Muriel Barbery
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
2008, pp. 336, Paperback
ISBN: 9781933372600
Translated by Alison Anderson
ISBN: 9781933372600
Translated by Alison Anderson
The book
"Renée Michel is the dumpy, nondescript, 54-year-old concierge of a small and exclusive Paris apartment building....
"Paloma Josse also lives in the building. Acutely intelligent, introspective and philosophical, this 12-year-old views the world as absurd and records her observations about it in her journal...
"These two characters provide the double narrative of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and you will — this is going to sound corny — fall in love with both...
"Tender and satirical in its overall tone, yet most absorbing because of its reflections on the nature of beauty and art, the meaning of life and death.... The intelligent Muriel Barbery has served readers well by giving us the gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bittersweet Elegance of the Hedgehog." —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
The author
Muriel Barbery
Muriel Barbery is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa, 2008), Gourmet Rhapsody (Europa, 2009), and The Life of Elves (Europa, 2016). She has lived in Kyoto, Amsterdam, and Paris, and now lives in the French countryside.
Muriel Barbery is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa, 2008), Gourmet Rhapsody (Europa, 2009), and The Life of Elves (Europa, 2016). She has lived in Kyoto, Amsterdam, and Paris, and now lives in the French countryside.
Reviews
- Oct 27 2014
X-Files Star Gillian Anderson: "Witty and touching, this novel features two of my favorite female characters." - Aug 21 2014
The Elegance of the Hedgehog becomes required reading for incoming University of Texas freshmen
— The Washington Post - Jan 6 2014
Vogue chooses The Elegance of the Hedgehog as Holiday Reading Pick
— Vogue - Oct 24 2013
Leaves & Pages: "a charming story." - Aug 28 2013
Critiqueen Blog: "Witty and heart wrenching, sassy and earnest."
維基百科，自由的百科全書
The Elegance of the Hedgehog (French: L'Élégance du hérisson) is a novel by the Frenchnovelist and professor of philosophy Muriel Barbery. The book follows events in the life of a concierge, Renée Michel, whose deliberately concealed intelligence is uncovered by an unstable but intellectually precocious girl named Paloma Josse. Paloma is the daughter of an upper-class family living in the upscale Parisian apartment building where Renée works.
Featuring a number of erudite characters, The Elegance of the Hedgehog is full of allusions to literary works, music, films, and paintings. It incorporates themes relating to philosophy, class consciousness, and personal conflict. The events and ideas of the novel are presented through the thoughts and reactions, interleaved throughout the novel, of two narrators, Renée and Paloma. The changes of narrator are marked by switches of typeface. In the case of Paloma, the narration takes the form of her written journal entries and other philosophical reflections; Renée's story is also told in the first person but more novelistically and in the present tense.
First released in August 2006 by Gallimard, the novel became a publishing success in France the following year, selling over two million copies. It has been translated into more than forty languages, and published in numerous countries outside France, including the United Kingdom (Gallic Books, London) and the United States (Europa Editions, New York), and has attracted critical praise.
| The Elegance of the Hedgehog | |
|---|---|
第一版封面
| |
| 作者 | 妙莉葉·芭貝里 |
| 原名 | L'élégance du hérisson |
| 譯者 | Alison Anderson |
| 出版地 | 法國 |
| 語言 | 法語 |
| 類型 | 小說 |
| 出版商 | Éditions Gallimard |
| 出版日期 | 2006年8月 |
| 媒介 | 印刷(精裝和平裝) |
| 頁數 | 359 pp |
| ISBN | 2070780937 |
| OCLC | 71336412 |
| LC分類法 | PQ2662.A6523 E44 2006 |
《刺蝟的優雅》（法語：L'élégance du hérisson），是由法國小說家、哲學教授妙莉葉·芭貝里撰寫的小說。該書講述了一位看門人蕾妮·米歇爾（Renée Michel）的生活故事，寓意為在陌生的城市裡，每個人都不自覺地偽裝，卻同樣渴望被了解。
同名電影[編輯]
故事簡介[編輯]
11歲的芭洛瑪父母很有錢，他們住在巴黎的高級公寓裡。但是芭洛瑪認為自己就是困在金魚缸裡的魚。就像那些大人，在同一個玻璃缸裡，過完他們看似光采的一生。因此她決定在12歲生日那天結束生命（靠不停吃母親的藥）。她拿起DV拍下身邊的人，以證明大人世界的荒謬，足夠合理成為她要離開這世界的理由。
中年女門房荷妮又矮又胖，外表普通裝扮樸素，在上流社會的孔雀世界裡，她像隻冷漠的刺蝟。陪她過日子的，只有一隻胖懶貓。長久以來，她並不引人注目和關心，甚至公寓裡的住戶。不過，芭洛瑪覺得荷妮是公寓裡活的最有意義的人，她簡直崇拜荷妮甚至有想做門房的念頭。
公寓來了位日本新住客—謎樣的小津先生。他的到來，改變了荷妮的生活狀態，而DV鏡頭下的荷妮顯得柔軟優雅。似乎那樣的荷妮彷彿是一直存在著，如今被溫柔地喚醒…
不過荷妮的優雅日子並沒有過的很長久，有一天她在公寓門前被車撞上而離去。她的死讓巴洛瑪很悲傷，她第一次感受到死亡帶來的悲傷，這讓芭洛瑪認識到自己的自殺計劃是愚蠢的： 原來死亡並不只是平常的事。
情節分析[編輯]
巴洛瑪自殺的想法實際是對母親及其家人生存意義的嘲諷：「這樣的活著毫無意義，不如死了算了。」玻璃魚缸實際代表的不是生活空間的局限，而是人心靈的局限，金魚被她毒死放進馬桶衝掉卻在荷妮的馬桶里復活，是巴洛瑪內心的真實情感體驗。荷妮，一個外表粗魯的看門人，卻有著一間堆滿藏書和影碟的密室，是荷妮讓她看到了生命的意義——無關身份和地位，而是內心的豐滿和生動才使生命有了溫度，也才會有愛與被愛的能力。荷妮的死更加深了巴洛瑪對生命的感受，改變了她對死亡所持的觀點，是荷妮讓救了她。法國電影，總是充滿優雅、智慧、幽默，哪怕是一部反映底層人的悲劇，也充滿了浪漫的色彩，苛刻的諷刺通過幽默輕巧的方式優雅的划過......這正是法國文化的迷人之處。
沒有留言:
張貼留言