21世紀最偉大的12本英文小說都在這了，快來讀！
「
BBC文化專欄作者Jane Ciabattari 向幾十位書評家發出了問卷，這些書評家包括《紐約時報》圖書評論員Parul Sehgal、《時代周刊》圖書編輯Lev Grossman、《每日新聞》圖書編輯Tom Beer、Bookslut 創始人Jessa Crispin 、《百萬》創始人C Max Magee 、《書目雜誌》Donna Seaman和《柯克斯書評》Laurie Muchnick 等。這些全世界最優秀的書評家列出了156本他們心目中最偉大的英文小說，最後根據投票結果評選出了前12名榜單。
」
12
《中性》Middlesex
by 傑弗里·尤金尼德斯
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974," Eugenides writes in the opening lines of his novel. At 14, Calliope Stephanides discovers she has a rare recessive mutation that renders her a pseudo-hermaphrodite. Claiming her "male brain", she shifts genders and becomes Cal.
作者這樣開篇：「我擁有兩次生命：第一次是1960年1月，一個晴朗無霧的日子作為一個女嬰出生在底特律；第二次是1974年8月在密歇根佩托斯基的一個急診室里作為一個男孩重生。」14歲的卡莉歐碧·斯迪芬奈茲患上了罕見的基因隱性突變，使她成為了一名陰陽人。卡莉歐碧考慮到自己的男性本性，她變性成了卡爾。
In often exuberant language, Eugenides layers questions of fate and free will onto Cal s coming-of-age story and the tale of the entrepreneurial rise of his parents, Desdemona and Lefty. (They have their own genetic secret.) Ultimately Cal』s condition gives him a near mythic gift – 「the ability to communicate between the genders, to see not with the monovision of one sex but in the stereoscope of both". Middlesex bridged the gap between critical and commercial acclaim, as well, winning a Pulitzer and selling millions of copies. (Picador)
尤金尼德斯用意趣盎然的語言講述了卡爾的成長故事，以及卡爾父母列夫提和苔絲狄蒙娜的創業經歷（他們也有自己不為人知的基因秘密）。最終，卡爾的基因問題卻讓他擁有了一項神奇的能力——「他能自由地遊走在兩性世界之間，從雙性的立體角度思考問題而不僅僅站在單性的角度」。《中性》不僅榮獲了普利策獎，而且銷量百萬，在文學成就和商業成就上都表現地很突出。（Picador出版社）
11
《白牙》（White Teeth）
by 査蒂·史密斯
White Teeth is set in London, where Archie Jones and Samal Iqbal, friends who met while serving in WWII, have settled to raise their families.
《白牙》的故事背景設在倫敦，講述的是二戰戰友阿吉·瓊斯和薩馬·伊克巴爾兩個家庭的悲歡離合。
Smith opens as Archie, divorced by his second wife, sits in his "fume-filled Cavalier Musketeer Estate face down on the steering wheel". He s chosen suicide on New Year s Day 1975, his car parked in front of a halal butcher s shop, only to be saved by the owner. As White Teeth unfolds, it is chockablock with vivid scenes and characters, a portrait of postcolonial multicultural London. (Vintage)
《白牙》以阿吉結束第二次婚姻開頭，1975年的元旦，「他坐在充滿濃煙的騎士火槍手牌旅行車裡，臉朝下，趴在方向盤上」。他將車停靠在一家清真肉鋪的門口，做好了自殺的準備，最後被屠夫救下了。隨著故事展開，作者給我們呈現了後殖民時代多元文化並存的倫敦生活，刻畫了生動的人物形象。（Vintage出版社）
10
《半輪黃日》
（Half of a Yellow Sun）
by 奇麻曼達·恩格茲·阿迪切
In her audacious and vividly imagined second novel, Adichie drew upon her ancestral past to write about the Biafra conflict, which traumatised her country and her family for three years after the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967.
