小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Castle Richmond » INTRODUCTION
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
INTRODUCTION
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
    "Castle Richmond" was written in 1861, long after Trollope had left Ireland. The characterization is weak, and the plot, although the author himself thought well of it, mechanical.

    The value of the story is rather documentary than literary. It contains several graphic1 scenes descriptive of the great Irish famine. Trollope observed carefully, and on the whole impartially2, though his powers of discrimination were not quite fine enough to make him an ideal annalist.

    Still, such as they were, he has used them here with no inconsiderable effect. His desire to be fair has led him to lay stress in an inverse3 ratio to his prepossessions, and his Priest is a better man than his parson.

    The best, indeed the only piece of real characterization in the book is the delineation4 of Abe Mollett. This unscrupulous blackmailer5 is put before us with real art, with something of the loving preoccupation of the hunter for his quarry6. Trollope loved a rogue7, and in his long portrait gallery there are several really charming ones. He did not, indeed, perceive the aesthetic8 value of sin—he did not perceive the esthetic9 value of anything,—and his analysis of human nature was not profound enough to reach the conception of sin, crime being to him the nadir10 of downward possibility—but he had a professional, a sort of half Scotland Yard, half master of hounds interest in a criminal. "See," he would muse11, "how cunningly the creature works, now back to his earth, anon stealing an unsuspected run across country, the clever rascal12;" and his ethical13 disapproval14 ever, as usual, with English critics of life, in the foreground, clearly enhanced a primitive15 predatory instinct not obscurely akin16, a cynic might say, to those dark impulses he holds up to our reprobation17. This self-realization in his fiction is one of Trollope's principal charms. Never was there a more subjective18 writer. Unlike Flaubert, who laid down the canon that the author should exist in his work as God in creation, to be, here or there, dimly divined but never recognized, though everywhere latent, Trollope was never weary of writing himself large in every man, woman, or child he described.

    The illusion of objectivity which he so successfully achieves is due to the fact that his mind was so perfectly19 contented20 with its hereditary21 and circumstantial conditions, was itself so perfectly the mental equivalent of those conditions. Thus the perfection of his egotism, tight as a drum, saved him. Had it been a little less complete, he would have faltered22 and bungled23; as it was, he had the naive24 certainty of a child, to whose innocent apprehension25 the world and self are one, and who therefore cannot err26.

    ALGAR THOROLD.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 graphic Aedz7     
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的
参考例句:
  • The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
  • Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。
2 impartially lqbzdy     
adv.公平地,无私地
参考例句:
  • Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。
  • We hope that they're going to administer justice impartially. 我们希望他们能主持正义,不偏不倚。
3 inverse GR6zs     
adj.相反的,倒转的,反转的;n.相反之物;v.倒转
参考例句:
  • Evil is the inverse of good.恶是善的反面。
  • When the direct approach failed he tried the inverse.当直接方法失败时,他尝试相反的做法。
4 delineation wxrxV     
n.记述;描写
参考例句:
  • Biography must to some extent delineate characters.传记必须在一定程度上描绘人物。
  • Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。
5 blackmailer a031d47c9f342af0f87215f069fefc4d     
敲诈者,勒索者
参考例句:
  • The blackmailer had a hold over him. 勒索他的人控制着他。
  • The blackmailer will have to be bought off,or he'll ruin your good name. 得花些钱疏通那个敲诈者,否则他会毁坏你的声誉。
6 quarry ASbzF     
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找
参考例句:
  • Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
  • This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。
7 rogue qCfzo     
n.流氓;v.游手好闲
参考例句:
  • The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
  • They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。
8 aesthetic px8zm     
adj.美学的,审美的,有美感
参考例句:
  • My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
  • The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。
9 esthetic 3tfzcU     
adj.美学的,审美的;悦目的,雅致的
参考例句:
  • That armchair is comfortable but not very esthetic.那张扶手椅坐起来舒服,但不太美观。
  • There are physical distance and esthetic distance between the esthetic subject and the object.审美的主客体之间有物理距离和心理距离。
10 nadir 2F7xN     
n.最低点,无底
参考例句:
  • This failure was the nadir of her career.这次失败是她事业上的低谷。
  • The demand for this product will reach its nadir within two years.对此产品的需求在两年内将达到最低点。
11 muse v6CzM     
n.缪斯(希腊神话中的女神),创作灵感
参考例句:
  • His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感,不能再写作了。
  • Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。
12 rascal mAIzd     
n.流氓;不诚实的人
参考例句:
  • If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做,我就认为他是个恶棍。
  • The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。
13 ethical diIz4     
adj.伦理的,道德的,合乎道德的
参考例句:
  • It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
  • It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。
14 disapproval VuTx4     
n.反对,不赞成
参考例句:
  • The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
  • They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。
15 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
16 akin uxbz2     
adj.同族的,类似的
参考例句:
  • She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
  • Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。
17 reprobation TVTxX     
n.斥责
参考例句:
  • Nearly everyone had something to say in reprobation of the views suggested by Owen. 几乎每个人都说几句话来表示反对欧文的见解。 来自辞典例句
18 subjective mtOwP     
a.主观(上)的,个人的
参考例句:
  • The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
  • A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。
19 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
20 contented Gvxzof     
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的
参考例句:
  • He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
  • The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。
21 hereditary fQJzF     
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的
参考例句:
  • The Queen of England is a hereditary ruler.英国女王是世袭的统治者。
  • In men,hair loss is hereditary.男性脱发属于遗传。
22 faltered d034d50ce5a8004ff403ab402f79ec8d     
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃
参考例句:
  • He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
  • "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着:“这孩子脑袋真长。”
23 bungled dedbc53d4a8d18ca5ec91a3ac0f1e2b5     
v.搞糟,完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 );笨手笨脚地做;失败;完不成
参考例句:
  • They bungled the job. 他们把活儿搞糟了。
  • John bungled the job. 约翰把事情搞糟了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
24 naive yFVxO     
adj.幼稚的,轻信的;天真的
参考例句:
  • It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致,你未免太单纯了。
  • Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。
25 apprehension bNayw     
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑
参考例句:
  • There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑,于是她越来越担心。
  • She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。
26 err 2izzk     
vi.犯错误,出差错
参考例句:
  • He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
  • The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533