人物簡介
約翰
約翰.歐文約翰.歐文曾被美國文壇泰斗馮內果譽為「全美國最重要的幽默作家」,是當代知名的重要小說家之一.他的作品呈現高超的說故事技巧與優美的文學詞藻,只人們常常將他與重量級的小說家並論.
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主要著作
約翰·
約翰.歐文歐文作品的題材多涉及失蹤的孩子或缺席的父母，這顯然與他自身的經歷有關。歐文1942年生於美國新罕布夏州的艾克斯特。早在他出世之前，他的父母即已離異，當他6歲時，他的母親再婚，其丈夫領養了歐文。於是，歐文跟著母親和當歷史教師的養父長大成人。他從未見過自己的親生父親，也不曾萌發過尋找父親的念頭。
歐文小時候性格內向，並患有閱讀困難症，所以學業平平，但很早他就立志要當作家。在新罕布夏大學學習期間，歐文結識了年輕的南方作家約翰·楊特(John Yount)，兩人的交往進一步增強了歐文從事文學創作的信心。不久，歐文獲得一筆去歐洲學習的獎學金，他選擇了地處維也納的歐洲研究學院。這段求學經歷為他的第一部長篇小說《將熊釋放》積累了寶貴的素材。
歐文的個人生活並非一帆風順。1981年，他與第一任妻子離異。在他母親看來，經歷了婚姻不幸的歐文應該能夠理解她與歐文生父之間的恩恩怨怨，於是交給他一紮信件和剪報。歐文從中了解到，第二次世界大戰期間，他的父親曾經服役於美國陸軍航空部隊，奔赴亞洲戰場作戰，可不幸的是，他駕駛的飛機在日軍占領下的緬甸上空被擊落，他和其他的機組成員下落不明，直到四十天之後，他們才奇蹟般地徒步抵達中國。父親這段死裡逃生的不尋常經歷被歐文寫進了《蘋果酒屋的規則》中，成了華力·華辛頓的英雄之舉。
1987年，歐文再次走進婚姻的殿堂，他的妻子也是他的經紀人。目前，他與家人居住在佛蒙特州的格林山。
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約翰·歐文：怪誕不怪
John Irving: The Bizarre as Commonplace
約翰·歐文(John Irving)是美國當代最知名的小說家之一，被美國文壇泰斗馮內古特譽為“美國最重要的幽默作家”。他的作品呈現出高超的敘述技巧、獨特的原創性和優美的文學性，既叫好又叫座，已被翻譯成二十幾種文字，多部作品被搬上銀幕。
John Irving was born in 1942 in New Hampshire; his father taught history at Phillips-Exeter Academy, giving him automatic admission to its prep school.1 He was dyslexic2, before the learning disability had been identified. He attended the University of New Hampshire and participated in a study-abroad program in Vienna, studying under Gunter Grass.3 Married while an undergraduate, he had the first of three sons at age 23. Wrestling is an important part of his life. All of these elements, plus interest in a hypothetical situation, surface in his writing.4 John Irving feels that dyslexia made him more attentive to how a sentence works. He thought at the beginning of his writing career that he had a lack of talent, but rewrote compulsively, determined to succeed nevertheless, as writing was fulfilling -he draws a parallel to wrestling, which he sees as being in close contact with the other.5 In neither case is talent the deciding factor in the outcome, hard work and perseverance6 is. His novels begin with interest in a relationship, a situation, a character and he knows the ending before writing the first chapters, feeling this is necessary to plot the book. He revises, paying close attention to language, and writes epilogues7, so that in a John Irving book one always knows what happened to the characters later! The passage of time, childhood experiences as a basis for the characters, are usually present. John Irving was writer in residence8 at Brandeis University in Massachusetts in 1978-79, and held his first teaching position at Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts; he taught freshman English for 10-12 years. He had been "mentored," by Kurt Vonnegut in the late sixties.9 John Irving has great respect for writing, having learned from reading -he feels he knows more about adultery from reading Madam Bovary10 than from listening to friends' stories. He has written 8 long novels, all bestsellers. He feels a novel should be complex. His writing has been described as an "Ivy League Fellini world view", incorporating usually a big house, a fatherless son, set in New England and having odd supporting characters, odd thoughts on morality.11 A Prayer for Owen meany deals with destiny as well as issues in Christianity. His latest novel, The Fourth Hand, asks the question, "How can anyone identify a dream of the future?" The answer, "Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love." John Irving has been criticized for writing of outlandish characters and occurrences, but feels that the things that do happen are more bizarre than things he could make up -that the bizarre is commonplace.12 John Irving is interested in the rules of behavior, and the consequences of breaking these rules, as in The Cider House Rules. A storyteller, he engages the reader in emotional involvement with the characters.13 His work contains sharply funny moments; it can be seen as comic tragedy. He feels "exquisitely developed characters and heartbreaking stories [are] the obligation of any novel worth remembering. " He still wrestles, and coaches wrestling, being inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992.14 He has received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and won an O. Henry Award, a National Book Award and an Oscar.15 He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2002.16 He used his knowledge of the life of a best-selling author, concerns about writing and the irritation of being asked how much in his writing is autobiographical, in the book A Widow for One Year.17 His books are difficult to transmute into film while remaining believable, as the characters are so bizarre, but The Cider House Rules succeeds. (The Fourth Hand is in the works at this writing.) 