BRAZILIAN TALES TRANSLATED FROM THE PORTUGUESE WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ISAAC GOLDBERG Author of Studies in Spanish-American Literature, - CONTENTS PRELIMINARY REMARKS .... 7 V THE ATTENDANTS CONFESSION . BY JOAQUIM MARIA MACHADO DE ASSIS 43 V THE FORTUNE-TELLER .... 65 BY JOAQUIM MARIA MACHADO DE ASSIS LIFE . 87 BY JOAQUIM MARIA MACHADO DE ASSIS THE VENGEANCE OF FELIX ... 107 BY JOSE MEDEIROS E ALBUQUERQUE THE PIGEONS 121 BY COELHO NETTO AUNT ZEZES TEARS 139 BY CARMEN DOLORES TO J. D. M. FORD SMITH PROFESSOR OF THE FRENCH AND SPANISH LANGUAGES, HARVARD UNIVERSITY SOME INFORMAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS THE noted Brazilian critic, Jose Verissimo, in a short but important essay on the deficiencies of his countrys letters, has expressed serious doubt as to whether there existsagenuinely Brazilian lit erature. I do not know, he writes, whether the existence of an entirely indepen dent literature is possible without an entirely independent language. In this sense Verissimo would deny the existence of a Swiss, or a Belgian, literature. In this sense, too, it was no doubt once possible, with no small measure of justification, to deny the exist ence of an American, as distinguished from an English, literature. Yet, despite the sub tle psychic bonds that link identity of speech to similarity of thought, the environment which helps to shape pronounciation as well as vocabulary and the language itself is, from the standpoint of literature, little re moved from language as a determining fac tor. Looking at the question, however, from the purely linguistic standpoint, it is impor tant to remember that the Spanish of Spanish America is more different from the parent tongue than is the English of thiscountry from that of the mother nation. Similar changes have taken place in the Portuguese spoken in Brazil. Yet who would now pre tend, on the basis of linguistic similarity, to say that there is no United States literature as distinguished from English literature Af ter all, is it not national life, as much as na tional language, that makes literature And by an inversion of Verissimos standard may we not come face to face with a state of affairs in which different literatures exist within the same tongue Indeed, is not such a conception as the great American novel rendered quite futile in the United States by the fact that from the literary standpoint we are several countries rather than one The question is largely academic. At the same time it is interesting to notice the more assertive standpoint lately adopted by the charming Mexican poet, Luis G. Urbina, in his recent La Vida Literaria de Mexico, where, without undue national pride he claims the right to use the adjective Mexican in qualifying the letters of his remarkable country. Urbina shows that different physi ological and psychological types have been produced in his part of the New World why, then, should the changes stop there Nor have they ceased at that point, as Senor Ur- binas delightful and informative book re veals. So, too, whatever the merits of the academic question involved, a book like Alencars Guarany, for instance, could not have been written outside of Brazil neither could Verissimos own Scenes fromAmazon Life. II. Brazilian literature has been divided into four main periods. The first extends from the age of discovery and exploration to the middle of the eighteenth century the second includes the second halfof the eighteenth century the third comprises the years of the nineteenth century up to 1840, while that date inaugurates the triumph of Romanti cism over pseudo-Classicism. Romanticism, as in other countries, gave way in turn to realism and various other movements cur rent in those turbulent decades...
