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wgolding.lordoftheflies-第59章

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nd power which drives the whole narrative forward; so that one incident leads to another with an inevitability which is awesome。 A great deal of this power es from Mr。 Golding's careful preparation for an incident: so that the full significance of a scene is only gradually revealed。 Consider; for instance; one of these。 Early in the book Ralph discovers the nickname of his panion with delight:
 
 〃Piggy! Piggy!〃
 Ralph danced out into the hot air of the beach and then returned as a fighter plane; with wings swept back; and machine…gunned Piggy。
 
 Time passes; games give way to hunting; but still the hunting can only be talked about in terms of a game and when Jack describes his first kill; it takes the form of a game:
 
 〃I cut the pig's throat…〃
 The twins; still sharing their identical grin; jumped up and ran round each other。 Then the rest joined in; making pig…dying noises and shouting。
 
 2。In their notes for this edition the authors define all of the schoolboy slang terms that are likely to confuse adult readers。… Eds。
 
 〃One for his nob!〃
 〃Give him a fourpenny one!〃
 Then Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the centre; and the hunters; circling still; pretended to beat him。 As they danced; they sang。
 〃Kill the pig。 Cut her throat。 Bash her in。〃
 Ralph watched them; envious and resentful。 Not till they flagged and the chant died away; did he speak 〃I'm calling an assembly。〃
 
 There is an exasperation in Ralph's statement which places him outside the game; the fantasy fighter plane has no place in this more hectic play; the line between pretense and reality is being more difficult to see。 The first incident emerged from an overflow of high spirits; the second from the deeper need to municate an experience。 When the game is next played; the exuberant mood has evaporated。 Maurice's place has been taken by Robert:
 
 Jack shouted。
 〃Make a ring!〃
 The circle moved in and round。 Robert squealed in mock terror; then in real pain。
 〃Ow! Stop it! You're hurting!〃
 The butt end of a spear fell on his back as he blundered among them。
 〃Hold him!〃
 They got his arms and legs。 Ralph; carried away by a sudden thick excitement; grabbed Eric's spear and jabbed at Robert with it。
 〃Kill him! Kill him!〃
 All at once; Robert was screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy。 Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife。 Behind him was Roger; fighting to get close。 The chant rose ritually; as at the last moment of a dance or a hunt。
 〃Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!〃
 Ralph too was fighting to get near; to get a handful of that brown; vulnerable flesh。 The desire to squeeze and hurt was over…mastering。
 
 The climax is reached when the game turns into the killing of Simon…the pig; first mentioned in Ralph's delighted mockery of Piggy's name; made more real in the miming of Maurice and then in the hurting of Robert; bees indistinguishable from Simon who is trampled to death。 This series of incidents; unobtrusive in any ordinary reading; nevertheless helps to drive the book forward with its jet…like power and speed。 Just before Simon's arrival at the feast; there is a sudden pause and silence; the game is suspended。 〃Roger ceased to be a pig and became a hunter; so that the centre of the ring yawned emptily;〃 It is that final phrase which crystallizes the emotion; so that we feel we are suddenly on the brink of tragedy without being able to locate it。 It is now; after the violence; that the way is clear for the spiritual climax of the novel。 As Simon's body is carried out to sea we are made aware; in the writing; of the significance of Simon's whole function in the novel; the beauty of the natural world and its order hints at a harmony beyond the tortured world of man and to which now Simon has access。 And Mr。 Golding has made this real to us; not by asserting some abstract proposition with which we may or may not agree; but by 〃the power of the written word。〃
 During the last part of this Introduction when I have been urging the importance of Lord of the Flies as a fiction; you may think that I am putting forward some claim for Mr。 Golding as a stylist; a writer of fine prose; rather in the manner of Oscar Wilde saying that there is no such thing as good books and bad books; only well written and badly written books。 This is dangerously misleading if we interpret this as meaning we can separate what is being said from how it is being said。 If; on the other hand; we intend that the content of a novel only 〃lives〃 in direct relation to the writer's ability to municate it imaginatively; then Wilde's remark is surely true。 Ultimately; Mr。 Golding's book is valuable to us; not because it 〃tells us about〃 the darkness of man's heart; but because it shows it; because it is a work of art which enables us to enter into the world it creates and live at the level of a deeply perceptive and intelligent man。 His vision bees ours; and such a translation should make us realize the truth of Shelley's remark that 〃the great instrument for the moral good is the imagination。〃
 
 
 
 
 
 An Old Story Well Told1
 WILLIAM R。 MUELLER
 
 I
 
 Lord of the Flies uncovers the fallen and unredeemed human heart; it sketches the enormities of which man; unrestrained by human law and resistant to divine grace; is capable。 The varying degrees of goodness; as manifested by Simon; Piggy and Ralph; are simply no match for a murderous Jack or a head…hunting Roger。 When we first meet the boys; recently dropped onto an island after escaping from their bomb…ravaged part of the world; they are still trailing faint clouds of glory。 Even Roger; who shares with Jack the most diabolic potentialities of them all; early in the novel manifests a thin sheath of decency and restraint; in throwing stones at one of the smaller boys he is careful to miss; to leave untouched and inviolate a small circle surrounding his teased victim: 〃Here; invisible yet strong; was the taboo of the old life。 Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law。 Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins。〃 The novel delineates the gradual unconditioning of the arm and the unveiling of the heart of Roger and some of his panions。
 Lord of the Flies is; of course; more than an expository disquisition on sin。 Were it only that; it would have gone virtually unnoticed。 The book is a carefully structured work of art whose organization…in terms of a series of hunts… serves to reveal with progressive clarity man's essential core。 There are six stages; six hunts; constituting the dark…
 
 1。This article is reprinted in part by permission of The Christian Century; 80 (October 2; 1963); 1203…06。 Copyright (c) 1963 by the Christian Century Foundation。
 
 est of voyages as each successive one takes us closer to natural man。 To trace the hunts…with pigs and boys as victims…is to feel Gelding's full impact。
 As Ralph; the builder of fires and shelters; is the main constructive force on the island; Jack; the hunter; is the primary destructive force。 Hunting does of course provide food; but it also gratifies the lust for blood。 In his first confrontation with a pig; Jack fails; unable to plunge his knife into living flesh; to bear the sight of flowing blood; and unable to do so because he is not yet far enough away from the 〃taboo of the old life。〃 But under the questioning scrutiny of his panions he feels a bit ashamed of his fastidiousness; and; driving his knife into a tree trunk; he fiercely vows that the next time will be different。
 And so it is。 Returning from the second hunt he proclaim; proudly that he has cut a pig's throat。 Yet he has not reached the point of savage abandonment: we learn that he 〃twitched〃 as he spoke of his achievement…an involuntary gesture expressing his horror at the deed and disclosing the tension between the old taboo and the new freedom。 His reflection upon the triumph; however; indicates that pangs of conscience must certainly fade before the glorious feeling of new and devastating power: 〃His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge 

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