了不起的盖茨比

章节摘录

　　And， after boasting this way of my tolerance， I come to the admission that it has a limit Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes， but after a certain point I don't care what it's founded on. When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention for ever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart Only Gatsby， the man who gives his name to this book， was exempt from my reaction - Gatsby， who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scum. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures， then there was something gorgeous about him， some heightened sensitivity to the promises o life， as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand mikes away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the creative temperament'-it was an extraordinary gift for hope， a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No -Gatsby tumid out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby， what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.　　My family has been prominent， well-to-do people in this Middle Western arty for three generations. The Caraways are something of a clan， and we have a tradition that we're descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch， but the actual founder of my line was my grandfather's brother， who came here in fifty-one， sent a substitute to the Civil War， and started the wholesale hardware business that my father cranes on today.　　I never saw this great-uncle， but I'm supposed to look like him - with sepal reference to the rather hard-boiled painting that hangs in father's office. I graduated from New Haven in 1915， just a quarter of a century after my father， and a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War. I enjoyed the counter raid so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead of being the warm centre of the world， the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe -so I deeded to go east and loam the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business， so I supposed it could support one more single man All my aunts and uncles talked it over as if they were choosing a prep school for me， and finally said，' Why -ye-as，' with very grave， hesitant faces. Father agreed to finance me for a year， and after various delays I came east， permanently， I thought， in the spring of twenty-two.　　……

作者简介

《了不起的盖茨比》的主人公尼克？卡拉威（第一人称）是一个华尔街的股票商，他是盖茨比的邻居。后来卡拉威体会到不论外表上多么尊严，这些巨富们实际上是非常“淡漠的人”，汤姆和黛西也不例外。汤姆有一个情人默尔特，她是长岛和纽约市的高楼大厦之间的不毛之地上的一个加油站主的妻子。一天，盖茨比让黛西驾他的新车出游，在一次交通事故中黛西意外地将默尔特辗死了。为了保护黛西，盖茨比说是他驾的车。结果盖茨比被默尔特的丈夫枪杀。盖茨比的葬礼几乎无人参加，就连黛西也没有参加。卡拉威最后找到了乔丹，一个本计划参加葬礼的人，才知晓盖茨比的所谓身份只是一个幻影。随后卡拉威离开去了中西部，留下的只是盖茨比的一相情愿般的梦境与哀伤。

图书封面

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