準備去英國留學或者對西方文化感興趣的童鞋們，今天推薦的這本小說可以列入書目表了~~
WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT？內(nèi)容概覽
Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World is among the greatest novels of the 20th century, combining sharp social commentary with a terrifying vision of the future. The book follows a number of characters as they navigate a seemingly utopian world in which everyone is always happy but has no real control over their own lives. Through a combination of genetic engineering, sleep-hypnosis, and a wonder-drug, the World State extends their power over every aspect of a global society, and it seems unlikely that any of our protagonists will make it out alive.
奧爾德斯·赫胥黎(譯者注：英國著名作家)的這部反烏托邦小說《美麗新世界》無疑是上個世紀最偉大的作品之一，對現(xiàn)實的辛辣諷刺和關(guān)于人類社會未來的駭人預(yù)言貫穿全篇。小說中，主人公們意外闖入了一個烏托邦的世界，由此開始了一段驚心動魄的漫游。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，雖然這個世界里的每個人都看似永無煩惱，但他們卻無法真正掌控自己的生活。通過使用基因工程、催眠療法、迷幻制劑等控制手段，世界國將其權(quán)力觸角伸向了社會的方方面面。我們的主人公似乎是很難逃離這個“美麗新世界”了。
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND IT？小說背后的故事
Huxley was deeply affected by the events of the depression on Britain in 1931, which brought massive unemployment and social difficulties. Inspired by the utopian novels of H.G. Wells, he decided to explore what it would be like to live in an apparently perfect world, where mass production was applied to every part of society, making financial problems a thing of the past. Although George Orwell, author of the equally popular dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, accused Huxley of deriving his work from the Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin’s workWe, Huxley denied the link. Many of his characters were derived from real people in the economic landscape of the time, such as Mustapha Mond, who is inspired by Sir Alfred Mond, the head of a technologically advanced power plant that Huxley visited shortly before starting Brave New World.
赫胥黎本人曾深受1931年英國經(jīng)濟危機的影響，這場前所未有的大蕭條引致了居高不下的失業(yè)率和無數(shù)社會問題。受到赫伯特·喬治·威爾斯描繪烏托邦的小說的啟發(fā)，他也打算用筆探索一下在一個表面上看起來完美無瑕的世界里生活是怎樣的一番體驗。在這樣的一個世界里，大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)已經(jīng)滲透到了社會的每個環(huán)節(jié)，財政經(jīng)濟問題似乎已經(jīng)徹底變成了過去式。雖然喬治·奧威爾，一位同樣以其反烏托邦小說《1984》聞名于世的作家，批評赫胥黎的小說完全取材于葉夫根尼·扎米亞京的《我們》，但赫胥黎否認了二者間的聯(lián)系。事實上，《美麗新世界》的許多人物都來源于當時英國社會中的真實人物，比如穆斯塔法·蒙德的原型就是一位現(xiàn)實中存在的阿爾弗雷德·蒙德先生，他是赫胥黎在開始寫作《美麗新世界》前所參觀的一家工藝先進的能源工廠的主管。
WHAT’S SO AWESOME ABOUT IT？此書妙在何處？
The power of the book comes from its brilliant portrayal of a society which seems to have everything, and yet is lacking what truly makes people human – free will. The cinematic style perfectly encapsulates a variety of views towards the society, and gives a panoptic vision of what might happen if capitalist interests were taken to the extreme, with no regard for human morality or ethics. As much as Huxley’s world appears idyllic, readers can always tell that there is something intrinsically wrong with the World State and its machinations.
這本書最震撼人心的地方在于它描繪了一個看起來無所不有的完美社會，但事實上它卻泯滅了使人之所以為人的最寶貴的東西——自由意志。小說電影鏡頭式的描寫風格完美地縮影了人們對于社會彼此不一的看法，并一陣見血地揭示了資本主義關(guān)系發(fā)展到極致時社會的全貌——在那樣一個社會里，人類的道德和倫理將一文不值。盡管赫胥黎筆下的烏托邦世界美好到令人沉醉，讀者們卻能在閱讀過程中發(fā)現(xiàn)存在于世界國及其運轉(zhuǎn)機制中的那些根深蒂固的弊病。
THIS IS GREAT TO READ WHEN…
This is the kind of book that will change your entire outlook on life. In his exploration of happiness and free will, Huxley paints a disturbing picture of what the price can be for having what you want. This makes it a book that rewards reading at any time and at age, although you would probably benefit from it most during your rebellious years as a teenager. Pick it up whenever you next see it lying around in a bookshop.
這是一本能夠徹底刷新你世界觀的巨作。在對快樂和自由意志的探索中，赫胥黎揭示了當人類社會終于步入“要風得風、要雨得雨”的“理想”狀態(tài)后，人們需要為此付出的慘痛代價。這一深邃的主旨使本書值得在任何時間和年齡段閱讀，當然，如果能夠在叛逆桀驁的青春期讀到它，一定會使你受益更多。下次在書店里邂逅這本書的時候，就請你毫不猶豫地買下它吧！
IF YOU LIKED THIS, THEN YOU SHOULD TRY...其他推薦閱讀
And Brave New World is just one of a number of dystopian novels that came out of the 20th century. The work of Orwell and Zamyatin has already been mentioned, but there are also novels like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go; for films, you should try out Battle Royale or Blade Runner, or closer to our own time you could read or see The Hunger Games. The desire to look into the future and predict what our society might be like is a constant fascination, and in these works we imagine just how bad it might get (if only to make us feel better about what it’s like now). Just don’t get too upset!
《美麗新世界》只是20世紀眾多反烏托邦作品中的一部。奧威爾和扎米亞京的作品上文已經(jīng)提及了。此外，還有加拿大女詩人瑪格麗特·阿特伍德的《使女的故事》以及日本作家石黑一雄的《別讓我走》。同題材的電影作品，推薦日本電影《大逃殺》或美國電影《銀翼殺手》，如果想看更現(xiàn)代一些的作品，那么《饑餓游戲》就不可錯過了。洞穿未來、預(yù)言人類社會的走向是文藝作品中永恒的主題。只不過在上面這些作品中，我們只是看到了未來最壞的一面(當然它們也讓我們真切地感受到今天之美好)。也不要太悲觀嘛！
喜歡的螃友們趕緊讀起來啦！一書在手，天下我有。
