Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert McFarlane reveals how the mystery of the world’s highest places has came to grip the Western imagination—and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes.
His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts. In the mid-1700s the attentions of both science and poetry sparked a passion for mountains; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron extolled the sublime experiences to be had on high; and by 1924 the death on Mt Everest of an Englishman named George Mallory came to symbolize the heroic ideals of his day. Macfarlane also reflects on fear, risk, and the shattering beauty of ice and snow, the competition and contemplation of the climb, and the strange alternate reality of high altitude, magically enveloping us in the allure of mountains at every level.
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罗伯特·麦克法伦(Robert Macfarlane,1976— ),剑桥院士,他的研究和写作领域侧重于自然与文学的关系、二战之后的英美小说、当代诗歌和维多利亚时期文学等等。
他的“行走文学三部曲”展现了当代旅行写作新的走向和所能达到的高度。其中首部《心事如山》获得了“卫报首作奖”、“泰晤士报年度最佳青年作家奖”和“萨默赛特·毛姆奖”;第二部作品《荒野之境》获得或被提名有将近十个奖项,由BBC制成纪录片。《古道》2012年出版,广受好评,不断出现在各种“年度好书”的推介中,获得“塞缪尔·约翰逊奖”提名。2013年他受邀担任布克奖评委会主席,成为布克奖史上最年轻的评委会主席。
麦克法伦的散文机智博雅,精巧而不晦涩,《格兰塔》前主编弗里曼称他为当代最好的行走文学作家。
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我感觉我上方的大气骤然清澈,整个珠穆朗玛峰的顶点屋脊和最高点揭开了神秘的面纱。我注意到从远处看上去离最后的金字塔底座仅一步之遥的雪坡上,有一个微小的物体在挪动,在向石阶靠近,接着第二个小小的物体跟上,然后就看到那第一个影子攀上了最高的那一级。当我站立着目不转睛地凝视着那戏剧性的一幕时,这个场景瞬间被吞噬在云层中。
所有有關想像世界的故事中,最精彩的要數「納尼亞傳奇」系列。
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