Chapter 8 Postscript (1)
In 2008, the U.S. economy entered a recession, and Uncle Sam began to tighten his belt to live.For these reasons, old classics about hard times, such as Steinbeck's, are back in vogue.During the subprime mortgage crisis, many Americans faced the risk of their houses being confiscated by the bank. Seeing the scene where the protagonist loses his house, he must have mixed feelings.Today, many Americans start collecting discount coupons to save money.The big sale after Thanksgiving even caused a stampede in some shopping malls.American radio and television stations began to broadcast programs such as how to live a day with one dollar.There is no eternal prosperity in this world, and depression comes as soon as it is said.At times like this, while looking for a way out, everyone is looking for meaning and a way to reconcile alone.
It may also be for this reason that Bildungsroman about tough times was recommended by NPR in 2008, more than fifty years after its publication.As a coming-of-agenovels, it was also selected as one of Amazon.com's best juvenile books.First published in 1943, the novel continues to gain traction on Goodreads.com.As of the writing of this article (December 3, 2008), 16,955 people have given ratings and as many as 2,528 comments.
The first edition of this book in 1943 was very popular, and it has been at the top of the bestseller list for a long time, and even Hollywood and Broadway have also set up a "ride". In 1945, the famous director Kazan (Elia Kazan) adapted the novel into a movie, which subsequently won an Oscar.The novel was also adapted into a musical, with 267 performances.Today, in my small American town, posters of the novel hang on the walls of the nearby Barnes & Noble bookstore, along with books such as Death of a Salesman.It is also one of the summer recommended readings in the library here.Undoubtedly, it has become a modern classic.
This novel has influenced many writers. Jacquelyn Mitchard, the author of "In the Deep of the Sea", once vividly described her relationship with the book for many years: "A few years ago, on my birthday, my best friend and agent Jane Gafferman I sent a little box. When I opened it, tears welled up in my eyes. It contained the first edition of my favorite book, with an inscription from the author, Betty Smith, to her attorney. There is also the author's handwritten letter, which is well preserved, and there is no trace of sixty years of wind and rain. Seeing this situation, even the children sitting around the dining table can't help but get wet. They know that I have a deep love for this book. book, and what an affection for its author and its heroine."
about the city
Betty Smith (1896-1972) was born in Brooklyn, a descendant of German immigrants, and her childhood was poor.She didn't finish high school, but later, like the protagonist of the novel, Francis Nolan, she took courses in college and devoted her life to writing.Although she has written other works and other works have been adapted into movies, her name has always been associated with China.
The Brooklyn of the novel is located in New York, which is inhabited by immigrants from all over the world: Jews and Irish, Germans and Italians.Life in this community is colorful: Jewish old men are selling old pickles on the street; Germans and Irish are competing in antiphonal songs on Christmas Eve; introduction.Some introductions, we seem to still smile knowingly today.For example, during the war between Germany and the United States, sauerkraut was not allowed to be called "German sauerkraut" and became "free food".Not long ago, because of differences in views on the Iraqi issue between the United States and France, some people suggested that French fries (English French fries) be renamed "freedom fries".
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Postscript (2)
The novel writes Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century into a long volume of local conditions and customs, recreating an ordinary area into a cultural landscape.Betty Smith's Brooklyn is like Pamuk's Istanbul, Joyce's Dublin, Baudelaire's Paris.Thus, the literary critic Alfred Kazin wrote: "In a sense, Brooklyn is a perfect portrait." Kazin wrote: "Brooklyn is a place, a New York City. A densely populated area with one of the largest Catholic dioceses in the world. But Brooklyn itself, the word 'Brooklyn', stands out amidst the diverse American experience and becomes a unique landscape. It combines simplicity, rudimentary , Common, and lovely all at once. In the minds of countless people, the word 'Brooklyn' itself is associated with unforgettable early family experiences, and has gradually become an avatar, symbolizing early poverty, symbolizing neighborhood life, symbolizing It symbolizes youth itself. Likewise, it symbolizes longing, pursuit, and the dream of the wonderful world outside." After reading this book, it is hard for me to imagine walking through Brooklyn without paying attention to the things around me, or that we live in other cities.Indeed, a good book can touch a person's soul and profoundly change the way we see the world around us.
about dignity
The protagonist of the novel is the little girl Francie, and she has a younger brother named Neeley.The siblings lived in an abjectly poor family in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century.My mother is a cleaner, and she gets free housing in exchange for cleaning.Dad Johnny is a part-time singing waiter (singingwaiter), good wine, good fantasy, good at singing and dancing, fascinated a lot of girls, but lacks the ability to earn money to support the family.As a result, the two children often went hungry.He has been poor all his life but never down and out, always spreading happiness to everyone.In the novel, Katie, when her husband passed away and the family was almost out of order, the bar owner deliberately "repaid" her the money, but she refused to accept the resignation, and did not accept the gratuitous food.This cleaning lady has a lot of ambition, and her actions will definitely make the snobbish people ashamed.