阿迪切利用大膽生動的想像，追憶先祖故事，創作了她的第二部作品，內容與比亞法拉戰爭有關。1967年，伊博人占多數的奈及利亞東區脫離聯邦，引發三年內戰，摧毀了奈及利亞這個國家，也給奈及利亞人民帶來了深重苦難。
The novel is told from the perspectives of twin sisters Olanna and Kainene, a 13-year-old houseboy and Richard, a British expatriate who is in love with Kainene. Olanna s academic boyfriend, who favours secession, is also a key character as Adichie shows the repercussions of postcolonial power struggles on individual lives. (Anchor)
小說的主人公是雙胞胎姐妹奧蘭娜和凱楠，以及一個13歲的男僕和喜愛凱楠的英國僑民理查德。奧蘭娜的男友也是一個關鍵人物，他是大學學者，支持東區獨立。作者通過這些人物形象，向讀者展示了後殖民時代國家權力鬥爭對個人的影響。（Anchor出版社）
9
《贖罪》（Atonement）
by 伊恩·麥克尤恩
The novel opens on a summer day in 1935, when 13-year-old Briony shows her mother a play she s written to perform with her three cousins the next evening. "Briony was hardly to know it then, but this was the project s highest point of fulfillment," McEwan writes. "Nothing came near it for satisfaction, all else was dreams and frustration."
這部小說以1935年的一個夏日開篇，13歲的女孩布里奧妮在向她的母親展示她剛完成的劇本，並準備在第二天晚上和她的三個表姐一起表演。「布里奧妮當時還不知道，這已經是她的這個劇本最成功的時刻了！其他的設想都只是些白日夢，不能為她帶來任何滿足，甚至會讓她嘗到沮喪的滋味。」
That evening, Briony witnesses her 15-year-old cousin Lola being assaulted in the darkened woods. Her testimony implicates Robbie, her sister Cecilia s boyfriend from Cambridge and son of the family house maid, and he is jailed. In a second section, McEwan gives a panoramic account of the harrowing evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, with Robbie among those saved. Realising she has ruined Cecilia and Robbie s lives, Briony works as a nurse during the Blitz in a third section. (Anchor)
當天晚上，布里奧妮15歲的表姐洛拉遭強暴，布里奧妮在黑暗的樹林中看到了兇手。布里奧妮出庭指證罪犯就是家庭女僕的兒子羅比，羅比來自劍橋，也是布里奧妮姐姐塞西莉亞的男朋友，羅比被捕入獄。在書的第二部分，麥克尤恩對敦刻爾克大撤退的頹敗進行了全景描述，羅比就是其中的倖存者。在第三部分，布里奧妮認識到自己的誤解毀了塞西莉亞和羅比的一生，渴望贖罪的她成為閃電戰期間的一名醫護人員。（Anchor出版社）
*註：閃電戰（Blitz），1940年到1941年德軍對英國各主要城市的「大空襲」，即「不列顛空戰」。為實施入侵英國的「海獅」計劃，德國空軍對倫敦實施了近10個月的毀滅性大轟炸。英國得到英聯邦成員、其他被占歐洲國家和中立國美國的空軍幫助，戰爭在1941年10月12日以德國的失敗告終。
8
《比利林恩漫長的中場休息》
（Billy Lynn』s
Long Halftime Walk）
by 本·芳汀
Eight rookies from the US army s Bravo squad, fresh from a firefight with Iraqi insurgents, in which one of their fellow soldiers died and another was disabled, are dubbed war heroes by the Fox News cable channel. Their two-week stateside victory tour ends with a halftime salute at a Dallas Cowboys game.
