***此為有聲書***
2017年曼布克文學大獎得主!
因短篇小說集《十二月十日》名揚國際文壇的喬治‧桑德斯
以第一本長篇小說Lincoln in the Bardo《林肯在中陰》
獲得曼布克文學獎高度肯定
評審團:「他把玩歷史與虛幻,
以極具原創性的形式、機智而詼諧的敘事,深刻觸動人心。」
小說開始於1862年的一場葬禮,整個故事發生在那一晚,痛失愛子的美國總統林肯,在南北戰爭才剛開始、內憂外患夾擊的困境中,忍不住在深夜偷偷潛進墓園,就為了要再次抱一抱11歲就病逝的幼子威利的遺體。過世不久的孩子,正處於藏傳佛教稱為「中陰身」的狀態,也就是人的心識離開了身體、但還未進入輪迴的幽微情狀。墓園中眾多遊蕩的鬼魂,被林肯對威利的深刻父愛召喚而來,而威利甚至並未發現自己已經死去。有些熱心的鬼魂勸威利趕緊離開中陰,也悠悠講述起自己飄盪於生死兩界、欲超脫而不可得的原因。
這部超現實小說,融合了真實歷史與虛幻,以166個人物的獨白與對話為主,穿插當時的史實,甚至部分當代新聞,以近似於希臘悲劇的形式,極具獨創性地呈現林肯回到墓園的那一晚。桑德斯在專訪中表示,這個故事確實是起源於許多年之前,他讀到林肯喪子的史料,當時他受到極大撼動;他並非為了炫技而特別創造這部小說的形式,而是因為他希望能將這個撼動傳達給讀者,而這形式是他所能找到,最貼近的方式。在得獎的感言中他說:我們身處在一個奇特的時代,而最關鍵的問題是──面對這世界無數正在發生的事件,我們將選擇以排斥抗拒和暴力相對,或者,回應以愛。
曼布克獎是具有高度指標性的國際文學大獎,原僅限於對英國籍作者評發,自2014年以來擴展為開放給所有以英語寫作的作品,開放至今四年之中,美國作者已連續兩年獲獎,可預期將引發許多討論。有不少諾貝爾獎得主,包含今年得主石黑一雄,都曾先獲得曼布克獎肯定。今年曼布克獎共有144部小說報名,14部入圍,6部進入決選名單。在台灣時間10/18凌晨4點40揭曉得主之前,六部決選作品中,銷售第一名的是Ali Smith的《秋季Autumn》,最獲文壇青睞的作品即是喬治‧桑德斯的《林肯在中陰》。
---作者中文簡介擷取自中譯本《十二月十日》,時報出版---
***WINNER OF THE 2018 AUDIE AWARD FOR AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR***
The long-awaited first novel from the author of Tenth of December a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented
February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy's body.
From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state--called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo--a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.
Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?
The 166-person full cast features award-winning actors and musicians, as well as a number of Saunders' family, friends, and members of his publishing team, including, in order of their appearance:
Nick Offerman as HANS VOLLMAN
David Sedaris as ROGER BEVINS III
Carrie Brownstein as ISABELLE PERKINS
George Saunders as THE REVEREND EVERLY THOMAS
Miranda July as MRS. ELIZABETH CRAWFORD
Lena Dunham as ELISE TRAYNOR
Ben Stiller as JACK MANDERS
Julianne Moore as JANE ELLIS
Susan Sarandon as MRS. ABIGAIL BLASS
Bradley Whitford as LT. CECIL STONE
Bill Hader as EDDIE BARON
Megan Mullally as BETSY BARON
Rainn Wilson as PERCIVAL "DASH" COLLIER
Jeff Tweedy as CAPTAIN WILLIAM PRINCE
Kat Dennings as MISS TAMARA DOOLITTLE
Jeffrey Tambor as PROFESSOR EDMUND BLOOMER
Mike O'Brien as LAWRENCE T. DECROIX
Keegan-Michael Key as ELSON FARWELL
Don Cheadle as THOMAS HAVENS
and
Patrick Wilson as STANLEY "PERFESSER" LIPPERT
with
Kirby Heyborne as WILLIE LINCOLN,
Mary Karr as MRS. ROSE MILLAND,
and Cassandra Campbell as Your Narrator
Praise for the audiobook
"Lincoln in the Bardo" sets a new standard for cast recordings in its structure, in its performances, and in its boldness. Now, let's see who answers the challenge." - Chicago Tribune
"Like the novel, the audiobook breaks new ground in what can be accomplished through a story. It helps that there's not a single bad note in the cast of a whopping 166 people. It's also the rare phenomenon of an audiobook being a completely different experience compared to the novel. Even if you've read the novel, the audiobook is worth a listen (and vice versa). The whole project pushes the narrative form forward." - A.V. Club
"The result is an auditory experience unlike any other, where the awareness of individual voices disappears while the carefully calibrated soundscape summons a metaphysical masterpiece. This is a tour de force of audiobook production, and a dazzling realization of Saunders' unique authorial structure."--Booklist
"The finished audiobook's tapestry of voices perfectly mirrors the novel."--Entertainment Weekly
Praise for George Saunders
"No one writes more powerfully than George Saunders about the lost, the unlucky, the disenfranchised."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time."--Khaled Hosseini
"Few people cut as hard or deep as Saunders does."--Junot D az
"George Saunders is a complete original. There is no one better, no one more essential to our national sense of self and sanity."--Dave Eggers
"Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny."--Zadie Smith
"There is no one like him. He is an original--but everyone knows that."--Lorrie Moore
"George Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless. We're lucky to have him."--Jonathan Franzen
"An astoundingly tuned voice--graceful, dark, authentic, and funny--telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times."--Thomas Pynchon