No one wants to be poor, but poverty is not necessarily useless.It can sharpen character.There is a place in this novel that is very intriguing.Francie, who had grown up in bitterness, talked with Neeley about the little sister who was not suffering, and expressed sympathy instead, saying that poor Laurie would not know the sweetness of the bitterness without it.I believe that many readers who have gone through the predicament and later escaped from the predicament feel the same way.People can be trapped and poor without losing their backbone and fun.
The tree mentioned in is Ailanthus ailanthus.This Ailanthus tree has a beautiful English name called treeofheaven, which is the tree of heaven.This is one of the few tenacious trees that can grow even on concrete.The little girl Francie goes to the library on Saturdays, trying to read all the books in the library from A to Z, and read every one.On Sunday afternoon, she would take a borrowed book and sit at the exit of the fire escape in Brooklyn, hiding in the shade of a tree, reading a book and daydreaming.This kind of leisure allowed her to overcome the difficulties of Monday to Friday.How do poor people become happy?Their happiness is so little, and when they have it, they enjoy it a thousand times over, that you give them an ailanthus and they too can see heaven.
Another gift of hard times is compassion.It is mentioned in the novel: People usually have two ways to deal with their own poverty background: "A person who has stepped out of the bottom of society through his own hard work usually has two choices. After leaving the original environment, he can forget his origin; After this environment, I will never forget my origin, and be full of sympathy and understanding for those who have unfortunately fallen through the cruel struggle." Not everyone may have this kind of sympathy and understanding.It is written in the novel that there are many people who "stand in the glass room and throw stones". Although they are also born in poverty, they take pleasure in trampling on their own kind.In the novel, a nurse in Brooklyn, who was originally from a poor family, agrees with a snobbish doctor and scolds poor children.
Postscript on the translation of a tree in Brooklyn (3)
But when Francie's situation improved later, she didn't forget to go back to the candy store and do a good deed silently, giving a lucky poor kid a chance to win the big prize.People can have the same experience, but not necessarily the same mentality.The difference between people is probably here.
about growth
Betty Smith's novels are a bit "female".The contrast between men and women in the novel is sharp.Francie's mother is as strong as iron, and her father is as tender as water.The same is true of her several aunts. The aunt is virtuous and capable, while the uncle is weak and incompetent.Francie's mother, Katie, is growing stronger under the burdens of life.But Francie's father is more sociable and soft-hearted than women.The father falsified and pretended to be someone else's address in order to get his daughter into the school she wanted.Francie is closer to her dad and estranged from her mom.But it is this mother who knows her daughter best.When she gave birth to her third child and was about to die, she confided that her son didn't like studying at first, and if he stopped studying, he would never go back. "But you are different, you can fight, you can fight, and you will go back, just like the tree of heaven at the fire escape." This once again demonstrated the strength of the woman in this family.
This is a novel about growing up.As a child grows up, he will constantly absorb the spiritual inheritance of his parents.Francie is as strong as her mother.This tenacity puts her above her predecessors: her grandmother could not read, her mother finished elementary school, and Francie was off to college.Her strength allows her to overcome difficulties and realize her family's American dream.As the female writer Peggy Orenstein (Peggy Orenstein) said when reviewing this book: "Life is not fair, but you can always deal with it."
Francie's imagination came from her dad.Her imagination lifted her above the hardships of existence.The teacher also praised her imagination.It is precisely because of imagination that human beings live less impoverished.The little girl Francie's imagination sometimes makes her unrealistic, but it also frees her from the shackles of the status quo.Her grandmother was illiterate and illiterate, but she suggested that Katie read the Bible, Shakespeare, and tell folk tales and fairy tales to her children, so that the children would not sink into adversity.The Francie siblings have almost nothing materially, but unexpectedly possess a huge spiritual wealth.
But growing up is also an irreversible transformation from "song of innocence" to "song of experience".Little girl Francie is nearly attacked by a satyr in the stairwell.When she was a little older, she was emotionally deceived again.The rosy color of the world is fading little by little, and the young girl Francie steps into the unknown future with the strength she acquired in her childhood.