在與伊拉克反叛分子交火中，美軍一個突擊小隊的一名士兵犧牲，一名受傷，倖存者中的八名新兵卻因為福克斯電視台的宣傳而成為國家英雄。他們回到美國本土，進行為期兩周的「勝利展演」，最後一站是在達拉斯牛仔隊橄欖球比賽的中場進行亮相。
Fountain captures the excesses of Texas, American football, business and war, and gives us a memorable narrator in 19-year-old Billy Lynn, with his combination of lust, bedazzlement and post-traumatic stress disorder. "It is sort of weird," he tells a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, "being honoured for the worst day of your life." (Ecco)
芳汀用19歲少年比利·林恩的口吻講述了這個令人難忘的故事，把他的渴望、他的困惑迷茫和他的創傷後應激障礙交織在一起，融合在無節制發展的德州、橄欖球、商業和戰爭裡面。比利告訴達拉斯牛仔隊拉拉隊隊長：「在你最糟糕的一天獲得榮譽，真是瘋了！」（Ecco出版社）
由此小說改編而成的同名電影，乃李安導演新作《比利·林恩的中場戰事》,北美11月11日上映。
7
《惡棍來訪》
（A Visit from the Goon Squad）
by 詹妮弗?伊根
Who s the goon of the title? "Time is the stealth goon, the one you ignore because you are so busy worrying about the goons right in front of you," she says. Egan concocts her narrative around punk rocker-turned-music producer Bennie Salazar, his sticky-fingered assistant Sasha and a circle of wannabes, has-beens and hangers-on.
那標題中的惡棍是誰呢？「時間是最大的惡棍。人們總是因為忙於擔憂眼前的『惡棍』而忽略了時間這個隱藏的惡棍。」作者講述了一系列人物的故事：曾經的朋克搖滾歌手、現在的音樂製作人——本尼·薩拉查，有盜竊癖的女助手薩莎，以及一群東施效顰者、江郎才盡者和溜須拍馬者。
Colette Bancroft, book editor of The Tampa Bay Times, named Egan s novel her top pick "not just because it is a splendidly written experiment in form that succeeds resoundingly, but because the 21st Century is its essential subject matter. Egan juxtaposes timeless literary themes, most notably the inexorable journey from youth to age, with an exploration of the ways in which a rapidly changing world reshapes the human experience. It s a novel that is prescient, surprising, wise and simply a blast to read." (Anchor)
《塔帕灣時報》的圖書編輯科萊特班·克羅夫特在他的書單中將《惡棍來訪》列為第一位，「不僅僅因為這本小說的寫作手法頗具實驗性且異常成功，更因為此書的基本主題是21世紀。不可阻擋的韶華易逝，以及如何在急速變化的世界中改變自己適應社會，伊根在書中探討了這些永恆的文學主題，給讀者帶去了睿智的、有先見之明的，又驚奇的閱讀體驗。」（Anchor出版社）
6
《卡瓦利爾和克雷的神奇冒險》
（The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay）
by 邁克爾·夏本
Joe Kavalier, a Houdini-like escape artist, smuggles himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague in 1939 and ends up in New York City. With his Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay he invents a superhero character called the Escapist and launches the golden age of comic books.
喬·卡瓦利爾是一位與魔術大師胡迪尼類似的逃脫藝術家。1939年，他奇蹟般地從被納粹佔領的布拉格逃脫，最終抵達紐約。卡瓦利爾和住在布魯克林的表兄弟薩米·克雷聯手設計了一個叫「逃脫俠」的超級英雄，由此開啟了漫畫書的黃金時代。
"Chabon s capacious, propulsive and many-storied novel is exquisitely written, emotionally rich and historically and morally profound," says Booklist senior editor Donna Seaman, who made the Pulitzer Prize winner her number-one choice. "It can also be seen as a bridge between the 20th and 21st centuries in its perspective on WWII and the birth of comic-book superheroes as a new. Chabon s novel has greatly influenced other outstanding works of 21st Century fiction. But The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier& Clay is also a timeless inquiry into our tragic proclivity for hate and war, our abiding need for stories and our persistent longing for magical powers and transcendence." (Random House)
這本書曾榮獲普利策獎，《書目雜誌》資深編輯多納·西曼將它列為第一位。「夏邦採用了寬廣博大、層層推進的創作手法，寫法精巧，情感豐沛，歷史和道德意義深遠。二戰期間誕生了超級英雄漫畫，這本小說從這個角度搭建起了20世紀和21世紀的橋樑，並極大地影響了21世紀其他的優秀作品。但《卡瓦利爾和克雷的神奇冒險》也提出了一個永恆的疑問，關於仇恨和戰爭的悲劇性、人類對傳奇故事持久不竭的需求，對神奇力量、超脫存在的持久不變的渴望。」（Random House出版社）
5
《糾正》（The Corrections）
by 喬納森·弗蘭岑
As Alfred and Enid Lambert and their three adult children gather at the end of the 20th Century for "one last Christmas", the father s Parkinson s disease progresses, and the US is on the verge of economic meltdown.
