為什麼讀經典: Why Read the Classics?

by Italo Calvino, 李桂蜜 (translator)

名作家卡爾維諾以本書帶領讀者一同探尋他所喜愛的經典
作者發揮他獨到的閱讀敏銳，細膩剖陳康拉德、狄更斯、狄德羅、福樓拜、奧維德等經典大家的作品風格，書中俯拾皆是特有的見解，比如宣稱笛福的《魯賓遜漂流記》是現代新聞報導體的濫殤；巴爾扎克的作品其動力是鈔票，至於短篇小說大師海明威則是一個性情暴烈的旅人……透過對這些作品的評析，卡爾維諾也對自己的寫作事業做了深刻的反省，是一部藉著經典閱讀經驗省思寫作者自我的精采大書。


「卡爾維諾以六頁篇幅就能說明──而且是筆者所見過關於偉大文學最引人入勝、陳腔濫調最少的辯證。」──倫敦《周日電訊報》


「卡爾維諾有獨特的才情，能讓文學作品在讀者面前鮮明生動。」──《泰晤士報》


「熱忱和智慧是優秀文評家的核心。卡爾維諾身為才能出眾的小說家，兩者俱足。這本書非常值得一讀，無論是以一種新方式重讀，或者是首次閱讀。」──雪梨《每日電訊報》


「卡爾維諾以想像力豐富的作家身分，向讀者開放他不拘一格、兼收並蓄的書櫃藏書。藉此，卡爾維諾引領我們取下書本來，為我們朗讀選取的章節段落，注視著我們臉龐，觀看我們的驚訝反應。」──The Observer


「本書是三十一位經Ð

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 8, 2005

About the author

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).

His style is not easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."