《局外人》這本書可以說是存在主義文學的代表作品，同時，它也是一本當代青年不可不讀的經典名著。
《局外人》以“今天，媽媽死了，也許是昨天，我不知道”開始，以“我還希望處决我的那一天有很多人來看，對我發出仇恨的喊叫聲”結束。小說以這種不動聲色而又藴含內在力量的平靜語調為我們塑造了一個驚世駭俗的“荒謬的人”：對一切都漠然置之的默爾索。
全書分為兩個部分，第一部分從默爾索的母親去世開始，到他在海灘上殺死阿拉伯人為止，是按時間順序敘述的故事。
默爾索不僅在接到通知母親去世的電報時沒有哭，而且在母親下葬時也沒有哭，他沒有要求打開棺材再看母親最後一眼，反而在母親的棺材面前抽煙、喝咖啡，人們不禁要憤然了：一個人在母親下葬時不哭，他還算得是人嗎？更有甚者，他竟在此後的第二天，就去海濱遊泳，和女友一起去看滑稽影片，並且和她一起回到自己的住處。默爾索的行為越來越讓人驚訝愕然，名聲不好的鄰居要懲罰自己的情婦，求他幫助寫一封信，他竟答應了，覺得“沒有理由不讓他滿意”。老闆建議他去巴黎開設一個辦事處，他竟沒有表示什麽熱情，雖然他“並不願意使他不快”。對於人人嚮往的巴黎， 他竟有這樣的評價： “很髒。有鴿子， 有黑乎乎的院子。”瑪麗要跟他結婚，他說隨便怎麽樣都行。瑪麗堅持問默爾索是否真的愛她，她原來指望聽到肯定的回答，可是他竟說“大概是不愛她”。
《局外人》遠眺凱旋門
這種敘述毫無抒情的意味，而衹是默爾索內心自發意識的流露，因而他敘述的接二連三的事件、對話、姿勢和感覺之間似乎沒有必然的聯繫，給人以一種不連貫的荒謬之感，因為別人的姿勢和語言在他看來都是沒有意義的，是不可理解的。惟一確實的存在便是大海、陽光，而大自然卻壓倒了他，使他莫名其妙地殺了人：“我衹覺得鐃鈸似的太陽扣在我的頭上我感到天旋地轉。海上泛起一陣悶熱的狂風，我覺得天門洞開，嚮下傾瀉大火。我全身都綳緊了，手緊緊握住槍。槍機扳動了”
在第二部分裏，牢房代替了大海，社會的意識代替了默爾索自發的意識。司法機構以其固有的邏輯，利用被告過去偶然發生的一些事件把被告虛構成一種他自己都認不出來的形象：即把始終認為自己無罪、對一切都毫不在乎的默爾索硬說成一個冷酷無情、蓄意殺人的魔鬼。因為審訊幾乎從不調查殺人案件，而是千方百計把殺人和他母親之死及他和瑪麗的關係聯繫在一起。
《局外人》咖啡館
迷迷糊糊地殺了人的默爾索，對法庭上的辯論漠然置之，卻非常有興趣斷定自己辯護律師的才華大大不如檢察官。就在臨刑的前夜，他覺醒了：“面對着充滿信息和星鬥的夜”，他“第一次嚮這個世界的動人的冷漠敞開了心扉”。他居然感到他“過去曾經是幸福的”， “現在仍然是幸福的”。他似乎還嫌人們驚訝得不夠，接着又說：“為了使我感到不那麽孤獨，我還希望處决我的那一天有很多人來觀看，希望他們對我報以仇恨的喊叫聲。”
默爾索因為感受到這個現代社會人際關係的冷漠，而毫不遲疑地遠離社會、拋棄社會，可是社會也拋棄了他，他最終成為了一個排除於生活中心的局外人。
《局外人》-專傢點評
《局外人》阿爾伯特·加繆
加繆曾經把《局外人》的主題概括為一句話：“在我們的社會裏，任何在母親下葬時不哭的人都有被判死刑的危險。” 這種近乎可笑的說法隱藏着一個十分嚴酷的邏輯：任何違反社會的基本法則的人必將受到社會的懲罰。這個社會需要和它一致的人，背棄它或反抗它的人都在懲處之列，都有可能讓檢察官先生說：“我嚮你們要這個人的腦袋。” 默爾索的腦袋已經被檢察官以社會的名義要了去。社會拋棄了默爾索，然而，默爾索宣佈：“我過去曾經是幸福的，我現在仍然是幸福的。”誰也不會想到默爾索會有這樣的宣告，他通過自己的宣告也拋棄了社會。然而這正是他的覺醒，他認識到了人與世界的分裂，他完成了荒誕的旅程的第一階段。
談《局外人》而不談荒誕，就如同談薩特的《惡心》而不談存在主義。加繆在這本書中列舉了荒誕的種種表現，例如：人和生活的分離；演員和布景的分離；懷有希望的精神和使之失望的世界之間的分裂；肉體的需要對於使之趨於死亡的時間的反抗；世界本身所具有的、使人的理解成為不可能的那種厚度和陌生性；人對人本身所散發出的非人性感到的不適及其墮落，等等。由於發現了“荒誕”，默爾索的消極、冷漠、無動於衷、執著於瞬間的人生等等頓時具有了一種象徵的意義，小說於是從哲學上得到了闡明。因為人和世界的分離，世界於人是荒誕的，人對世界無能為力，因此不抱任何希望，對一切事物都無動於衷。加繆指出：“荒誕，就是確認自己的界限的清醒的理性。”“荒誕的人”就是“那個不否認永恆、但也不為永恆做任何事情的人”。尤其是當加繆指出“一個能用歪理來解釋的世界，還是一個熟悉的世界，但是在一個突然被剝奪了幻覺和光明的宇宙中，人就感到自己是個局外人”的時候，我們更會一下子想到默爾索的。“荒誕的人”就是“局外人”，“局外人”就是具有“清醒的理性的人”。
《局外人》阿爾伯特·加繆
小說傢加繆同時還有另一重身份，那就是作為存在主義代表人物之一的哲學家加繆。從某種意義上來說，這兩種身份的混淆往往容易在小說創作中帶來這樣一個問題，那就是思想大於形象。從另一個角度來說，對於這類小說評價往往着重於其思想性。通俗地說，那就是加繆的小說，《局外人》也好，《鼠疫》也好，成敗與否由其中心思想决定。《紐約時報書評》對《局外人》思想與形式的關係是這樣分析的：“中心思想並不是創造性藝術的最高形式，但是，它卻有可能重要到這個地步：如果為了藝術批判的緣故而拋棄它則將會褻瀆人類精神。”閱讀這部小說就可以讓人明白，《局外人》並不是一個哲學觀念的簡單圖解，而是一部成功的小說。它以奇特而又新穎的筆調塑造了一個顯然與衆不同的人物，不想和別人有任何聯繫、衹想保持自己個性不受幹擾的人物。《局外人》的讀者可以不知道默爾索什麽模樣，是高還是矮，是胖還是瘦，但他們不可能不記住他，不可能不在許多場合想到他。小說以自身的獨立的存在展示了人與世界的關係。它迫使我們嚮自己提出這樣的問題：世界是晦澀的，還是清晰的？是合乎理性的，還是不可理喻的？人在這個世界上是幸福的，還是痛苦的？人與這個世界的關係是和諧一致的，還是分裂矛盾的？
加繆的小說風格介於傳統小說和新小說之間。一方面，存在主義文學是反傳統的，作者從不介入小說，從不幹預主人公的命運，從來不發表自己的議論；另一方面，小說的語言又極其簡單明晰，可以說具有古典主義的散文風格，具有極強的表現力和感染力。《局外人》成為一本於平淡中見深度、從枯澀中出哲理的很不平常的書。
《局外人》阿爾伯特·加繆
加繆還寫過以論荒誕為主旨的長篇哲學隨筆《西西弗神話》。事實上，人們的確是常常用《西西弗神話》來解釋《局外人》，而開此先例的正是薩特。他最早把這兩本書聯繫在一起，認定《局外人》是“荒誕的證明”，是一本“關於荒誕和反對荒誕的書”。也可以說《西西弗神話》正是《局外人》的註腳。加繆在1941年2月21日的一則手記中寫道：“完成《神話》。三個‘荒誕’到此結束。”這三個“荒誕”指的就是：哲學隨筆《西西弗神話》，小說《局外人》和劇本《卡利古拉》。
當加繆因車禍去世後，《紐約時報》這樣概括他的思想： “加繆在荒誕的車禍中喪身，實屬辛辣的哲學諷刺。因為他思想的中心是如何對人類處境做出一個思想深刻人士的正確回答，人們毫不感到意外，我們的時代接受了加繆的觀點。血腥的二次世界大戰，可怕的氫彈威脅，這一切使現代社會能夠接受加繆嚴肅的哲學，並使之長存於人們的心中。”
如今40多年過去了，人們沒有忘記他，人們也不會忘記他，越來越多的人在研究他的著作與思想。《局外人》也一再重版，印數突破千萬册。加繆在世的時候由於是一個在貧窮、普通的家庭裏長大的孩子，因而常被痛恨他的人貶低，孤獨之時他總對他的一個知己說： “但願他們瞭解真正的我。”
他是與文學沙竜、文學名人、榮譽、勳章保持距離的“局外人”，但他的思考卻深入到了現代社會的腹地。
《局外人》-妙語佳句
大傢都很幸運，這個世界上衹有幸運的人。
在所有智力健全的人都或多或少期望他們所愛的人死去。
《局外人》以“今天，媽媽死了，也許是昨天，我不知道”開始，以“我還希望處决我的那一天有很多人來看，對我發出仇恨的喊叫聲”結束。小說以這種不動聲色而又藴含內在力量的平靜語調為我們塑造了一個驚世駭俗的“荒謬的人”：對一切都漠然置之的默爾索。
全書分為兩個部分，第一部分從默爾索的母親去世開始，到他在海灘上殺死阿拉伯人為止，是按時間順序敘述的故事。
默爾索不僅在接到通知母親去世的電報時沒有哭，而且在母親下葬時也沒有哭，他沒有要求打開棺材再看母親最後一眼，反而在母親的棺材面前抽煙、喝咖啡，人們不禁要憤然了：一個人在母親下葬時不哭，他還算得是人嗎？更有甚者，他竟在此後的第二天，就去海濱遊泳，和女友一起去看滑稽影片，並且和她一起回到自己的住處。默爾索的行為越來越讓人驚訝愕然，名聲不好的鄰居要懲罰自己的情婦，求他幫助寫一封信，他竟答應了，覺得“沒有理由不讓他滿意”。老闆建議他去巴黎開設一個辦事處，他竟沒有表示什麽熱情，雖然他“並不願意使他不快”。對於人人嚮往的巴黎， 他竟有這樣的評價： “很髒。有鴿子， 有黑乎乎的院子。”瑪麗要跟他結婚，他說隨便怎麽樣都行。瑪麗堅持問默爾索是否真的愛她，她原來指望聽到肯定的回答，可是他竟說“大概是不愛她”。
《局外人》遠眺凱旋門
這種敘述毫無抒情的意味，而衹是默爾索內心自發意識的流露，因而他敘述的接二連三的事件、對話、姿勢和感覺之間似乎沒有必然的聯繫，給人以一種不連貫的荒謬之感，因為別人的姿勢和語言在他看來都是沒有意義的，是不可理解的。惟一確實的存在便是大海、陽光，而大自然卻壓倒了他，使他莫名其妙地殺了人：“我衹覺得鐃鈸似的太陽扣在我的頭上我感到天旋地轉。海上泛起一陣悶熱的狂風，我覺得天門洞開，嚮下傾瀉大火。我全身都綳緊了，手緊緊握住槍。槍機扳動了”
在第二部分裏，牢房代替了大海，社會的意識代替了默爾索自發的意識。司法機構以其固有的邏輯，利用被告過去偶然發生的一些事件把被告虛構成一種他自己都認不出來的形象：即把始終認為自己無罪、對一切都毫不在乎的默爾索硬說成一個冷酷無情、蓄意殺人的魔鬼。因為審訊幾乎從不調查殺人案件，而是千方百計把殺人和他母親之死及他和瑪麗的關係聯繫在一起。
《局外人》咖啡館
迷迷糊糊地殺了人的默爾索，對法庭上的辯論漠然置之，卻非常有興趣斷定自己辯護律師的才華大大不如檢察官。就在臨刑的前夜，他覺醒了：“面對着充滿信息和星鬥的夜”，他“第一次嚮這個世界的動人的冷漠敞開了心扉”。他居然感到他“過去曾經是幸福的”， “現在仍然是幸福的”。他似乎還嫌人們驚訝得不夠，接着又說：“為了使我感到不那麽孤獨，我還希望處决我的那一天有很多人來觀看，希望他們對我報以仇恨的喊叫聲。”
默爾索因為感受到這個現代社會人際關係的冷漠，而毫不遲疑地遠離社會、拋棄社會，可是社會也拋棄了他，他最終成為了一個排除於生活中心的局外人。
《局外人》-專傢點評
《局外人》阿爾伯特·加繆
加繆曾經把《局外人》的主題概括為一句話：“在我們的社會裏，任何在母親下葬時不哭的人都有被判死刑的危險。” 這種近乎可笑的說法隱藏着一個十分嚴酷的邏輯：任何違反社會的基本法則的人必將受到社會的懲罰。這個社會需要和它一致的人，背棄它或反抗它的人都在懲處之列，都有可能讓檢察官先生說：“我嚮你們要這個人的腦袋。” 默爾索的腦袋已經被檢察官以社會的名義要了去。社會拋棄了默爾索，然而，默爾索宣佈：“我過去曾經是幸福的，我現在仍然是幸福的。”誰也不會想到默爾索會有這樣的宣告，他通過自己的宣告也拋棄了社會。然而這正是他的覺醒，他認識到了人與世界的分裂，他完成了荒誕的旅程的第一階段。
談《局外人》而不談荒誕，就如同談薩特的《惡心》而不談存在主義。加繆在這本書中列舉了荒誕的種種表現，例如：人和生活的分離；演員和布景的分離；懷有希望的精神和使之失望的世界之間的分裂；肉體的需要對於使之趨於死亡的時間的反抗；世界本身所具有的、使人的理解成為不可能的那種厚度和陌生性；人對人本身所散發出的非人性感到的不適及其墮落，等等。由於發現了“荒誕”，默爾索的消極、冷漠、無動於衷、執著於瞬間的人生等等頓時具有了一種象徵的意義，小說於是從哲學上得到了闡明。因為人和世界的分離，世界於人是荒誕的，人對世界無能為力，因此不抱任何希望，對一切事物都無動於衷。加繆指出：“荒誕，就是確認自己的界限的清醒的理性。”“荒誕的人”就是“那個不否認永恆、但也不為永恆做任何事情的人”。尤其是當加繆指出“一個能用歪理來解釋的世界，還是一個熟悉的世界，但是在一個突然被剝奪了幻覺和光明的宇宙中，人就感到自己是個局外人”的時候，我們更會一下子想到默爾索的。“荒誕的人”就是“局外人”，“局外人”就是具有“清醒的理性的人”。
《局外人》阿爾伯特·加繆
小說傢加繆同時還有另一重身份，那就是作為存在主義代表人物之一的哲學家加繆。從某種意義上來說，這兩種身份的混淆往往容易在小說創作中帶來這樣一個問題，那就是思想大於形象。從另一個角度來說，對於這類小說評價往往着重於其思想性。通俗地說，那就是加繆的小說，《局外人》也好，《鼠疫》也好，成敗與否由其中心思想决定。《紐約時報書評》對《局外人》思想與形式的關係是這樣分析的：“中心思想並不是創造性藝術的最高形式，但是，它卻有可能重要到這個地步：如果為了藝術批判的緣故而拋棄它則將會褻瀆人類精神。”閱讀這部小說就可以讓人明白，《局外人》並不是一個哲學觀念的簡單圖解，而是一部成功的小說。它以奇特而又新穎的筆調塑造了一個顯然與衆不同的人物，不想和別人有任何聯繫、衹想保持自己個性不受幹擾的人物。《局外人》的讀者可以不知道默爾索什麽模樣，是高還是矮，是胖還是瘦，但他們不可能不記住他，不可能不在許多場合想到他。小說以自身的獨立的存在展示了人與世界的關係。它迫使我們嚮自己提出這樣的問題：世界是晦澀的，還是清晰的？是合乎理性的，還是不可理喻的？人在這個世界上是幸福的，還是痛苦的？人與這個世界的關係是和諧一致的，還是分裂矛盾的？
加繆的小說風格介於傳統小說和新小說之間。一方面，存在主義文學是反傳統的，作者從不介入小說，從不幹預主人公的命運，從來不發表自己的議論；另一方面，小說的語言又極其簡單明晰，可以說具有古典主義的散文風格，具有極強的表現力和感染力。《局外人》成為一本於平淡中見深度、從枯澀中出哲理的很不平常的書。
《局外人》阿爾伯特·加繆
加繆還寫過以論荒誕為主旨的長篇哲學隨筆《西西弗神話》。事實上，人們的確是常常用《西西弗神話》來解釋《局外人》，而開此先例的正是薩特。他最早把這兩本書聯繫在一起，認定《局外人》是“荒誕的證明”，是一本“關於荒誕和反對荒誕的書”。也可以說《西西弗神話》正是《局外人》的註腳。加繆在1941年2月21日的一則手記中寫道：“完成《神話》。三個‘荒誕’到此結束。”這三個“荒誕”指的就是：哲學隨筆《西西弗神話》，小說《局外人》和劇本《卡利古拉》。
當加繆因車禍去世後，《紐約時報》這樣概括他的思想： “加繆在荒誕的車禍中喪身，實屬辛辣的哲學諷刺。因為他思想的中心是如何對人類處境做出一個思想深刻人士的正確回答，人們毫不感到意外，我們的時代接受了加繆的觀點。血腥的二次世界大戰，可怕的氫彈威脅，這一切使現代社會能夠接受加繆嚴肅的哲學，並使之長存於人們的心中。”
如今40多年過去了，人們沒有忘記他，人們也不會忘記他，越來越多的人在研究他的著作與思想。《局外人》也一再重版，印數突破千萬册。加繆在世的時候由於是一個在貧窮、普通的家庭裏長大的孩子，因而常被痛恨他的人貶低，孤獨之時他總對他的一個知己說： “但願他們瞭解真正的我。”
他是與文學沙竜、文學名人、榮譽、勳章保持距離的“局外人”，但他的思考卻深入到了現代社會的腹地。
《局外人》-妙語佳句
大傢都很幸運，這個世界上衹有幸運的人。
在所有智力健全的人都或多或少期望他們所愛的人死去。
西西弗的神话荷馬說，西西弗是最終要死的人中最聰明最謹慎的人。但另有傳說說他屈從於強盜生涯。我看不出其中有什麽矛盾。各種說法的分歧在於是否要賦予這地獄中的無效勞動者的行為動機以價值。人們首先是以某種輕率的態度把他與諸神放在一起進行譴責，並歷數他們的隱私。阿索玻斯的女兒埃癸娜被朱庇特劫走。父親對女兒的失蹤大為震驚並且怪罪於西西弗，深知內情的西西弗對阿索玻斯說，他可以告訴他女兒的消息，但必須以給柯蘭特城堡供水為條件，他寧願得到水的聖浴，而不是天火雷電。他因此被罰下地獄，荷馬告訴我們西西弗曾經扼往過死神的喉嚨。普洛托忍受不了地獄王國的荒涼寂寞，他催促戰神把死神從其戰勝者手中解放出來。
還有人說，西西弗在臨死前冒失地要檢驗他妻子對他的愛情。他命令她把他的屍體扔在廣場中央。不舉行任何儀式。於是西西弗重墮地獄。他在地獄裏對那恣意踐踏人類之愛的行徑十分憤慨。她獲得普洛托的允諾重返人間以懲罰他的妻子。但當他又一次看到這大地的面貌，重新領略流水、陽光的撫愛，重新觸摸那火熱的石頭、寬闊的大海的時候，他就再也不願回到陰森的地獄中去了。冥王的詔令、氣憤和警告都無濟於事。他又在地球上生活了多年，面對起伏的山巒，奔騰的大海和大地的微笑他又生活了多年。諸神於是進行干涉。墨丘利跑來揪住這冒犯者的領子，把他從歡樂的生活中拉了出來，強行把他重新投入地獄，在那裏，為懲罰他而設的巨石已準備就緒。
我們已經明白：西西弗是個荒謬的英雄。他之所以是荒謬的英雄，還因為他的和他所經受的磨難。他藐視神明，仇恨死亡，對生活充滿，這必然使他受到難以用言語盡述的非人折磨：他以自己的整個身心致力於一種沒有效果的事業。而這是為了對大地的無限熱愛必須付出的代價。人們並沒有談到西西弗在地獄裏的情況。創造這些神話是為了讓人的想象使西西弗的形象栩栩如生。在西西弗身上，我們衹能看到這樣一幅圖畫：一個緊張的身體千百次地重複一個動作：搬動巨石，滾動它並把它推至山頂；我們看到的是一張痛苦扭麯的臉，看到的是緊貼在巨石上的面頰，那落滿泥士、抖動的肩膀，沾滿泥士的雙腳，完全僵直的胳膊，以及那堅實的滿是泥士的人的雙手。經過被渺渺空間和永恆的時間着的努力之後，目的就達到了。西西弗於是看到巨石在幾秒鐘內又嚮着下面的世界滾下，而他則必須把這巨石重新推嚮山頂。他於是又嚮山下走去。
正是因為這種回覆、停歇，我對西西弗産生了興趣。這一張飽經磨難近似石頭般堅硬的面孔已經自己化成了石頭！我看到這個人以沉重而均勻的腳步走嚮那無盡的苦難。這個時刻就像一次呼吸那樣短促，它的到來與西西弗的不幸一樣是確定無疑的，這個時刻就是意識的時刻。在每一個這樣的時刻中，他離開山頂並且逐漸地深入到諸神的巢穴中去，他超出了他自己的命運。他比他搬動的巨石還要堅硬。
如果說，這個神話是悲劇的，那是因為它的主人公是有意識的。若他行的每一步都依靠成功的希望所支持，那他的痛苦實際上又在那裏呢？今天的工人終生都在勞動，終日完成的是同樣的工作，這樣的命運並非不比西西弗的命運荒謬。但是，這種命運衹有在工人變得有意識的偶然時刻纔是悲劇性的。西西弗，這諸神中的無産者，這進行無效勞役而又進行反叛的無産者，他完全清楚自己所處的悲慘境地：在他下山時，他想到的正是這悲慘的境地。造成西西弗痛苦的清醒意識同時也就造就了他的勝利。不存在不通過蔑視而自我超越的命運。
如果西西弗下山推石在某些天裏是痛苦地進行着的，那麽這個工作也可以在歡樂中進行。這並不是言過其實。我還想象西西弗又回頭走嚮他的巨石，痛苦又重新開始。當對大地的想象過於着重於回憶，當對幸福的憧憬過於急切，那痛苦就在人的心靈深處升起：這就是巨石的勝利，這就是巨石本身。巨大的悲痛是難以承擔的重負。這就是我們的客西馬尼之夜。但是，雄辯的真理一旦被認識就會衰竭。因此，俄狄浦斯不知不覺首先屈從命運。而一旦他明白了一切，他的悲劇就開始了。與此同時，兩眼失明而又喪失希望的俄狄浦斯認識到，他與世界之間的唯一聯繫就是一個年輕姑娘鮮潤的手。他於是毫無顧忌地發出這樣震撼人心的聲音：“儘管我歷盡艱難困苦，但我年逾不惑，我的靈魂深邃偉大，因而我認為我是幸福的。”索福剋勒斯的俄狄浦斯與陀思妥耶夫斯基的基裏洛夫都提出了荒謬勝利的法則。先賢的智慧與現代英雄主義匯合了。
人們要發現荒謬，就不能不想到要寫某種有關幸福的教材。“哎，什麽！就憑這些如此狹窄的道路……？”但是，世界衹有一個。幸福與荒謬是同一大地的兩個産兒。若說幸福一定是從荒謬的發現中産生的，那可能是錯誤的。因為荒謬的感情還很可能産生於幸福。“我認為我是幸福的”，俄狄浦斯說，而這種說法是神聖的。它回響在人的瘋狂而又有限的世界之中。它告誡人們一切都還沒有也從沒有被窮盡過。它把一個上帝從世界中驅逐出去，這個上帝是懷着不滿足的心理以及對無效痛苦的偏好而進入人間的。它還把命運改造成為一件應該在人們之中得到安排的人的事情。
西西弗無聲的全部快樂就在於此。他的命運是屬於他的。他的岩石是他的事情。同樣，當荒謬的人深思他的痛苦時，他就使一切偶像啞然失聲。在這突然重又沉默的世界中，大地升起千萬個美妙細小的聲音。無意識的、秘密的召喚，一切面貌提出的要求，這些都是勝利必不可少的對立面和應付的代價。不存在無陰影的太陽，而且必須認識黑夜。荒謬的人說“是”，但他的努力永不停息。如果有一種個人的命運，就不會有更高的命運，或至少可以說，衹有一種被人看作是宿命的和應受到蔑視的命運。此外，荒謬的人知道，他是自己生活的主人。在這微妙的時刻，人回歸到自己的生活之中，西西弗回身走嚮巨石，他靜觀這一係列沒有關聯而又變成他自己命運的行動，他的命運是他自己創造的，是在他的記憶的註視下聚合而又馬上會被他的死亡固定的命運。因此，盲人從一開始就堅信一切人的東西都源於人道主義，就像盲人渴望看見而又知道黑夜是無窮盡的一樣，西西弗永遠行進。而巨石仍在滾動着。
我把西西弗留在山腳下！我們總是看到他身上的重負。而西西弗告訴我們，最高的虔誠是否認諸神並且搬掉石頭。他也認為自己是幸福的。這個從此沒有主宰的世界對他來講既不是荒漠，也不是沃士。這塊巨石上的每一顆粒，這黑黝黝的高山上的每一顆礦砂唯有對西西弗纔形成一個世界。他爬上山頂所要進行的鬥爭本身就足以使一個人心裏感到充實。應該認為，西西弗是幸福的。
In the essay, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd: man's futile search for meaning, unity and clarity in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of God and eternal truths or values. Does the realization of the absurd require suicide? Camus answers: "No. It requires revolt." He then outlines several approaches to the absurd life. The final chapter compares the absurdity of man's life with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. The essay concludes, "The struggle itself...is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
The work can be seen in relation to other works by Camus: the novel The Stranger (1942), the play Caligula (1945), and especially the essay The Rebel (1951).
