内容简介

A daring, deeply affecting third novel by the author of A Home at the End of the World and Flesh and Blood. In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family. Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.

作者简介

Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lecturer of creative writing at Yale University.

精彩摘录

我们之中少数人跳楼、投河、服药自杀；稍多的人死于意外事故；大多数人、绝大多数人被某种疾病缓慢吞噬，或者如果我们极端幸运的话，则被岁月本身吞噬。唯一的安慰是：不是这里就是那里，尽管面对极大的困难、完全出于预料、我们的生命似乎会有那么一个时刻突然绽放开来，给与我们所期望的一切，虽说除了孩子（也许连他们都包括在内），谁都知道这些时刻的后面不可避免地会出现其他的时刻，黑暗得多也困难得多的时刻。但是我们仍然珍爱这座城市，珍爱清晨；我们更加希望的是得到更多期望的一切。只有老天才知道我们为什么会这么热爱它。

——引自第215页

尽管如此，她依然热爱这个世界，因为它的粗犷和不可摧毁，她知道其他的人，无论是穷人还是富人，一定也爱它，虽然没有人说出具体的理由来。否则我们为什么在无论受到怎样的伤害、遭到怎样的不幸的情况下，仍然奋力生活下去？即使我们比理查德还要虚弱，即使我们只剩下皮包骨，全身爆发出瘀斑，大便失禁拉在床上，我们仍旧拼命想活下去。她想，这都和眼前的一切有关。车轮在水泥地上发出咝咝的声音，那喧嚣和震动；喷泉中喷出大片明亮的水花，光着膀子的年轻人在扔飞盘，小贩（秘鲁人，危地马拉人）拼凑而成的银白色手推车里散发出浓烈的带肉香的烟雾；老头老太太们坐在长凳上尽情晒太阳，轻声交谈，摇晃着脑袋；汽车喇叭的呜呜声和弹拨吉他的声音（那边衣衫褴褛的一群，三个男孩和一个女孩，他们真的会在弹《八英里之高》吗？）；树叶在树上闪着微光；一只达尔马提亚斑点狗在追逐鸽子，经过此处的一台收音机里播放着《永远爱你》，而站在凯旋门下的黑衣女人一直在唱着吚吚吚吚吚。

——引自第12页