谁能给我关于Toni Morrison的《beloved》的英文简介

Answer 1

内容简介：

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.

中文版：


　《宠儿》堪称美国黑人历史的一座纪念碑。主要情节取材于一个真实的历史故事。小说中的主人公——女黑奴塞丝怀着身孕只身从肯塔基的奴隶庄园逃到俄亥俄的辛辛那提，奴隶主循踪追至，为了使儿女不再重复自己做奴隶的悲惨命运，她毅然杀死了自己的一个女儿。虽然这已是18年前的往事，但往事的梦魇一刻也不曾停止过对塞丝的纠缠。

　　十八年后，奴隶制早已废除，而被她杀死的女婴还魂归来，和塞丝、塞丝的女儿丹芙以及塞丝的情人保罗生活在同一幢房子里。

　　她以自己的出现日夜惩罚母亲当年的行为，不但加倍地向母亲索取着爱，甚至纠缠和引诱包罗，不择手段地扰乱和摧毁母亲刚刚回暖的生活。

　　往事的梦魇一刻也不曾停止过对塞丝的纠缠，全书充满苦涩的诗意和紧张的悬念。

拓展：关于《beloved》的作者

        托妮·莫里森，美国当代最重要的女作家之一。1931年生于美国俄亥俄州，曾担任兰登书屋编辑、资深编辑，1989年起任普林斯顿大学教授。主要代表作有《最蓝的眼睛》、《秀拉》、《所罗门之歌》、《宠儿》、《爵士乐》、《天堂》等，曾获美国普利策小说奖、美国图书评论协会奖等多项大奖。1993年获诺贝尔文学奖，是历史上得此殊荣的唯一黑人女作家。

       《宠儿》是托妮·莫里森最震撼人心、最成熟的代表作，现已经成为当代文学史上不朽的经典，也是美国文学史上最畅销的作品之一。小说完成于1987年，1988年即获得美国普利策小说奖。2006年《纽约时报》召集125位知名作家、评论家、编辑及文坛泰斗等选出自己心目中“25年来最佳美国小说”，《宠儿》得票最高，名列第一。

Answer 2

　　In this novel, Morrison paints a somber picture of the brutal effects of slavery especially from the point of view of the Beloved (novel) characters. It examines both the mental and physical trauma caused by slavery as well as its effect on survivors. The book follows the story of Sethe (pronounced "Seth-uh") and her daughter Denver as they try to rebuild their lives after having escaped from slavery.
　　124 Bluestone, the house they inhabit, is apparently haunted; poltergeist events occur there with an alarming regularity. Because of this, Sethe's youngest daughter, Denver, has no friends and is extremely shy. Howard and Buglar, Sethe's sons, run away from home by the time they are thirteen. Their primary reason was the fear of being killed by their own mother. They do not understand why Sethe murdered Beloved and believe that whatever triggered the infanticide may happen again. Shortly after, Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's husband Halle, dies in her bed.
　　Paul D, one of the slaves from the Sweet Home, the plantation where Baby Suggs, Sethe, Halle, he, and many other slaves had worked in and either been freed or run away from, arrives at 124. He tries to bring a sense of reality into the house. He also tries to make the family move forward in time and leave the past behind. In doing so, he forces the ghost of Beloved out. At first, he seems to be successful, because he leads the family to a carnival, out of the house in years. However, on their way back, they encounter a young woman sitting in front of the house. She has distinct features of a baby and calls herself Beloved. Denver recognizes that she must be a reincarnation of her sister Beloved right away. Paul D, suspicious of her, warns Sethe, but charmed by the young woman, Sethe ignores him. Paul D finds himself being gradually forced out out of Sethe's home by a supernatural presence. When he is finally made to sleep in a shed outside, he is cornered by Beloved, who has put a spell on him for this purpose. She burrows into his mind and his heart, forcing him to have sex with her, while flooding his consciousness with horrific memories from his past. Paul, overwhelmed with guilt after the incident, attempts to tell Sethe, but cannot and instead tells her he wants her pregnant. Sethe is humored and elated by his wishes, and Paul D. finds the power to resist Beloved and her influence over him. However, when he tells his friends at work about his plans to start a new family, they react negatively and fearfully. Stamp Paid then reveals to Paul D. the reason for the community's rejection of Sethe. When Paul D asks Sethe about it, she tells him what happened all those years ago. After escaping from Sweet Home and making it to her mother-in-law's home where her children are waiting, Sethe is found by her master, Schoolteacher, who attempts to reclaim Sethe and her children. In a heightened panic, Sethe's grabs her children, runs into the tool shed and tries to kill them all, only succeeding with her oldest daughter. Sethe explains to Paul D her reasoning for doing it, stating she was "trying to put my babies where they would be safe." However, the revelation is too much for Paul D, who later leaves the house for good. Without Paul D, the sense of reality and moving time disappears.
　　Sethe comes to believe that the girl is the daughter whom Sethe murdered by slitting her throat with a handsaw when the child was only two years old, and whose tombstone reads only "Beloved". Upon this realization, Sethe's begins to spend carelessly and spoil Beloved out of guilt. Beloved recognizes her mother's guilt and becomes angry and more demanding, throwing hellish tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Beloved's presence consumes Sethe's life to the point where she becomes depleted and even sacrifices her own need for eating, while Beloved grows bigger and bigger. In the climax of the novel Denver, the youngest daughter, reaches out and searches for help from the black community. People arrive at 124 to exorcize Beloved. However, while Sethe is confused and has a rememory of the schoolteacher coming again, Beloved disappears.
　　The novel follows in the tradition of slave narratives, but also confronts the more painful and taboo aspects of slavery, such as sexual abuse and violence, which Morrison pushes to the edge of questioning the idea of being human and of being a mother. She explores the effects on the characters, Paul D and Sethe, of trying to repress—and then coming to terms with—the painful memories of their past.
　　At the outset, the reader is led to assume Beloved is a supernatural, incarnate form of Sethe's murdered daughter. Later, Stamp Paid reveals the story of "a girl locked up by a white man over by Deer Creek. Found him dead last summer and the girl gone. Maybe that's her". Both are supportable by the text. The possibility that Beloved is the murdered child is supported by the fact that she sings a song known only to Sethe and her children; elsewhere, she speaks of Sethe's earrings without having seen them. However, the characters have a psychological need for Beloved to be that dead child returned: Sethe can assuage her guilt over the death of her child, and Denver has a sister/playmate. Toni Morrison's intention (revealed in interviews) was to compel the reader to become active rather than passive and work to discover what is going on