RANSOM
Book ID/图书代码： 11701209B33550
English Summary/英文概要： What happens when a young prince falls in battle and his body is spirited away to be desecrated and dishonoured? His death is the battle price of another young man’s death, but what price dishonour and a father’s grief? In this exquisite gem of a novel, David Malouf shines new light on Homer’s "Iliad", adding twists and reflections, as well as flashes of earthy humour, to surprise and enchant. His version opens with Achilles, maddened by grief at the death of his friend Patroclus. From the walls of Troy, King Priam watches the body of his son Hector being dragged behind Achilles’ chariot. There must be a way, he thinks, of reclaiming the body - of pitting compromise against heroics, new ways against the old, and of forcing the hand of fate. Dressed simply and in a cart pulled by a mule, an old man sets off for the Greek camp...Lyrical, immediate and heartbreaking, Malouf’s fable engraves the epic themes of the Trojan war onto a perfect miniature - themes of war and heroics, hubris and humanity, chance and fate, the bonds between soldiers, fathers and sons, all newly burnished and brilliantly recast for our times.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 《伊里亚特》，古希腊盲诗人荷马(Homer, 800BC-600BC)的叙事诗史诗，是重要的古希腊文学作品，也是整个西方的经典之一。《伊利亚特》塑造了一系列古代英雄形象。在他们身上，既集中了部落集体所要求的优良品德，又突出了各人的性格特征。
被公认为澳大利亚最好作家的David Malouf，将为我们重现荷马史诗《伊利亚特》中最著名的片段：阿克琉斯在特洛伊展开屠杀，对特洛伊王子赫克托尔的凌辱，以及赫克托尔的父亲哀求阿克琉斯允许他赎回自己儿子的尸体。
作者带领我们回到了公元前9世纪的战场，细腻地重现了两个充满悲伤与痛苦的男子形象：一个失去挚友，另一个痛失爱子。命运的绳索将两人紧紧绑在一起，David Malouf将他们复杂的情感与人物形象表现得淋漓尽致。
阿喀琉斯，希腊联军中的英雄，英勇善战、忠于朋友。他的挚友普特洛克勒斯在战斗中葬身特洛伊王子赫克托尔手下，愤怒让阿喀琉斯变成了嗜血的恶魔，大肆屠杀特洛伊人。在杀死赫克托尔之后，他还残暴地将他的尸体拴在马后倒拖着围绕自己挚友的灵柩跑了三圈，并以十二个被俘的特洛伊青年为帕特洛克罗斯陪葬。
普里阿摩斯，特洛伊国王，赫克托尔的父亲。在得知儿子被阿喀琉斯杀死并遭到凌辱后，年老的国王夜入阿喀琉斯大帐，跪在他面前，泪流满面地吻着那双杀死自己儿子的手，哀求允许他赎回自己儿子的尸体。
当狂暴的战神面对着消瘦的老人，一曲比战争更宏伟的颂歌即将奏响。正如作者所说，“古今交融，仇恨转为理解，共同哀悼那些逝去的年轻生命。”(RH)
Awards/获奖情况：Praise for new novel, RANSOM:
“His first novel in 10 years, it must be said at once, is (however abused the word) a masterpiece, exquisitely written, pithy and wise and overwhelmingly moving, constructed with invisible, successful craft that leaves the reader wondering how in the world it has been done.”---Alberto Manguel, Australian Literary Review
“Malouf’s prose is delicate, marvellously alert to the natural world and endowed with a quality that has one name only: wisdom. There is something Shakespearean about this section: not the Shakespeare of the great speeches but those quiet moments …when time stands still and the nature of life is mysteriously disclosed.”---The Sydney Morning Herald
”By the time Nikos Kazantzakis completed his sequel to THE ODYSSEY, in 1938, THE ILIAD had shown itself to be better suited to our imperilled, capsizing world. The twentieth century’s wars were fought under the sign of Homer’s epic. Rupert Brooke recited THE ILIAD on the troopship to Gallipoli, and ecstatically anticipated a death that would eternalise his name ... Now David Malouf’s meditation on one small episode from THE ILIAD in his novel RANSOM gives the epic a renewed relevance."---Peter Conrad, The Monthly
About the Author/作者介绍： David Malouf is the author of poetry, three opera libretti and acclaimed novels including THE IMAGINARY LIFE (1978), which was a fictional life of the poet Ovid exiled from Rome by the Emperor Augustus in 8 A.D. and sent to live in exile among the Scythians on the Black Sea; THE GREAT WORLD, winner of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and the Prix Femina Etranger, REMEMBERING BABYLON, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the IMPAC Dublin
Literary Award. The comprehensive compilation of David’s shorter work, THE COMPLETE STORIES, won the 2008 Asia-Australia Literary Award, and was shortlisted for the inaugural Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award 2008.
David Malouf，首届澳大利亚亚洲文学奖得主，国际IMPAC都柏林文学奖得主，洛杉矶时报图书奖得主。著有多部脍炙人口的作品，包括《回忆巴比伦》(Remembering Babylon)、《虚构的生活》(An Imaginary Life)、以及《克伦河边的谈话》(The Conversations at Curlow Creek)等。现居澳大利亚。
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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