Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

必然帝国:奴役、自由与新世界的骗局

Rate this book
捕捉19世纪早期新世界民族、经济、思想和信仰之间的冲突。世界上三大一神教——西兰诺的天主教、德拉诺的新教和西非人的伊斯兰教——在作为舞台的轮船上彼此交锋。

《必然帝国:奴役、自由与新世界的骗局》记录了一个真实的历史事件。奴隶控制将他们运往美洲的船只,制造骗局,瞒住沿途经过的白人船只,发起叛乱。

故事发生在1804年的南太平洋上,在美国奴隶制中心地带5000英里之外,时间是奴隶制在南方扩展并且向西部推进之前的几十年,并且故事的主人公是新英格兰人亚玛撒·德拉诺、西班牙人班尼托·西兰诺和西非人莫瑞。奴隶头目莫瑞控制了船主班尼托·西兰诺,共同欺骗正好航行经过的亚玛撒·德拉诺。

这个故事捕捉了19世纪早期新世界民族、经济、思想和信仰之间的冲突。非洲奴隶巴波、莫瑞和他们同伴中的一些人是穆斯林,这意味着世界上三大一神教——西兰诺的天主教、德拉诺的新教和西非人的伊斯兰教——在作为舞台的轮船上彼此交锋。

这个故事最吸引人的是它揭露了一种范围更广的谎言,而奴隶制整座意识形态大厦都建立在这个谎言之上,即奴隶是忠心耿耿、头脑简单的,而且没有独立的生活或思想,如果他们有真正的内在自我意识,那也是甘愿接受其主人的管辖,奴隶只是一种财产而已。

但是,事实上这些西非人使用了各种才能(狡猾、理性和纪律),他们并不愚笨,能够控制情感并且驾驭自己的思想来扮演各自的角色,完成骗局。

在西方国家,这一真实事件在19世纪末就引起了文学作家的关注,赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《班尼托·西兰诺》正是取材与这一事件,但进行了文学化处理,将两位主要的西非奴隶莫瑞和巴波合为一人。

在《必然帝国:新世界的奴隶制、自由和欺骗》这部结合了奴隶制、人性、宗教和史实的作品中,作者采用了亚玛撒·德拉诺的视角,但他的重点并非要揭露特定的社会罪恶,而是要揭露奴隶制的基本骗局:不仅仅是有关某些人天生是奴隶的幻想,还包括其他人可以获得绝对自由的妄想。

384 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2018

About the author

Greg Grandin

26 books568 followers
Greg Grandin is the author of Fordlandia, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. A Professor of History at New York University, Grandin has published a number of other award-winning books, including Empire's Workshop, The Last Colonial Massacre, and The Blood of Guatemala.

Toni Morrison called Grandin's new work, The Empire of Necessity, "compelling, brilliant and necessary." Based on years of research on four continents, the book narrates the history of a slave-ship revolt that inspired Herman Melville's other masterpiece, Benito Cereno. Philip Gourevitch describes it as a "rare book in which the drama of the action and the drama of ideas are equally measured, a work of history and of literary reflection that is as urgent as it is timely."

Grandin has served on the United Nations Truth Commission investigating the Guatemalan Civil War and has written for the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The New Statesman, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and The New York Times.

He received his BA from Brooklyn College, CUNY, in 1992 and his PhD from Yale in 1999. He has been a guest on Democracy Now!, The Charlie Rose Show, and the Chris Hayes Show.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1 (100%)
4 stars
0 (0%)
3 stars
0 (0%)
2 stars
0 (0%)
1 star
0 (0%)
No one has reviewed this book yet.

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.