赫爾曼·梅爾維爾與《白鯨》 Herman Melville and Moby Dick

梁小明

Herman Melville （1819—1891） was an American writer， essayist1 and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary2 attention （the first book， Typee， becoming a bestseller）， but his popularity declined3 precipitously4 in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime.

When he died in 1891， he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the early 20th century that his work won recognition， especially Moby Dick， which is considered to be one of the great American Novels and a treasure of world literature.

Moby Dick was first published in 1851. The story tells the adventures of sailor Ishmael， and his Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab has one purpose on this voyage： to find Moby Dick. Last time， the whale destroyed Ahabs boat and bit off his leg， which now drives Ahab to take revenge5.

赫爾曼·梅爾維爾（1819—1891）是一位美國(guó)作家、散文家和詩(shī)人。他最著名的小說(shuō)是《白鯨》。他的前三本書(shū)受到了當(dāng)時(shí)的廣泛關(guān)注（第一本書(shū)《泰比》成為了暢銷(xiāo)書(shū)），但他的聲望在19世紀(jì)50年代中期急劇下降，在他有生之年未再恢復(fù)。

當(dāng)他在1891年去世時(shí)，他幾乎完全被人遺忘了。直到20世紀(jì)初，他的作品才獲得認(rèn)可，尤其是《白鯨》，被譽(yù)為美國(guó)偉大的小說(shuō)之一和世界文學(xué)的瑰寶。

《白鯨》于1851年第一次出版。這個(gè)故事講述了水手以實(shí)瑪利以及他的船長(zhǎng)亞哈的冒險(xiǎn)經(jīng)歷。以實(shí)瑪利很快了解到亞哈在這次航行中有一個(gè)目的：找到“白鯨”。上一次，鯨魚(yú)摧毀了亞哈的船，咬斷了他的腿，這驅(qū)使著亞哈去復(fù)仇。

【Notes】

1. essayist [■] n. 隨筆作家，散文家

2. contemporary [■] adj. 發(fā)生（屬）于同時(shí)期的

3. decline [■] vi. 下降;衰落

4. precipitously [■] adv. 陡然地

5. revenge [■] n. 報(bào)復(fù);復(fù)仇