Jenny Erpenbeck’s highly acclaimed novel Go, Went, Gone was a New York Times notable book and launched one of Germany’s most admired writers into the American spotlight. In the New Yorker, James Wood wrote: “When Erpenbeck wins the Nobel Prize in a few years, I suspect that this novel will be cited.”
On the heels of this literary breakthrough comes , a book of personal, profound, often humorous meditations and reflections. Erpenbeck writes, “With this collection of texts, I am looking back for the first time at many years of my life, at the thoughts that filled my life from day to day.”
Starting with her childhood days in East Berlin (“I start with my life as a schoolgirl … my own conscious life begins at the same time as the socialist life of Leipziger Strasse”), Not a Novel provides a glimpse of growing up in the GDR and of what it was like to be twenty-two when the wall collapsed; it takes us through Erpenbeck’s early adult years, working in a bakery after immersing herself in the worlds of music, theater, and opera, and ultimately discovering her path as a writer.
There are lively essays about her literary influences (Thomas Bernhard, the Brothers Grimm, Kafka, and Thomas Mann), unforgettable reflections on the forces at work in her novels (including history, silence, and time), and scathing commentaries on the dire situation of America and Europe today. “Why do we still hear laments for the Germans who died attempting to flee over the wall, but almost none for the countless refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean in recent years, turning the sea into a giant grave?”
With deep insight and warm intelligence, Jenny Erpenbeck provides us with a collection of unforgettable essays that take us into the heart and mind of “one of the finest and most exciting writers alive” (Michel Faber).
JENNY ERPENBECK was born in East Berlin in 1967. Her previous books, The Old Child, The Book of Words, Visitation, The End of Days, and Go, Went, Gone, are all available from New Directions.
KURT BEALS teaches in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis. He has previously translated books by Regina Ullmann, and Reiner Stach.
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老实说,我一开始是被朋友强行推荐才开始看的,我当时还抱着一种“应付差事”的心态。但读进去后,我发现自己完全陷进去了那种独特的氛围里了。作者构建的世界观有一种奇特的吸引力,它不依赖于宏大的史诗背景或者复杂的神话体系,而是通过极小的切口,展现出一种细密而又深邃的内在逻辑。我感觉自己像一个走在迷宫里的探险家,每走一步都小心翼翼,生怕错过任何一个细微的标记。这种沉浸感是极其难得的,它要求读者付出耐心,但回报也绝对丰厚。这本书最让我震撼的是其对“边缘人物”的刻画,那些被主流叙事遗忘的角色,在作者笔下焕发出令人心疼却又无比真实的光芒。
评分我对文学作品的挑剔程度是出了名的,尤其是那些自诩深刻的作品,我总能轻易找出其中的瑕疵。然而,这本作品却成功地避开了许多我通常会诟病的老毛病。它没有那种刻意的卖弄和浮夸的辞藻堆砌,反而是用一种近乎冷静甚至有些疏离的笔调,讲述了一个似乎与我们息息相关,却又带着某种超现实色彩的故事。读完合上书本的那一刻,我愣了好几秒钟,脑海里充斥着各种关于“意义”和“虚无”的探讨。这种阅读体验是极具穿透力的,它不仅仅是叙述了一个故事,更像是一次对读者自身存在状态的温柔拷问。我尤其喜欢作者对时间流逝的处理方式,那种模糊而又精准的切换,让人感觉自己被某种更宏大、更不可抗拒的力量所裹挟着。
评分这本书给我带来的阅读体验,用“洗礼”来形容或许有些夸张,但绝对是令人耳目一新。它没有明确的道德说教,也没有急于给出任何结论,而是将所有的复杂性、矛盾性都原封不动地呈现在你面前,让你自己去消化、去重构认知。我最欣赏的是它在情感表达上的克制,那种“此时无声胜有声”的境界,通过留白和暗示,比直接的宣泄更具力量。每次读完,我都需要留出一段时间来“排毒”,让那些复杂的情感和观念慢慢沉淀下来。它不是一本适合在通勤路上囫囵吞枣的书,它需要你关上门,点一盏灯,全身心地投入进去,去体会那种文字背后涌动的暗流。这是一次值得所有严肃阅读者去尝试的旅程。
评分这本书的封面设计简直是视觉的享受,那种低调的奢华感一下子就抓住了我的眼球。装帧的质感也十分上乘,拿在手里沉甸甸的,让人忍不住想多翻阅几页。我原本对这种看起来“性冷淡”风格的书籍没有抱太大期望,总觉得它们会是那种故作高深的文字堆砌,但事实证明我大错特错。作者的叙事功力非常了得,尽管开篇略显平缓,但随着情节的推进,人物的命运和故事的走向就像一条逐渐收紧的藤蔓,让人欲罢不能。我特别欣赏作者在细节处理上的那种精妙,即便是最不起眼的场景描写,都充满了生活的气息和微妙的情感张力。那种文字的韵律感,读起来简直是一种享受,仿佛作者是用最精细的雕刻刀在打磨每一个句子,让它们恰到好处地落在你的心坎上。
评分从文学手法上来说,这本书无疑是大师级的。它的结构松弛有度,张弛有节,高潮部分的处理更是精彩绝伦,没有落入俗套的戏剧化冲突,而是以一种更内敛、更富张力的方式爆发出来,余韵悠长。我几乎可以想象作者在创作时的那种煎熬与兴奋交织的状态。阅读过程中,我频繁地停下来,不是为了查阅生词,而是因为某些句子触发了我内心深处从未被触碰过的记忆碎片。这种“共振”是区分优秀作品和平庸作品的关键。它让阅读不再是被动的接受信息,而成为一种主动的、充满灵性的参与。我强烈推荐给那些厌倦了流水账式叙事、渴望在文字中寻找新维度体验的读者。
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