读完这本书,我最大的感受是它在人物塑造上的大胆与创新。那些人物并非扁平化的符号,而是充满了内在的矛盾和成长的轨迹。特别是那位配角,那个看似冷漠无情的商人,作者通过零散的闪回片段,巧妙地揭示了他年轻时所遭受的巨大创伤,使得他最终的选择变得可以理解,甚至带有一丝悲剧色彩。这种“灰色地带”的描绘,远比简单的善恶二元论来得震撼人心。文笔方面,这本作品展现出一种近乎散文诗般的华丽,但又没有因此牺牲故事的清晰度。有几段关于自然景色的描写,简直可以直接摘出来作为独立的文学片段进行品鉴,那种对光影、色彩的捕捉,简直是大师级的。如果说有什么可以挑剔的地方,或许是结尾处理得稍显仓促了一些,高潮部分带来的情感冲击力本应持续更久,但它却像一道绚烂的烟火,瞬间爆发后便迅速消散,留给我一种意犹未尽的怅然若失。
评分这本书的对话部分是其最闪光的一面。人物之间的交锋犀利而富有张力,每一句台词都仿佛经过了千锤百炼,既符合角色的身份背景,又推动了情节的发展,绝无一句废话。特别是主角与导师之间关于道德困境的辩论那几场戏,简直是教科书级别的剧本范本,充满了智力上的火花碰撞。我几乎是逐字逐句地品味那些对话,体会其中的潜台词和微妙的情绪变化。在语言的韵律感上,作者似乎借鉴了某种古典文学的结构,使得即便是最日常的交流也带有一种庄重的仪式感。相较于那些依赖大量动作描写来推动剧情的书籍,这部作品的节奏主要依靠言语的交锋来维持,这本身就是一种高难度挑战。如果说非要找一个可以改进的地方,那就是我希望作者能在某些关键时刻,允许角色有一瞬间的脆弱,那样角色的立体感会更加完整,但即便如此,这本书依然是近年来我读过的最令人耳目一新的作品之一,它的内在能量和文本密度都达到了极高的水准。
评分这本书的叙事节奏把握得极为精妙,从开篇那个略显沉闷的雨夜场景,到中间部分主人公在异国他乡的几次冒险,那种层层递进的紧张感,简直让人喘不过气来。作者对于环境细节的描摹达到了近乎偏执的程度,你几乎能闻到空气中弥漫的潮湿泥土味,听到远方船只的汽笛声。尤其是主角在处理那桩家族遗嘱引发的纷争时,那种内心挣扎的描绘,极其细腻入微,让我对角色的复杂性有了更深的理解。不过,我个人觉得第三章关于历史背景的铺陈略显冗长,虽然它为理解后续的冲突提供了必要的上下文,但偶尔会打断故事本身的流畅性,让我有那么一瞬间想要跳过去。但是,总的来说,它成功地构建了一个宏大而又私密的叙事空间,让人沉浸其中,久久不能忘怀。阅读完后,那种回味悠长的感觉,就像是品尝了一杯层次丰富的陈年老酒,需要时间去慢慢消化其中的酸甜苦辣。作者的功力深厚,语言驾驭能力令人赞叹。
评分这本书的结构设计简直是一个精密的迷宫,作者显然对叙事手法有着深刻的理解和实验精神。它不是按照传统的线性时间轴推进,而是频繁地在过去、现在和一种近乎梦境的未来预示之间跳跃。这种碎片化的叙事方式,初读时确实需要集中全部注意力去拼凑线索,但一旦你适应了它的节奏,你会发现这种结构恰恰是服务于主题的——即记忆的不可靠性和真相的相对性。我尤其欣赏作者处理不同叙事视角的功力,每一个“我”都有自己独特的声音和偏见,让读者不得不去质疑自己所接收到的信息的真实度。语言风格方面,它时而冷峻得像冰棱,时而又热烈得像火焰,这种强烈的反差营造出一种独特的张力。如果说这是我对一本小说的期待,那它基本是超额完成了。唯一的不足,也许是对于一些过于隐晦的象征符号,如果作者能给予哪怕一丝丝的引导,对于普通读者来说会更加友好,否则很容易在某些哲学思辨的泥潭里迷失方向。
评分从题材上看,这本书探讨的主题极其宏大,涉及了权力、信仰与个体自由之间的永恒冲突。它没有提供任何简单的答案,反而将这些复杂的问题赤裸裸地摆在读者面前,迫使我们进行深入的自我反思。作者的知识储备显然非常丰富,无论是对古代仪式的描绘,还是对现代社会机构运作的讽刺,都显得有理有据,令人信服。我特别喜欢其中关于“沉默的契约”那一段探讨,它深刻揭示了社会运行的潜规则,那种洞察世事的深刻令人不寒而栗。行文风格上,它偏向于一种冷静、克制的报告文学笔调,数据和事实的堆砌虽然略显枯燥,但正是这种冷静,反而增强了批判力量。与那些煽情过度的小说不同,这本书的力量在于其不动声色的穿透力。总而言之,这是一部需要思考才能阅读的作品,它更像是一份深刻的社会诊断书,而不是单纯的消遣读物,非常值得那些寻求深度文本的读者投入时间。
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