It is Enniscorthy in the southeast of Ireland in the early 1950s. Eilis Lacey is one among many of her generation who cannot find work at home. Thus when a job is offered in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Leaving her family and country, Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn, and to a crowded boarding house where the landlady’s intense scrutiny and the small jealousies of her fellow residents only deepen her isolation.
Slowly, however, the pain of parting is buried beneath the rhythms of her new life — until she begins to realize that she has found a sort of happiness. As she falls in love, news comes from home that forces her back to Enniscorthy, not to the constrictions of her old life, but to new possibilities which conflict deeply with the life she has left behind in Brooklyn.
In the quiet character of Eilis Lacey, Colm Tóibín has created one of fiction’s most memorable heroines and in Brooklyn , a luminous novel of devastating power. Tóibín demonstrates once again his astonishing range and that he is a true master of nuanced prose, emotional depth, and narrative virtuosity.
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科尔姆·托宾是具有国际声誉的爱尔兰当代著名作家,两部长篇小说《黑水灯塔船》、《大师》先后入围布克奖决选名单,最新长篇小说《布鲁克林》也入围2009年度布克奖,并获得2009年科斯塔年度小说奖。
托宾1955年生于爱尔兰东南部一个积极投身爱尔兰独立运动的家庭。他毕业于都柏林大学,主修历史和英文。1975年大学毕业后即赴巴塞罗那,在那里以教授英语为生。1978年回到爱尔兰后,他重回母校攻读硕士学位,但因忙于新闻写作工作而没有完成论文。 二十世纪八十年代,托宾曾投身新闻业,担任爱尔兰新闻月刊《麦吉尔》编辑,并游历南美。
自1990年发表处女作小说《南方》以来,托宾已出版六部长篇小说、一部短篇小说集、一部戏剧和多部游记、散文集等非虚构作品,主编《企鹅版爱尔兰小说选》。
托宾的作品主要描写爱尔兰社会、移居他乡者的生活、个人身份与性取向的探索与坚持等。托宾文笔优雅恬淡,内敛含蓄,被誉为“英语文学中的语言大师”。
托宾目前任教于美国普林斯顿大学,在美国、爱尔兰生活。
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她在这里微不足道。不仅因为她没有朋友和家人,更因为她在这屋里,在上班的路上,在商场营业区,就像个鬼魂。什么都没有意义。她觉得,弗莱瑞街那栋房子里的房间是属于她的,她走进去,就有种真实感。在镇上,如果她走进商店或是职业学校,即使一个熟人都没碰见,但空气、阳光、土地,都是实实在在的,是她的一部分。然而此地却无一物属于她。
I wrote to your mother when poor Rose died and we were very cut up and I wondered if I should have called as well.
她此刻希望未曾与他结婚,并不因为她不爱他,不想回到他身边,而是因为没有告诉母亲和朋友们使得她在美国度过的每一天都好似一场梦,没法与她在家中度过的时光相提并论。她有种奇怪的感觉,仿佛自己分裂成了两人,一个奋斗过布鲁克林的两个冬季和许多艰难时日,并在那里陷入爱河,另一个是她母亲的女儿,是大家都认识、或是大家都以为认识的那个艾丽丝。
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