THE GERMAN LOTTERY

Book ID/图书代码： 11687010B41165

English Summary/英文概要： Miha Mazzini’s newest novella, The German Lottery (Beletrina, 2010), is set in 1950 in a country with a totalitarian regime, where every word can be fatal and everyone is spying on everyone. The story’s naively optimistic protagonist, orphaned and injured during the Second World War, has been provided by the government with living quarters and a job as a postman. Determined to carry out his postal duties honorably, he nevertheless is seduced by a beautiful and manipulative married woman and becomes involved with double- and triple-crossing swindlers.
The septuagenarian narrator of The German Lottery, our former postman, relates his memories to his offspring in suspenseful, humorous installments during the college student’s visits to see him in a retirement home. The author deftly conveys the flaws in the narrator’s reasoning, the defensiveness that interferes with the elderly man’s memory.
The German Lottery is lighthearted satire, a study of human nature, and a warning about the power of greed. It can be read as an allegory. The earnest young postman is susceptible to the socialist propaganda of the times, which the two con artists he meets have loosely adapted for their illicit purposes. The younger man discovers, at first to his horror, that he has helped to lure people on his postal route into a confidence scheme. Household by household, individuals are duped into selling their homes to pay the swindlers for safe passage to Germany, at which point these unsuspecting winners set off for Berlin to collect their phony lottery prizes and are never heard from again. The postman, deeply involved in the scam and unwilling to recognize his own wrongdoing, chooses to believe the swindlers’ assertions that, together, the trio of accomplices are cleansing their own country of its greediest citizens and redistributing wealth to those who are more deserving.
Mazzini’s approach allows the reader to see beyond his characters’ inept rationalizations. As the cast of hapless criminals claim insight and moral superiority, the reader can’t help both liking them and wishing they were all locked up. Perhaps the story could best be described as a screwball comedy with a message.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： Miha Mazzini最新中篇小说《德国乐透》（Beletrina, 2010）的背景设定在50年代一个极权统治下的城镇，在那里，随意说出的每一句话都可能会让人致命，每个人都在监视中生活。故事中天真乐观的主人公是一名孤儿，在二战中受了伤后，居住在政府提供的住所里，做着邮差的工作。他下定决心要做到一个邮差应尽的职责，但是却被一个迷人美丽的已婚女子所吸引，卷入了一场混乱交叠的骗局中。
《德国乐透》故事的讲述者是一位七十多岁的老者，他是一位退休的邮递员。在学校的学生们去这位老者家中拜访他时，他为大家讲述了一个悬念重重，而且还有些滑稽的故事。作者巧妙地避过讲述者思路中的漏洞，不让这位老人的回忆被打断。
《德国乐透》是一篇令人发笑的讽刺小说，内容涉及了人性的话题，并对人心贪婪作出了警告。它可以被当作是一篇寓言来阅读。年轻热心的邮递员受到了当时社会主义思想的深刻影响。一次邂逅，他遇到了两个人，事实上他们是到处行骗的骗子。年轻的邮递员发现后二人的本性后，感到十分震惊，原来自己送信的路径成就了骗子的计划。他们一家挨一家地哄骗别人卖掉房子，用来支付德国的通行费，之后就可以出发去柏林领取假彩票的奖项，其实这些根本都是凭空捏造。邮递员深深地陷入了这场骗局中，并且逃避承认自己犯下的错误，反而选择去相信那些骗子的断言，因为他们说，只要三个人一起，就可以洗空这个城镇所有贪婪人的财产，之后再把这些不义之财分给真正需要的人们。
Mazzini的文字让读者们通过主人公们蹩脚的关系理解到许多深刻的涵义。作者描写了罪犯们违反常规的思想以及道德水准，让读者们甚至忍不住想要把他们立刻锁起来。或者可以说，这个故事应该被称为是一个蕴含了深刻启示的脱线喜剧。(兼职翻译-PXD)

Awards/获奖情况：
UK rights sold to CB editions in London, publication February 2012.

About the Author/作者介绍： Miha Mazzini，居住在斯洛文尼亚的卢布尔雅那，这个城市在2010年被选作世界图书之都。他的二十三部著作曾被翻译成八种语言出版。两本剧本已经被拍成电影，他还自己撰写并导演了四部短片。他的小说《守护者汉娜》在2004年被列于国际IMPAC都柏林文学奖的初选名单上。同年，他的两篇短篇小说被刊登在美国的文学杂志上。读者可以在MihaMazzini.com找到所有已出版的著作名单，并可以获得斯洛文亚图书代理处派发的宣传册。

Miha Mazzini resides in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the city selected as World Book Capital 2010. He is the author of twenty-three books published in eight languages. Two of his screenplays have been produced as feature films, and he has written and directed four short films. His novel Guarding Hanna was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2004. He has seen two of his short stories published in literary magazines in the USA this year. A complete online résumé can be found at MihaMazzini.com, and a promotional brochure is distributed by the Slovenian Book Agency.

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

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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