NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A memoir on mortality as only Julian Barnes can write it, one that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of exemplary figures who over the centuries have confronted the same questions he now poses about the most basic fact of life: its inevitable extinction. If the fear of death is “the most rational thing in the world,” how does one contend with it? An atheist at twenty and an agnostic at sixty, Barnes looks into the various arguments for, against, and with God, and at his own bloodline, which has become, following his parents’ death, another realm of mystery.
Deadly serious, masterfully playful, and surprisingly hilarious, Nothing to Be Frightened Of is a riveting display of how this supremely gifted writer goes about his business and a highly personal tour of the human condition and what might follow the final diagnosis.
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朱利安•巴恩斯(1946— ),英国当代著名作家。父母皆为法语教师,哥哥在牛津大学教授哲学,妻子帕特•凯伐纳是著名的文学经纪人。巴恩斯毕业于牛津大学,曾参与《牛津英语辞典》的编纂工作,做过多年的文学编辑和评论家。
“睿智”是巴恩斯作品的一贯标识。他以突破性之作《福楼拜的鹦鹉》入围布克奖决选,并于2011年凭借《终结的感觉》赢得大奖,同年获大卫•柯恩英国文学终身成就奖。2016年入选美国文学艺术学院,成为外国荣誉成员。
巴恩斯也深得法国读者的好感,他是唯一一位同时获得法国梅第奇奖和费米娜奖的作家,并先后荣获法国文化部颁发的文学艺术骑士、军官、司令勋章,2017年荣获法国总统颁发的法国荣誉军团勋章。
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"我们知道自己会死,但我们以为自己是永生的。"人们真的在脑中持有如此起伏的自相矛盾吗?他们着实如此,而弗洛伊德认为这很正常:“我们的潜意识,其实并不相信自己的既定之死;它表现得好像我们永远不会死一样。”
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