Summary
The essay is dedicated to Pascal Pia and is organized in three chapters and one appendix.
Chapter 1: An Absurd Reasoning
Camus undertakes to answer what he considers to be the only question of philosophy that matters: Does the realization of the meaninglessness and absurdity of life necessarily require suicide?
He begins by describing the absurd condition: much of our life is built on the hope for tomorrow yet tomorrow brings us closer to death and is the ultimate enemy; people live as if they didn't know about the certainty of death; once stripped of its common romanticisms, the world is a foreign, strange and inhuman place; true knowledge is impossible and rationality and science cannot explain the world: their stories ultimately end in meaningless abstractions, in metaphors. "From the moment absurdity is recognized, it becomes a passion, the most harrowing of all."
It is not the world that is absurd, nor human thought: the absurd arises when the human need to understand meets the unreasonableness of the world, when "my appetite for the absolute and for unity" meets "the impossibility of reducing this world to a rational and reasonable principle."
He then characterizes a number of philosophies that describe and attempt to deal with this feeling of the absurd, by Heidegger, Jaspers, Shestov, Kierkegaard and Husserl. All of these, he claims, commit "philosophical suicide" by reaching conclusions that contradict the original absurd position, either by abandoning reason and turning to God, as in the case of Kierkegaard and Shestov, or by elevating reason and ultimately arriving at ubiquitous Platonic forms and an abstract god, as in the case of Husserl.
For Camus, who sets out to take the absurd seriously and follow it to its final conclusions, these "leaps" cannot convince. Taking the absurd seriously means acknowledging the contradiction between the desire of human reason and the unreasonable world. Suicide, then, also must be rejected: without man, the absurd cannot exist. The contradiction must be lived; reason and its limits must be acknowledged, without false hope. However, the absurd can never be accepted: it requires constant confrontation, constant revolt.
While the question of human freedom in the metaphysical sense loses interest to the absurd man, he gains freedom in a very concrete sense: no longer bound by hope for a better future or eternity, without a need to pursue life's purpose or to create meaning, "he enjoys a freedom with regard to common rules".
To embrace the absurd implies embracing all that the unreasonable world has to offer. Without a meaning in life, there is no scale of values. "What counts is not the best living but the most living."
Thus, Camus arrives at three consequences from the full acknowledging of the absurd: revolt, freedom and passion.
Chapter 2: The Absurd Man
How should the absurd man live? Clearly, no ethical rules apply, as they are all based on higher powers or on justification. "Integrity has no need of rules." 'Everything is permitted' "is not an outburst of relief or of joy, but rather a bitter acknowledgment of a fact."
Camus then goes on to present examples of the absurd life. He begins with Don Juan, the serial seducer who lives the passionate life to the fullest. "There is no noble love but that which recognizes itself to be both short-lived and exceptional."
The next example is the actor, who depicts ephemeral lives for ephemeral fame. "He demonstrates to what degree appearing creates being." "In those three hours he travels the whole course of the dead-end path that the man in the audience takes a lifetime to cover."
Camus' third example of the absurd man is the conqueror, the warrior who forgoes all promises of eternity to affect and engage fully in human history. He chooses action over contemplation, aware of the fact that nothing can last and no victory is final.
Chapter 3: The Myth of Sisyphus
In the last chapter, Camus outlines the legend of Sisyphus who defied the gods and put Death in chains so that no human needed to die. When Death was eventually liberated and it came time for Sisyphus himself to die, he concocted a deceit which let him escape from the underworld. Finally captured, the gods decided on his punishment: for all eternity, he would have to push a rock up a mountain; on the top, the rock rolls down again and Sisyphus has to start over. Camus sees Sisyphus as the absurd hero who lives life to the fullest, hates death and is condemned to a meaningless task.
Camus presents Sisyphus's ceaseless and pointless toil as a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices. "The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious."
Camus is interested in Sisyphus' thoughts when marching down the mountain, to start anew. This is the truly tragic moment, when the hero becomes conscious of his wretched condition. He does not have hope, but "[t]here is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn." Acknowledging the truth will conquer it; Sisyphus, just like the absurd man, keeps pushing. Camus claims that when Sisyphus acknowledges the futility of his task and the certainty of his fate, he is freed to realize the absurdity of his situation and to reach a state of contented acceptance. With a nod to the similarly cursed Greek hero Oedipus, Camus concludes that "all is well," indeed, that "One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Appendix
The essay contains an appendix titled "Hope and the Absurd in the work of Franz Kafka". While Camus acknowledges that Kafka's work represents an exquisite description of the absurd condition, he maintains that Kafka fails as an absurd writer because his work retains a glimmer of hope.
長篇小說《鼠疫》的作者阿爾貝·加繆是法國現代著名存在主義文學家，1957年諾貝爾文學奬金的獲得者。他在1913年出生於阿爾及利亞的蒙多維。他的父親生於阿爾薩斯，從小失去父母，曾多次逃離寄養的孤兒院，長大後在阿爾及利亞當農業工人，第一次世界大戰開始後不久，在對德作 戰中受傷身亡，當時加繆還不滿一歲。加繆繼《鼠疫》之後，曾計劃在另一部長篇小說《第一人》中描寫他的父親的一生。他的母親是祖代移居阿爾及利亞的西班牙人後裔；在她的扶養下，加繆在貧睏的阿拉伯居民中間
長大，對他們的處境始終懷有深切的同情。加繆在阿爾及爾大學哲學係攻讀時，因患肺病而中途輟學。後來他和一些青年組織了一個“勞動劇團”，後因準備上演一出以西班牙礦工罷工遭到鎮壓為主題的戲劇，被殖民當局禁演，劇團也因而解散。那時加繆開始為當地報紙寫文章，後來在阿爾及利亞的奧蘭正式從事新聞工作。1934年他參加了阿爾及利亞的法國共産黨支部，翌年脫黨。第二次世界大戰期間，他雖然有一段時間肺病復發，但仍參加了法國抵抗運動，繼續為反對法西斯撰寫文章。1944年巴黎解放以後，加繆擔任戴高樂派的《戰鬥報》主編，1947年《鼠疫》出版前一星期，加繆正式宣告脫離這份報紙。後來他除了從事生平嚮往的戲劇活動和寫作外，長期為巴黎大出版商米歇爾·伽裏瑪挑選文藝作品。戰後初期，他與當時在西方思想界和文學界影響極大的存在主義作傢讓·保羅·薩特曾一度過從甚密，但加繆始終否認自己屬於這一派，認為他對一切問題有自己獨立的見解，不屬於任何派別體係。1946年他發表了論著《反抗者》以後，受到薩特的批評，兩人之間展開了一場論戰，曾轟動一時。1960年春，加繆乘坐伽裏瑪駕駛的汽車出遊時，翻車身亡，時年四十七歲。
《鼠疫》這部以象徵手法寫出的哲理小說，與作者的第一部中篇小說《局外人》（1942年發表）問是加繆最重要的代表作，均被列為現代世界文學名著。《鼠疫》創作思想開始醖釀的時期，是在1940年巴黎被德國法西斯占領以後。加繆當時已打算用寓言的形式，刻劃出法西斯像鼠疫病菌那樣吞噬着千萬人生命的“恐怖時代”，像十九世紀美國作傢麥爾維爾的小說《白鯨》那樣，通過一條大鯨魚的兇惡，寫出時代的災難。1942年加繆因肺病復發，從炎熱的奧蘭轉移到法國南部山區帕納裏埃（後來作者在 鼠疫》中以帕納盧作為一位天主教神甫的姓名）療養，不久英美盟軍在阿爾及利亞登陸，德軍進占法國南方，加繆一時與傢人音訊斷絶，焦慮不安，孤單寂寞，這種切身的體會使他在《鼠疫》中描寫新聞記者朗貝爾的處境時，特別逼真動人。在加繆看來，當時處於法西斯專製強權統治下的法國人民--除了一部分從事抵抗運動者外--就像歐洲中世紀鼠疫流行期間一樣，長期過着與外界隔絶的囚禁生活；他們在“鼠疫”城中，不但隨時面臨死神的威脅，而且日夜忍受着生離死別痛苦不堪的折磨。加繆在1942年11月11日的日記中，曾把當時橫行無忌的德軍比為“像老鼠一樣”；在另一篇日記中，他這樣記下當時的情況：“全國人民在忍受着一種處於絶望之中的沉默的生活，可是仍然在期待……”值得註意的是，加繆在小說中用細緻的筆觸寫出了他的同代人在面臨一場大屠殺時的恐懼、焦慮、痛苦、掙紮和鬥爭之際，特別是刻劃了法國資産階級在經歷第二次世界大戰這場浩劫的過程中，在思想上和感情上發生的巨大而深切的震撼。儘管加
繆按照習慣，避免直接描寫法國社會，假藉北非地中海濱海城市奧蘭作為發生鼠疫的地點，但我們從這座商業昌盛，物質文明發達，但市民精神空虛，以尋歡作樂來消磨人生的城市，不難看出這是法國社會的一個縮影。
從《局外人》到《鼠疫》，加繆表現了一些存在主義哲學的基本觀點：世界是荒謬的，現實本身是不可認識的，人的存在缺乏理性，人生孤獨，活着沒有意義。因此，加繆雖然再三否認自己是存在主義者，西方文學史傢仍然把他列為這一流派的作傢。加繆自己曾這樣說：“《局外人》寫的是人在荒謬的世界中孤立無援，身不由已；《鼠疫》寫的是面臨同樣的荒唐的生存時，儘管每個人的觀點不同，但從深處看來，卻有等同的地方。”在《鼠疫》這部後期代表作中，表現了作者的思想有一定的改變。《局外人》的主人公莫爾索和《鼠疫》中的主人公裏厄醫生面對着同樣荒謬的世界時，態度就完全不同：莫爾索冷淡漠然，麻木不仁，連對母親的逝世以至自身的死亡都抱着局外人的態度；裏厄醫生在力搏那不知從何而來的瘟疫時，雖然有時感到孤單絶望，但他清晰地認識到自己的責任就是跟那吞噬千萬無辜者的毒菌作鬥爭，而且在艱苦的搏鬥中，他看到愛情、友誼和母愛給人生帶來幸福。裏厄醫生不是孤軍作戰，他最後認識到衹有通過一些道德高尚、富於自我犧牲精神的人共同努力，才能反抗肆無忌憚的瘟神，人類社會纔有一綫希望。
加繆堅持個人主義的立場，認為個人應置於一切的首位；但在發現強調“個人絶對自由”的存在主義並不能解决資産階級社會生存的矛盾時，加繆終於回到傳統的資産階級人道主義中去尋求解答他一直在苦思冥想的“人類的出路在何處”的問題。 《鼠疫》形象地反映他那個時代的人一些深刻的矛盾。這部小說在藝術風格上也有獨到之處，而且全篇結構嚴謹，生活氣息濃郁，人物性格鮮明，
對不同處境中人物心理和感情的變化刻劃得深入細緻；小說中貫穿着人與瘟神搏鬥的史詩般的篇章、生離死別的動人哀歌、友誼與愛情的美麗詩篇、地中海海濱色彩奇幻的畫面，使這部作品具有強烈的藝術魅力。
The novel is believed to be based on the cholera epidemic that killed a large percentage of Oran's population in 1849 following French colonization, but the novel is placed in the 1940s.[1] Oran and its environs were struck by disease multiple times before Camus published this novel. According to a research report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oran was decimated by the plague in 1556 and 1678, but outbreaks after European colonization, in 1921 (185 cases), 1931 (76 cases), and 1944 (95 cases), were very far from the scale of the epidemic described in the novel.
The Plague is considered an existentialist classic despite Camus' objection to the label.[2][3] The narrative tone is similar to Kafka's, especially in The Trial, where individual sentences potentially have multiple meanings, the material often pointedly resonating as stark allegory of phenomenal consciousness and the human condition. Camus included a dim-witted character misreading The Trial as a mystery novel as an oblique homage. The novel has been read as a metaphorical treatment of the French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II.
Although Camus's approach in the book is severe, his narrator emphasizes the ideas that we ultimately have no control, irrationality of life is inevitable, and he further illustrates the human reaction towards the ‘absurd’. The Plague represents how the world deals with the philosophical notion of the Absurd, a theory which Camus himself helped to define.
長大，對他們的處境始終懷有深切的同情。加繆在阿爾及爾大學哲學係攻讀時，因患肺病而中途輟學。後來他和一些青年組織了一個“勞動劇團”，後因準備上演一出以西班牙礦工罷工遭到鎮壓為主題的戲劇，被殖民當局禁演，劇團也因而解散。那時加繆開始為當地報紙寫文章，後來在阿爾及利亞的奧蘭正式從事新聞工作。1934年他參加了阿爾及利亞的法國共産黨支部，翌年脫黨。第二次世界大戰期間，他雖然有一段時間肺病復發，但仍參加了法國抵抗運動，繼續為反對法西斯撰寫文章。1944年巴黎解放以後，加繆擔任戴高樂派的《戰鬥報》主編，1947年《鼠疫》出版前一星期，加繆正式宣告脫離這份報紙。後來他除了從事生平嚮往的戲劇活動和寫作外，長期為巴黎大出版商米歇爾·伽裏瑪挑選文藝作品。戰後初期，他與當時在西方思想界和文學界影響極大的存在主義作傢讓·保羅·薩特曾一度過從甚密，但加繆始終否認自己屬於這一派，認為他對一切問題有自己獨立的見解，不屬於任何派別體係。1946年他發表了論著《反抗者》以後，受到薩特的批評，兩人之間展開了一場論戰，曾轟動一時。1960年春，加繆乘坐伽裏瑪駕駛的汽車出遊時，翻車身亡，時年四十七歲。
《鼠疫》這部以象徵手法寫出的哲理小說，與作者的第一部中篇小說《局外人》（1942年發表）問是加繆最重要的代表作，均被列為現代世界文學名著。《鼠疫》創作思想開始醖釀的時期，是在1940年巴黎被德國法西斯占領以後。加繆當時已打算用寓言的形式，刻劃出法西斯像鼠疫病菌那樣吞噬着千萬人生命的“恐怖時代”，像十九世紀美國作傢麥爾維爾的小說《白鯨》那樣，通過一條大鯨魚的兇惡，寫出時代的災難。1942年加繆因肺病復發，從炎熱的奧蘭轉移到法國南部山區帕納裏埃（後來作者在 鼠疫》中以帕納盧作為一位天主教神甫的姓名）療養，不久英美盟軍在阿爾及利亞登陸，德軍進占法國南方，加繆一時與傢人音訊斷絶，焦慮不安，孤單寂寞，這種切身的體會使他在《鼠疫》中描寫新聞記者朗貝爾的處境時，特別逼真動人。在加繆看來，當時處於法西斯專製強權統治下的法國人民--除了一部分從事抵抗運動者外--就像歐洲中世紀鼠疫流行期間一樣，長期過着與外界隔絶的囚禁生活；他們在“鼠疫”城中，不但隨時面臨死神的威脅，而且日夜忍受着生離死別痛苦不堪的折磨。加繆在1942年11月11日的日記中，曾把當時橫行無忌的德軍比為“像老鼠一樣”；在另一篇日記中，他這樣記下當時的情況：“全國人民在忍受着一種處於絶望之中的沉默的生活，可是仍然在期待……”值得註意的是，加繆在小說中用細緻的筆觸寫出了他的同代人在面臨一場大屠殺時的恐懼、焦慮、痛苦、掙紮和鬥爭之際，特別是刻劃了法國資産階級在經歷第二次世界大戰這場浩劫的過程中，在思想上和感情上發生的巨大而深切的震撼。儘管加
繆按照習慣，避免直接描寫法國社會，假藉北非地中海濱海城市奧蘭作為發生鼠疫的地點，但我們從這座商業昌盛，物質文明發達，但市民精神空虛，以尋歡作樂來消磨人生的城市，不難看出這是法國社會的一個縮影。
從《局外人》到《鼠疫》，加繆表現了一些存在主義哲學的基本觀點：世界是荒謬的，現實本身是不可認識的，人的存在缺乏理性，人生孤獨，活着沒有意義。因此，加繆雖然再三否認自己是存在主義者，西方文學史傢仍然把他列為這一流派的作傢。加繆自己曾這樣說：“《局外人》寫的是人在荒謬的世界中孤立無援，身不由已；《鼠疫》寫的是面臨同樣的荒唐的生存時，儘管每個人的觀點不同，但從深處看來，卻有等同的地方。”在《鼠疫》這部後期代表作中，表現了作者的思想有一定的改變。《局外人》的主人公莫爾索和《鼠疫》中的主人公裏厄醫生面對着同樣荒謬的世界時，態度就完全不同：莫爾索冷淡漠然，麻木不仁，連對母親的逝世以至自身的死亡都抱着局外人的態度；裏厄醫生在力搏那不知從何而來的瘟疫時，雖然有時感到孤單絶望，但他清晰地認識到自己的責任就是跟那吞噬千萬無辜者的毒菌作鬥爭，而且在艱苦的搏鬥中，他看到愛情、友誼和母愛給人生帶來幸福。裏厄醫生不是孤軍作戰，他最後認識到衹有通過一些道德高尚、富於自我犧牲精神的人共同努力，才能反抗肆無忌憚的瘟神，人類社會纔有一綫希望。
加繆堅持個人主義的立場，認為個人應置於一切的首位；但在發現強調“個人絶對自由”的存在主義並不能解决資産階級社會生存的矛盾時，加繆終於回到傳統的資産階級人道主義中去尋求解答他一直在苦思冥想的“人類的出路在何處”的問題。 《鼠疫》形象地反映他那個時代的人一些深刻的矛盾。這部小說在藝術風格上也有獨到之處，而且全篇結構嚴謹，生活氣息濃郁，人物性格鮮明，
對不同處境中人物心理和感情的變化刻劃得深入細緻；小說中貫穿着人與瘟神搏鬥的史詩般的篇章、生離死別的動人哀歌、友誼與愛情的美麗詩篇、地中海海濱色彩奇幻的畫面，使這部作品具有強烈的藝術魅力。
The novel is believed to be based on the cholera epidemic that killed a large percentage of Oran's population in 1849 following French colonization, but the novel is placed in the 1940s.[1] Oran and its environs were struck by disease multiple times before Camus published this novel. According to a research report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oran was decimated by the plague in 1556 and 1678, but outbreaks after European colonization, in 1921 (185 cases), 1931 (76 cases), and 1944 (95 cases), were very far from the scale of the epidemic described in the novel.
The Plague is considered an existentialist classic despite Camus' objection to the label.[2][3] The narrative tone is similar to Kafka's, especially in The Trial, where individual sentences potentially have multiple meanings, the material often pointedly resonating as stark allegory of phenomenal consciousness and the human condition. Camus included a dim-witted character misreading The Trial as a mystery novel as an oblique homage. The novel has been read as a metaphorical treatment of the French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II.
Although Camus's approach in the book is severe, his narrator emphasizes the ideas that we ultimately have no control, irrationality of life is inevitable, and he further illustrates the human reaction towards the ‘absurd’. The Plague represents how the world deals with the philosophical notion of the Absurd, a theory which Camus himself helped to define.
