美国作家保罗•比第的第四部小说《出卖》于2015年出版,当时这本书的发行量少之又少,并没受到太多追捧。但在第一批读者之中,至少有一名重量级的内行——比第的书摘得了全美书评人协会奖,现在,又把布克奖揽入怀中。
As one of the most *prestigious literary honors in the English-speaking world, The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (simply known as the Booker Prize) is awarded each year for the best original novel. On Oct 25, 54-year-old Beatty, who lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University’s School of Arts, was named as the first American to win the prize, with The Sellout helping him win the *accolade.
作为英语世界文坛上享有盛誉的文学大奖之一,布克小说奖(简称为布克奖)每年会颁发给最佳原创小说。 10月25日,54岁的比第,现居纽约并任教于哥伦比亚大学艺术学院,被评为第一个获得该奖项的美国人,其小说《出卖》助他摘得了此项殊荣。
The book is a biting *satire on race relations in the US. The story’s narrator, an African-American called Bonbon, tries to put his Californian town back on the map – from which it has been officially removed – by re-introducing *segregation in its high school, as well as slavery.
该书辛辣地讽刺了美国的种族关系问题。故事的叙述人是一个名叫Bonbon的非洲裔美国人,他试图通过恢复高中种族隔离和奴隶制度,让已正式从地图上拿掉的加州小镇重返地图。
The 289-page novel begins with Bonbon facing a hearing in the Supreme Court, looking back over the events that led up to that point.
这本289页的小说以Bonbon出席最高法院的听证会作为开场,并倒叙了事情的起因和经过。
The language of the book, along with some of its content, is *uncompromising and may offend some readers. Upsetting as it may be to some though, the content isn’t too far removed from what one might read in a newspaper, including the side story of the *protagonist’s father, who is unjustly shot by police.
小说的语气以及它的部分内容十分强硬,可能会冒犯一些读者。尽管如此,故事并不陌生,和你在报纸上看到的差不多,其中就有主人公父亲被警察不法击毙的支线故事。
At a ceremony in London, Beatty was *overwhelmed with emotion and struggled for words as he began his acceptance speech. “I hate writing,” he admitted to the audience. “This is a hard book,” he went on. “It was hard for me to write, I know it’s hard to read. Everyone’s coming at it from different angles.”
在伦敦的颁奖仪式上,比第十分激动,在发表他的获奖感言时他无以言表。“我讨厌写作,”他向观众承认。“这是一本创作艰难的书,”他接着说道。“对我来说它很难写,我也知道它很难读。每个人都是从不同的角度来读的。”
“For me, it’s just really *gratifying that something that’s
“于我而言,真正令人欣慰的是对我来说很重要的事情,对于其他人也同样重要,”他在一次新闻发布会上说道。
The competition for the Booker, which was first awarded in 1969, has been much more intense in recent years after the prize was opened to any novel written in English and published in Britain. Until 2014, the prize was restricted to novels written by authors from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth nations. Previous prizes have gone to world-class authors including Salman Rushdie, Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood.
布克奖设立于1969年,在该奖开始面向所有在英国出版的英语小说后,其角逐近年来尤为激烈。而在2014年放开国籍限制前,布克奖仅限于颁发给英国,爱尔兰和英联邦国家的作家的作品。以前的奖项曾颁发给被多位世界级作家,比如萨尔曼•鲁西迪,希拉里•曼特尔和玛格丽特•阿特伍德。
The Booker Prize’s five judges read 155 novels before *whittling the pile down to a shortlist of just six, including works from two British writers, two from the US, one Canadian and one British-Canadian. Each author receives £2,500 (21,000 yuan) and a specially bound edition of their book. The winner receives a further £50,000.
布克奖的五位评委在阅读了155本小说后,将入围名单缩减到六人,包括两位英国作家,两位美国作家,一位加拿大作家和一位英裔加拿大作家。每位作者获得了2,500英镑(约合人民币21,000元)奖金以及其作品的特别装订版。最终获奖者还获得了另外50,000英镑。
Chair of the judges, Amanda Foreman, said The Sellout had been a *unanimous choice. “It *plunges into the heart of contemporary American society with absolutely *savage *wit of the kind I haven’t seen since Jonathan Swift or Mark Twain,” she said. “It is really a novel for our times.”
评审主席阿曼达•弗尔曼表示,《出卖》是评委们一致的选择。 “它深深刺穿当代美国社会,自乔纳森•斯威夫特和马克•吐温以来,我再没见过的这种酣畅淋漓野性的智慧,” 她说, “这真的是我们时代的小说。”
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