20世紀末，阿爾弗雷德、伊妮德·蘭伯特同三個已成年的孩子齊聚一堂，一起慶祝可能是最後一個闔家團圓的聖誕節。此時，父親阿爾弗雷德的帕金森綜合征更加嚴重了，而美國也正處於經濟危機的邊緣。
"The Correction, when it finally came, was not an overnight bursting of a bubble but a much more gentle let-down, a year-long leakage of value from key financial markets," writes Franzen. "Franzen secured his place as a major American writer." Laurie Hertzel, senior books editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune adds, "This big, sprawling, fat novel touches on some of the most important themes of the early years of this millennium – economic uncertainty, the conflicts between parents and their drifting middle-aged children and the enormous issues of an aging society past its prime. He does it with great storytelling and a lot of humour." (Picador)
弗蘭岑寫道：「《糾正》不是指主要金融市場一夜之間突然發生泡沫破滅，而是更溫和的衰退，持續一年的價值漏損。」《明尼阿波利斯星壇報》資深圖書編輯勞里·赫茨爾評論道：「弗蘭岑再次證明了其作為美國重要作家的實力。這本小說布景廣闊，觸及了新千年早期最重要的一些主題——經濟動蕩、父母和漂泊不定的中年兒女之間的衝突，以及黃金時代過去後老齡化社會之中的諸多問題。弗蘭岑用幽默的筆法寫了一個好故事。」（Picador出版社）
4
《吉利德》（Gilead）
by 瑪麗琳·羅賓遜
The Rev John Ames, a small-town Iowa minister, describes his life and anti-slavery heritage to his young son in dazzling lyrical language in this first instalment of Robinson s trilogy (along with Home and Lila).
這是羅賓遜三部曲中的第一部（另外兩部是《回家》和《萊拉》）。小說中，約翰·艾姆斯是愛荷華州一個小鎮上的傳教士，他用令人印象深刻的抒情語言給小兒子講述了自己的一生以及他們這個家族為廢奴運動所做的努力。
"I can t think of a living novelist who writes more seriously and profoundly about religious faith," writes critic and author Dawn Raffel, who ranked Gilead first on her list. "Robinson is both an ideas writer and an exquisite prose stylist, investigating the big questions within the intimate space of family and community. She is also a supremely good storyteller." Karen R Long, former book editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer adds, 「This multi-generational story inculcates a desire for transcendence, and makes a case for spiritual life in the 21st Century – its own kind of miracle. Gilead will be read in 100 years.」 (Picador)
評論家、作家道恩·拉斐爾將《吉利德》列為第一名， 她這樣評價：「所有在世作家中，羅賓遜在宗教信仰題材的創作上最為嚴謹、立意最為深刻。」《克利夫蘭平原商報》前圖書編輯凱倫·R·朗也盛讚：「羅賓遜不僅是一個『有想法』的作家，同時也是一個優秀的散文家，擅於描寫家庭和社區私密空間中的重大問題。她非常擅長講故事。這個故事涉及好幾代人，反覆灌輸一種卓然超越的信仰，為21世紀的精神生活提供了一個範本——這本身就是一個奇蹟。《吉利德》將是百年不朽的著作。」（Picador出版社）
3
《狼廳》（Wolf Hall）
by 希拉里·曼特爾
Mantel s boldly reimagined saga of 16th Century Europe, told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, won the Man Booker and National Book Critics Circle awards, was adapted to the stage and has been filmed as a new BBC miniseries.