《法國中尉的女人》是英國作傢約翰·福爾斯最具影響力的一部小說。這部小說是諾貝爾文學奬候選人、當代英國文壇超重量級大師福爾思的經典代表作之一，被選為二十世紀百大英文小說經典，也是英美各大學英語係二十世紀英國小說課程的必讀作品。深受存在主義哲學影響並且對之情有獨鐘的福爾斯在這部小說中為存在主義哲學提供了一個的形象化的圖解。
講述的是發生在19世紀英國的愛情故事。一個悲傷、神秘的維多利亞時代的女人，明明是個處女卻宣稱自己已委身於法國中尉，被視為罪惡、淫蕩的女人而被唾棄。而她的神秘、獨特、大膽、深沉、憂鬱的美以及野性的熱情，喚起男人的同情和愛慕。她與查爾斯産生了熾熱的愛情，卻在他解除了和別人的婚約後拒絶他的求婚，悄然離開。
小說《法國中尉的女人》-故事梗概
故事發生在福爾斯在二十世紀六十年代居住過的一個英國小鎮：萊姆·裏基斯，時間是英國“維多利亞黃金時代”（指1850～1875年）中的1867年。小說一開捲，讀者就會被濃烈的浪漫、神秘氣氛所吸引：1867年3月的一個早晨，海邊古老的壁壘狂風呼嘯，查爾斯和他的未婚妻歐雷斯蒂娜正在這裏散步。他們看見一個穿着黑色衣服的女人在海岬的一頭孤獨地站着，眺望大海。風越颳越大，當他們走近這個黑衣女人時，發現她就是那個鎮上居民人人皆知的“法國中尉的女人”。人們說，她被一個法國中尉引誘失身，而當時的法國在極度清新寡欲的維多利亞時代的英國人看來，是一個“誤入歧途的國傢”。法國中尉回國後拋棄了她，而她幾乎每天到海邊來，就是等待法國中尉回到她的身邊。
這位黑衣女郎，她陰沉、帶有悲劇性的面孔雖無絶代佳麗的姿色，也無當時維多利亞女性應有的嫻靜、順從和羞澀，卻以其神秘、深沉、難以捉摸的與衆不同而另具魅力，世俗者唾棄她這樣的離經叛道者，但書中的查爾斯以及二十世紀的人們看待她的則是另外一種目光。
查爾斯時年三十二歲，是一個富傢子弟，沒有職業，但是對古生物學和地質學頗有興趣，他受達爾文學說的影響很深，看到了維多利亞時代的保守和虛偽。
黑衣女子薩拉是一個出生於貧苦雇農家庭的獨生女，她的祖先出身高貴，到她父親這一代纔衰落下來。父親送女兒到寄宿學校接受良好的教育，她十八歲學成歸傢不久，父親就去世了，在她當家庭教師謀生期間，一艘法國輪船沉沒，幸存的法國中尉在懂法語的薩拉的照顧下康復，並與她海誓山盟，答應很快從法國返回接她；傳聞她與中尉發生了關係，但中尉並沒有履行諾言，而是拋棄了她。有關她的流言蜚語傳遍了萊姆鎮，她成為聲名狼藉的“法國中尉的女人”。
而查爾斯的未婚妻歐雷斯蒂娜是一個典型的維多利亞女性，一個富商的女兒。她年輕、漂亮、文雅。但是，她的價值觀和感情是膚淺的。查爾斯的叔父羅伯特决定和一個還在生育年齡的女人結婚，一旦他生下男孩，查爾斯就將喪失對叔父的財産和男爵爵位的繼承權。歐雷斯蒂娜對羅伯特的結婚决定反應強烈，與查爾斯成鮮明對比。蒂娜戴着時代的面紗，掩飾自己對肉欲的渴望，獨自一人在臥室裏脫掉衣服欣賞自己的肉體美，期待着查爾斯的愛撫。她堅持每天寫的日記是為了將來的一天查爾斯逼着她拿出來給他看，所以，日記中也是戴着面紗的。與薩拉相比，她是一個可以一眼看透的單調女子——一個年輕、美麗，卻如一方清澈見底，擺動身軀數十下就可以遊到盡頭的小池，薩拉則身世滄桑，如深不可測的大海，浩瀚無邊。
薩拉與蒂娜是兩個對比鮮明的女性。薩拉處處與維多利亞的時代成規背道而馳，她明明是處女，卻要說自己已委身於法國中尉，萊姆鎮的所有人都在背後駡她是個放蕩的女人，“法國中尉的婊子”，她卻置之度外。雇用她的波爾特尼太太是維多利亞時代的典型的虛偽的衛道者，薩拉反抗波爾特尼太太對她的不許獨自去林間散步的禁令，而她的神秘、獨特、大膽、深沉、憂鬱的美以及野性的熱情，是喚起男人同情和愛慕的源泉，書中多次提到，薩拉猶如一頭“野獸”，她不是一個受男人統治的維多利亞女性。即使她的容貌不如歐雷斯蒂娜的美麗，門第之高貴也不如年輕的蒂娜，真實的查爾斯還是被薩拉的神秘和真實的野性深深吸引，並提出幫助薩拉離開萊姆鎮，到埃塞特去重新開始生活。
查爾斯在去倫敦的返程中在埃賽特停留，接到了薩拉的便條，趕到她居住的旅館。長期積蓄的感情在他接觸到受了傷的薩拉身體的時候一觸即發，纏綿之後，他發現薩拉並沒有受傷，而且她的委身於法國中尉的故事是她自己編織的謊言——她為什麽要撒謊？為什麽要用壞名聲糟塌自己？
離開薩拉的房間後，查爾斯决定與蒂娜解除婚約，他派僕人山姆給薩拉送去一封信和一枚胸針，可山姆為查爾斯背叛蒂娜而憤怒，並沒有把東西送去。
查爾斯付出了很大的代價來解除婚約，當他趕回埃賽特時，卻發現薩拉已經不告而別。雙重打擊籠罩了他：蒂娜的父親逼迫他在撕毀婚約的文件上簽字，他已經身敗名裂。但是讓他更傷心的則是薩拉的離去。她為什麽在引誘了他之後又悄然而去呢？
查爾斯及他雇用的偵探在各地搜尋薩拉，卻一無所獲。查爾斯决定去國外旅行，到美國後，他看到一個新興國傢的新的思維和新的世界，遠遠超過了此時保守、虛偽的英國。他認為薩拉就是這個新世界裏的人。此時，他的律師拍來電報，告訴他：“找到她了。”他立刻訂了票趕回倫敦。此時的薩拉與以前判若兩人，她住在一個前期拉斐爾派畫傢的傢裏，衣着入時，儀態高雅。
書中表現了自由的主題，而開放式的結尾在這部後現代主義的小說中顯得特異。第一個結尾在書的第四十四章，查爾斯從倫敦的返程中路過埃賽特，卻沒有停留，而是返回萊姆，和蒂娜結婚並生了七個兒女，過着美滿的生活：“故事就此結束。薩拉呢？我不知道。不管她究竟如何，她再也沒有去麻煩查爾斯……”這種傳統式的結局顯然是為作者所嘲弄的。
第二個結局在書的末尾，查爾斯見到居住在畫傢傢裏並成為他的助手的薩拉，發現薩拉給他生了個女兒，有情人終成眷屬。
第三個結局是不確定的，查爾斯見到薩拉後請求與她結合，卻遭到拒絶，她說，她决心終身不嫁，因為婚姻將剝奪她的自由，使她失去自己的獨立和孤獨。查爾斯的心碎了，覺得感情被玩弄、被欺騙，他對薩拉說：“你不僅把匕首捅進我的胸膛，你還以扭動它為樂。”“總有一天，你會因對我的所作所為得到報應。如果蒼天有眼，你萬世也難贖清你的罪過。”
而薩拉是這樣說的：“你不理解我為什麽不願意同你結婚。這不是你的過錯。你是個很善良的人。誰也不可能理解我。”
“我那樣說，是要人明白連我自己也不理解自己。我說不清楚這是為什麽。但我深信我的幸福正在於我對自己也不理解。”
“我拒絶你，如同我拒絶其他男人。你不能理解的是，對我來說，這並不荒唐。”查爾斯離開薩拉，獨自一人走嚮街頭時，他有一種從被囚禁的感情中得到解脫的感覺，他發現“他本身具有一些信念、一種真正的與衆不同之處，這是他前進的基礎”。而薩拉是個常人不能理解的女人，她以常人不能理解的方式尋求自己的獨立、解放和自由。
這部小說中極富後現代氣息的另一幕是，時空被交錯，書的作者出現在書中一百年前的維多利亞時代。一個大鬍子（作者）走進查爾斯所在的車廂，突然萌發了一個念頭：“在此時此地結束查爾斯的一生，讓他永遠處於走往倫敦的路上。”
小說的前十二章再現了維多利亞時代的場景，把薩拉刻畫得如在眼前，但在第十二章結尾，筆鋒一轉，把故事的敘述剎住，提出了一個怪問題：“薩拉是誰？她是從哪個隱蔽的角落鑽出來的？”
當讀者已經陷入小說中刻畫的場景時，作者卻突然把讀者從書中拉出來，對他大吼一聲：“別上當，這全是假的，全是虛構，是謊言！”
小說《法國中尉的女人》-作品由來
在“一部未完稿的小說筆記”中，福爾斯詳細記述了《法國中尉的女人》的創作原因：1966年秋天的一個早晨，在半睡半醒的福爾斯的大腦中持續不斷地浮現出一個孤獨女子的形象。她久久地伫立在空蕩蕩的碼頭上，遠眺着大海。“我想她是維多利亞時代受譴責者的形象，是一個被遺棄者的形象。我不知道她犯了什麽錯……”這一神秘而孤獨的形象強烈地吸引着福爾斯，以至於他中止了正在進行中的小說創作而轉嚮《法國中尉的女人》的寫作。小說開篇以哈代的“迷”為引言，奠定了薩拉神秘的基調。小說中的薩拉是這樣出場的：“在昏暗、彎麯的防波堤上還有另一個人的身影……那人站在臨海的防波堤外側，……全身上下着黑裝，風吹處，衣服飄動，但是人卻紋絲不動，面嚮大海凝視着什麽，很像是溺水者的一座活紀念碑，一個神話中的人物，不像是微不足道的鄉野生活裏的正常景觀”。這樣的一個出場亮相突出了薩拉的基本特徵：孤獨而神秘。敘述者告訴我們，由於她父親強烈的“名門出身情結”，她被父親強迫“離開自己原來的階級”，可她父親“卻沒有能力把她提升到更高的一個階級”，於是，“在她已經離開的那個階級中的男青年眼裏，她變得過於挑剔而不可娶，而她渴望進入的那個階級的青年男子則認為她仍然過於平庸”。因此，“她成了等級社會的地道受害者”。在她父親死後，早已過了當嫁年齡而成為“老處女”的她變得無傢可歸。
小說《法國中尉的女人》-作品解析
這部小說是諾貝爾文學奬候選人、當代英國文壇超重量級大師福爾思的經典代表作之一，被選為二十世紀百大英文小說經典，也是英美各大學英語係二十世紀英國小說課程的必讀作品。
福爾斯筆下的薩拉便是這樣一個作為“神秘而孤立的實在”而存在的人物形象。從薩拉“誕生”在福爾斯的腦海中的那一刻起，她便是神秘而孤獨的。小說開篇以哈代的“迷”為引言，奠定了薩拉神秘的基調。小說中的薩拉是這樣出場的：“在昏暗、彎麯的防波堤上還有另一個人的身影……那人站在臨海的防波堤外側，……全身上下着黑裝，風吹處，衣服飄動，但是人卻紋絲不動，面嚮大海凝視着什麽，很像是溺水者的一座活紀念碑，一個神話中的人物，不像是微不足道的鄉野生活裏的正常景觀”。這樣的一個出場亮相突出了薩拉的基本特徵：孤獨而神秘。敘述者告訴我們，由於她父親強烈的“名門出身情結”，她被父親強迫“離開自己原來的階級”，可她父親“卻沒有能力把她提升到更高的一個階級”，於是，“在她已經離開的那個階級中的男青年眼裏，她變得過於挑剔而不可娶，而她渴望進入的那個階級的青年男子則認為她仍然過於平庸”。因此，“她成了等級社會的地道受害者”。在她父親死後，早已過了當嫁年齡而成為“老處女”的她變得無傢可歸。隨着故事的發展，情節的展開，展現在讀者面前的薩拉幾乎是將自己與周圍世界隔離開的一個“多餘的人”，是在萊母鎮居民的冷眼和鄙視中生活的一個孤獨的 “局外人”，人們“不想走進她”，怕壞了自己的名聲。而她自己似乎也在“享受”着這種孤獨，我行我素，獨來獨往，遊離於萊母鎮的凡塵瑣事。她自己就曾說過：“我一直過着孤寂的生活，……命運似乎註定我永遠不能和同等的人建立友誼，永遠不能住在自己的傢裏，永遠覺得自己被排除在主體世界之外”。
更為重要的是，薩拉的形象似乎是從破碎的鏡片中反映出來的。故事每推進一步，碎片就增加一塊，其整體形象自始至終無法從這難圓的破鏡中露出“廬山真面目”，一直籠罩在神秘的氛圍中。旁人說她是“法國中尉的女人”，是“婊子”，而她自己也不否認，說自己“螻蟻不如，幾乎不再是人……是法國中尉的妓女”。但隨着她與查爾斯關係的發展，查爾斯發現所謂“法國中尉的女人”之稱純屬編造，甚至完全是她本人把自己假想為一個“受譴責者”和“被遺棄者”的“有罪女人”的形象。薩拉似乎衹有在假面之下才能真實地安置自身。情節的發展使她的神秘性愈發凸現出來。她似乎是同性戀者，但似乎又不是；她似乎是精神病患者，但似乎又不是；她似乎是查爾斯的拯救者，又似乎是他的陷害者；她似乎是貞女，又似乎是蕩婦。福爾斯不斷地在建構薩拉的形象，但又同時在消解這些形象。她一直籠罩在神秘的氣氛之中，並且這種神秘性隨着她的失蹤以及多重結尾而更加強化。
《法國中尉的女人》對維多利亞時代的歷史、小說的風格以及問題的模仿是對這一時代以及時代的中産階級和上流社會的保守性和虛偽性進行辛辣的諷刺和抨擊。薩拉作為一個舊時代的叛逆者出現，作為一個在思想觀念和道德情操已步入二十世紀的新型女性被歌頌。她促使查爾斯的思想轉化，在一番痛苦的經歷後，查爾斯發現自己擺脫了他的時代，他在和薩拉發生關係後去教堂懺悔：“他站在那裏，覺得自己仿佛看到了整個時代，看到了這個時代騷動不安的生命和它那硬如鋼鐵的戒律戒規，它壓抑的情感和滑稽的幽默，它嚴謹的科學何不嚴謹的宗教，它腐敗的政治和一成不變的階級觀念。這一切都是他所期望的最大的隱蔽敵人。他曾經受蒙蔽。這個時代完全沒有愛和自由……而且，沒有思想，沒有目的，沒有惡意，因為欺騙就是它的本質。它沒有人性，衹是一臺機器。這就是睏擾他的惡性循環。”後現代主義作傢的這種行為，目的是揭穿傳統作傢的全知全能的假面具，對小說的成規、法則以及作者的權威提出質疑。
《法國中尉的女人》自一九六九年問世以後，在西方廣大讀者和評論界中引起了強烈的反響。人們對其主題、人物、藝術技巧等方面進行了廣泛、深入的探討。有人認為，這是一部“問題探索小說”，而且“在這種用問題探索手法寫成的小說中，藝術水準最高的當推約翰•福爾斯的《法國中尉的女人》”；也有人認為，這是一部寓言小說，說象福爾斯這類“作傢不僅通過寓言的方式來表達他們的哲學思想，而且在創作技巧上也在謀求新的途徑，評論傢們把他們稱為‘哲學派’或‘寓言編撰傢’”；也有人認為這是一部“散文體比較小說”， “它將小說引入了文化史和社會學的比較領域”。這真可謂見仁見智，莫衷一是。
小說《法國中尉的女人》-寫作藝術
常被人稱為“哲學小說傢” 的福爾斯於1947年至1950年就讀於牛津大學時，深受當時彌漫於大學校園的存在主義的氣息的影響。在他看來，存在主義不是告訴人們該做什麽不該做什麽的一套僵死的哲學，而是一種工具，一種實用的哲學，它幫助人們在特定的處境中生存。福爾斯曾於1965年這樣稱頌過存在主義：存在主義很好的一個方面就是給人們提供了一種途徑。它使得人們以自己的力量在自己特定的環境中創造性地行動，是一種最好的個人主義的哲學。它是20世紀的個體對來自各方面的壓力的一種回應。存在主義關於積極行動以及在行動中發現現實的理論對福爾斯有很大影響。“因此，福爾斯的小說關註兩個重要時刻，即人們做出重大决定的時刻和隨之采取行動的時刻。它們着力於給予讀者強烈的存在震撼，這種震撼對於我們完全認識到在這種意識的基礎上進行選擇和行動的必要”。福爾斯的存在主義思想明顯地反映在《法國中尉的女人》這部小說當中。僅從文字表面上看，作者在文本中就多次提到存在主義，如，“我們現在擁有的知識比他那時多得多，而且還有存在主義哲學思想可供我們使用”；“他們不贊成存在主義的環節，他們贊成的是因果關係鏈，是經過認真研究並反復應用的、能解釋一切的正面理論”；“存在主義的恐懼再次對他發起了攻擊，也許他早已料到會如此……”如果說小說是形象化的哲學，那麽，《法國中尉的女人》就是對存在主義哲學的形象圖解。作傢告訴我們，人要實現個體的自由意志，要過一種自由自主的生活。
1、孤獨而神秘的個體
雖然存在主義思想傢們在觀點和思想傾嚮上不盡相同，甚至還存在着較大的分歧，但不容置疑的是，存在主義所關註的核心問題是人的生存問題。而這裏的“人”不是指“群體”，而是指“個體”——作為倫理主體的個人。存在主義哲學的始祖剋爾凱郭爾首次把個人“存在”作為哲學的中心問題，而且將“孤獨的個體”置於研究的中心地位。海德格爾也認為，當人被拋於世而與他人共在時，他總是感到他人和世界對他是陌生的、疏遠的，感到自己處於一種孤獨的、無傢可歸的狀態。存在主義集大成者薩特認為“每個人是作為一種神秘而孤立的實在”。
福爾斯筆下的薩拉便是這樣一個作為“神秘而孤立的實在”而存在的人物形象。從薩拉“誕生”在福爾斯的腦海中的那一刻起，她便是神秘而孤獨的。小說開篇以哈代的“迷”為引言，奠定了薩拉神秘的基調。小說中的薩拉是這樣出場的：“在昏暗、彎麯的防波堤上還有另一個人的身影……那人站在臨海的防波堤外側，……全身上下着黑裝，風吹處，衣服飄動，但是人卻紋絲不動，面嚮大海凝視着什麽，很像是溺水者的一座活紀念碑，一個神話中的人物，不像是微不足道的鄉野生活裏的正常景觀”。這樣的一個出場亮相突出了薩拉的基本特徵：孤獨而神秘。敘述者告訴我們，由於她父親強烈的“名門出身情結”，她被父親強迫“離開自己原來的階級”，可她父親“卻沒有能力把她提升到更高的一個階級”，於是，“在她已經離開的那個階級中的男青年眼裏，她變得過於挑剔而不可娶，而她渴望進入的那個階級的青年男子則認為她仍然過於平庸”。因此，“她成了等級社會的地道受害者”。在她父親死後，早已過了當嫁年齡而成為“老處女”的她變得無傢可歸。隨着故事的發展，情節的展開，展現在讀者面前的薩拉幾乎是將自己與周圍世界隔離開的一個“多餘的人”，是在萊母鎮居民的冷眼和鄙視中生活的一個孤獨的 “局外人”，人們“不想走進她”，怕壞了自己的名聲。而她自己似乎也在“享受”着這種孤獨，我行我素，獨來獨往，遊離於萊母鎮的凡塵瑣事。她自己就曾說過:“我一直過着孤寂的生活，……命運似乎註定我永遠不能和同等的人建立友誼，永遠不能住在自己的傢裏，永遠覺得自己被排除在主體世界之外”。
更為重要的是，薩拉的形象似乎是從破碎的鏡片中反映出來的。故事每推進一步，碎片就增加一塊，其整體形象自始至終無法從這難圓的破鏡中露出“廬山真面目”，一直籠罩在神秘的氛圍中。旁人說她是“法國中尉的女人”，是“婊子”，而她自己也不否認，說自己“螻蟻不如，幾乎不再是人……是法國中尉的妓女”。但隨着她與查爾斯關係的發展，查爾斯發現所謂“法國中尉的女人”之稱純屬編造，甚至完全是她本人把自己假想為一個“受譴責者”和“被遺棄者”的“有罪女人”的形象。薩拉似乎衹有在假面之下才能真實地安置自身。情節的發展使她的神秘性愈發凸現出來。她似乎是同性戀者，但似乎又不是;她似乎是精神病患者，但似乎又不是;她似乎是查爾斯的拯救者，又似乎是他的陷害者;她似乎是貞女，又似乎是蕩婦。福爾斯不斷地在建構薩拉的形象，但又同時在消解這些形象。她一直籠罩在神秘的氣氛之中，並且這種神秘性隨着她的失蹤以及多重結尾而更加強化。
存在主義哲學從本質上講“是一種個人主義哲學，這種個人主義同傳統的個人主義不同的地方……是把孤獨的個人看作是自己的出發點”。而孤獨封閉的自我所導致的神秘性乃是存在主義揮之不去的色彩。薩拉正是這樣一個形象的體現。
2、個體與他者
關於個體與他人及外物的關係，從剋爾凱郭爾到海德格爾和薩特都有着相似的看法。剋爾凱郭爾說，自我“不僅是個人一己的自我，而是社會的、公民的自我”。海德格爾認為，作為此在的人的存在並不是一種孤立的、單獨的存在，他總是處於不斷地與外物、他人發生各種關係的過程中。按照海德格爾的觀點，此在的基本存在狀態是在世，而在世的基本結構或者說與外物、他人發生各種關係的過程就是“煩”，焦慮、煩惱。他在《存在與時間》指出：“衹要此在是‘在世的在’，它就徹頭徹尾地被煩所支配，‘在世’打上了煩的印章，這煩與此在是一而二二而一的”。薩特認為，每一個人都是從自己的主觀性出發來看待他人的，總是把自己當作主體，把他人當作自己的對象。他進而將人與人之間的關係視為一種“主奴關係”，即每個人都力圖維持自己的主體性，都互相把別人對象化為“身體”而占有。他在《禁閉》一劇中將他在《存在與虛無》中所闡述的人與人的關係用文學語言概括為“他人就是地獄”，即他者總是一個人在實現真實的自我過程中與之發生衝突並且必須剋服的障礙。以上這些論述，都表明了存在主義哲學家對個體和他者之間關係的共同思考，即兩者既相互依賴，又互為對立和衝突。
回到小說中，薩拉與他人的關係便是“地獄”的形象表現。一個偶然的機會讓她結識了一位法國水手，並自以為由此走進了她情感生活的緑洲，但實際上卻陷入了這位水手為她營造的“地獄”。水手本有妻室，逢場作戲的他在腿傷痊愈後一去不復返，因此薩拉的愛也就走上了一條不歸之路。從此以後她就一直生活在不明就裏的萊姆鎮人的冷眼和咒駡中。由於生活所迫，她受雇幫傭於波爾坦尼太太傢中。這位波爾坦尼太太“自認為是屹立在波濤洶涌的天主教海洋中一座純淨的帕特莫斯島”，專橫霸道、自以為是，把薩拉看成是一隻“迷途的羔羊”，並希望聽到她的懺悔。薩拉與波爾坦尼太太相處的過程實際上一直是抗爭與壓製的過程，最後終於由“冷戰”發展到了白熱化的程度。波爾坦尼太太相信有地獄的存在，並害怕自己墜入其中，但卻為薩拉設置了一個人間地獄。
在萊母鎮，薩拉僅僅得到了“在當時當地算得上是個開明的人物”的格羅根大夫的同情。然而，格洛根大夫根據自己的分析，認為薩拉患有嚴重的抑鬱癥，並建議查爾斯將其送入精神病醫院。在歐洲，人們最早是藉鑒對付麻風病人的方法來對待精神病人，即采取隔離的方式。這些瘋人與窮人、失業者和囚犯關在一起，甚至被帶上鐐銬。雖然到了19世紀，由於遭到精神病學家的猛烈抨擊，瘋子逐漸和其他被囚禁者分離開來。但是，在瘋人院裏，最有代表性的治療手段仍然是緘默、鏡像認識和不斷的審判。通過緘默的方式使得擺脫了鐐銬的瘋人真正成為自己的囚犯;通過觀看和自我觀看，精神病患者最終發現自己是瘋子;通過不斷的審判，“把醫學變成司法，把治療變成鎮壓”。這樣的治療環境和方式，對於桀驁不馴、我行我素的薩拉來說無疑將會也是一個“地獄”。看來，作傢福爾斯本人對人與人之間的同情、理解並不抱希望。
薩拉與查爾斯的未婚妻歐內斯蒂娜雖未曾有過交往，但她們彼此卻一直處在對立狀態。在歐內斯蒂娜眼裏，就像在萊母鎮其他人的眼裏一樣，薩拉是一個有很多不雅綽號的女人，而且還有點瘋，因此“不想走近她”。但就是這樣一個出身低微、身名狼籍的女人卻在不知不覺中把她的未婚夫搶奪過去，然後又棄之而去。而在薩拉本身就充滿着對貴族、富人的嫉妒與憎恨，在她的心靈深處“有什麽在燃燒，太奇異，太躁動，又那樣不馴服”。於是，她以自己的方式嚮時代挑戰。戲劇性的結果是，查爾斯背上了與法國水手同樣的駡名，而歐內斯蒂娜或許從此以後也將成為一個像薩拉那樣名聲不潔的女人。在這個意義上，薩拉也成了查爾斯和歐內斯蒂娜共同的“地獄”。
同時，查爾斯與薩拉的邂逅，更是存在主義個體和他者關係的直接寫照。薩拉那張帶着憂傷的“悲劇性的臉”使得查爾斯難以忘懷。她先讓查爾斯相信了她的 “始亂而終棄”的不幸遭遇，喚起了查爾斯的同情心，並遊刃有餘地控製住了查爾斯。於是，“一個出類拔萃的人物陷入了睏境，一個拜倫被馴服了。他的思想又回到薩拉身上，回到視覺形象上。他努力回憶起那張臉，那張嘴，那張大嘴巴。它……無疑喚起了他的某種回憶，……它時時縈繞在他心頭，使他心緒不寧;他開始註意到某種隱蔽的自我，他以前幾乎不知道它的存在。他對自己說:這實在是最愚蠢的事情，可是那姑娘的確吸引我”。查爾斯義無反顧地與未婚妻解除了婚約，失去了唾手可得的金錢和地位，從一個享有良好聲譽的貴族青年成為受人垢駡的“厚顔無恥”、“背信棄義”的“大壞蛋”。但是，他發現了真實的自我。可就在這時，薩拉卻神秘地失蹤。在她身後為查爾斯留下了一串不解之謎和無盡的痛苦。另外，小說中其他相對次要的人物關係，比如，查爾斯與他的僕人薩姆、查爾斯與他的伯父，等等，無不體現了存在主義哲學對個體與他者的悲觀而深刻的思索。
3、個體的存在和自由
自由是薩特存在主義哲學的基本概念。薩特曾說存在主義是一種“關於自由的學說”，存在即自由。當然，這裏的“自由”是一個哲學概念，它指的是以主觀性和超越性為特徵的純粹意識活動，它所體現的是人格的尊嚴和獨立的思考。薩特在《存在與虛無》中將存在分為兩種基本的形式，即“自在的存在”(being-in-itself)和“自為的存在”(being-for-itself)。前者是一種無意識的存在，是物質的存在;後者是個體在世界上按照自己的欲望來塑造自己時所獲得的一種存在。按照自己的欲望來塑造自己，實際上就是自由選擇、積極行動、追求真實的自我。人註定是自由的，註定了必須自由選擇。薩特的存在主義思想還有一個基本觀點，就是存在先於本質。這意味着人的自由先於人的本質並且使人的本質成為可能;人的存在的本質懸置在人的自由之中。也就是說，人的自由先於人的本質，是自由、通過自由選擇確定人的本質，人的意義體現於人的自由之中。薩特還進一步將這一觀點在其戲劇《蒼蠅》中藉俄瑞斯忒斯之口表述為“我就是我的自由”。
