A compact masterpiece dedicated to the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich: Julian Barnes’s first novel since his best-selling, Man Booker Prize–winning The Sense of an Ending.
In 1936, Shostakovich, just thirty, fears for his livelihood and his life. Stalin, hitherto a distant figure, has taken a sudden interest in his work and denounced his latest opera. Now, certain he will be exiled to Siberia (or, more likely, executed on the spot), Shostakovich reflects on his predicament, his personal history, his parents, various women and wives, his children—and all who are still alive themselves hang in the balance of his fate. And though a stroke of luck prevents him from becoming yet another casualty of the Great Terror, for decades to come he will be held fast under the thumb of despotism: made to represent Soviet values at a cultural conference in New York City, forced into joining the Party and compelled, constantly, to weigh appeasing those in power against the integrity of his music. Barnes elegantly guides us through the trajectory of Shostakovich’s career, at the same time illuminating the tumultuous evolution of the Soviet Union. The result is both a stunning portrait of a relentlessly fascinating man and a brilliant exploration of the meaning of art and its place in society.
JULIAN BARNES is the author of twenty previous books including, most recently, Keeping an Eye Open: Essays on Art. He has received the Man Booker Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the David Cohen Prize for Literature, and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in France, the Prix Médicis and the Prix Femina; in Austria, the State Prize for European Literature. In 2004 he was named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in London.
www.julianbarnes.com
权力羞辱了我们每一个人,有人流血成为了英雄,有人成为了历史上的懦夫,更多的人没有留下名字。但我们应该清楚,权力也双倍、反复地羞辱了懦夫,权力在官方、在私下,权力无处不在,你永远活在羞辱中。 肖斯塔科维奇访美,因为政治立场的问题,他崇敬的斯特拉文斯基拒绝了这次...
评分《时间的噪音》『英』朱利安·巴恩斯 The Noise of Time— Julian Barnes 译林出版社 ⏱命运。这是一个大词,意味着某些事你无能为力。当生活告诉你,“就这样”,你只好点头,称之为命运。p13 ⏱在一部小说中,他生活中所有的焦虑,他的强大和软弱的混合,他歇斯底里的潜...
评分 评分这是看的巴恩斯第三本书,比起福楼拜的鹦鹉和世界史,这本略微逊色,也许正如作者在后记中说的,他生活在英国自由稳定的政体中,无法感受肖氏在苏联个人独裁政治系统中的恐惧。所以有种隔离感。即使如此,对比当下的中国,读来依旧能感受到肖氏的恐惧和痛苦。我们以为我们所处...
评分这是看的巴恩斯第三本书,比起福楼拜的鹦鹉和世界史,这本略微逊色,也许正如作者在后记中说的,他生活在英国自由稳定的政体中,无法感受肖氏在苏联个人独裁政治系统中的恐惧。所以有种隔离感。即使如此,对比当下的中国,读来依旧能感受到肖氏的恐惧和痛苦。我们以为我们所处...
