Jonathan Franzen’s fans will have plenty to read next year. There’s a forthcoming biography of the author by Philip Weinstein, an English professor at Swarthmore College. And in September, Farrar, Straus & Giroux will release Mr. Franzen’s fifth novel, “Purity.”
明年,乔纳森·弗兰岑(Jonathan Franzen)的粉丝们有福了。他的传记即将出版,作者是斯沃思莫尔学院的英语教授菲利普·温斯坦(Philip Weinstein)。明年9月,法勒、斯特劳斯&吉鲁出版社(Farrar, Straus & Giroux)还将出版弗兰岑的第五部小说《普丽蒂》(Purity)。
Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, described “Purity” as a multigenerational American epic that spans decades and continents. The story centers on a young woman named Purity Tyler, or Pip, who doesn’t know who her father is and sets out to uncover his identity. The narrative stretches from contemporary America to South America to East Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and hinges on the mystery of Pip’s family history and her relationship with a charismatic hacker and whistleblower.
法勒、斯特劳斯&吉鲁出版社的主席、出版人乔纳森·加拉西(Jonathan Galassi)说,《普丽蒂》是一部纵贯数十年、横跨几个大陆、贯穿几代人的美国史诗。主人公是一个名叫普丽蒂·泰勒(Purity Tyler,小名皮普[Pip])的年轻女子,她不知道自己的父亲是谁,动身去查清他的身份。故事从当代美国追溯到南美以及柏林墙倒塌前的东德,围绕皮普家族的神秘历史以及她与一位颇具领袖魅力的黑客与揭发者的关系展开。
Like Mr. Franzen’s best-sellers “Freedom” and “The Corrections,” which have each sold well over a million copies, his new novel tackles big themes like sexual politics, love and parenthood. But the novel also marks a stylistic departure for Mr. Franzen, Mr. Galassi said.
弗兰岑的小说《自由》(Freedom)和《纠正》(The Corrections)都卖了100多万册。和这两本畅销小说一样,他的新小说也是探索性政治、爱情和亲情等宏大主题。但是加拉西说,新小说还标志着弗兰岑在文体方面的新尝试。
“There’s a kind of fabulist quality to it,” he said. “It’s not strict realism. There’s a kind of mythic undertone to the story.”
“它有一种寓言意味,”他说,“不是严格的现实主义。故事有一层神秘色彩。”
Mr. Franzen, who has a famously tortured creative temperament, spent the last two years working intensely on “Purity,” Mr. Galassi said. It’s his first novel since “Freedom” came out in 2010, though he’s published an essay collection and a translation of essays by the author Karl Kraus in the interim.
弗兰岑以慢工出细活著称。加拉西说,他在过去两年里专心创作《普丽蒂》。这是他在2010年出版《自由》之后的第一本小说,不过他在其间出版了一个文集和一本卡尔·克劳斯(Karl Kraus)的译文集。
Mr. Weinstein’s biography, titled “Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage,” will explore “Franzen’s metamorphoses as a person and as a writer” and includes an analysis of “Purity.” It was written with Mr. Franzen’s consent and cooperation, Mr. Weinstein said.
温斯坦的传记《乔纳森·弗兰岑:愤怒的喜剧》(Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage)将探索“弗兰岑的个人和写作蜕变过程”,包括对《普丽蒂》的分析。温斯坦说,传记写作得到了弗兰岑的同意与合作。