The novel records the little stories of growing up, and the author has written them tirelessly.Obviously, this is a monumental work commemorating her youth. This is Betty Smith's own story, a growth story that must have been brewing in her heart for a long time, and she can't even tell it.The author seems to want to give an account of his youth, to spread the growth in front of us inch by inch.Therefore, at the end of the novel, it seems a bit procrastinated, not as exciting as the childhood part.Even so, it's a very classic novel, an old-fashioned one.After reading some contemporary works that are too "showy", this novel is nostalgic in both form and content.This is a novel that people can't bear to put down, a novel that can make you cry and laugh after reading it. I hope readers like it as much as I do.
During the translation of the novel, teacher Barbara Penney took the trouble to answer many of my questions.My elder brother, Mr. Fang Shenglin, and my second sister-in-law, Ms. Ni Ming, spent a lot of time helping me to read the translation, and put forward many valuable comments on the translation. I would like to express my gratitude for this.
Translation is a hobby of mine rather than a "professional job". Due to work and other miscellaneous tasks, the translation time is limited and the level is also limited, so there must be mistakes, omissions or inappropriateness. Readers and friends are kindly requested to correct them so that they can be corrected when reprinting.
Fang Bolin
December 2008
in Oklahoma
Betty Smith (1896-1972) was born in Brooklyn, a descendant of German immigrants, and her childhood was poor.She didn't finish high school, but later, like the protagonist of the novel, Francis Nolan, she took courses in college and devoted her life to writing.Although she has written other works and other works have been adapted into movies, her name has always been associated with China.
The Brooklyn of the novel is located in New York, which is inhabited by immigrants from all over the world: Jews and Irish, Germans and Italians.Life in this community is colorful: Jewish old men are selling old pickles on the street; Germans and Irish are competing in antiphonal songs on Christmas Eve; introduction.Some introductions, we seem to still smile knowingly today.For example, during the war between Germany and the United States, sauerkraut was not allowed to be called "German sauerkraut" and became "free food".Not long ago, because of differences in views on the Iraqi issue between the United States and France, some people suggested that French fries (English French fries) be renamed "freedom fries".
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Postscript (2)
The novel writes Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century into a long volume of local conditions and customs, recreating an ordinary area into a cultural landscape.Betty Smith's Brooklyn is like Pamuk's Istanbul, Joyce's Dublin, Baudelaire's Paris.Thus, the literary critic Alfred Kazin wrote: "In a sense, Brooklyn is a perfect portrait." Kazin wrote: "Brooklyn is a place, a New York City. A densely populated area with one of the largest Catholic dioceses in the world. But Brooklyn itself, the word 'Brooklyn', stands out amidst the diverse American experience and becomes a unique landscape. It combines simplicity, rudimentary , Common, and lovely all at once. In the minds of countless people, the word 'Brooklyn' itself is associated with unforgettable early family experiences, and has gradually become an avatar, symbolizing early poverty, symbolizing neighborhood life, symbolizing It symbolizes youth itself. Likewise, it symbolizes longing, pursuit, and the dream of the wonderful world outside." After reading this book, it is hard for me to imagine walking through Brooklyn without paying attention to the things around me, or that we live in other cities.Indeed, a good book can touch a person's soul and profoundly change the way we see the world around us.
about dignity
The protagonist of the novel is the little girl Francie, and she has a younger brother named Neeley.The siblings lived in an abjectly poor family in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century.My mother is a cleaner, and she gets free housing in exchange for cleaning.Dad Johnny is a part-time singing waiter (singingwaiter), good wine, good fantasy, good at singing and dancing, fascinated a lot of girls, but lacks the ability to earn money to support the family.As a result, the two children often went hungry.He has been poor all his life but never down and out, always spreading happiness to everyone.In the novel, Katie, when her husband passed away and the family was almost out of order, the bar owner deliberately "repaid" her the money, but she refused to accept the resignation, and did not accept the gratuitous food.This cleaning lady has a lot of ambition, and her actions will definitely make the snobbish people ashamed.
No one wants to be poor, but poverty is not necessarily useless.It can sharpen character.There is a place in this novel that is very intriguing.Francie, who had grown up in bitterness, talked with Neeley about the little sister who was not suffering, and expressed sympathy instead, saying that poor Laurie would not know the sweetness of the bitterness without it.I believe that many readers who have gone through the predicament and later escaped from the predicament feel the same way.People can be trapped and poor without losing their backbone and fun.