自由也是福爾斯一生的追求。他特別強調個體獨立的特性，這在其非小說著作《智者：思想上的自畫像》中充分地得到反映。福爾斯的所謂“智者”來自於古希臘哲學家赫拉剋裏特的觀點，即那些具有獨立的思考和判斷能力以及追求內在智慧和知識的人，他們能夠“在無人引導或被錯誤引導的群體中保持自己獨立的特性，取得一定程度的自我實現……”(Olshen3)他在該書中所倡導的維護個體存在的自由，保持獨立的特性，反抗強加於個體使之服服帖帖、唯唯諾諾、循規蹈矩的種種壓力的思想始終貫穿於他的文學創作中。
當薩拉生活在萊姆鎮的時候，她不斷受到別人的侮辱和咒駡，但她就像加繆筆下的莫爾索一樣，根本不考慮別人對自己的評價。她依靠孤獨來喚醒自己的自由意識，她在對孤獨的體驗中來體驗自由。這正如薩特所認為的，當一個人蹂躪另一個人時，並不是、也不能剝奪別人的自由，反而為別人提供了一種自由選擇的境遇，促使別人對自己面臨的各種可能性進行選擇。薩拉從“法國中尉的女人”到“查爾斯的情人”，再自我放逐，都完全是按照自己的意願為自己的人生定位，為生活賦予個人的意義。
薩特關於自由的概念包含着對現存秩序和傳統觀念的否定。這也反映在薩拉的宗教觀念上。小說中所描繪的維多利亞時代是達爾文的《物種起源》剛剛問世，並且對象查爾斯這樣的青年已經産生了一定的影響的時期。但也正是在此時，英國掀起了一場宗教復興運動。 “那時候興建起來的教堂比在那之前歷史上所造的總和還多”。然而，薩拉卻“並不信神”，“正如她看穿了所有的人一樣，她也看穿了維多利亞時代教會的各種荒唐行為，看穿了那個時代教堂污穢的玻璃，也看穿了教會對於《聖經》的狹隘的按字面的解釋”。當波爾坦尼太太威脅她要對自己所說的話負責任時，薩拉蔑視地回敬道:“是在上帝面前嗎?你那麽肯定到了來世上帝還能聽見你說話嗎?”以薩特為代表的無神論存在主義，就是將上帝的觀念從人的存在環境中驅趕了出去，而肯定意志自由是人類的至善。
薩拉對查爾斯的控製及最終離他而去，也是對維多利亞時代兩性關係和道德觀念的一種顛覆。“維多利亞時代所規定的男性是欲望主體，女性是欲望客體，男性是拯救者，女性是等待救贖的對象的二元對立”。在薩拉與查爾斯的關係中，薩拉一直貌似是需要查爾斯同情、幫助的對象，實際上卻一直控製着與查爾斯關係的發展，包括與他見面的時間、地點、情感高峰以及自己離開萊姆鎮的時機選擇，完全將他們的“處境顛倒過來了”。雖然按照薩特的觀點，人們在自己的眼中都把他人互相視為客體，但在讀者眼中，薩拉完全是行動的主體，查爾斯卻是處於被動地位的客體。在這個意義上，薩拉儼然是充分體驗意志自由的存在主義的英雄。
在小說的一個結尾中，查爾斯找到了薩拉，但薩拉卻拒絶了查爾斯婚姻的要求。她說:“我發現我很珍惜這種生活。我不想與他人分享。我喜歡保持我目前的狀況，而不是一個丈夫——無論他待我多麽好，多麽溺愛我——必定會期待我表現得像一個妻子應該表現得那樣”。她進而說：“我很清楚，一進入愛情領域，就沒有什麽神聖不可侵犯的東西可言了”。這表明，薩拉對現狀很滿意，她希望能夠本真地生活下去，而不是按照別人的意願來生活，即便是因為愛情。這裏，我們似乎聽到了薩特在《存在主義是一種人道主義》一書中所說的：“……人就要對自己是怎樣的人負責……並且把自己的存在的責任完全由自己擔負起來”。而薩拉對查爾斯的拒絶，既使得她自己贏得了自由，也給了查爾斯自由。正如薩特所說：“我們在要求自由的時候，發現自由完全依賴他人的自由，而他人的自由，又依賴於我們的自由”。因此，“我就不得不在要求我自己的自由的時候，同時也要求他人的自由”。
整體來看，福爾斯的創作思想蕪雜，但其存在主義色彩非常濃重。不僅是《法國中尉的女人》，他的其他小說，如《收藏傢》（1963年）、《魔術師》（1966年）等，都是作者傳達存在主義哲學思考的有效形式。
During 1981, director Karel Reisz and writer Harold Pinter adapted the novel as an eponymous film; During 2006, it was adapted for the stage, by Mark Healy, in a version which toured the UK that year. In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.
Plot summary
The novel's protagonist is Sarah Woodruff, the title Woman, also known by the nickname of “Tragedy”, and by the unfortunate nickname “The French Lieutenant’s Whore”. She lives in the coastal town of Lyme Regis, as a disgraced woman, supposedly abandoned by a French naval officer named Varguennes--married, unknown to her, to another woman-- with whom she had supposedly had an affair and who had returned to France.
Sarah is portrayed ambiguously: is she a genuine, ill-used woman? Is she a sly, manipulative character using her own self-pity to get Charles to succumb to her? Is she merely a victim of the notion of gender as perceived by upper-middle-class people of the 19th century?
She spends her limited time-off at the Cobb [sea wall], staring at the sea. One day, she is seen there by the gentleman Charles Smithson and his fiancée, Ernestina Freeman, the shallow-minded daughter of a wealthy tradesman. Ernestina tells Charles something of Sarah’s story, and he develops a strong curiosity about her. Eventually, he and she meet clandestinely, during which times Sarah tells Charles her history, and asks for his support, mostly emotional. Despite trying to remain objective, Charles eventually sends Sarah to Exeter, where he, during a journey, cannot resist stopping in to visit and see her. At the time she has suffered an ankle injury; he visits her alone and after they have made love he realised that she is, contrary to the rumours, a virgin. Simultaneously, he learns that his prospective inheritance from an elder uncle is in jeopardy; the uncle is engaged to a woman young enough to bear him an heir.
From there, the novelist offers three different endings for The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
* First ending: Charles marries Ernestina, and their marriage is unhappy; Sarah’s fate is unknown. Charles tells Ernestina about an encounter with whom he implies is the “French Lieutenant’s Whore”, but elides the sordid details, and the matter is ended. This ending, however, might be dismissed as a daydream, before the alternative events of the subsequent meeting with Ernestina are described.
Before the second- and third endings, the narrator — whom the novelist wants the reader to believe is John Fowles, himself — appears as a minor character sharing a train carriage with Charles. He flips a coin to determine the order in which he will portray the two, other possible endings, emphasising their equal plausibility.
* Second ending: Charles and Sarah become intimate; he ends his engagement to Ernestina, with unpleasant consequences. He is disgraced, and his uncle marries, then produces an heir. Sarah flees to London without telling the enamoured Charles, who searches for her for years, before finding her living with several artists (likely the Rossettis), enjoying an artistic, creative life. He then sees he has fathered a child with her; as a family, their future is open, with possible reunion implied.
* Third ending: the narrator re-appears, standing outside the house where the second ending occurred; at the aftermath. He turns back his pocket watch by fifteen minutes, before leaving in his carriage. Events are the same as in the second-ending version, but, when Charles finds Sarah again, in London, their reunion is sour. It is possible that their union was childless; Sarah does not tell Charles about one, and does not express interest for continuing the relationship. He leaves the house, deciding to return to America, and sees the carriage, in which the narrator was thought gone. Raising the question: is Sarah a manipulating, lying woman of few morals, exploiting Charles’s obvious love to get what she wants?
En route, Fowles the novelist discourses upon the difficulties of controlling the characters, and offers analyses of differences in 19th-century customs and class, the theories of Charles Darwin, the poetry of Matthew Arnold, Lord Tennyson, and the literature of Thomas Hardy. He questions the role of the author — when speaking of how the Charles character “disobeys” his orders; the characters have discrete lives of their own in the novel. Philosophically, Existentialism is mentioned several times during the story, and in particular detail at the end, after the portrayals of the two, apparent, equally possible endings.
講述的是發生在19世紀英國的愛情故事。一個悲傷、神秘的維多利亞時代的女人，明明是個處女卻宣稱自己已委身於法國中尉，被視為罪惡、淫蕩的女人而被唾棄。而她的神秘、獨特、大膽、深沉、憂鬱的美以及野性的熱情，喚起男人的同情和愛慕。她與查爾斯産生了熾熱的愛情，卻在他解除了和別人的婚約後拒絶他的求婚，悄然離開。
小說《法國中尉的女人》-故事梗概
故事發生在福爾斯在二十世紀六十年代居住過的一個英國小鎮：萊姆·裏基斯，時間是英國“維多利亞黃金時代”（指1850～1875年）中的1867年。小說一開捲，讀者就會被濃烈的浪漫、神秘氣氛所吸引：1867年3月的一個早晨，海邊古老的壁壘狂風呼嘯，查爾斯和他的未婚妻歐雷斯蒂娜正在這裏散步。他們看見一個穿着黑色衣服的女人在海岬的一頭孤獨地站着，眺望大海。風越颳越大，當他們走近這個黑衣女人時，發現她就是那個鎮上居民人人皆知的“法國中尉的女人”。人們說，她被一個法國中尉引誘失身，而當時的法國在極度清新寡欲的維多利亞時代的英國人看來，是一個“誤入歧途的國傢”。法國中尉回國後拋棄了她，而她幾乎每天到海邊來，就是等待法國中尉回到她的身邊。
這位黑衣女郎，她陰沉、帶有悲劇性的面孔雖無絶代佳麗的姿色，也無當時維多利亞女性應有的嫻靜、順從和羞澀，卻以其神秘、深沉、難以捉摸的與衆不同而另具魅力，世俗者唾棄她這樣的離經叛道者，但書中的查爾斯以及二十世紀的人們看待她的則是另外一種目光。
查爾斯時年三十二歲，是一個富傢子弟，沒有職業，但是對古生物學和地質學頗有興趣，他受達爾文學說的影響很深，看到了維多利亞時代的保守和虛偽。
黑衣女子薩拉是一個出生於貧苦雇農家庭的獨生女，她的祖先出身高貴，到她父親這一代纔衰落下來。父親送女兒到寄宿學校接受良好的教育，她十八歲學成歸傢不久，父親就去世了，在她當家庭教師謀生期間，一艘法國輪船沉沒，幸存的法國中尉在懂法語的薩拉的照顧下康復，並與她海誓山盟，答應很快從法國返回接她；傳聞她與中尉發生了關係，但中尉並沒有履行諾言，而是拋棄了她。有關她的流言蜚語傳遍了萊姆鎮，她成為聲名狼藉的“法國中尉的女人”。
而查爾斯的未婚妻歐雷斯蒂娜是一個典型的維多利亞女性，一個富商的女兒。她年輕、漂亮、文雅。但是，她的價值觀和感情是膚淺的。查爾斯的叔父羅伯特决定和一個還在生育年齡的女人結婚，一旦他生下男孩，查爾斯就將喪失對叔父的財産和男爵爵位的繼承權。歐雷斯蒂娜對羅伯特的結婚决定反應強烈，與查爾斯成鮮明對比。蒂娜戴着時代的面紗，掩飾自己對肉欲的渴望，獨自一人在臥室裏脫掉衣服欣賞自己的肉體美，期待着查爾斯的愛撫。她堅持每天寫的日記是為了將來的一天查爾斯逼着她拿出來給他看，所以，日記中也是戴着面紗的。與薩拉相比，她是一個可以一眼看透的單調女子——一個年輕、美麗，卻如一方清澈見底，擺動身軀數十下就可以遊到盡頭的小池，薩拉則身世滄桑，如深不可測的大海，浩瀚無邊。
薩拉與蒂娜是兩個對比鮮明的女性。薩拉處處與維多利亞的時代成規背道而馳，她明明是處女，卻要說自己已委身於法國中尉，萊姆鎮的所有人都在背後駡她是個放蕩的女人，“法國中尉的婊子”，她卻置之度外。雇用她的波爾特尼太太是維多利亞時代的典型的虛偽的衛道者，薩拉反抗波爾特尼太太對她的不許獨自去林間散步的禁令，而她的神秘、獨特、大膽、深沉、憂鬱的美以及野性的熱情，是喚起男人同情和愛慕的源泉，書中多次提到，薩拉猶如一頭“野獸”，她不是一個受男人統治的維多利亞女性。即使她的容貌不如歐雷斯蒂娜的美麗，門第之高貴也不如年輕的蒂娜，真實的查爾斯還是被薩拉的神秘和真實的野性深深吸引，並提出幫助薩拉離開萊姆鎮，到埃塞特去重新開始生活。
查爾斯在去倫敦的返程中在埃賽特停留，接到了薩拉的便條，趕到她居住的旅館。長期積蓄的感情在他接觸到受了傷的薩拉身體的時候一觸即發，纏綿之後，他發現薩拉並沒有受傷，而且她的委身於法國中尉的故事是她自己編織的謊言——她為什麽要撒謊？為什麽要用壞名聲糟塌自己？
離開薩拉的房間後，查爾斯决定與蒂娜解除婚約，他派僕人山姆給薩拉送去一封信和一枚胸針，可山姆為查爾斯背叛蒂娜而憤怒，並沒有把東西送去。
查爾斯付出了很大的代價來解除婚約，當他趕回埃賽特時，卻發現薩拉已經不告而別。雙重打擊籠罩了他：蒂娜的父親逼迫他在撕毀婚約的文件上簽字，他已經身敗名裂。但是讓他更傷心的則是薩拉的離去。她為什麽在引誘了他之後又悄然而去呢？
查爾斯及他雇用的偵探在各地搜尋薩拉，卻一無所獲。查爾斯决定去國外旅行，到美國後，他看到一個新興國傢的新的思維和新的世界，遠遠超過了此時保守、虛偽的英國。他認為薩拉就是這個新世界裏的人。此時，他的律師拍來電報，告訴他：“找到她了。”他立刻訂了票趕回倫敦。此時的薩拉與以前判若兩人，她住在一個前期拉斐爾派畫傢的傢裏，衣着入時，儀態高雅。
書中表現了自由的主題，而開放式的結尾在這部後現代主義的小說中顯得特異。第一個結尾在書的第四十四章，查爾斯從倫敦的返程中路過埃賽特，卻沒有停留，而是返回萊姆，和蒂娜結婚並生了七個兒女，過着美滿的生活：“故事就此結束。薩拉呢？我不知道。不管她究竟如何，她再也沒有去麻煩查爾斯……”這種傳統式的結局顯然是為作者所嘲弄的。
第二個結局在書的末尾，查爾斯見到居住在畫傢傢裏並成為他的助手的薩拉，發現薩拉給他生了個女兒，有情人終成眷屬。
第三個結局是不確定的，查爾斯見到薩拉後請求與她結合，卻遭到拒絶，她說，她决心終身不嫁，因為婚姻將剝奪她的自由，使她失去自己的獨立和孤獨。查爾斯的心碎了，覺得感情被玩弄、被欺騙，他對薩拉說：“你不僅把匕首捅進我的胸膛，你還以扭動它為樂。”“總有一天，你會因對我的所作所為得到報應。如果蒼天有眼，你萬世也難贖清你的罪過。”
而薩拉是這樣說的：“你不理解我為什麽不願意同你結婚。這不是你的過錯。你是個很善良的人。誰也不可能理解我。”
“我那樣說，是要人明白連我自己也不理解自己。我說不清楚這是為什麽。但我深信我的幸福正在於我對自己也不理解。”
“我拒絶你，如同我拒絶其他男人。你不能理解的是，對我來說，這並不荒唐。”查爾斯離開薩拉，獨自一人走嚮街頭時，他有一種從被囚禁的感情中得到解脫的感覺，他發現“他本身具有一些信念、一種真正的與衆不同之處，這是他前進的基礎”。而薩拉是個常人不能理解的女人，她以常人不能理解的方式尋求自己的獨立、解放和自由。
這部小說中極富後現代氣息的另一幕是，時空被交錯，書的作者出現在書中一百年前的維多利亞時代。一個大鬍子（作者）走進查爾斯所在的車廂，突然萌發了一個念頭：“在此時此地結束查爾斯的一生，讓他永遠處於走往倫敦的路上。”
小說的前十二章再現了維多利亞時代的場景，把薩拉刻畫得如在眼前，但在第十二章結尾，筆鋒一轉，把故事的敘述剎住，提出了一個怪問題：“薩拉是誰？她是從哪個隱蔽的角落鑽出來的？”
當讀者已經陷入小說中刻畫的場景時，作者卻突然把讀者從書中拉出來，對他大吼一聲：“別上當，這全是假的，全是虛構，是謊言！”
小說《法國中尉的女人》-作品由來
在“一部未完稿的小說筆記”中，福爾斯詳細記述了《法國中尉的女人》的創作原因：1966年秋天的一個早晨，在半睡半醒的福爾斯的大腦中持續不斷地浮現出一個孤獨女子的形象。她久久地伫立在空蕩蕩的碼頭上，遠眺着大海。“我想她是維多利亞時代受譴責者的形象，是一個被遺棄者的形象。我不知道她犯了什麽錯……”這一神秘而孤獨的形象強烈地吸引着福爾斯，以至於他中止了正在進行中的小說創作而轉嚮《法國中尉的女人》的寫作。小說開篇以哈代的“迷”為引言，奠定了薩拉神秘的基調。小說中的薩拉是這樣出場的：“在昏暗、彎麯的防波堤上還有另一個人的身影……那人站在臨海的防波堤外側，……全身上下着黑裝，風吹處，衣服飄動，但是人卻紋絲不動，面嚮大海凝視着什麽，很像是溺水者的一座活紀念碑，一個神話中的人物，不像是微不足道的鄉野生活裏的正常景觀”。這樣的一個出場亮相突出了薩拉的基本特徵：孤獨而神秘。敘述者告訴我們，由於她父親強烈的“名門出身情結”，她被父親強迫“離開自己原來的階級”，可她父親“卻沒有能力把她提升到更高的一個階級”，於是，“在她已經離開的那個階級中的男青年眼裏，她變得過於挑剔而不可娶，而她渴望進入的那個階級的青年男子則認為她仍然過於平庸”。因此，“她成了等級社會的地道受害者”。在她父親死後，早已過了當嫁年齡而成為“老處女”的她變得無傢可歸。
