The story is narrated in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English farm with his mother, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of verisimilitude.
The book describes conditions among London horse-drawn taxicab drivers, including the financial hardship caused to them by high licence fees and low, legally fixed fares. A page footnote in some editions says that soon after the book was published, the difference between 6-day taxicab licences (not allowed to trade on Sundays) and 7-day taxicab licences (allowed to trade on Sundays) was abolished and the taxicab licence fee was much reduced.
Anna Sewell (30 March 1820 – 25 April 1878) was an English novelist, best known as the author of the classic novel Black Beauty.
Anna Mary Sewell was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England into a devoutly Quaker family. Her father was Isaac Phillip Sewell (1793–1879), and her mother, Mary Wright Sewell (1798–1884) was a successful author of children's books. She had one sibling, a younger brother named Philip and was largely educated at home.
At the age of twelve, the family moved to Stoke Newington, where Sewell attended school for the first time. Two years later, however, she slipped while walking home from school and severely injured both of her ankles. Her father took a job in Brighton in 1836, in the hope that the climate there would help to cure her. Despite this, and most likely because of mistreatment of her injury, for the rest of her life Anna was unable to stand without a crutch or to walk for any length of time. For greater mobility, she frequently used horse-drawn carriages, which contributed to her love of horses and concern for the humane treatment of animals.
At about this time, both Anna and her mother left the Society of Friends to join the Church of England, though both remained active in evangelical circles. Her mother expressed her religious faith most noticeably by authoring a series of evangelical children's books, which Anna helped to edit, though all the Sewells, and Mary Sewell's family, the Wrights, engaged in many other good works.
While seeking to improve her health in Europe, Sewell encountered various writers, artists, and philosophers, to which her previous background had not exposed her.
Sewell's only published work was Black Beauty, written during 1871 to 1877, after she had moved to Old Catton, a village outside the city of Norwich in Norfolk. During this time her health was declining. She was often so weak that she was confined to her bed and writing was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed.
Sewell sold the novel to local publisher Jarrolds on 24 November 1877, when she was 57 years of age. Although it is now considered a children's classic, she originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said "a special aim [was] to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses".
Sewell died of hepatitis or phthisis on 25 April 1878, five months after her book was published, living long enough to see the book's initial success. She was buried on 30 April 1878 in the Quaker burial-ground at Lammas near Buxton, Norfolk, not far from Norwich, where a wall plaque now marks her resting place.
读完这本书,我最大的感受是关于“尊严”这个概念的重新审视。对于一个生命体而言,尊严是如何被界定的?是来自于它所处的地位,还是它内在的坚韧?故事里那匹马的经历,无疑是对传统观念的一次强力冲击。我发现自己常常在思考,当我们自诩为万物之灵时,我们对待那些依赖我们生存的生命的尺度,是否过于狭隘和自私?叙事者的视角转换得非常巧妙,时而宏大,时而又聚焦于微小的细节,比如一个眼神的交汇,一次艰难的跋涉。这种叙事上的张弛有度,使得情节推进既有史诗般的厚重感,又不失个体情感的穿透力。我尤其喜欢那些关于马匹间交流的描写,虽然没有人类的语言,但那种基于生存本能和情感共鸣的沟通,比很多虚伪的人类对话来得更真诚有力。这本书无疑是一部关于同情心和耐受力的教科书。
评分这本书的社会批判性是相当尖锐的,虽然它披着一层温和的外衣,但其对当时社会阶层固化和人与人之间冷漠关系的揭露,是毫不留情的。我注意到,作者巧妙地利用了马的“局外人”身份,去观察和评论人类社会的种种不公。无论是趾高气扬的贵族,还是那些斤斤计较的工匠,他们身上的那些缺点,都在这匹马的眼中被放大了。这种视角转换提供了独特的解读空间,让原本可能流于平庸的动物故事,上升到了对人性的深度探讨。我特别欣赏那些描绘环境恶化的章节,那种对自然环境被人类过度索取的无声控诉,在今天看来依然具有强烈的警示意义。它提醒我们,真正的文明,在于如何对待那些比我们弱小的存在。这本书的价值,远超出了一个单纯的冒险故事。
评分这部作品最让我感到震撼的是它所蕴含的坚韧的生命哲学。主角在经历了无数次的磨难和看似无法挽回的低谷后,依然保持着一种内在的正直和对美好生活的向往。这种“即便身处泥泞,心向阳光”的精神力量,是超越时代和物种的。我常常在想,如果我是作者,或许早就让角色彻底屈服于命运的安排了,但作者没有。她坚持让角色在绝境中寻找一线生机,这种对希望的执着描绘,极大地鼓舞了我。文字的密度很高,信息量非常丰富,但阅读起来却意外地流畅,仿佛被一种强大的内在逻辑牵引着向前。它不仅仅是关于一匹马的传记,更像是一部关于如何承受痛苦、如何保持善良、以及最终如何获得救赎的寓言。读完后,我感到一种释然和力量的回归,仿佛自己也完成了一次精神上的长途跋涉。
评分这本关于一只马的故事,真是让人心头一紧又为之动容。从一开始,我就被那种纯粹的、近乎原始的生命力深深吸引住了。作者的笔触极其细腻,仿佛能让人闻到泥土的芬芳和马厩里干燥的干草味。那种对劳动和自然规律的尊重,在现代社会中已经很少见了。我尤其欣赏书中对于不同阶层人与动物互动的描绘,那些粗暴的鞭笞和不经意的温柔,都赤裸裸地展现了人性的复杂。阅读过程中,我好几次停下来,去想象那匹马在不同主人手下的遭遇,内心的波澜久久不能平息。它不仅仅是一匹马,更像是一个承载了无数社会寓言的载体。书中对乡村生活的点滴描摹,那种缓慢而有序的节奏,让人在喧嚣的日常之外,找到了一片难得的心灵栖息地。我能感受到作者对那个逝去时代的深切怀念,那是一种对朴素美德的颂扬,虽然带着一丝理想化的色彩,但足以触动人心最柔软的地方。
评分说实话,这本书的阅读体验是极其“沉浸式”的,与其说是在看一个故事,不如说是在经历一段漫长的人生旅程。那些关于马匹健康、训练方法的描写,细致到近乎专业的程度,这让我对那个时代的农业和畜牧业有了全新的认识,远比教科书上的描述要生动得多。更重要的是,每一次环境和主人的改变,都像是一次对主角性格的淬炼。我能清晰地感受到那种从顺从到抗争,从希望到幻灭的复杂心路历程。文字的运用非常讲究韵律感,尤其是那些描述奔跑和劳作的段落,充满了力量与动感,仿佛能听到马蹄踏碎石子的清脆声响。它没有采用那种矫揉造作的煽情手法,而是通过冷静的叙述,让读者自己去挖掘其中的悲怆,这种克制反而带来了更持久的情感冲击。这是一部需要细细品味的文学作品,每一章都值得反复推敲。
评分文字简单易懂,从马的角度看世界,十分生动。
评分因为封面才选这个版本 故事是嘛温馨向 小朋友看挺好的
评分因为封面才选这个版本 故事是嘛温馨向 小朋友看挺好的
评分因为封面才选这个版本 故事是嘛温馨向 小朋友看挺好的
评分因为封面才选这个版本 故事是嘛温馨向 小朋友看挺好的
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