英文名著｜《德伯家的苔丝》

Tess of the D’Urbervilles《德伯家的苔丝》

By Thomas Hardy

THOMAS HARDY, probably the most searching and profound novelist of our time, was born on June 2, 1840, in Dorsetshire, England. He died on January 11, 1928. In his youth he read much and cherished the dream of becoming a poet, but he studied and practiced architecture as assistant to a London architect, winning a prize for design. The fine proportion and solidity of structure in his novels were probably somewhat due to his architectural training.

托马斯·哈代，可能是当代最富有观察力、造诣最深的小说家，1840 年 6 月 2 日生于英格兰的多塞特郡，1928 年 1 月 11 日去世。他年轻时博览群书，一心想成为一个诗人。但是作为伦敦一位建筑师的助手，他学习和从事的是建筑,还获得过一次设计奖。他的小说结构的匀称和充实，恐怕多少要归功于他在建筑学上的训练。

For five years he assiduously practiced writing poetry, but when he was twenty-seven he turned definitely to fiction. His first story was accepted two years later, but upon the advice of George Meredith he decided not to publish it. His first novel, “Desperate Remedies,” appeared in 1871.

他用了五年的时间，勤奋地写作诗歌，但在 27 岁时，毅然转向小说。两年后，他的第一篇短篇小说虽被采纳，但在乔治·梅雷迪斯的劝导下,，他决定不发表。他的第一部小说《计出无奈》于 1871 年问世。

During the next twenty-five years he published fourteen novels and two volumes of short stories.

在此后的 25 年里，他发表了 14 部小说和两本短篇小说集。

“Under the Greenwood Tree” (1872) he never surpassed in happy and delicate perfection of art. In this and his next novel, “A Pair of Blue Eyes”(1873), begins to show itself that strain of deep irony which is so potent throughout Hardy’s writings.

《绿林荫下》(1872)是他“在艺术上的精致完美所达到的最高峰”。在这部小说以及他的下一部小说《一双湛蓝的秋波》(1873) 中，开始显露出深刻的讽刺笔调，这种笔调强有力地贯穿在哈代以后的全部作品中。

“Far from the Maddening Crowd ”(1874) was his first popular success. In it is revealed Hardy’s superb power of depicting nature as symbolic background for his characters, an organic part of the action of his story. This was the earliest of what he called his novels of character and environment, which included “The Return of the Native,”“Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” his masterpiece, and “Jude the Obscure.” Not until he was fiftyeight years old was his first volume of verse published , and he was sixtyfour when the first part of his stupendous epic poem, “The Dynasts,” startled the literary world.

《远离尘嚣》(1874)是他的第一部受到欢迎的成功之作。从这篇小说可以看到哈代的非凡才能，他把对自然的描写作为他的人物的象征性的背景，成为他的故事情节的有机部分。这就是他称之为人物和环境小说的最早作品，其中包括《还乡》、名作《德伯家的苔丝》和《无名的裘德》。一直到 58 岁时他的第一部诗集才出版，64 岁时，他的巨著、史诗剧《列王》第一部震动了文坛。

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