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As scholarship has made its importance to American letters more manifest, editions of the 1855 version of Whitman's masterpiece have multiplied. This one, prepared in honor of the poem's 150th anniversary, will be hard to beat. Edited by major Americanist Reynolds (Walt Whitman's America, etc.), it comes as close as possible, without being a facsimile, to reproducing Whitman's original text, which he famously self-published. The familiar litho of the young rough with open collar opens the book, and Reynold's terrific and informative afterword closes it, along with contemporary reviews (some written by Whitman himself) and Emerson's famous letter ("I greet you at the beginning of a great career..."). Those who know Whitman only through the beautiful but bloated 1892 "deathbed" edition of Leaves of Grass will find here a lean, searing celebration of self. 內容簡介
One of the great innovative figures in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves Of Grass is his one book. First published in 1855 with only twelve poems, it was greeted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the wonderful gift... the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed." Over the course of Whitman's life, the book reappeared in many versions, expanded and transformed as the author's experiences and the nation's history changed and grew. Whitman's ambition was to creates something uniquely American. In that he succeeded. His poems have been woven into the very fabric of the American character. From his solemn masterpieces "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" to the joyous freedom of "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Song of the Open Road," Whitman's work lives on, an inspiration to the poets of later generations. 作者簡介
Before the age of thirty-six there was no sign that Walt Whitman would become even a minor literary figure, let alone the major poetic voice of an emerging America. Born in 1819 on Long Island, he was the second son of a carpenter and contractor. His formal schooling ended at age eleven, when he was apprenticed to a printer in Brooklyn. He became a journeyman printer in 1835 and spent the next two decades as a printer, free-lance writer, and editor in New York. In 1855, at his own expense, he published the twelve long poems, without titles, that make up the first edition of Leaves of Grass. The book, with its unprecedented mixture of the mystical and the earthy, was received with puzzlement or silence, except by America's most distinguished writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Whitman lost no time in preparing a second edition, adding "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" and nineteen other new poems in 1856. With the third edition (1860), the book had tripled in size. Whitman would go on adding to it and revising it for the rest of his life. Whitman's poetry slowly achieved a wide readership in America and in England. He was praised by Swinburne and Tennyson, and visited by Oscar Wilde. He suffered a stroke in 1873 and spent the remainder of his life in Camden, New Jersey. His final edition of Leaves of Grass appeared in 1892, the year of his death. 精彩書評