小說《法國中尉的女人》-作品解析
這部小說是諾貝爾文學奬候選人、當代英國文壇超重量級大師福爾思的經典代表作之一，被選為二十世紀百大英文小說經典，也是英美各大學英語係二十世紀英國小說課程的必讀作品。
福爾斯筆下的薩拉便是這樣一個作為“神秘而孤立的實在”而存在的人物形象。從薩拉“誕生”在福爾斯的腦海中的那一刻起，她便是神秘而孤獨的。小說開篇以哈代的“迷”為引言，奠定了薩拉神秘的基調。小說中的薩拉是這樣出場的：“在昏暗、彎麯的防波堤上還有另一個人的身影……那人站在臨海的防波堤外側，……全身上下着黑裝，風吹處，衣服飄動，但是人卻紋絲不動，面嚮大海凝視着什麽，很像是溺水者的一座活紀念碑，一個神話中的人物，不像是微不足道的鄉野生活裏的正常景觀”。這樣的一個出場亮相突出了薩拉的基本特徵：孤獨而神秘。敘述者告訴我們，由於她父親強烈的“名門出身情結”，她被父親強迫“離開自己原來的階級”，可她父親“卻沒有能力把她提升到更高的一個階級”，於是，“在她已經離開的那個階級中的男青年眼裏，她變得過於挑剔而不可娶，而她渴望進入的那個階級的青年男子則認為她仍然過於平庸”。因此，“她成了等級社會的地道受害者”。在她父親死後，早已過了當嫁年齡而成為“老處女”的她變得無傢可歸。隨着故事的發展，情節的展開，展現在讀者面前的薩拉幾乎是將自己與周圍世界隔離開的一個“多餘的人”，是在萊母鎮居民的冷眼和鄙視中生活的一個孤獨的 “局外人”，人們“不想走進她”，怕壞了自己的名聲。而她自己似乎也在“享受”着這種孤獨，我行我素，獨來獨往，遊離於萊母鎮的凡塵瑣事。她自己就曾說過：“我一直過着孤寂的生活，……命運似乎註定我永遠不能和同等的人建立友誼，永遠不能住在自己的傢裏，永遠覺得自己被排除在主體世界之外”。
更為重要的是，薩拉的形象似乎是從破碎的鏡片中反映出來的。故事每推進一步，碎片就增加一塊，其整體形象自始至終無法從這難圓的破鏡中露出“廬山真面目”，一直籠罩在神秘的氛圍中。旁人說她是“法國中尉的女人”，是“婊子”，而她自己也不否認，說自己“螻蟻不如，幾乎不再是人……是法國中尉的妓女”。但隨着她與查爾斯關係的發展，查爾斯發現所謂“法國中尉的女人”之稱純屬編造，甚至完全是她本人把自己假想為一個“受譴責者”和“被遺棄者”的“有罪女人”的形象。薩拉似乎衹有在假面之下才能真實地安置自身。情節的發展使她的神秘性愈發凸現出來。她似乎是同性戀者，但似乎又不是；她似乎是精神病患者，但似乎又不是；她似乎是查爾斯的拯救者，又似乎是他的陷害者；她似乎是貞女，又似乎是蕩婦。福爾斯不斷地在建構薩拉的形象，但又同時在消解這些形象。她一直籠罩在神秘的氣氛之中，並且這種神秘性隨着她的失蹤以及多重結尾而更加強化。
《法國中尉的女人》對維多利亞時代的歷史、小說的風格以及問題的模仿是對這一時代以及時代的中産階級和上流社會的保守性和虛偽性進行辛辣的諷刺和抨擊。薩拉作為一個舊時代的叛逆者出現，作為一個在思想觀念和道德情操已步入二十世紀的新型女性被歌頌。她促使查爾斯的思想轉化，在一番痛苦的經歷後，查爾斯發現自己擺脫了他的時代，他在和薩拉發生關係後去教堂懺悔：“他站在那裏，覺得自己仿佛看到了整個時代，看到了這個時代騷動不安的生命和它那硬如鋼鐵的戒律戒規，它壓抑的情感和滑稽的幽默，它嚴謹的科學何不嚴謹的宗教，它腐敗的政治和一成不變的階級觀念。這一切都是他所期望的最大的隱蔽敵人。他曾經受蒙蔽。這個時代完全沒有愛和自由……而且，沒有思想，沒有目的，沒有惡意，因為欺騙就是它的本質。它沒有人性，衹是一臺機器。這就是睏擾他的惡性循環。”後現代主義作傢的這種行為，目的是揭穿傳統作傢的全知全能的假面具，對小說的成規、法則以及作者的權威提出質疑。
《法國中尉的女人》自一九六九年問世以後，在西方廣大讀者和評論界中引起了強烈的反響。人們對其主題、人物、藝術技巧等方面進行了廣泛、深入的探討。有人認為，這是一部“問題探索小說”，而且“在這種用問題探索手法寫成的小說中，藝術水準最高的當推約翰•福爾斯的《法國中尉的女人》”；也有人認為，這是一部寓言小說，說象福爾斯這類“作傢不僅通過寓言的方式來表達他們的哲學思想，而且在創作技巧上也在謀求新的途徑，評論傢們把他們稱為‘哲學派’或‘寓言編撰傢’”；也有人認為這是一部“散文體比較小說”， “它將小說引入了文化史和社會學的比較領域”。這真可謂見仁見智，莫衷一是。
小說《法國中尉的女人》-寫作藝術
常被人稱為“哲學小說傢” 的福爾斯於1947年至1950年就讀於牛津大學時，深受當時彌漫於大學校園的存在主義的氣息的影響。在他看來，存在主義不是告訴人們該做什麽不該做什麽的一套僵死的哲學，而是一種工具，一種實用的哲學，它幫助人們在特定的處境中生存。福爾斯曾於1965年這樣稱頌過存在主義：存在主義很好的一個方面就是給人們提供了一種途徑。它使得人們以自己的力量在自己特定的環境中創造性地行動，是一種最好的個人主義的哲學。它是20世紀的個體對來自各方面的壓力的一種回應。存在主義關於積極行動以及在行動中發現現實的理論對福爾斯有很大影響。“因此，福爾斯的小說關註兩個重要時刻，即人們做出重大决定的時刻和隨之采取行動的時刻。它們着力於給予讀者強烈的存在震撼，這種震撼對於我們完全認識到在這種意識的基礎上進行選擇和行動的必要”。福爾斯的存在主義思想明顯地反映在《法國中尉的女人》這部小說當中。僅從文字表面上看，作者在文本中就多次提到存在主義，如，“我們現在擁有的知識比他那時多得多，而且還有存在主義哲學思想可供我們使用”；“他們不贊成存在主義的環節，他們贊成的是因果關係鏈，是經過認真研究並反復應用的、能解釋一切的正面理論”；“存在主義的恐懼再次對他發起了攻擊，也許他早已料到會如此……”如果說小說是形象化的哲學，那麽，《法國中尉的女人》就是對存在主義哲學的形象圖解。作傢告訴我們，人要實現個體的自由意志，要過一種自由自主的生活。
1、孤獨而神秘的個體
雖然存在主義思想傢們在觀點和思想傾嚮上不盡相同，甚至還存在着較大的分歧，但不容置疑的是，存在主義所關註的核心問題是人的生存問題。而這裏的“人”不是指“群體”，而是指“個體”——作為倫理主體的個人。存在主義哲學的始祖剋爾凱郭爾首次把個人“存在”作為哲學的中心問題，而且將“孤獨的個體”置於研究的中心地位。海德格爾也認為，當人被拋於世而與他人共在時，他總是感到他人和世界對他是陌生的、疏遠的，感到自己處於一種孤獨的、無傢可歸的狀態。存在主義集大成者薩特認為“每個人是作為一種神秘而孤立的實在”。
福爾斯筆下的薩拉便是這樣一個作為“神秘而孤立的實在”而存在的人物形象。從薩拉“誕生”在福爾斯的腦海中的那一刻起，她便是神秘而孤獨的。小說開篇以哈代的“迷”為引言，奠定了薩拉神秘的基調。小說中的薩拉是這樣出場的：“在昏暗、彎麯的防波堤上還有另一個人的身影……那人站在臨海的防波堤外側，……全身上下着黑裝，風吹處，衣服飄動，但是人卻紋絲不動，面嚮大海凝視着什麽，很像是溺水者的一座活紀念碑，一個神話中的人物，不像是微不足道的鄉野生活裏的正常景觀”。這樣的一個出場亮相突出了薩拉的基本特徵：孤獨而神秘。敘述者告訴我們，由於她父親強烈的“名門出身情結”，她被父親強迫“離開自己原來的階級”，可她父親“卻沒有能力把她提升到更高的一個階級”，於是，“在她已經離開的那個階級中的男青年眼裏，她變得過於挑剔而不可娶，而她渴望進入的那個階級的青年男子則認為她仍然過於平庸”。因此，“她成了等級社會的地道受害者”。在她父親死後，早已過了當嫁年齡而成為“老處女”的她變得無傢可歸。隨着故事的發展，情節的展開，展現在讀者面前的薩拉幾乎是將自己與周圍世界隔離開的一個“多餘的人”，是在萊母鎮居民的冷眼和鄙視中生活的一個孤獨的 “局外人”，人們“不想走進她”，怕壞了自己的名聲。而她自己似乎也在“享受”着這種孤獨，我行我素，獨來獨往，遊離於萊母鎮的凡塵瑣事。她自己就曾說過:“我一直過着孤寂的生活，……命運似乎註定我永遠不能和同等的人建立友誼，永遠不能住在自己的傢裏，永遠覺得自己被排除在主體世界之外”。
更為重要的是，薩拉的形象似乎是從破碎的鏡片中反映出來的。故事每推進一步，碎片就增加一塊，其整體形象自始至終無法從這難圓的破鏡中露出“廬山真面目”，一直籠罩在神秘的氛圍中。旁人說她是“法國中尉的女人”，是“婊子”，而她自己也不否認，說自己“螻蟻不如，幾乎不再是人……是法國中尉的妓女”。但隨着她與查爾斯關係的發展，查爾斯發現所謂“法國中尉的女人”之稱純屬編造，甚至完全是她本人把自己假想為一個“受譴責者”和“被遺棄者”的“有罪女人”的形象。薩拉似乎衹有在假面之下才能真實地安置自身。情節的發展使她的神秘性愈發凸現出來。她似乎是同性戀者，但似乎又不是;她似乎是精神病患者，但似乎又不是;她似乎是查爾斯的拯救者，又似乎是他的陷害者;她似乎是貞女，又似乎是蕩婦。福爾斯不斷地在建構薩拉的形象，但又同時在消解這些形象。她一直籠罩在神秘的氣氛之中，並且這種神秘性隨着她的失蹤以及多重結尾而更加強化。
存在主義哲學從本質上講“是一種個人主義哲學，這種個人主義同傳統的個人主義不同的地方……是把孤獨的個人看作是自己的出發點”。而孤獨封閉的自我所導致的神秘性乃是存在主義揮之不去的色彩。薩拉正是這樣一個形象的體現。
2、個體與他者
關於個體與他人及外物的關係，從剋爾凱郭爾到海德格爾和薩特都有着相似的看法。剋爾凱郭爾說，自我“不僅是個人一己的自我，而是社會的、公民的自我”。海德格爾認為，作為此在的人的存在並不是一種孤立的、單獨的存在，他總是處於不斷地與外物、他人發生各種關係的過程中。按照海德格爾的觀點，此在的基本存在狀態是在世，而在世的基本結構或者說與外物、他人發生各種關係的過程就是“煩”，焦慮、煩惱。他在《存在與時間》指出：“衹要此在是‘在世的在’，它就徹頭徹尾地被煩所支配，‘在世’打上了煩的印章，這煩與此在是一而二二而一的”。薩特認為，每一個人都是從自己的主觀性出發來看待他人的，總是把自己當作主體，把他人當作自己的對象。他進而將人與人之間的關係視為一種“主奴關係”，即每個人都力圖維持自己的主體性，都互相把別人對象化為“身體”而占有。他在《禁閉》一劇中將他在《存在與虛無》中所闡述的人與人的關係用文學語言概括為“他人就是地獄”，即他者總是一個人在實現真實的自我過程中與之發生衝突並且必須剋服的障礙。以上這些論述，都表明了存在主義哲學家對個體和他者之間關係的共同思考，即兩者既相互依賴，又互為對立和衝突。
回到小說中，薩拉與他人的關係便是“地獄”的形象表現。一個偶然的機會讓她結識了一位法國水手，並自以為由此走進了她情感生活的緑洲，但實際上卻陷入了這位水手為她營造的“地獄”。水手本有妻室，逢場作戲的他在腿傷痊愈後一去不復返，因此薩拉的愛也就走上了一條不歸之路。從此以後她就一直生活在不明就裏的萊姆鎮人的冷眼和咒駡中。由於生活所迫，她受雇幫傭於波爾坦尼太太傢中。這位波爾坦尼太太“自認為是屹立在波濤洶涌的天主教海洋中一座純淨的帕特莫斯島”，專橫霸道、自以為是，把薩拉看成是一隻“迷途的羔羊”，並希望聽到她的懺悔。薩拉與波爾坦尼太太相處的過程實際上一直是抗爭與壓製的過程，最後終於由“冷戰”發展到了白熱化的程度。波爾坦尼太太相信有地獄的存在，並害怕自己墜入其中，但卻為薩拉設置了一個人間地獄。
在萊母鎮，薩拉僅僅得到了“在當時當地算得上是個開明的人物”的格羅根大夫的同情。然而，格洛根大夫根據自己的分析，認為薩拉患有嚴重的抑鬱癥，並建議查爾斯將其送入精神病醫院。在歐洲，人們最早是藉鑒對付麻風病人的方法來對待精神病人，即采取隔離的方式。這些瘋人與窮人、失業者和囚犯關在一起，甚至被帶上鐐銬。雖然到了19世紀，由於遭到精神病學家的猛烈抨擊，瘋子逐漸和其他被囚禁者分離開來。但是，在瘋人院裏，最有代表性的治療手段仍然是緘默、鏡像認識和不斷的審判。通過緘默的方式使得擺脫了鐐銬的瘋人真正成為自己的囚犯;通過觀看和自我觀看，精神病患者最終發現自己是瘋子;通過不斷的審判，“把醫學變成司法，把治療變成鎮壓”。這樣的治療環境和方式，對於桀驁不馴、我行我素的薩拉來說無疑將會也是一個“地獄”。看來，作傢福爾斯本人對人與人之間的同情、理解並不抱希望。
薩拉與查爾斯的未婚妻歐內斯蒂娜雖未曾有過交往，但她們彼此卻一直處在對立狀態。在歐內斯蒂娜眼裏，就像在萊母鎮其他人的眼裏一樣，薩拉是一個有很多不雅綽號的女人，而且還有點瘋，因此“不想走近她”。但就是這樣一個出身低微、身名狼籍的女人卻在不知不覺中把她的未婚夫搶奪過去，然後又棄之而去。而在薩拉本身就充滿着對貴族、富人的嫉妒與憎恨，在她的心靈深處“有什麽在燃燒，太奇異，太躁動，又那樣不馴服”。於是，她以自己的方式嚮時代挑戰。戲劇性的結果是，查爾斯背上了與法國水手同樣的駡名，而歐內斯蒂娜或許從此以後也將成為一個像薩拉那樣名聲不潔的女人。在這個意義上，薩拉也成了查爾斯和歐內斯蒂娜共同的“地獄”。
同時，查爾斯與薩拉的邂逅，更是存在主義個體和他者關係的直接寫照。薩拉那張帶着憂傷的“悲劇性的臉”使得查爾斯難以忘懷。她先讓查爾斯相信了她的 “始亂而終棄”的不幸遭遇，喚起了查爾斯的同情心，並遊刃有餘地控製住了查爾斯。於是，“一個出類拔萃的人物陷入了睏境，一個拜倫被馴服了。他的思想又回到薩拉身上，回到視覺形象上。他努力回憶起那張臉，那張嘴，那張大嘴巴。它……無疑喚起了他的某種回憶，……它時時縈繞在他心頭，使他心緒不寧;他開始註意到某種隱蔽的自我，他以前幾乎不知道它的存在。他對自己說:這實在是最愚蠢的事情，可是那姑娘的確吸引我”。查爾斯義無反顧地與未婚妻解除了婚約，失去了唾手可得的金錢和地位，從一個享有良好聲譽的貴族青年成為受人垢駡的“厚顔無恥”、“背信棄義”的“大壞蛋”。但是，他發現了真實的自我。可就在這時，薩拉卻神秘地失蹤。在她身後為查爾斯留下了一串不解之謎和無盡的痛苦。另外，小說中其他相對次要的人物關係，比如，查爾斯與他的僕人薩姆、查爾斯與他的伯父，等等，無不體現了存在主義哲學對個體與他者的悲觀而深刻的思索。
3、個體的存在和自由
自由是薩特存在主義哲學的基本概念。薩特曾說存在主義是一種“關於自由的學說”，存在即自由。當然，這裏的“自由”是一個哲學概念，它指的是以主觀性和超越性為特徵的純粹意識活動，它所體現的是人格的尊嚴和獨立的思考。薩特在《存在與虛無》中將存在分為兩種基本的形式，即“自在的存在”(being-in-itself)和“自為的存在”(being-for-itself)。前者是一種無意識的存在，是物質的存在;後者是個體在世界上按照自己的欲望來塑造自己時所獲得的一種存在。按照自己的欲望來塑造自己，實際上就是自由選擇、積極行動、追求真實的自我。人註定是自由的，註定了必須自由選擇。薩特的存在主義思想還有一個基本觀點，就是存在先於本質。這意味着人的自由先於人的本質並且使人的本質成為可能;人的存在的本質懸置在人的自由之中。也就是說，人的自由先於人的本質，是自由、通過自由選擇確定人的本質，人的意義體現於人的自由之中。薩特還進一步將這一觀點在其戲劇《蒼蠅》中藉俄瑞斯忒斯之口表述為“我就是我的自由”。
自由也是福爾斯一生的追求。他特別強調個體獨立的特性，這在其非小說著作《智者：思想上的自畫像》中充分地得到反映。福爾斯的所謂“智者”來自於古希臘哲學家赫拉剋裏特的觀點，即那些具有獨立的思考和判斷能力以及追求內在智慧和知識的人，他們能夠“在無人引導或被錯誤引導的群體中保持自己獨立的特性，取得一定程度的自我實現……”(Olshen3)他在該書中所倡導的維護個體存在的自由，保持獨立的特性，反抗強加於個體使之服服帖帖、唯唯諾諾、循規蹈矩的種種壓力的思想始終貫穿於他的文學創作中。
當薩拉生活在萊姆鎮的時候，她不斷受到別人的侮辱和咒駡，但她就像加繆筆下的莫爾索一樣，根本不考慮別人對自己的評價。她依靠孤獨來喚醒自己的自由意識，她在對孤獨的體驗中來體驗自由。這正如薩特所認為的，當一個人蹂躪另一個人時，並不是、也不能剝奪別人的自由，反而為別人提供了一種自由選擇的境遇，促使別人對自己面臨的各種可能性進行選擇。薩拉從“法國中尉的女人”到“查爾斯的情人”，再自我放逐，都完全是按照自己的意願為自己的人生定位，為生活賦予個人的意義。
薩特關於自由的概念包含着對現存秩序和傳統觀念的否定。這也反映在薩拉的宗教觀念上。小說中所描繪的維多利亞時代是達爾文的《物種起源》剛剛問世，並且對象查爾斯這樣的青年已經産生了一定的影響的時期。但也正是在此時，英國掀起了一場宗教復興運動。 “那時候興建起來的教堂比在那之前歷史上所造的總和還多”。然而，薩拉卻“並不信神”，“正如她看穿了所有的人一樣，她也看穿了維多利亞時代教會的各種荒唐行為，看穿了那個時代教堂污穢的玻璃，也看穿了教會對於《聖經》的狹隘的按字面的解釋”。當波爾坦尼太太威脅她要對自己所說的話負責任時，薩拉蔑視地回敬道:“是在上帝面前嗎?你那麽肯定到了來世上帝還能聽見你說話嗎?”以薩特為代表的無神論存在主義，就是將上帝的觀念從人的存在環境中驅趕了出去，而肯定意志自由是人類的至善。
薩拉對查爾斯的控製及最終離他而去，也是對維多利亞時代兩性關係和道德觀念的一種顛覆。“維多利亞時代所規定的男性是欲望主體，女性是欲望客體，男性是拯救者，女性是等待救贖的對象的二元對立”。在薩拉與查爾斯的關係中，薩拉一直貌似是需要查爾斯同情、幫助的對象，實際上卻一直控製着與查爾斯關係的發展，包括與他見面的時間、地點、情感高峰以及自己離開萊姆鎮的時機選擇，完全將他們的“處境顛倒過來了”。雖然按照薩特的觀點，人們在自己的眼中都把他人互相視為客體，但在讀者眼中，薩拉完全是行動的主體，查爾斯卻是處於被動地位的客體。在這個意義上，薩拉儼然是充分體驗意志自由的存在主義的英雄。
在小說的一個結尾中，查爾斯找到了薩拉，但薩拉卻拒絶了查爾斯婚姻的要求。她說:“我發現我很珍惜這種生活。我不想與他人分享。我喜歡保持我目前的狀況，而不是一個丈夫——無論他待我多麽好，多麽溺愛我——必定會期待我表現得像一個妻子應該表現得那樣”。她進而說：“我很清楚，一進入愛情領域，就沒有什麽神聖不可侵犯的東西可言了”。這表明，薩拉對現狀很滿意，她希望能夠本真地生活下去，而不是按照別人的意願來生活，即便是因為愛情。這裏，我們似乎聽到了薩特在《存在主義是一種人道主義》一書中所說的：“……人就要對自己是怎樣的人負責……並且把自己的存在的責任完全由自己擔負起來”。而薩拉對查爾斯的拒絶，既使得她自己贏得了自由，也給了查爾斯自由。正如薩特所說：“我們在要求自由的時候，發現自由完全依賴他人的自由，而他人的自由，又依賴於我們的自由”。因此，“我就不得不在要求我自己的自由的時候，同時也要求他人的自由”。
整體來看，福爾斯的創作思想蕪雜，但其存在主義色彩非常濃重。不僅是《法國中尉的女人》，他的其他小說，如《收藏傢》（1963年）、《魔術師》（1966年）等，都是作者傳達存在主義哲學思考的有效形式。
During 1981, director Karel Reisz and writer Harold Pinter adapted the novel as an eponymous film; During 2006, it was adapted for the stage, by Mark Healy, in a version which toured the UK that year. In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.
Plot summary
The novel's protagonist is Sarah Woodruff, the title Woman, also known by the nickname of “Tragedy”, and by the unfortunate nickname “The French Lieutenant’s Whore”. She lives in the coastal town of Lyme Regis, as a disgraced woman, supposedly abandoned by a French naval officer named Varguennes--married, unknown to her, to another woman-- with whom she had supposedly had an affair and who had returned to France.
Sarah is portrayed ambiguously: is she a genuine, ill-used woman? Is she a sly, manipulative character using her own self-pity to get Charles to succumb to her? Is she merely a victim of the notion of gender as perceived by upper-middle-class people of the 19th century?
She spends her limited time-off at the Cobb [sea wall], staring at the sea. One day, she is seen there by the gentleman Charles Smithson and his fiancée, Ernestina Freeman, the shallow-minded daughter of a wealthy tradesman. Ernestina tells Charles something of Sarah’s story, and he develops a strong curiosity about her. Eventually, he and she meet clandestinely, during which times Sarah tells Charles her history, and asks for his support, mostly emotional. Despite trying to remain objective, Charles eventually sends Sarah to Exeter, where he, during a journey, cannot resist stopping in to visit and see her. At the time she has suffered an ankle injury; he visits her alone and after they have made love he realised that she is, contrary to the rumours, a virgin. Simultaneously, he learns that his prospective inheritance from an elder uncle is in jeopardy; the uncle is engaged to a woman young enough to bear him an heir.
