed in a war. Then it was the president's order to build a new modern Domain near the village. The bend in the river seemed to be in a boom and developed quickly as the building of the new Domain. Indar who was a good friend of Salim since Salim was a little child came back from London and became an official in the new Domain. In Salim's little shop, they met and Indar invented Salim to visit the new Domain. At a party in the new Domain, Salim met a woman called Yvette and felt in love with her. Yvette had married Raymond who was "the white teacher of the President " and much older than her. Raymond was determined to write a book about the true history of Africa, but even in the end of the book, he was not able to finish it. In the eyes of Salim, it may be impossible to finish the book since the books of African history you could found were all written by European. When the new Domain existed, Yvette came to Salim's flat and they fell into love with each other, but as the new Domain was coming to an end, their love ended and Yvette left with Raymond. Next, Salim went to London to meet with Nazouddin who sold the small shop to Salim in the beginning. In his six-week stay in London, Salim realized the solitude of people like him and Nazouddin who left home and went to a new different European country. When Salim returned the bend in the river, conditions were becoming worse and worse. Nationalization made him lose his shop and a greedy official sent Salim to the jail in order to get money from him. Luckily, Ferdinand who had been an official of the government helped Salim to get out of the jail and asked him to leave the country since foreigners were being killed. At the end of the book, Salim took a steamer and left the bend in the river.What impresses me deeply is the dramatis personae-Salim. No matter in his home, in the country in the bush or in the European country, he is always like square pegs in round holes and in solitude. He did not show much love for any a country and observed the world outside rationally and indifferently all the time. But when I finished the book, I realized the reason why he was used to showing his apartness and indifference is just because he always felt unprotected, unsafe and disappointed. There did not exist a place for him to live a satisfactory life and he found him in a situation that he had nowhere to go. From the background of the author Naipaul, Salim just presents Naipaul himself who was forced to leave his home-country, then lived a poor country in Africa and went to England to struggle for his life finally.What's more, the rule of the Great President makes me think of a similar period in China-Cultural Revolution-when people were radical and mad at developing the country.At last, I think the author is very excellent because both the description of the environment and the description of different people impress me deeply. And I think my biggest gain is to get a new view of the remote Africa which distinguishes from the one I knew in the past and understand how precious peace is. Above all the book is very worthy reading and it can represent the real Africa and makes readers to focus on the place and the people.
精彩短评 (总计5条)
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一本在N年前读完的书,奈保尔是天生的小说家. -
一般，作者并不算是讲故事的好手 -
我們也都離鄉背井, 也飛跨過各個國度, 也曾佇立在河畔頓悟.....卻忘了省視自己內心的格局。 -
越看越有味道 -
以一个文化漂泊者的视角再现了第三世界国家的“真相”。