1. Phillips-Exeter Academy：菲利普斯·埃克塞特學院，由Dr. John Phillips於1781年創辦，位於新罕布夏的埃克塞特，距波士頓一小時車程；prep school: = preparatory school,預備學校。 2. dyslexic：[醫]誦讀困難的。名詞形式為dyslexia/d!s#leks!2/。 3. study-abroad program：出國學習課程；Vienna: 維也納（奧地利首都）；Guter Grass：君特·格拉斯(1927- )，德國作家，插圖畫家，主要作品有小說《鐵皮鼓》和劇本《平民起義演習，一個德國的悲劇》等，1999年獲諾貝爾文學獎。 4. hypothetical: 假想的，臆想的；surface：浮現，顯現。 5. 在寫作生涯之初他認為自己缺乏天分，但他強迫自己重寫，決心要成功。因為寫作給了他成就感，他將之與摔跤作了比較，他覺得摔跤與寫作有著緊密關係。 6. perseverance：堅持不懈，鍥而不捨。 7. epilogue：(小說、戲劇或電視、廣播節目等的)結尾部分，尾聲。 8. writer in residence：住校作家。一般不要求其擔任具體教職，但希望能在非正式雇用的基礎上隨時為學生服務。 9. mentor: 受某人的指導；Kurt Vonnegut：庫爾特·馮內古特，1922年出生於美國印第安納州，二戰中曾被關入納粹戰俘營，他的作品描寫了對人類社會的失望和恐懼，作品有《第五號屠宰場》(Slaughter-House Five)等。 10. Madam Bovary：19世紀法國作家福樓拜的小說《包法利夫人》。 11. 他的作品被形容成一幅“常春藤名校氣質的費里尼式世界圖景”，作品中通常有一座大宅、一個無父的孩子，故事通常發生在新英格蘭，有著古怪的配角及道德理念。Fellini：費里尼(Federico Fellini, 1920-1994)，義大利著名電影導演。他的影片多用象徵手法將現實與想像混合在一起。片中的人物、場面、情節往往與他在家鄉度過的童年和青年時代有關。 12. 他因描寫稀奇古怪的人物和事情而遭受批評，但他認為現實比他創作的東西更怪誕——怪誕即尋常。 13. 他的敘事本領在於運用人物間的情感糾葛緊緊抓住讀者。 14. 1992年被收進全美摔跤名人堂。induct (into)：吸收……為會員。 15. Rockefeller Foundation：洛克菲勒基金，成立於1913年；National Endowment for the Arts：美國國家藝術捐贈會，簡稱NEA；Guggenheim Foundation：古根海姆紀念基金會，由美國工業家兼慈善家John Simon Guggenheim(1867-1941)建立；O. Henry Award：“歐·亨利獎”(年度獎)，設立於1918年，專門獎勵短篇小說的成就；National Book Award：美國國家圖書獎，是美國最重要的文學獎，設立於1950年。 16. 2002年他被選為美國藝術與文學學院院士。 17. 他把自己對一名暢銷書作者的生活的了解、對寫作的關注、還有被問及他的書中有多少自傳成分這類問題時的惱怒，都寫進了《一年的寡婦》這本書中。 約翰·歐文主要作品列表： The World According to Garp (1978) 《加普的世界觀》 The Hotel New Hampshire (1981) 《新罕布夏大飯店》 The Cider House Rules (1985) 《蘋果酒屋法則》 A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) 《為歐文·米尼祈禱》 A Son of the Circus (1994) 《馬戲團之子》 A Widow for One Year (1998) 《一年的寡婦》 The Fourth Hand (2001) 《第四隻手》 根據約翰·歐文作品改編的影片有： The World According to Garp (1982) 《加普的世界觀》 The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) 《新罕布夏大飯店》 Simon Birch (1998) 《西蒙伯屈》（又名《一路上有你》， 改編自A Prayer for Owen Meany） The Cider House Rules (1999) 《蘋果酒屋法則》（又名《總有驕陽》） 作品快讀：《蘋果酒屋法則》 該小說已於1999年12月由美國米拉麥克斯影片公司拍成電影，約翰·歐文藉此獲得第72屆奧斯卡最佳改編劇本獎。 The Cider House Rules The story begins in the 1920s in St. Cloud's orphanage1 in Maine where Homer Wells is born and spends most of his adolescent years. Three times he is adopted by well-meaning families, but later returned to the orphanage. Dr. Larch, who is in charge there, would just as soon have him stay, for he becomes an able assistant to the doctor in performing abortions2 and delivering babies. Wally Worthington, whose wealthy parents are in the apple and cider business, gets to know Homer when he, Wally, takes his girlfriend Candy to the St. Cloud's orphanage for an abortion. These three become close friends and Homer accompanies them back to the Worthington orchard3 where he spends the next twenty years. It's a new life for Homer, and he realizes that his years at the orphanage are "... supposed to be left behind." Wally, who became a captain in the Air Force during WWII, crashes his bomber4 in Burma5, and Candy and Homer assume he is dead. When Candy becomes pregnant with Homer's child, they return to the orphanage briefly to have their baby delivered. But Wally surprises them when he comes home crippled and still wants to marry Candy. Homer has to lie about Angel, their child, so the marriage can take place. He explains to Wally that he'd adopted Angel from St. Cloud's orphanage. Several friends don't believe this. Worse than that, Homer and Candy begin to suspect that Wally sees through their cover-up6 story. In the end, Homer returns to St. Cloud to take Dr. Larch's place, but under the alias7 of a missionary doctor. Wally explains to Homer's son, "You can't get Homer out of St. Cloud's, and you can't get St. Cloud's out of Homer." 1. orphanage: 孤兒院。 2. abortion: 墮胎。 3. orchard: 果園；果樹林。 4. bomber: 轟炸機。 5. Burma: 緬甸。 6. cover-up: 掩飾的。 7. alias: 化名，別名。