From there, the novelist offers three different endings for The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
* First ending: Charles marries Ernestina, and their marriage is unhappy; Sarah’s fate is unknown. Charles tells Ernestina about an encounter with whom he implies is the “French Lieutenant’s Whore”, but elides the sordid details, and the matter is ended. This ending, however, might be dismissed as a daydream, before the alternative events of the subsequent meeting with Ernestina are described.
Before the second- and third endings, the narrator — whom the novelist wants the reader to believe is John Fowles, himself — appears as a minor character sharing a train carriage with Charles. He flips a coin to determine the order in which he will portray the two, other possible endings, emphasising their equal plausibility.
* Second ending: Charles and Sarah become intimate; he ends his engagement to Ernestina, with unpleasant consequences. He is disgraced, and his uncle marries, then produces an heir. Sarah flees to London without telling the enamoured Charles, who searches for her for years, before finding her living with several artists (likely the Rossettis), enjoying an artistic, creative life. He then sees he has fathered a child with her; as a family, their future is open, with possible reunion implied.
* Third ending: the narrator re-appears, standing outside the house where the second ending occurred; at the aftermath. He turns back his pocket watch by fifteen minutes, before leaving in his carriage. Events are the same as in the second-ending version, but, when Charles finds Sarah again, in London, their reunion is sour. It is possible that their union was childless; Sarah does not tell Charles about one, and does not express interest for continuing the relationship. He leaves the house, deciding to return to America, and sees the carriage, in which the narrator was thought gone. Raising the question: is Sarah a manipulating, lying woman of few morals, exploiting Charles’s obvious love to get what she wants?
En route, Fowles the novelist discourses upon the difficulties of controlling the characters, and offers analyses of differences in 19th-century customs and class, the theories of Charles Darwin, the poetry of Matthew Arnold, Lord Tennyson, and the literature of Thomas Hardy. He questions the role of the author — when speaking of how the Charles character “disobeys” his orders; the characters have discrete lives of their own in the novel. Philosophically, Existentialism is mentioned several times during the story, and in particular detail at the end, after the portrayals of the two, apparent, equally possible endings.
這是一本關於哲學史的小說，２０世紀百部經典著作之一 ，１９９４年獲"德國青少年文學奬"與"最優秀作品奬" 。
該書自１９９１年出版發行之後，長期雄踞各國暢銷書排行榜第一名，世界上已有３５個國傢購買了該書的版權。截止到１９９５年５月，該書德文版的銷售已達１２０萬册的天文數字。一部《蘇菲的世界》就是一部深入淺出的人類哲學史。它不僅能喚醒人們內心深處對生命的敬仰與贊嘆、對人生意義的關心與好奇，而且也為每一個人的成長——使生命從混沌走嚮智慧、由睏惑而進入覺悟之境，挂起了一盞盞明亮的桅燈……
《蘇菲的世界》以小說 蘇菲的世界(電影) 的形式，通過一名哲學導師嚮一個叫蘇菲的女孩傳授哲學知識的經過，揭示了西方哲學史發展的歷程。由前蘇格拉底時代到薩特，以及亞裏士多德、笛卡兒、黑格爾等人的思想都通過作者生動的筆觸躍然紙上，並配以當時的歷史背景加以解釋，引人入勝。評論傢認為，對於那些從未讀過哲學課程的人而言，此書是最為合適的入門書，而對於那些以往讀過一些哲學而已忘得一幹二淨的人士，也可起到溫故知新的作用。
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-概述
該書自1991年出版發行之後，長期雄踞各國暢銷書排行榜第一名，世界上已有35個國傢購買了該書的版權。截止到1995年5月，該書德文版的銷售已達120萬册的天文數字。一部《蘇菲的世界》就是一部深入淺出的人類哲學史。它不僅能喚醒人們內心深處對生命的敬仰與贊嘆、對人生意義的關心與好奇，而且也為每一個人的成長--使生命從混沌走嚮智慧、由睏惑而進入覺悟之境，挂起了一盞盞明亮的桅燈……
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-故事梗概
14歲的少女蘇菲某天放學回傢，收到了神秘的一封信——“你是誰？世界從哪裏來？”從這一天開始，蘇菲不斷接到一些極不尋常的來信，世界像謎團一般在她眼底展開。在一位神秘導師的指導引下，蘇菲開始思索從古希臘到康德，從祁剋果到佛洛伊德等各位大師所思考的根本問題。她運用少女天生的悟性與後天知識，企圖解開這些謎團。然而，事實真相遠比她所想的更怪異、更離奇……
《蘇菲的世界》，即是智慧的世界，夢的世界。它將會喚醒每個人內心深處對生命的贊嘆與對人生終極意義的關懷和好奇。
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-摘要
你是誰？
她怎麽會知道？不用說，她的名字叫蘇菲，但那個叫做蘇菲的人又是誰呢？她還沒想出來。
如果她取了另外一個名字呢？比如說，如果她叫做安妮的話，她會不會變成別人？
這使她想起爸爸原本要將她取名為莉莉。她試着想象自己與別人握手，並且介紹自己名叫莉莉的情景，但覺得好像很不對勁，像是別人在自我介紹一般。
她跳起來，走進浴室，手裏拿着那封奇怪的信。她站在鏡子前面，凝視着自己的眼睛。“我的名字叫莉莉。”她說。
鏡中的女孩卻連眼睛也不眨一下。無論蘇菲做什麽，她都依樣畫葫蘆。蘇菲飛快地做了一個動作，想使鏡中的影像追趕不及，但那個女孩卻和她一般的敏捷。
“你是誰？”蘇菲問。
鏡中的人也不回答。有一剎那，她覺得迷惑，弄不清楚剛纔問問題的到底是她，還是鏡中的影像。
蘇菲用食指點着鏡中的鼻子，說：“你是我。”
對方依舊沒有反應。於是她將句子顛倒過來，說：“我是你。”
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-書評
賈德這本關於哲學史的小說可謂是空前的，他再次用事實證明了哲學並不是脫離現實的學院人士在象牙塔裏所寫的東西。--《德意志星期日匯報》
該書是一個將學術作品通俗化的傑出範例，未曾修習哲學概論的人，可以把它作為一本最佳的入門讀物，而學習過此門課程但已忘卻大半的人，本書則是溫故而知新的得力之作。 --美國《新聞周刊》
挪威作傢喬斯坦·賈德不僅文筆卓爾不群，同時有多年擔任哲學教師的經歷，《蘇菲的世界》一書有助於使讀者以閱讀偵探小說般的心情遊覽從柏拉圖以前一直到２０世紀的世界哲學史，而絲毫不産生任何枯燥厭煩的感覺。 --著名作傢與評論傢馬德蘭·藍格爾
哲學不是萬靈丹，但是從來不去留意“愛好智慧”的重要與前人的心得，那麽註定會陷於心靈封閉與終結。這或許是本書廣受歡迎的原因吧為了使人從睏惑到覺悟，本書提供了一盞明燈。--哲學教授傅佩茱
《蘇菲的世界》可以當做哲學啓蒙書來閱讀。它的小說部分，蘇菲的主體自覺過程則頗像偵探故事加上現代版的————《愛麗絲夢遊仙境》，哲學加偵探，加幻想，再加上宇宙觀，它讓人更加心胸開闊，這不正是哲學“愛智”最古典的要義嗎知名作傢南方朔
這本書的流行有其重要性，我們可以從好幾方面來看。全書雖非學術性著作，但它是一本捍衛哲學的書，正因為其大衆化，它也就代表了“大多數人的看法”。這本書不是在探討哲學上的某一特別思潮或歷史，而是嘗試對每一派別做概論式的介紹，並說明它在今日的地位。可以說是一本集“學術界一般看法的摘要錄”。因此，這本書表達了當今知識分子的立場。
假如《蘇菲的世界》代表着主流知識分子的哲學觀點，它所表達的也極引人註目。這本書對真實的哲學給予極崇高的評價：批判的、理性的和公正的評論；去除偏見、迷信和慣例；不做倉促和輕率的判斷，一意追求真理、知識、美善和道德。
Mostly consisting of dialogues between Sophie Amundsen and a mysterious man named Alberto Knox, interwoven with an increasingly bizarre and mysterious plot, Sophie's World acts as both a novel and a basic guide to philosophy.
Plot summary
Sophie Amundsen is fourteen years old when the book begins. She begins a strange correspondence course in philosophy. Every day, a letter comes to her mailbox that contains a few questions and then later in the day a package comes with some typed pages describing the ideas of a philosopher who dealt with the issues raised by the questions. Although at first she does not know, later on Sophie learns that Alberto Knox is the name of the philosopher who is teaching her. He sends her packages via his dog Hermes. Alberto first tells Sophie that philosophy is extremely relevant to life and that if we do not question and ponder our very existence we are not really living. Then he proceeds to go through the history of western philosophy. Alberto teaches Sophie about the ancient myths that people had in the days before they tried to come up with natural explanations for the processes in the world. Then she learns about the natural philosophers who were concerned with change. Next Alberto describes Democritus and the theory of indivisible atoms underlying all of nature as well as the concept of fate.
At the same time as she takes the philosophy course, Sophie receives a strange postcard sent to Hilde Møller Knag, care of Sophie. The postcard is from Hilde's father and wishes Hilde happy birthday. Sophie is confused, and more so when she finds a scarf with Hilde's name on it. She does not know what is happening but she is sure that Hilde and the philosophy course must somehow be connected. She learns about Socrates, who was wise enough to know that he knew nothing. Then Alberto sends her a video that shows him in present day Athens and somehow he seems to go back in time to ancient Athens. She learns about Plato and his world of ideas and then about Aristotle, who critiqued Plato, classified much of the natural world, and founded logic and our theory of concepts.
Then, as Sophie's education continues, the Hilde situation begins to get more complicated. She finds many more postcards to Hilde, and some of them are even dated on June 15, the day Sophie will turn 15. The problem is that June 15 is still over a month away. She discovers some of this with her best friend Joanna, and one of the postcards tells Hilde that one day she will meet Sophie and also mentions Joanna. Strange things are happening that the girls cannot figure out. Sophie's relationship with her mother becomes somewhat strained as she tries both to cover up the correspondence with Alberto and to practice her philosophical thinking on her mom. Meanwhile, Alberto teaches Sophie about Jesus and the meeting of Indo-European and Semitic culture. She learns about St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, and the christianization of Greek philosophy that occurred in the Middle Ages. By this time, Sophie has met Alberto and he begins hinting that the philosophy is about to get extremely relevant to the strange things that are happening to her.
Sophie learns about the focus on humanity in the Renaissance and the extremes of the Baroque and then Alberto focuses on some key philosophers. Urgently, he teaches her about Descartes, who doubted, and by doing so knew at least that he could doubt. They move on to Spinoza as it becomes clear that Hilde's father has some awesome power over them. Then Sophie learns about the empiricists. Locke believed in natural rights and that everything we know is gained from experience. Hume, an important influence on Kant, showed that our actions are guided by feelings and warned against making laws based upon our experiences. But Berkeley is most important to Sophie because he suggested that perhaps our entire lives were inside the mind of God. And Alberto says that their lives are inside the mind of Albert Knag, Hilde's father.
At this point the story switches to Hilde's point of view. On June 15, the day she turns fifteen, Hilde receives a birthday gift from her father entitled Sophie's World. She begins to read and is enthralled. We follow the rest of Sophie's story from Hilde's perspective. Hilde becomes certain that Sophie exists, that she is not just a character in a book. Alberto has a plan to escape Albert Knag's mind, and they must finish the philosophy course before that can happen. He teaches Sophie about the Enlightenment and its humane values and about Kant and his unification of empiricist and rationalist thought. Things in Sophie's life have become completely insane but she and Alberto know they must figure out a way to do something. It will have to occur on the night of June 15, when Hilde's father returns home. They learn about the world spirit of Romanticism, Hegel's dialectical view of history, and Kierkegaard's belief that the individual's existence is primary. Meanwhile, Hilde plans a surprise for her father on his return home. They rush through Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Sartre, desperate to come up with a plan to escape even though everything they do is known by Hilde's father. Then at the end of Sophie's World, the book that Hilde is reading, while at a party for Sophie on June 15, Alberto and Sophie disappear. Hilde's father comes home and they talk about the book, and Hilde is sure that Sophie exists somewhere. Meanwhile, Sophie and Alberto have a new existence as spirit. They have escaped from Albert Knag's mind but they are invisible to other people and can walk right through them. Sophie wants to try to interfere in the world of Hilde and her father, and at the end of the book she is learning how to do so.
該書自１９９１年出版發行之後，長期雄踞各國暢銷書排行榜第一名，世界上已有３５個國傢購買了該書的版權。截止到１９９５年５月，該書德文版的銷售已達１２０萬册的天文數字。一部《蘇菲的世界》就是一部深入淺出的人類哲學史。它不僅能喚醒人們內心深處對生命的敬仰與贊嘆、對人生意義的關心與好奇，而且也為每一個人的成長——使生命從混沌走嚮智慧、由睏惑而進入覺悟之境，挂起了一盞盞明亮的桅燈……
《蘇菲的世界》以小說 蘇菲的世界(電影) 的形式，通過一名哲學導師嚮一個叫蘇菲的女孩傳授哲學知識的經過，揭示了西方哲學史發展的歷程。由前蘇格拉底時代到薩特，以及亞裏士多德、笛卡兒、黑格爾等人的思想都通過作者生動的筆觸躍然紙上，並配以當時的歷史背景加以解釋，引人入勝。評論傢認為，對於那些從未讀過哲學課程的人而言，此書是最為合適的入門書，而對於那些以往讀過一些哲學而已忘得一幹二淨的人士，也可起到溫故知新的作用。
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-概述
該書自1991年出版發行之後，長期雄踞各國暢銷書排行榜第一名，世界上已有35個國傢購買了該書的版權。截止到1995年5月，該書德文版的銷售已達120萬册的天文數字。一部《蘇菲的世界》就是一部深入淺出的人類哲學史。它不僅能喚醒人們內心深處對生命的敬仰與贊嘆、對人生意義的關心與好奇，而且也為每一個人的成長--使生命從混沌走嚮智慧、由睏惑而進入覺悟之境，挂起了一盞盞明亮的桅燈……
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-故事梗概
14歲的少女蘇菲某天放學回傢，收到了神秘的一封信——“你是誰？世界從哪裏來？”從這一天開始，蘇菲不斷接到一些極不尋常的來信，世界像謎團一般在她眼底展開。在一位神秘導師的指導引下，蘇菲開始思索從古希臘到康德，從祁剋果到佛洛伊德等各位大師所思考的根本問題。她運用少女天生的悟性與後天知識，企圖解開這些謎團。然而，事實真相遠比她所想的更怪異、更離奇……
《蘇菲的世界》，即是智慧的世界，夢的世界。它將會喚醒每個人內心深處對生命的贊嘆與對人生終極意義的關懷和好奇。
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-摘要
你是誰？
她怎麽會知道？不用說，她的名字叫蘇菲，但那個叫做蘇菲的人又是誰呢？她還沒想出來。
如果她取了另外一個名字呢？比如說，如果她叫做安妮的話，她會不會變成別人？
這使她想起爸爸原本要將她取名為莉莉。她試着想象自己與別人握手，並且介紹自己名叫莉莉的情景，但覺得好像很不對勁，像是別人在自我介紹一般。
她跳起來，走進浴室，手裏拿着那封奇怪的信。她站在鏡子前面，凝視着自己的眼睛。“我的名字叫莉莉。”她說。
鏡中的女孩卻連眼睛也不眨一下。無論蘇菲做什麽，她都依樣畫葫蘆。蘇菲飛快地做了一個動作，想使鏡中的影像追趕不及，但那個女孩卻和她一般的敏捷。
“你是誰？”蘇菲問。
鏡中的人也不回答。有一剎那，她覺得迷惑，弄不清楚剛纔問問題的到底是她，還是鏡中的影像。
蘇菲用食指點着鏡中的鼻子，說：“你是我。”
對方依舊沒有反應。於是她將句子顛倒過來，說：“我是你。”
《蘇菲的世界》[書籍]-書評
賈德這本關於哲學史的小說可謂是空前的，他再次用事實證明了哲學並不是脫離現實的學院人士在象牙塔裏所寫的東西。--《德意志星期日匯報》
該書是一個將學術作品通俗化的傑出範例，未曾修習哲學概論的人，可以把它作為一本最佳的入門讀物，而學習過此門課程但已忘卻大半的人，本書則是溫故而知新的得力之作。 --美國《新聞周刊》
挪威作傢喬斯坦·賈德不僅文筆卓爾不群，同時有多年擔任哲學教師的經歷，《蘇菲的世界》一書有助於使讀者以閱讀偵探小說般的心情遊覽從柏拉圖以前一直到２０世紀的世界哲學史，而絲毫不産生任何枯燥厭煩的感覺。 --著名作傢與評論傢馬德蘭·藍格爾
哲學不是萬靈丹，但是從來不去留意“愛好智慧”的重要與前人的心得，那麽註定會陷於心靈封閉與終結。這或許是本書廣受歡迎的原因吧為了使人從睏惑到覺悟，本書提供了一盞明燈。--哲學教授傅佩茱
《蘇菲的世界》可以當做哲學啓蒙書來閱讀。它的小說部分，蘇菲的主體自覺過程則頗像偵探故事加上現代版的————《愛麗絲夢遊仙境》，哲學加偵探，加幻想，再加上宇宙觀，它讓人更加心胸開闊，這不正是哲學“愛智”最古典的要義嗎知名作傢南方朔
這本書的流行有其重要性，我們可以從好幾方面來看。全書雖非學術性著作，但它是一本捍衛哲學的書，正因為其大衆化，它也就代表了“大多數人的看法”。這本書不是在探討哲學上的某一特別思潮或歷史，而是嘗試對每一派別做概論式的介紹，並說明它在今日的地位。可以說是一本集“學術界一般看法的摘要錄”。因此，這本書表達了當今知識分子的立場。
假如《蘇菲的世界》代表着主流知識分子的哲學觀點，它所表達的也極引人註目。這本書對真實的哲學給予極崇高的評價：批判的、理性的和公正的評論；去除偏見、迷信和慣例；不做倉促和輕率的判斷，一意追求真理、知識、美善和道德。
Mostly consisting of dialogues between Sophie Amundsen and a mysterious man named Alberto Knox, interwoven with an increasingly bizarre and mysterious plot, Sophie's World acts as both a novel and a basic guide to philosophy.
Plot summary
Sophie Amundsen is fourteen years old when the book begins. She begins a strange correspondence course in philosophy. Every day, a letter comes to her mailbox that contains a few questions and then later in the day a package comes with some typed pages describing the ideas of a philosopher who dealt with the issues raised by the questions. Although at first she does not know, later on Sophie learns that Alberto Knox is the name of the philosopher who is teaching her. He sends her packages via his dog Hermes. Alberto first tells Sophie that philosophy is extremely relevant to life and that if we do not question and ponder our very existence we are not really living. Then he proceeds to go through the history of western philosophy. Alberto teaches Sophie about the ancient myths that people had in the days before they tried to come up with natural explanations for the processes in the world. Then she learns about the natural philosophers who were concerned with change. Next Alberto describes Democritus and the theory of indivisible atoms underlying all of nature as well as the concept of fate.
At the same time as she takes the philosophy course, Sophie receives a strange postcard sent to Hilde Møller Knag, care of Sophie. The postcard is from Hilde's father and wishes Hilde happy birthday. Sophie is confused, and more so when she finds a scarf with Hilde's name on it. She does not know what is happening but she is sure that Hilde and the philosophy course must somehow be connected. She learns about Socrates, who was wise enough to know that he knew nothing. Then Alberto sends her a video that shows him in present day Athens and somehow he seems to go back in time to ancient Athens. She learns about Plato and his world of ideas and then about Aristotle, who critiqued Plato, classified much of the natural world, and founded logic and our theory of concepts.
Then, as Sophie's education continues, the Hilde situation begins to get more complicated. She finds many more postcards to Hilde, and some of them are even dated on June 15, the day Sophie will turn 15. The problem is that June 15 is still over a month away. She discovers some of this with her best friend Joanna, and one of the postcards tells Hilde that one day she will meet Sophie and also mentions Joanna. Strange things are happening that the girls cannot figure out. Sophie's relationship with her mother becomes somewhat strained as she tries both to cover up the correspondence with Alberto and to practice her philosophical thinking on her mom. Meanwhile, Alberto teaches Sophie about Jesus and the meeting of Indo-European and Semitic culture. She learns about St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, and the christianization of Greek philosophy that occurred in the Middle Ages. By this time, Sophie has met Alberto and he begins hinting that the philosophy is about to get extremely relevant to the strange things that are happening to her.
Sophie learns about the focus on humanity in the Renaissance and the extremes of the Baroque and then Alberto focuses on some key philosophers. Urgently, he teaches her about Descartes, who doubted, and by doing so knew at least that he could doubt. They move on to Spinoza as it becomes clear that Hilde's father has some awesome power over them. Then Sophie learns about the empiricists. Locke believed in natural rights and that everything we know is gained from experience. Hume, an important influence on Kant, showed that our actions are guided by feelings and warned against making laws based upon our experiences. But Berkeley is most important to Sophie because he suggested that perhaps our entire lives were inside the mind of God. And Alberto says that their lives are inside the mind of Albert Knag, Hilde's father.
At this point the story switches to Hilde's point of view. On June 15, the day she turns fifteen, Hilde receives a birthday gift from her father entitled Sophie's World. She begins to read and is enthralled. We follow the rest of Sophie's story from Hilde's perspective. Hilde becomes certain that Sophie exists, that she is not just a character in a book. Alberto has a plan to escape Albert Knag's mind, and they must finish the philosophy course before that can happen. He teaches Sophie about the Enlightenment and its humane values and about Kant and his unification of empiricist and rationalist thought. Things in Sophie's life have become completely insane but she and Alberto know they must figure out a way to do something. It will have to occur on the night of June 15, when Hilde's father returns home. They learn about the world spirit of Romanticism, Hegel's dialectical view of history, and Kierkegaard's belief that the individual's existence is primary. Meanwhile, Hilde plans a surprise for her father on his return home. They rush through Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Sartre, desperate to come up with a plan to escape even though everything they do is known by Hilde's father. Then at the end of Sophie's World, the book that Hilde is reading, while at a party for Sophie on June 15, Alberto and Sophie disappear. Hilde's father comes home and they talk about the book, and Hilde is sure that Sophie exists somewhere. Meanwhile, Sophie and Alberto have a new existence as spirit. They have escaped from Albert Knag's mind but they are invisible to other people and can walk right through them. Sophie wants to try to interfere in the world of Hilde and her father, and at the end of the book she is learning how to do so.
