Bale's Reading: A Hero of Our TIme

Bale 手上拿書已經不是新聞了，新聞是「這回他又是在看哪一本書？」經過世界各國 Baleheads 的努力，大家看出來這本書的書皮是屬於 A Hero of Our Time。這是一本由俄國人書寫的小說。出版社的網站對這本書的介紹如下：

The first major Russian novel, A Hero of Our Time was both lauded and reviled upon publication. Its dissipated hero, twenty-five-year-old Pechorin, is a beautiful and magnetic but nihilistic young army officer, bored by life and indifferent to his many sexual conquests. Chronicling his unforgettable adventures in the Caucasus involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers, this classic tale of alienation influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov in Lermontov's own century, and finds its modern-day counterparts in Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, the novels of Chuck Palahniuk, and the films and plays of Neil LaBute.

這是第一本俄國的大眾小說，此做在出版業受到兩極的評價。一個二十五歲名為 Pechorin 的放蕩英雄，他瀟灑且充滿魅力，但卻也是個抱持恐怖主義思想的軍官。對於人生感到無趣，也對於自己無數的性關係感到厭煩。小說記錄著他在高加索山歷經的難忘經驗，包括他強盜、走私、與他人鬥爭以及情人們。這齣經典的傳奇受到了托爾泰斯、杜斯妥也夫斯基以及契柯夫的影響。在近年的 Anthony Burgess 電影的原著由Chuck Palahniuk撰寫的「發條橘子」中也可以看到這本小說的影子。


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幾次目擊到他手中的書，類別大部分都是小說。他熱愛閱讀的傳言，果然是真的。