The tree mentioned in is Ailanthus ailanthus.This Ailanthus tree has a beautiful English name called treeofheaven, which is the tree of heaven.This is one of the few tenacious trees that can grow even on concrete.The little girl Francie goes to the library on Saturdays, trying to read all the books in the library from A to Z, and read every one.On Sunday afternoon, she would take a borrowed book and sit at the exit of the fire escape in Brooklyn, hiding in the shade of a tree, reading a book and daydreaming.This kind of leisure allowed her to overcome the difficulties of Monday to Friday.How do poor people become happy?Their happiness is so little, and when they have it, they enjoy it a thousand times over, that you give them an ailanthus and they too can see heaven.
Another gift of hard times is compassion.It is mentioned in the novel: People usually have two ways to deal with their own poverty background: "A person who has stepped out of the bottom of society through his own hard work usually has two choices. After leaving the original environment, he can forget his origin; After this environment, I will never forget my origin, and be full of sympathy and understanding for those who have unfortunately fallen through the cruel struggle." Not everyone may have this kind of sympathy and understanding.It is written in the novel that there are many people who "stand in the glass room and throw stones". Although they are also born in poverty, they take pleasure in trampling on their own kind.In the novel, a nurse in Brooklyn, who was originally from a poor family, agrees with a snobbish doctor and scolds poor children.
Postscript on the translation of a tree in Brooklyn (3)
But when Francie's situation improved later, she didn't forget to go back to the candy store and do a good deed silently, giving a lucky poor kid a chance to win the big prize.People can have the same experience, but not necessarily the same mentality.The difference between people is probably here.
about growth
Betty Smith's novels are a bit "female".The contrast between men and women in the novel is sharp.Francie's mother is as strong as iron, and her father is as tender as water.The same is true of her several aunts. The aunt is virtuous and capable, while the uncle is weak and incompetent.Francie's mother, Katie, is growing stronger under the burdens of life.But Francie's father is more sociable and soft-hearted than women.The father falsified and pretended to be someone else's address in order to get his daughter into the school she wanted.Francie is closer to her dad and estranged from her mom.But it is this mother who knows her daughter best.When she gave birth to her third child and was about to die, she confided that her son didn't like studying at first, and if he stopped studying, he would never go back. "But you are different, you can fight, you can fight, and you will go back, just like the tree of heaven at the fire escape." This once again demonstrated the strength of the woman in this family.
This is a novel about growing up.As a child grows up, he will constantly absorb the spiritual inheritance of his parents.Francie is as strong as her mother.This tenacity puts her above her predecessors: her grandmother could not read, her mother finished elementary school, and Francie was off to college.Her strength allows her to overcome difficulties and realize her family's American dream.As the female writer Peggy Orenstein (Peggy Orenstein) said when reviewing this book: "Life is not fair, but you can always deal with it."
Francie's imagination came from her dad.Her imagination lifted her above the hardships of existence.The teacher also praised her imagination.It is precisely because of imagination that human beings live less impoverished.The little girl Francie's imagination sometimes makes her unrealistic, but it also frees her from the shackles of the status quo.Her grandmother was illiterate and illiterate, but she suggested that Katie read the Bible, Shakespeare, and tell folk tales and fairy tales to her children, so that the children would not sink into adversity.The Francie siblings have almost nothing materially, but unexpectedly possess a huge spiritual wealth.
But growing up is also an irreversible transformation from "song of innocence" to "song of experience".Little girl Francie is nearly attacked by a satyr in the stairwell.When she was a little older, she was emotionally deceived again.The rosy color of the world is fading little by little, and the young girl Francie steps into the unknown future with the strength she acquired in her childhood.
The novel records the little stories of growing up, and the author has written them tirelessly.Obviously, this is a monumental work commemorating her youth. This is Betty Smith's own story, a growth story that must have been brewing in her heart for a long time, and she can't even tell it.The author seems to want to give an account of his youth, to spread the growth in front of us inch by inch.Therefore, at the end of the novel, it seems a bit procrastinated, not as exciting as the childhood part.Even so, it's a very classic novel, an old-fashioned one.After reading some contemporary works that are too "showy", this novel is nostalgic in both form and content.This is a novel that people can't bear to put down, a novel that can make you cry and laugh after reading it. I hope readers like it as much as I do.
During the translation of the novel, teacher Barbara Penney took the trouble to answer many of my questions.My elder brother, Mr. Fang Shenglin, and my second sister-in-law, Ms. Ni Ming, spent a lot of time helping me to read the translation, and put forward many valuable comments on the translation. I would like to express my gratitude for this.
Translation is a hobby of mine rather than a "professional job". Due to work and other miscellaneous tasks, the translation time is limited and the level is also limited, so there must be mistakes, omissions or inappropriateness. Readers and friends are kindly requested to correct them so that they can be corrected when reprinting.
Fang Bolin
December 2008
in Oklahoma