《變形記》（德語Die Verwandlung，英語The Metamorphosis）是卡夫卡的短篇小說代表作之一,是卡氏藝術上的最高成就，被認為是20世紀最偉大的小說作品之一。 在西方現代小說史上占有重要地位.小說寫人變成動物,故事神秘離奇。《變形記》作為西方現代派文學的奠基之作，也是卡夫卡也被公認為現代派的鼻祖的重要作品之一，對後來的現代主義發展産生了深遠的影響，可以說二戰後的歐洲興起的“荒誕派戲劇”、法國的“新小說”和美國的“黑色幽默”小說都受到了卡夫卡的啓發。主人公格裏高爾是個小人物。父親破産，母親生病，妹妹上學。沉重的家庭負擔和父親的債務，壓得格裏高爾喘不過氣來。他拼命幹活，目的是還清父債，改善家庭生活。在公司，他受老闆的氣，指望還清父債後辭職。可以說，對父母他是個孝子，對妹妹他是個好哥哥，對公司他是個好職員。變成甲蟲，身體越來越差，他還為還清父債擔憂，還眷戀傢人，甚至為討父親歡心，自己艱難地乖乖爬回臥室。這樣善良、忠厚而又富有責任感的人，最終被親人拋棄。格裏高爾的悲劇是令人心酸的，具有豐富的社會內涵。
《變形記》-作者簡介
弗蘭茲·卡夫卡弗蘭茲·卡夫卡
弗蘭茲·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka，1883年7月3日—1924年6月3日），奧地利小說傢，20世紀德語小說傢。文筆明淨而想像奇詭，常采用寓言體,背後的寓意人言人殊，暫無（或永無）定論。
卡夫卡他是一位用德語寫作的業餘作傢，他與法國作傢馬賽爾·普魯斯特，愛爾蘭作傢詹姆斯·喬伊斯並稱為西方現代主義文學的先驅和大師。卡夫卡生前默默無聞，孤獨地奮鬥，隨着時間的流逝，他的價值纔逐漸為人們所認識，作品引起了世界的震動，並在世界範圍內形成一股“卡夫卡”熱，經久不衰。
後世的批評傢，往往過分強調卡夫卡作品陰暗的一面，忽視其明朗、風趣的地方，米蘭·昆德拉在《被背叛的遺囑》（Les testaments trahis）中試圖糾正這一點。其實據布勞德的回憶，卡夫卡喜歡在朋友面前朗讀自己的作品，讀到得意的段落時會忍俊不禁，自己大笑起來。
卡夫卡一生的作品並不多，但對後世文學的影響卻是極為深遠的。美國詩人奧登認為：“他與我們時代的關係最近似但丁、莎士比亞、歌德與他們時代的關係。”卡夫卡的小說揭示了一種荒誕的充滿非理性色彩的景象，個人式的、憂鬱的、孤獨的情緒，運用的是象徵式的手法。三四十年代的超現實主義餘黨視之為同仁，四五十年代的荒誕派以之為先驅，六十年代的美國”黑色幽默“奉之為典範。
卡夫卡1909年開始發表作品，1915年因短篇小說《司爐工》獲馮塔納德國文學奬金。卡夫卡創作勤奮，但並不以發表、成名為目的。工作之餘的創作是他寄托思想感情和排譴憂鬱苦悶的手段。許多作品隨意寫來，並無結尾，他對自己的作品也多為不滿，臨終前讓摯友布洛德全部燒毀其作品。布洛德出於友誼與崇敬之情，違背了卡夫卡遺願，整理出版了《卡夫卡全集》（1950—1980）共九捲。其中八捲中的作品是首次刊出，引起文壇轟動。
《變形記》-內容簡介
背景
1914年至1918年的第一次世界大戰，使許多資本主義國傢經濟蕭條，社會動蕩，人民生活在水深火熱之中。黑暗的現實，痛苦的生活，使得人們對資本主義社會失去信心，一方面尋求出路，銳意改革，一方面又陷於孤獨、頽廢、絶望之中。19世紀末至20世紀初，一些思想敏銳的藝術傢認為世界是混亂的、荒誕的，他們著書立說，批判資本主義的人際關係，批判摧殘人性的社會制度。第一次世界大戰前後和第二次世界大戰前後，現代主義文學應運而生。現代主義文學作品反映了資本主義社會的黑暗，人和人之間關係的冷酷，人對社會的絶望。藝術上強調使用極度誇張以至怪誕離奇的表現手法，描繪扭麯的人性，表現人的本能和無意識的主觀感受，開掘個人的直覺、本能、無意識、夢幻、變態心理以至半瘋狂、瘋狂的言行、心理。現代主義的優秀文學作品探索人的心靈，為揭示人的內心世界提供了新的藝術手法。
內容
小說寫人變成動物,故事神秘離奇：在《變形記》中，職業為推銷員的主人翁一覺醒來，發現自己變成了一隻巨大的跳蚤。
一天早晨,格裏高爾從夢中醒來時發現自己躺在床上變成了一隻巨大的甲蟲,全身長出了許多衹細得可憐的小腿,堅硬得像鐵甲一樣的背貼着床而仰臥着,不能翻身,也下不了床. 但他必須起來。他要靜悄悄不受打擾地起床,穿起衣服,最要緊的是吃飽早飯,再考慮下一步該怎麽辦,因為他非常明白,躲在床上瞎想一氣是想不出什麽明堂的. 他還記得過去也是因為睡覺姿勢不好,躺在床上時往往會覺得這兒那兒隱隱作痛,及至起來,就知道純屬心理作用,所以他殷切地盼望今天早晨的幻覺會逐漸消逝。格裏高爾,雖然人己'物化'為蟲子,但他還存在人的思維,還要象正常人一樣生活和思考.由於擔心趕不上五點鐘的火車.格裏高爾心情既焦急又恐慌,又生怕公司來人,自己這種面目如何見人!他竭力掙紮。 格裏高爾慢慢地把椅子推嚮門邊,接着便放開椅子,抓住門來支撐自己——他那些細腿的腳底上倒是頗有粘性的。他在門上靠了一會兒,喘過一口氣來.接着他始用嘴巴轉動插在鎖孔裏的鑰匙.不幸的是,他並沒什麽牙齒。他得用什麽來咬住鑰匙呢 ？鑰匙需要轉動時,他便用嘴巴銜住它,自己也繞着鎖孔轉了一圈,好把鑰匙扭過去,或者不如說,使用全身的重量使它轉動.終於屈服的鎖發出了響亮的咔塔一聲,使格裏高爾大為高興··· ···
《變形記》-情節和主題
《變形記》創作於1912年，發表於1915年。小說分成三部分，用一、二、三標明。課文節選了原小說的一半內容。
第一部分
格裏高爾發現自己變成“巨大的甲蟲”，驚慌而又憂鬱。父親發現後大怒，把他趕回自己的臥室。
第二部分
格裏高爾變了，養成了甲蟲的生活習性，卻保留了人的意識。他失業了，仍舊關心怎樣還清父親欠的債務，送妹妹上音樂學院。可是，一個月後，他成了全家的纍贅。父親、母親、妹妹對他改變了態度。
第三部分
為了生存，傢人衹得打工掙錢，忍受不了格裏高爾這個負擔。妹妹終於提出把哥哥弄走。格裏高爾又餓又病，陷入絶望，“他懷着深情和愛意想他的一傢人”，“然後他的頭就自己垂倒在地板上，他的鼻孔呼出了最後一絲氣息”，死了。父親、母親和妹妹開始過着自己養活自己的新生活。
情節的發展由兩條綫索交互展開：
格裏高爾：變成甲蟲——成為纍贅——絶望而死
傢裏親人：驚慌、同情—— 逐漸憎恨——“把他弄走”
格裏高爾自始至終關心家庭、懷戀親人，可是親人最終拋棄了他，對他的死無動於衷，而且决定去郊遊。
作者描寫這種人情反差，揭示了當時社會生活對人的異化，致使親情淡薄，人性扭麯。《變形記》的主題具有強烈的批判性。卡夫卡創作的文學作品的主題，不同的讀者從不同的角度，會有不同的體驗和理解。有人認為《變形記》的主題是：表現人對自己命運的無能為力，人失去自我就處於絶境。也有人認為，格裏高爾變成甲蟲，無利於人，自行死亡；一傢人重新工作，走嚮新生活；存在就是合理，生活規律是無情的。
《變形記》-人物和心理描寫
主人公格裏高爾是個小人物。父親破産，母親生病，妹妹上學。沉重的家庭
《變形記》《變形記》
負擔和父親的債務，壓得格裏高爾喘不過氣來。他拼命幹活，目的是還清父債，改善家庭生活。在公司，他受老闆的氣，指望還清父債後辭職。可以說，對父母他是個孝子，對妹妹他是個好哥哥，對公司他是個好職員。變成甲蟲，身體越來越差，他還為還清父債擔憂，還眷戀傢人，甚至為討父親歡心，自己艱難地乖乖爬回臥室。這樣善良、忠厚而又富有責任感的人，最終被親人拋棄。格裏高爾的悲劇是令人心酸的，具有豐富的社會內涵。
小說用心理描寫的方法刻畫格裏高爾這個人物。格裏高爾過去的生活、變甲蟲後的思想感情和個性特點，都是通過心理描寫表現出來的。
小說用許多筆墨寫了變形後格裏高爾悲哀凄苦的內心世界，格裏高爾雖然變成了甲蟲，但他的心理始終保持着人的狀態，他突然發現自己變成大甲蟲時的驚慌、憂鬱，他考慮家庭經濟狀況時的焦慮、自責，他遭親人厭棄後的絶望、痛苦，無不展示了一個善良、忠厚、富有責任感的小人物渴望人的理解和接受的心理。衹是這種願望終於被徹底的絶望所代替，彌漫在人物心頭的是無邊的孤獨、冷漠與悲涼。應該說，《變形記》的內在主綫就是格裏高爾變成甲蟲後的心理—情感流動的過程，主人公變成甲蟲後的內心感受和心理活動是小說的主體。小說用內心獨白、回憶、聯想、幻想等手法，去表現人物的心理活動。他不斷地回憶、聯想過去和今後的事情，不時由於恐懼焦慮、痛苦和絶望而産生幻想、幻覺，並且在自由聯想中經常出現時空倒錯、邏輯混亂、思維跳躍等，具有一定的意識流特徵。
《變形記》-評價
表現主義
卡夫卡的創作旺盛期正值德國表現主義文學運動的高潮時期。他的短篇小說《變形記》可以說是表現主義的典型之作。
表現主義的創作主張是遵循“表現論”美學原則而與傳統現實主義的“模仿論”原則相對立的。它反對“復製世界”，即不把客觀事物的表面現象作為真實的依據，而主張憑認真“觀察”和重新思考去發現或洞察被習俗觀念掩蓋着的，而為一般人所不註意的真實。為此就需要一種特殊的藝術手段，把描寫的客觀對象加以 “陌生化”的處理，以造成審美主體與被描寫的客體之間的距離，從而引起你的驚異，迫使你從另一個角度去探悉同一個事物的本質。這種藝術手段通稱“間離法”，在布萊希特那裏叫作“陌生化效果”。《變形記》的變形即是一種間離（或“陌生化”）技巧。作者想藉以揭示人與人之間——包括倫常之間——表面親親熱熱，內心裏卻是極為孤獨和陌生的實質；之所以親親熱熱，因為互相有共同的利害關係維係着，一旦割斷這種關係，則那種親熱的外觀馬上就消失而暴露出冷酷和冷漠的真相。正如恩格斯在《英國工人階級狀況》一文中所揭示的：“維係家庭的紐帶並不是家庭的愛，而是隱藏在財産共有關係之後的私人利益。”可謂一針見血。
當格裏高爾身體健康，每月能拿回工資供養全家的時候，他是這個家庭裏一名堂堂正正的而且受人尊敬的長子。但當他一旦患了不治之癥，失去了公司裏的職務，因而無法與家庭保持這種經濟聯繫的時候，他在家庭裏的一切尊嚴很快被剝奪幹淨，甚至連維持生命的正常飲食都無人過問。他變成“非人”，他的處境無異於動物。當然也可以讓主人公得一種致命的重病或遭遇一次喪失勞動力的重殘，然後寫他被傢人厭棄的過程。但這樣的構思其藝術效果不如變形那樣強烈。因為作為病人，他有口會說話，有眼睛會看人，你不能當着他的面表現出對他的厭倦，或不給他送飯吃。而一隻甲蟲，既不會說話，也沒有表情，他的孤獨感就更加令人感到凄然了——以上是從社會學觀點去看的。
如果從西方流行的“異化”觀念去看，這篇小說也是寫人與人之間、人與自我之間關係的一篇傑作。在實際生活中，卡夫卡在家庭裏與父親的關係確實是不和諧的，但與母親關係是正常的，與他第三個妹妹特別要好。但卡夫卡卻在一封信中說：“我在自己的傢裏比陌生人還要陌生。”現在卡夫卡通過《變形記》暗示我們：即使像他的妹妹那樣愛着哥哥，但一旦這位哥哥得了一種致命的絶癥，久而久之，她也會像小說中的那位女郎那樣厭棄他的。這裏，卡夫卡寫的是一種普遍的人類生存狀況。人的變形，也是自我“異化”的一種寫照。尤其是主人公變成甲蟲以後，人的習性漸漸消失，而“蟲性” 日益增加，仿佛格裏高爾異化出人的世界以後，倒是在動物的世界裏找到“蟲”的自我了。這樣的寫法是絶妙的。
在人與人之間還沒有取得和諧關係的世界裏，人的變形也是一種象徵，一切倒黴人的象徵：人一旦遭遇不幸（喪失工作能力的疾病、傷殘、政治襲擊等），他就不再被社會承認，從而失去作為人的價值的“自我”，成為無異於低等動物的“非人”。
在現代藝術創作中，變形是一種怪誕的表現手段，是一種創造 “距離”或“陌生化”的技巧。按照美國美學家桑塔那那的說法，怪誕也是一種創造；它違背客觀事物的表面真實，卻並不違背客觀事物的內在邏輯，因此它已進入現代美學的範疇，成為表現主義文學藝術偏愛的一種手法。表現主義文學創作強調從主觀的內心感受出發，作品往往具有一種個人的真實性，這在卡夫卡筆下呈現為自傳色彩。不僅主人公的身份（公司雇員）和心理（作為長子必須盡家庭義務）與作者近似，其他人物如父親、母親和妹妹幾乎都可以與卡夫卡的家庭成員進行比較。
內涵
《變形記》這個故事表面看來荒誕不經，實則藴涵了豐富而深刻的內容，主要包括以下方面：
1、首先，它真實地表現了西方現代資本主義社會裏人的異化.在西方現代資本主義社會人(例如金錢,機器,産品,生産方式等)所驅使，所脅迫，所統治而不能自主,成為物的奴隸，進而失去人的本性，變為非人.。《變形記》主人公裏高爾的故事正是人異化為非人這一哲學生存現狀.。
2、其次，作品還表現了在現代社會裏人的一種生存恐懼。人變甲蟲，在這裏象徵着莫明其妙的巨大災難的降臨，這種人不能掌握自己命運的感覺表現 了現代西方人的某種精神狀態，尤其是進入20世紀以後，兩次世界大戰的災難，周期性的經濟危機，超級大國的軍備競賽，核戰爭的威脅，環境污染和自然界生態平衡的破壞，這一切使人們對未來的命運處於一種不可知的恐懼狀態之中。《變形記》中格裏高爾的命運正反映了這種精神狀態本質的東西。
3、再次，《變形記》還表現了現代社會中人與人之間的冷漠關係。小說詳細的描寫了傢人對他從關心到厭惡到必欲置其於死地的過程，這一過程實際上是希望他恢復賺錢的能力到徹底絶望的過程。這是一個為家庭奉獻了一切，卻由於失去了原有的價值而被家庭拋棄的小人物的悲劇，這類悲劇在人情冷漠的現代社會裏並不罕見。
作品創造的藝術世界，涵蓋思想內容和藝術形式兩個方面，是內容和形式的有機統一。就思想而言，較為麯折地反映了資本主義社會的種種弊端，將荒唐、人性異化看着特定歷史條件下人類社會不可避免的現象，賦予作品以濃厚的虛無主義和悲觀主義情調;就藝術而言,善於運用怪誕和象徵的表現手法，特別是用富有表現力的手法去表現抽象的思想感情。
受存在主義學說的影響，作品深刻反映了世紀末情緒，表現了人的孤獨與恐懼，展示在人們面前的是荒誕的世界和異化的主題, 形成了獨持的“卡夫卡式”藝術風格和思想內容。特別是卡夫卡對表現主義手法運用自如,達到登峰造極之境界。其作品往往寓荒誕於真實之中，融幻想和怪誕於一體，或描寫人與“非人”的人有機碰撞;或執著於精神層面的不可逾越，真理的不可尋求，或寄寓象徵形象的塑造來展現人物的痛苦和睏惑等等，構建了“卡夫卡式”藝術風格的美學概念。
《變形記》-世人心中的卡夫卡與《變形記》
卡夫卡是現代主義文學的開山祖師，《變形記》是他的代表作品之一。如果你想瞭解現代主義文學，最好的辦法就是從反復閱讀《變形記》開始。
在本書中卡夫卡描述了小職員格裏高爾·薩姆沙突然變成一隻使傢人都厭惡的大甲蟲的荒誕情節，藉以揭示人與人之間--包括倫常之間--表面上親親熱熱，內心裏卻極為孤獨和陌生的實質，生動而深刻地再現了資本主義社會中人與人之間的冷漠。在荒誕的、不合邏輯的世界裏描繪"人類生活的一切活動及其逼真的細節"，這正是著名小說傢卡夫卡的天賦之所在。
閱讀《變形記》，有一種思維的樂趣，有一種睿智的感覺，思想上的所得顯然多於心靈的收穫，能從那極度的變形與誇張裏體會到生命的悸動與衝突。本書比較完整地代表了卡夫卡的思想深度與創造特點，是西方現代主義文學的經典作品之一。
卡夫卡的《變形記》把我們帶往不熟悉的另一世界，而其實，那另一世界原本屬於我們的人性之邦，衹是卡夫卡試圖用另一套敘述方式與技巧來展示我們人性內部的黑暗王國。因為我們平時不朝它看上一眼，初見之下，纔會感到它是如此的陌生、怪異和難以理解。
在描寫人被物化的作品中，奧地利著名的"現代藝術的探險者"卡夫卡１９１２年完成的中篇小說《變形記》，是西方現代派文學中描寫人被異化的傑作。
《影響歷史進程的一百本書》：
西方文壇推崇"卡夫卡是本世紀最佳作傢之一"，並說"如果要舉出一個作傢，他與我們時代的關係最近似但丁、莎士比亞、歌德與他們時代的關係，那麽，卡夫卡是首先會想到的名字"。儘管這些贊詞未免有過甚其詞之嫌，但以《變形記》為代表的卡夫卡的作品，的確對西方現代派文學産生了很深的影響，以至形成了一門專門研究和討論其作品的"卡夫卡學"。
《卡夫卡傳》：
如果你讀書是為了找樂趕時髦，卡夫卡的《變形記》絶對不適合你，不適合你美酒加咖啡的浪漫。書中荒誕的痛苦，會將你剛剛舉起的酒杯輕易擊碎。如果你不是一個盲目的樂觀主義者，此書可謂精彩至極，可反復閱讀、細細品味。
陌生的卡夫卡
什麽是好小說這是個永遠可以談論卻又永遠難以求解的問題。但好小說不一定是好看的小說，不一定適合大衆讀者的閱讀口味，因為好小說都是新鮮的、獨特的。它在與傳統閱讀習慣"對抗"過程中提供了新的藝術因素，使習慣於傳統閱讀的讀者不得不陷入難解之謎的深淵，所以也往往給人們留下了不怎麽好看的印象。閱讀卡夫卡的《變形記》，對讀者是一種智力、情感上的挑戰，因為他的作品是文學上的一個變數，很陌生，用傳統的閱讀方法很難解讀。
《變形記》超越時空的限製，對事件的交代極其模糊，不指明具體的時間、地點和背景。甚至泯滅了幻象和日常生活之間的界限，虛幻與現實難解難分地結合成一個整體了。看來，卡夫卡的《變形記》把我們帶往不熟悉的另一世界，而其實，那另一世界原本屬於我們的人性之邦，衹是卡夫卡試圖用另一套敘述方式與技巧來展示我們人性內部的黑暗王國。因為我們平時不朝它看上一眼，初見之下，纔會感到它是如此的陌生、怪異和難以理解。
捷剋作傢米蘭·昆德拉在《小說的藝術》中稱小說傢為"存在的勘探者"，而把小說的使命確定為"通過想像的人物對存在進行深思"，"揭示存在不為人知的方面"。卡夫卡的《變形記》就是探究存在之謎的，但他所關註的重點是"不可視的內心生活"--人的內心同樣作為現實的一部分而存在。他的《變形記》就是以深邃的寓意體現人類的某種常常被遺忘的存在狀態。
卡夫卡的小說是"夢與真實的絶妙混合。既有對現代世界最清醒的審視，又有最瘋狂的想像"。所以如果我們聯想一下現實生活中類似的事情，當我們自身的存在被一些誰也無法預料、無法逃避的境況所决定時，生活的荒誕與這個故事的荒誕就有了一種比擬的聯繫，那麽擺在我們面前的問題就尖銳了：當我們突然無法動彈，在完全無能為力，喪失了人的一切自主性的情況下，我們應該怎麽辦卡夫卡的小說帶出了我們深深的疑問。顯然，在如此荒誕的突變中，卡夫卡敏銳地覺察到現實生活某些帶本質性的問題，纔用這種象徵、誇張甚至荒誕的手法加以表現。
卡夫卡冷峻的眼光聚焦的是"真"。在他看來，"真"若要體現，就必須藉助於""。於是《變形記》中出現了大量的醜陋的意象，卡夫卡毫不客氣地放逐了文學的審美價值，似乎他覺得醜就是醜，甚至根本沒必要用美作為小說結束之前的一點安慰。所以，一直到小說的結尾，卡夫卡也沒有讓這些醜陋的意象從背面發出一點美的光芒。
最後引用一句王小波的話來結束本文，他說："我正等待着有一天，自己能夠打開一本書不再期待它有趣，衹期待自己能受到教育。"《變形記》就是一本這樣的好書。
在西方文學中我學到了卡夫卡這位作傢及他的作品，對於卡夫卡，我不是很熟悉，但他諸多成果中的一部《變形記》卻讓我難以忘懷。
《變形記》為現代主義文學的奠基之作，卡夫卡是現代主義文學的先驅，對後來現代主義文學的發展産生了深遠的影響。卡夫卡的創作旺盛期正值德國表現主義文學運動的高潮時期。他的短篇小說《變形記》可以說是表現主義的典型之作。1998 年，英國BBC廣播電臺作了一個係列節目，回顧20世紀的藝術經典，介紹100部20世紀最有影響的藝術作品，第一集就是關於卡夫卡的《變形記》。變形似乎一直是人類的一種理想，也是文學、影視作品中的經典題材，我小時便羨慕孫悟空的七十二變，今天的孩子也看着變形金剛一類的動畫片中威風凜凜的變形動作興奮不已，而且百看不厭。變形似乎是童話的專利。但卡夫卡的《變形記》卻是極為獨特的，格裏高爾也變形了，但他似乎變得並不輕鬆，讓我們讀起來也並不覺得興奮，卡夫卡究竟想要告訴我們什麽？
“一天早晨，格裏高爾。薩姆沙從不安的睡夢中醒來，發現自己躺在床上變成了一隻巨大的甲蟲。”（選自北京燕山出版社中篇小說集《變形記》中第86頁）這便是故事的開篇，我本以為是科幻小說，誰知道不是。卡夫卡用一種介呼於身臨其境的獨白，平靜的表敘着這個極盡荒誕的故事。但在他的筆下，不會有荒誕，有的衹是真實，讓人感覺恐慌的真實。一種新的寫法的誕生，讓後世不少人為之驚詫，“原來文學也可以這麽寫！”。又一位大師就這樣橫空出世了。記得美國作傢奧登說過：就作傢與其處的時代的關係而論，當代能與但丁、莎士比亞和歌德相提並論的第一人是卡夫卡。
表現主義的創作主張是遵循“表現論”美學原則而與傳統現實主義的“模仿論”原則相對立的。它反對“復製世界”，即不把客觀事物的表面現象作為真實的依據，而主張憑認真“觀察”和重新思考去發現或洞察被習俗觀念掩蓋着的，而為一般人所不註意的真實。為此就需要一種特殊的藝術手段，把描寫的客觀對象加以“陌生化”的處理，以造成審美主體與被描寫的客體之間的距離，從而引起你的驚異，迫使你從另一個角度去探悉同一個事物的本質。這種藝術手段通稱“間離法”，在布萊希特那裏叫作“陌生化效果”。《變形記》的變形即是一種間離（或“陌生化”）技巧。作者想藉以揭示人與人之間——包括倫常之間——表面親親熱熱，內心裏卻是極為孤獨和陌生的實質；之所以親親熱熱，因為互相有共同的利害關係維係着，一旦割斷這種關係，則那種親熱的外觀馬上就消失而暴露出冷酷和冷漠的真相。正如恩格斯在《英國工人階級狀況》一文中所揭示的：“維係家庭的紐帶並不是家庭的愛，而是隱藏在財産共有關係之後的私人利益。”可謂一針見血。你看，當格裏高爾身體健康，每月能拿回工資供養全家的時候，他是這個家庭裏一名堂堂正正的而且受人尊敬的長子。
但當他一旦患了不治之癥，失去了公司裏的職務，因而無法與家庭保持這種經濟聯繫的時候，他在家庭裏的一切尊嚴很快被剝奪幹淨，甚至連維持生命的正常飲食都無人過問。
他變成“非人”，他的處境無異於動物。當然也可以讓主人公得一種致命的重病或遭遇一次喪失勞動力的重殘，然後寫他被傢人厭棄的過程。但這樣的構思其藝術效果不如變形那樣強烈。因為作為病人，他有口會說話，有眼睛會看人，你不能當着他的面表現出對他的厭倦，或不給他送飯吃。而一隻甲蟲，既不會說話，也沒有表情，他的孤獨感就更加令人感到凄然了。
如果從西方流行的“異化”觀念去看，這篇小說也是寫人與人之間、人與自我之間關係的一篇傑作。在實際生活中，卡夫卡在家庭裏與父親的關係確實是不和諧的，但與母親關係是正常的，與他第三個妹妹特別要好。但卡夫卡卻在一封信中說：“我在自己的傢裏比陌生人還要陌生。”現在卡夫卡通過《變形記》暗示我們：即使像他的妹妹那樣愛着哥哥，但一旦這位哥哥得了一種致命的絶癥，久而久之，她也會像小說中的那位女郎那樣厭棄他的。這裏，卡夫卡寫的是一種普遍的人類生存狀況。人的變形，也是自我“異化”的一種寫照。尤其是主人公變成甲蟲以後，人的習性漸漸消失，而“蟲性”
日益增加，仿佛格裏高爾異化出人的世界以後，倒是在動物的世界裏找到“蟲”的自我了。這樣的寫法是絶妙的。
“格裏高爾的眼睛接着又朝窗口望去，天空很陰暗——可以聽到雨打點打在窗檻上的聲音——他的心情也變的很憂鬱了。”
“這時候天更亮了，可以清清楚楚地看到街對面一幢長得沒有盡頭的深灰色的建築——這是一所醫院——上面惹眼地開着一排排呆板的窗子；雨還在下，不過已成為一滴滴看得清的大顆粒了。”（以上均節選自《變形記》）。
上面的兩段都是對窗外景物的描寫，卡夫卡在輕易之間便把氣氛渲染的如此濃重。為主旋律的敘述又增加的完整的節拍。仿佛各個方面的特徵都是為了主題的烘托，而主題又毫無痕跡的呈現出各個方面的特徵。這種完美統一的連貫，使得文章讓人覺得如此的酣暢淋漓，故事好象就在自己的身邊發生，讓人欲罷不能。
1911年出現的《變形記》是晦澀的，深奧的，即使在近一百年後的今天，這個偉大的預言一樣的小說文本也並不是那麽容易理解。即使讀懂了這個寓言般的小說，又如何感知卡夫卡之所以悲哀呢？況且還有比悲哀更為深遠的東西包裹在其後。
Plot summary
Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed from a human into a monstrous insect. Rather than lament his transformation, Gregor worries about how he will get to his job as a traveling salesman; Gregor is the sole financial provider for his parents and sister, Grete, and their comfort is dependent on his ability to work. When Gregor's supervisor arrives at the house and demands Gregor come out of his room, Gregor manages to roll out of bed and unlock his door. His appearance horrifies his family and supervisor; his supervisor flees and Gregor attempts to chase after him, but his family shoos him back into his room. Grete attempts to care for her brother by providing him with milk and the stale, rotten food he now prefers. Gregor also develops the fears of an insect, being effectively shooed away by hissing voices and stamping feet. However, Gregor remains a devoted and loving son, and takes to hiding beneath a sofa whenever someone enters his room in order to shield them from his insect form. When alone, he amuses himself by looking out of his window and crawling up the walls and on the ceiling.