这本书的文字结构极其复杂,充满了后现代主义的碎片化特征,像一座用无数面破碎的镜子拼凑而成的迷宫。不同时间线、不同叙事视角的快速切换,初读时确实有些令人晕头转向,但一旦抓住作者设置的某种内在逻辑线索,那种错综复杂的美感便会显现出来。我尤其对作者如何运用隐喻和象征手法印象深刻。那些看似不经意的物件,比如一扇生锈的门,或者一张泛黄的旧照片,都承载了超越其物理形态的深层含义,它们是解读人物内心世界的关键钥匙。这种文学上的高难度挑战,让阅读本身变成了一种主动的解谜过程,而不是被动的接受信息。它考验着读者的耐心和理解力,但回报也是丰厚的——每一次成功解读,都带来一种智力上的满足感。这本书的语言风格是冷峻而克制的,几乎没有多余的情感抒发,所有的情感都内化于精密的结构和意象之中,需要读者自己去挖掘和感受,如同在冰层下寻找温暖的热源。
评分从文学手法上来说,这本书的视角转换是全书最值得称道的部分之一。它很少采用全知视角,而是通过一系列相互关联又略有偏离的第一人称叙述者来构建故事,这使得整个叙事网充满了可信的“不确定性”。每一个叙述者都带有强烈的个人局限和偏见,他们的“真话”往往隐藏在那些精心回避的细节之中。这要求读者必须像一个侦探一样,在文本的缝隙中寻找真相的碎片。这种叙事策略,极大地增强了作品的张力和互动性,阅读过程不再是单向的接收,而是双向的构建。此外,本书对于“沉默”的处理技巧达到了一个很高的水准。那些没有被说出口的话语,往往比任何激烈的辩论都更具杀伤力,它们像幽灵一样盘旋在人物之间,构建了一种无形的、却又坚不可摧的隔膜。这是一部需要反复品读的书,每一次重读都会发现新的层次和隐藏的对话,其文学价值是毋庸置疑的。
评分这本书的节奏感非常独特,它似乎在刻意放慢时间流逝的速度,让你在每一个细小的动作和静默的瞬间里,都能感受到巨大的时间重量。我感觉作者对“等待”这个概念进行了极致的书写。许多场景都发生在一个漫长的、无声的等待中——等待通知、等待许可、等待黎明。这种停滞感,恰恰最能体现出人物所处环境的僵化与不公。书中的场景描写具有极强的地域特色,虽然没有明确点出地点,但那种萧瑟、略带荒凉的北方法度,通过对光线、气味和建筑材质的描绘,被清晰地投射出来。这不仅仅是背景设定,更是直接影响人物心理状态的外化表现。我欣赏作者这种“用环境来塑造灵魂”的手法,使得人物的行为逻辑具备了无可辩驳的必然性。这种克制的美学,让这本书在喧嚣的现代文学中,显得尤为沉稳和深刻。
评分如果用音乐来形容,这本书的基调绝对是小调的,充满了哀而不伤的忧郁气质。情节的推进并不依赖于戏剧性的事件冲突,而是更多地聚焦于人物内在精神世界的缓慢崩塌与重建。作者对“记忆”这一主题的处理堪称一绝。记忆并非线性回顾,而是不断地被当前的情境所扭曲、重塑,甚至成为了一种自我保护的机制。书中反复出现对某一场景的描绘,但每一次的侧重点和细节都会略有不同,让我开始怀疑,我们所阅读的究竟是真实发生过的历史,还是人物试图说服自己相信的那个版本。这种对客观现实的质疑,拓宽了叙事的边界。我更倾向于将其视为一种哲学探讨,探讨在极端环境下,个体如何维系其身份认同的完整性。这本书不提供简单的答案或安慰,它只负责提出更尖锐、更难以回答的问题,让人在合上书本后,仍久久地沉思于那些未解的悖论之中。
评分第一章的故事如同一个缓慢燃烧的火苗,在冰冷的现实中挣扎着散发出微弱的光芒。作者用一种近乎手术刀般精准的笔触,剖开了人物内心深处的矛盾与挣扎。那种无力感,那种被时代洪流裹挟着身不由己的宿命感,读来让人心头发紧。比如,书中对某个特定历史时期的社会氛围描摹,那种压抑到令人窒息的集体无声,通过细腻的环境描写和人物的细微动作,被刻画得淋漓尽致。我特别欣赏作者在叙事节奏上的把控,它不是一蹴而就的爆发,而是层层递进的积累,像潮水般缓缓上涨,直到最终将读者完全淹没。书中的对话常常是极简的,但每一个字都像精心挑选的弹药,充满了张力和言外之意。它迫使我停下来,反复咀嚼那些只言片语背后隐藏的巨大情感重量。读完这一部分,我感觉自己仿佛刚刚经历了一场漫长而艰苦的心理漫步,每一个脚步都踏在了坚硬的碎石上,留下深刻的印记。这种沉浸式的体验,是近年来阅读中极为罕见的。
评分To be Russian was to be pessimistic; to be Soviet was to be optimistic. That was why the words Soviet Russia were a contradiction in terms.
评分Tragedies in hindsight look like farces. Sarcasm was irony which had lost its soul. A soul could be destroyed in one of three ways: by what others did to you; by what others made you do to yourself; and by what you voluntarily chose to do to yourself.
评分本来非常期待朱利安巴恩斯和肖斯塔科维奇的组合,但这种威权统治下艺术家的身不由己和挣扎,对于中国人来说实在太见怪不怪了,巴金老舍郭沫若都够写出一堆来。这样的题材适合更锋利尖锐的作家,遗憾巴恩斯并没有做出让人惊艳的发掘和发挥,除了重温一下本已熟悉的传记材料,并无多少回味思考余地。
评分Presumably Barnes at his best.
评分To be Russian was to be pessimistic; to be Soviet was to be optimistic. That was why the words Soviet Russia were a contradiction in terms.