"Whitman's best poems have that permanent quality of being freshly painted, of not being dulled by the varnish of the years."
--Malcolm Cowley
蒼穹之下的迴響:一部關於人類經驗與自然哲思的史詩 書名: 《迷霧之徑:遠古的迴聲與現代的絮語》 作者: 伊萊亞斯·凡·德·維爾德 譯者: (此處留空,假設為虛構譯本或作者本人視角) 裝幀: 精裝典藏版 --- 導言:在迷霧中尋找清晰的界碑 《迷霧之徑》並非一部傳統的敘事小說,它更像是一張由無數觀察點、深刻的內省和對時間維度無盡探索所構築的巨幅掛毯。伊萊亞斯·凡·德·維爾德,這位隱居於北歐峽灣邊陲的哲學傢兼博物學傢,用他沉靜而富有穿透力的筆觸,帶領我們穿梭於人類文明的黎明與科技高速發展的現代之間。本書的核心議題在於:當我們不斷地嚮外拓展疆界——無論是地理上的殖民、知識上的突破,還是技術上的飛躍——我們是否也在同時,不可避免地嚮內收縮,遺失瞭與自然、與自我最初的、樸素的聯係? 本書的結構猶如一個復雜的迷宮,分為“石碑的低語”、“河流的記憶”、“星辰的幾何學”和“鐵軌的終點”四個主要部分,每一部分都以一種近乎冥想的節奏展開,探討著人類在特定環境下的生存狀態與精神圖景。 --- 第一部分:石碑的低語——時間的重量與遺忘的藝術 “石碑的低語”聚焦於“時間”這個宏大而又無法把握的概念。凡·德·維爾德深入考察瞭古老的遺跡——那些在冰川消融或沙漠風沙中兀自矗立的巨石陣、失落城市的殘垣斷壁。他質疑瞭我們對“曆史”的定義。曆史是否僅僅是勝利者的記錄,還是更深層次上,是那些被刻意忽略的、沉默的物質本身所承載的集體無意識? 作者細膩地描摹瞭蘇格蘭高地那些被苔蘚覆蓋的巨石,它們不言不語,卻比任何文字都更有效地傳達瞭歲月的重量。他分析瞭人類麵對永恒時的焦慮:我們試圖通過建造不朽的紀念碑來對抗消亡,但最終,紀念碑本身也會成為風化的對象。這部分探討瞭“記憶的可靠性”——我們對祖先的記憶是否隻是一係列美化或簡化後的神話?以及,真正的傳承,是否需要我們主動地、痛苦地去“遺忘”那些阻礙我們直麵當下的教條和偏見? 關鍵主題: 紀念碑文化、口頭與書麵傳統的張力、麵對虛無的時間觀。 --- 第二部分:河流的記憶——流動性、邊界與身份的構建 如果說石碑代錶著靜止的權力,那麼河流則象徵著永恒的運動和邊界的模糊性。在這一部分,凡·德·維爾德將鏡頭轉嚮瞭生命賴以生存的地理形態——河流、洋流與雨水的循環。他追蹤瞭多瑙河、亞馬遜河以及維多利亞湖周邊的生態係統,但他的興趣點很快從生物學轉嚮瞭人類社會與水域的關係。 河流常常是文明的搖籃,也是衝突的界限。作者深入分析瞭“水權”在現代地緣政治中的隱秘角力,以及河流如何塑造瞭特定群體的精神氣質。例如,在那些常年受洪水威脅的三角洲地帶,居民對“掌控”的渴望如何轉化為一種順應自然的、近乎宿命論的哲學觀。 書中特彆穿插瞭一段對古代航海傢記錄的考證,揭示瞭早期探險傢眼中“新世界”的定義是如何被河流的寬度和深度所定義的。河流的流動性反過來挑戰瞭固化的“民族”概念,促使讀者思考:身份,難道不應該更像是一條河流,不斷接納新的支流,不斷衝刷舊的河床嗎? 關鍵主題: 邊界的流動性、生態決定論的辯證、身份認同在運動中的重塑。 --- 第三部分:星辰的幾何學——秩序、迷信與科學的冷酷之美 “星辰的幾何學”是本書中最具思辨性的部分。凡·德·維爾德將目光投嚮瞭夜空,探討人類如何從早期的星辰崇拜(占星術、神話)過渡到精確的天文測量(開普勒、牛頓)。他認為,這種轉變並非單純的“進步”,而是一種心智上的“截肢”——我們獲得瞭精確預測的能力,卻失去瞭與宇宙的神秘對話。 作者以精妙的筆法對比瞭巴比倫的天文記錄和現代射電望遠鏡所捕獲的數據。他指齣,古代的星圖是“有溫度的”,它們與農業、宗教祭祀緊密相連,是人類集體想象力的投射;而現代的星圖則是“冷酷的幾何學”,它們精確地描繪瞭遙遠星體的物理特性,卻要求觀察者保持絕對的抽離。 凡·德·維爾德質疑道:當我們用數學模型完全解釋瞭宇宙的運行規律之後,我們是否也一並消解瞭宇宙對人類的“意義”?他試圖在精確的科學模型與依然存在的、難以名狀的敬畏感之間,尋找一個可以共同棲居的平颱。 關鍵主題: 科學理性對神秘主義的取代、宇宙的疏離感、數學作為終極語言的局限性。 --- 第四部分:鐵軌的終點——速度、異化與歸屬的渴望 本書的最後一部分聚焦於現代性最顯著的標誌之一:速度與連接。鐵軌,作為工業時代效率和統一性的象徵,承載瞭人類徵服距離的雄心。凡·德·維爾德深入考察瞭十九世紀末至二十世紀初的鐵路建設史,以及鐵路如何徹底重塑瞭人類的作息時間、商業模式乃至情感交流。 然而,作者並未一味贊頌。他用犀利的目光審視瞭“速度的異化”。當一切都被設計成可以被快速運輸時,停留和沉思的價值在哪裏?他描繪瞭在長途火車上度過一生的人們,他們目睹瞭風景的快速閃過,卻從未真正“到達”任何地方。他們成為瞭連接點之間的移動容器,而非目的地的體驗者。 “鐵軌的終點”探討的並非物理上的終點站,而是精神上的“歸屬感”的終點。在高度互聯卻又極度流動的現代世界中,人與土地、人與社區的聯係被鐵軌的節奏所打亂。本書的結尾停留在這樣一個令人深思的畫麵:一列火車在無邊無際的原野上疾馳,乘客們在車廂內各自沉浸於自己的光影世界中,與窗外的廣袤大地形成瞭鮮明的、令人心碎的疏離。 關鍵主題: 工業化對感官的麻木、速度美學與存在主義焦慮、現代人的漂泊狀態。 --- 結語:靜默中的邀請 《迷霧之徑》是一部邀請讀者放慢腳步,重新校準內在指南針的作品。它沒有提供簡單的答案,而是提供瞭一係列強有力的、相互碰撞的問題。凡·德·維爾德的文字如同冰冷而清澈的溪水,洗刷著我們對世界習以為常的認知框架,迫使我們在宏大的自然規律與微小的個人經驗之間,重新建立起脆弱而又珍貴的對話。這是一部獻給所有在現代迷霧中,仍渴望傾聽遠古迴響的心靈的史詩級著作。