本書從托馬斯·克倫威爾的視角，大膽暢想，再現了16世紀歐洲傳奇，贏得了布克獎和美國國家圖書評論界獎，後來被改編成舞台劇，還被BBC改編成了迷你劇。
"The brilliance of retelling an oft-told tale is beautifully illustrated in Mantel s flawless examination of power through the rise of Thomas Cromwell," notes critic Karen R Long. Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times book editor writes: "I have never felt so completely catapulted into a character s mind, not to mention a long ago and far away place." Mantel s sequel, Bring in the Bodies, also gathered votes. (Picador)
評論家凱倫·R·朗稱讚：「曼特爾用他的才華和智慧形象生動、天衣無縫地講述了這個老生常談的故事——托馬斯·克倫威爾的權臣之路。」《西雅圖時報》圖書編輯瑪麗·安·格溫也寫道：「我從未如此深入一個人物的靈魂，更何況這個人物早已作古，離我很遙遠。」（Picador出版社）
2
《已知的世界》
（The Known World）
by 愛德華?瓊斯
Set in 1855 on the plantation of Henry Townsend – born a slave, now a slave-owner – The Known World is a triumph of empathy, immersing readers in a complex moral time without making simple judgments. Facing an early death, Townsend ponders the future of his 50-acre Virginia plantation and the slaves he treats the way his former owner, now his mentor, taught him.
故事發生在1855年的一個種植園，主人公亨利·湯森德生為奴隸，現為奴隸主。此書是激起共情的典範之作，面對複雜的道德情感，不妄下定論，讓讀者去感同身受。湯森德擁有弗尼吉亞州50英畝種植園和一些奴隸，他對待奴隸的方式與自己曾經的奴隸主如出一轍。面對早逝的命運，對於將來如何處置他的財產，湯森德總是諸多考量。
"In my reading, The Known World is the best American novel published in the 21st Century – a stunning work about humans experiencing and surviving American slavery," notes critic Walton Muyumba, author of The Shadow and the Act. C Max Magee, founder and editor of The Millions writes, "Jones s novel has an epic, complex sweep and takes an unflinching and engrossing view of America s messy history." (Amistad)
《陰影與法案》的作者沃爾頓·穆永巴評價說：「在我讀過的書中，《已知的世界》是21世紀出版的最優秀的美國小說——關於人生閱歷和美國奴隸生存的驚人之作。」電子雜誌《百萬》的創始人兼編輯C·馬克斯·麥基寫道：「《已知的世界》以史詩般的宏大視角，直面美國那段不堪回首的歷史，引人入勝。」（Amistad出版社）
1
《奧斯卡·瓦奧短暫而奇妙的一生》
（The Brief Wondrous Life of
Oscar Wao）
by 胡諾特·迪亞斯
The winner in this BBC Culture critics poll is Junot Diaz s first novel, about New Jersey ghetto-nerd Oscar, who dreams of being the Dominican-American Tolkien and finding love.
這次BBC文化欄目評選的最佳小說是朱諾·迪亞斯的處女作，該書主人公名叫奧斯卡，他是來自新澤西貧民窟的多米尼加裔美國宅男，他渴望與異性接觸，並夢想著成為美國的托爾金。
"It is a big deal for me to fall in love with a book when its DNA is science fiction, fantasy and testosterone," says Elizabeth Taylor, The Chicago Tribune s literary editor-at-large. "Oscar Wao reaffirmed the strong connections Latinos maintain with their ancestral homeland s culture, language and history. It also re-energised these questions: Who is American? What is the American experience?" (Riverhead)
《芝加哥論壇報》的文學特約編輯伊麗莎白·泰勒評價道：「我從未想過，我會如此鍾愛一本充滿白日夢和男性荷爾蒙的科幻小說。」評論家、劇作家格雷格·巴里奧斯同樣盛讚：「奧斯卡·瓦奧重新確認了拉丁美洲人與家鄉的文化、語言和歷史之間根深蒂固的聯繫。這也讓我們重新思考：什麼樣的人才是美國人？美國印象到底是什麼？」（Riverhead出版社）
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※21世紀最偉大的謊言：未來是你的！
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