No longer able to rely on Gregor's income, the other family members are forced to take on jobs and Grete's caretaking deteriorates. One day, when Gregor emerges from his room, his father chases him around the dining room table and pelts him with apples. One of the apples becomes embedded in his back, causing an infection. Due to his infection and his hunger, Gregor is soon barely able to move at all. Later, his parents take in lodgers and use Gregor's room as a dumping area for unwanted objects. Gregor becomes dirty, covered in dust and old bits of rotten food. One day, Gregor hears Grete playing her violin to entertain the lodgers. Gregor is attracted to the music, and slowly walks into the dining room despite himself, entertaining a fantasy of getting his beloved sister to join him in his room and play her violin for him. The lodgers see him and give notice, refusing to pay the rent they owe, even threatening to sue the family for harboring him while they stayed there. Grete determines that the monstrous insect is no longer Gregor, since Gregor would have left them out of love and taken their burden away, and claims that they must get rid of it. Gregor retreats to his room and collapses, finally succumbing to his wound.
The point of view shifts as, upon discovery of his corpse, the family feels an enormous burden has been lifted from them, and start planning for the future again. The family discovers that they aren't doing financially bad at all, especially since, following Gregor's demise, they can take a smaller flat. The brief process of forgetting Gregor and shutting him from their lives is quickly completed. The tale concludes with the mother and father taking note of Grete's new womanhood and growth.
Characters
Gregor Samsa
Gregor is the protagonist of the story. He works hard as a travelling salesman to provide for his sister and parents. He wakes up one morning as a monstrous insect. After the transformation, Gregor was unable to work, causing his father to work at a bank to provide for the family and pay owed debts.
Grete Samsa
Grete is Gregor's younger sister, who becomes his caretaker after the metamorphosis. At the beginning Grete and Gregor have a strong relationship but this relationship fades with time. While Grete originally volunteers to feed him and clean his room, throughout the story she grows more and more impatient with the task to the point of deliberately leaving messes in his room out of spite. She plays the violin and dreams of going to the conservatorium, a dream that Gregor was going to make come true. He was going to announce this on Christmas Eve. To help provide an income for the family after Gregor's transformation she starts working as a salesgirl in a shop.
Mr Samsa
Gregor's father owes a large debt to Gregor's boss, which is why Gregor can't quit his hated job. He is lazy and elderly, while Gregor works, but when, after the metamorphosis, Gregor is unable to provide for the family, he is shown to be an able-bodied worker. He also attempts to kill Gregor when he is discovered in his monstrous state.
Mrs Samsa
Mrs Samsa is the mother of Grete and Gregor. She is initially shocked at Gregor's transformation, however eventually decides she wants to enter his room. This seems too much for her to handle, and Gregor hides away from her in an attempt to protect her. Mrs Samsa is conflicted in her maternal concern and sympathy for Gregor, and her inherent fear of his new monstrous form.
Chief Clerk
The Chief Clerk is Gregor's boss and the person to whom Mr Samsa is in debt. He pressures Gregor to prepare for his workday with a urgency pertaining to the precarious position of his job.
Tenants
Three tenants are invited to live with the Samsas to supplement their income. The family shows great deference to these tenants throughout the length of their stay. They are fussy and cannot stand dirtiness, eventually leading to the point when they discover Gregor and threaten the family with a lawsuit, apparently believing he's just an extraordinarily large insect.
Lost in translation
The opening sentence of the novella is famous in English:
"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous insect."
"Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt."
Kafka's sentences often deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of sentences in German that require that the participle be positioned at the end of the sentence; in the above sentence, the equivalent of 'changed' is the final word, 'verwandelt'. Such constructions are not replicable in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text.
English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as "insect", but this is not strictly accurate. In Middle German, Ungeziefer literally means "unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice" and is sometimes used colloquially to mean "bug" – a very general term, unlike the scientific sounding "insect". Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor as any specific thing, but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation. The phrasing used in the David Wyllie translation and Joachim Neugroschel is "transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin".
However, "vermin" denotes in English many animals (particularly mice, rats and foxes) and in Kafka's letter to his publisher of 25 October 1915, in which he discusses his concern about the cover illustration for the first edition, he uses the term "Insekt", saying "The insect itself is not to be drawn. It is not even to be seen from a distance." While this shows his concern not to give precise information about the type of creature Gregor becomes, the use of the general term "insect" can therefore be defended on the part of translators wishing to improve the readability of the end text.
Ungeziefer has sometimes been translated as "cockroach", "dung beetle", "beetle", and other highly specific terms. The term "dung beetle" or Mistkäfer is in fact used in the novella by the cleaning lady near the end of the story, but it is not used in the narration. Ungeziefer also denotes a sense of separation between him and his environment: he is unclean and must therefore be excluded.
Vladimir Nabokov, who was a lepidopterist as well as writer and literary critic, insisted that Gregor was not a cockroach, but a beetle with wings under his shell, and capable of flight — if only he had known it. Nabokov left a sketch annotated "just over three feet long" on the opening page of his (heavily corrected) English teaching copy. In his accompanying lecture notes, Nabokov discusses the type of vermin Gregor has been transformed into, concluding that Gregor "is not, technically, a dung beetle. He is merely a big beetle. (I must add that neither Gregor nor Kafka saw that beetle any too clearly.)"
Adaptations to other media
There are several film versions, including:
* Metamorphosis (1987) at the Internet Movie Database
* Die Verwandlung (1975) at the Internet Movie Database
* Förvandlingen (1976/I) at the Internet Movie Database
* The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977) at the Internet Movie Database by Caroline Leaf
* The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka (1993) by Carlos Atanes.
* Prevrashcheniye (2002) at the Internet Movie Database
* Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis acoustical liberation from LibriVox.
* Metamorfosis (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
* A Metamorfose (2007) at the Internet Movie Database
* Immersive Kafka: The Metamorphosis / Atvaltozas (2010) by Sandor Kardos, Barnabas Takacs.
A stage adaptation was performed by Steven Berkoff in 1969. Berkoff's text was also used for the libretto to Brian Howard's 1983 opera Metamorphosis. Another stage adaptation was performed in 2006 by the Icelandic company Vesturport, showing at the Lyric Hammersmith, London. That adaptation is set to be performed in the Icelandic theater fall of 2008. Another stage adaptation was performed in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2005 by the Centre for Asian Theatre. That performance is still continuing in Bangladesh. The Lyric Theatre Company toured the UK in 2006 with its stage adaptation of Metamorphosis, accompanied by a unique soundtrack performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. American comic artist Peter Kuper illustrated a graphic-novel version, first published by the Crown Publishing Group in 2003. Megan Rees is currently working on a new stage adaptation that should be published by 2010.
Allusions/references from other works
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2008)
Stage
* Philip Glass composed incidental music for two separate theater productions of the story. These two themes, along with two themes from the Errol Morris film The Thin Blue Line, were incorporated into a five-part piece of music for solo piano entitled Metamorphosis.
Literature
Jacob M. Appel's H. E. Francis Award-winning story, "The Vermin Episode," retells The Metamorphosis from the point-of-view of the Samsas' neighbors.
Film
* The 2005 film The Producers includes a scene where the two protagonists are searching for a sure flop. The opening for the play of Metamorphosis is read and rejected for being too good.
* The 2008 film The Reader features Ralph Fiennes reading aloud from Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
* In 2002 a Russian version titled Prevrashchenie was directed by Valery Fokin with Yevgeny Mironov as Gregor.
* In 1995, the actor Peter Capaldi won an Oscar for his short-film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. The plot of the film has the author (played by Richard E. Grant) trying to write the opening line of Metamorphosis and experimenting with various things that Gregor might turn into, such as a banana or a kangaroo. The film is also notable for a number of Kafkaesque moments.
* In 1993 Carlos Atanes directed The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka, a controversial adaptation based on The Metamorphosis as well on biographical details from Kafka's family.
* in Noah Baumbach's Squid and the Whale, Jeff Daniels and Jesse Eisenberg make several references to The Metamorphosis
Animation
* In The Venture Bros. episode "Mid-Life Chrysalis", Dr. Venture's transformation into a caterpillar slightly mirrors that of Gregor Samsa's transformation.
* A reference appears in the 2006 Aardman Animations feature film Flushed Away when a refrigerator falls through the floor of the protagonist Rita's home and a giant cockroach appears reading a copy of The Metamorphosis.
* In the short-lived TV animated series Extreme Ghostbusters, season 1, episode 11 ("The Crawler"), the bug monster (that resembles a giant insect) calls himself Gregor Samsa when trying to seduce Janine to be his queen in his human form.
* Jack Feldstein created a tribute to Gregor Samsa and The Metamorphosis in his stream-of-consciousness neon animation "Shmetamorphosis" about a bug who hysterically bursts into therapist Bertold Krasenstein's office, begging to be saved.
* In the first season of the anime Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei there is an episode titled "One Morning, When Gregor Samsa Awoke, He was Carrying a Mikoshi", an obvious parody of the first line of The Metamorphosis.
Comics
* American cartoonist Robert Crumb drew an illustrated adaptation of the novella which appears in the book Introducing Kafka.
* In the comic book Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez, the eponymous Johnny is plagued by a roach that keeps appearing in his house no matter how many times he kills it (whether or not this roach is immortal or simply many different roaches is up to interpretation) and is affectionately named "Mr. Samsa".
* In The Simpsons book Treehouse of Horror Spook-tacular, Matt Groening did a spoof on the metamorphosis, entitling it Metamorphosimpsons. In addition, in one of the episodes, Lisa attends a place called "Cafe Kafka", which is shown to be a popular place for college students, and features several posters of cockroaches in Bohemian-like poses.
* Peter Kuper (illustrator of Kafka's Give It Up!) also adapted Kafka's Metamorphosis.
Television
* In the TV series Supernatural, the 4th episode of season 4 is named "Metamorphosis."
* The TV series Smallville, which is a retelling of Superman's early years as a teenager, alludes to Kafka's story in the season one, episode "Metamorphosis" where the 'Freak of the Week' is transformed into a being with insect-like abilities after suffering from exposure to meteor-infected insects (Kryptonite-induced).
* In the TV series Home Movies there is an entire episode based on Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis as a Rock Opera.
* In the TV series The Venture Bros., in the 8th episode of season 1, Dr. Venture undergoes a metamorphosis and alludes to the story.
* In the TV series The Ricky Gervais Show, in the 11th episode of season 1, named "Beetles," the characters discuss the potential of Karl Pilkingtons's metamorphosis.
Music
* Gregor Samsa is the name of an American post-rock band.
* The Rolling Stones' 1975 album Metamorphosis features cover art of the band members with insect heads.
* Showbread has a song named "Sampsa Meets Kafka". The misspelling of Samsa is intentional. Josh Dies the lead singer also lists Kafka as one of his biggest influences.
* The name of the German darkwave/metal/neoclassical band Samsas Traum is inspired by the story.
Video games
* Bad Mojo is a 1996 computer game, the storyline of which is loosely based on The Metamorphosis.
* Spore: Galactic Adventures made an adventure version of The Metamorphosis.
* In the 2001 Wizardry 8, the first boss is a gigantic cockroach named "Gregor".
《變形記》-作者簡介
弗蘭茲·卡夫卡弗蘭茲·卡夫卡
弗蘭茲·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka，1883年7月3日—1924年6月3日），奧地利小說傢，20世紀德語小說傢。文筆明淨而想像奇詭，常采用寓言體,背後的寓意人言人殊，暫無（或永無）定論。
卡夫卡他是一位用德語寫作的業餘作傢，他與法國作傢馬賽爾·普魯斯特，愛爾蘭作傢詹姆斯·喬伊斯並稱為西方現代主義文學的先驅和大師。卡夫卡生前默默無聞，孤獨地奮鬥，隨着時間的流逝，他的價值纔逐漸為人們所認識，作品引起了世界的震動，並在世界範圍內形成一股“卡夫卡”熱，經久不衰。
後世的批評傢，往往過分強調卡夫卡作品陰暗的一面，忽視其明朗、風趣的地方，米蘭·昆德拉在《被背叛的遺囑》（Les testaments trahis）中試圖糾正這一點。其實據布勞德的回憶，卡夫卡喜歡在朋友面前朗讀自己的作品，讀到得意的段落時會忍俊不禁，自己大笑起來。
卡夫卡一生的作品並不多，但對後世文學的影響卻是極為深遠的。美國詩人奧登認為：“他與我們時代的關係最近似但丁、莎士比亞、歌德與他們時代的關係。”卡夫卡的小說揭示了一種荒誕的充滿非理性色彩的景象，個人式的、憂鬱的、孤獨的情緒，運用的是象徵式的手法。三四十年代的超現實主義餘黨視之為同仁，四五十年代的荒誕派以之為先驅，六十年代的美國”黑色幽默“奉之為典範。
卡夫卡1909年開始發表作品，1915年因短篇小說《司爐工》獲馮塔納德國文學奬金。卡夫卡創作勤奮，但並不以發表、成名為目的。工作之餘的創作是他寄托思想感情和排譴憂鬱苦悶的手段。許多作品隨意寫來，並無結尾，他對自己的作品也多為不滿，臨終前讓摯友布洛德全部燒毀其作品。布洛德出於友誼與崇敬之情，違背了卡夫卡遺願，整理出版了《卡夫卡全集》（1950—1980）共九捲。其中八捲中的作品是首次刊出，引起文壇轟動。
《變形記》-內容簡介
背景
1914年至1918年的第一次世界大戰，使許多資本主義國傢經濟蕭條，社會動蕩，人民生活在水深火熱之中。黑暗的現實，痛苦的生活，使得人們對資本主義社會失去信心，一方面尋求出路，銳意改革，一方面又陷於孤獨、頽廢、絶望之中。19世紀末至20世紀初，一些思想敏銳的藝術傢認為世界是混亂的、荒誕的，他們著書立說，批判資本主義的人際關係，批判摧殘人性的社會制度。第一次世界大戰前後和第二次世界大戰前後，現代主義文學應運而生。現代主義文學作品反映了資本主義社會的黑暗，人和人之間關係的冷酷，人對社會的絶望。藝術上強調使用極度誇張以至怪誕離奇的表現手法，描繪扭麯的人性，表現人的本能和無意識的主觀感受，開掘個人的直覺、本能、無意識、夢幻、變態心理以至半瘋狂、瘋狂的言行、心理。現代主義的優秀文學作品探索人的心靈，為揭示人的內心世界提供了新的藝術手法。
內容
小說寫人變成動物,故事神秘離奇：在《變形記》中，職業為推銷員的主人翁一覺醒來，發現自己變成了一隻巨大的跳蚤。
一天早晨,格裏高爾從夢中醒來時發現自己躺在床上變成了一隻巨大的甲蟲,全身長出了許多衹細得可憐的小腿,堅硬得像鐵甲一樣的背貼着床而仰臥着,不能翻身,也下不了床. 但他必須起來。他要靜悄悄不受打擾地起床,穿起衣服,最要緊的是吃飽早飯,再考慮下一步該怎麽辦,因為他非常明白,躲在床上瞎想一氣是想不出什麽明堂的. 他還記得過去也是因為睡覺姿勢不好,躺在床上時往往會覺得這兒那兒隱隱作痛,及至起來,就知道純屬心理作用,所以他殷切地盼望今天早晨的幻覺會逐漸消逝。格裏高爾,雖然人己'物化'為蟲子,但他還存在人的思維,還要象正常人一樣生活和思考.由於擔心趕不上五點鐘的火車.格裏高爾心情既焦急又恐慌,又生怕公司來人,自己這種面目如何見人!他竭力掙紮。 格裏高爾慢慢地把椅子推嚮門邊,接着便放開椅子,抓住門來支撐自己——他那些細腿的腳底上倒是頗有粘性的。他在門上靠了一會兒,喘過一口氣來.接着他始用嘴巴轉動插在鎖孔裏的鑰匙.不幸的是,他並沒什麽牙齒。他得用什麽來咬住鑰匙呢 ？鑰匙需要轉動時,他便用嘴巴銜住它,自己也繞着鎖孔轉了一圈,好把鑰匙扭過去,或者不如說,使用全身的重量使它轉動.終於屈服的鎖發出了響亮的咔塔一聲,使格裏高爾大為高興··· ···
《變形記》-情節和主題
《變形記》創作於1912年，發表於1915年。小說分成三部分，用一、二、三標明。課文節選了原小說的一半內容。
第一部分
格裏高爾發現自己變成“巨大的甲蟲”，驚慌而又憂鬱。父親發現後大怒，把他趕回自己的臥室。
第二部分
格裏高爾變了，養成了甲蟲的生活習性，卻保留了人的意識。他失業了，仍舊關心怎樣還清父親欠的債務，送妹妹上音樂學院。可是，一個月後，他成了全家的纍贅。父親、母親、妹妹對他改變了態度。
第三部分
為了生存，傢人衹得打工掙錢，忍受不了格裏高爾這個負擔。妹妹終於提出把哥哥弄走。格裏高爾又餓又病，陷入絶望，“他懷着深情和愛意想他的一傢人”，“然後他的頭就自己垂倒在地板上，他的鼻孔呼出了最後一絲氣息”，死了。父親、母親和妹妹開始過着自己養活自己的新生活。
情節的發展由兩條綫索交互展開：
格裏高爾：變成甲蟲——成為纍贅——絶望而死
傢裏親人：驚慌、同情—— 逐漸憎恨——“把他弄走”
格裏高爾自始至終關心家庭、懷戀親人，可是親人最終拋棄了他，對他的死無動於衷，而且决定去郊遊。
作者描寫這種人情反差，揭示了當時社會生活對人的異化，致使親情淡薄，人性扭麯。《變形記》的主題具有強烈的批判性。卡夫卡創作的文學作品的主題，不同的讀者從不同的角度，會有不同的體驗和理解。有人認為《變形記》的主題是：表現人對自己命運的無能為力，人失去自我就處於絶境。也有人認為，格裏高爾變成甲蟲，無利於人，自行死亡；一傢人重新工作，走嚮新生活；存在就是合理，生活規律是無情的。
《變形記》-人物和心理描寫
主人公格裏高爾是個小人物。父親破産，母親生病，妹妹上學。沉重的家庭
《變形記》《變形記》
負擔和父親的債務，壓得格裏高爾喘不過氣來。他拼命幹活，目的是還清父債，改善家庭生活。在公司，他受老闆的氣，指望還清父債後辭職。可以說，對父母他是個孝子，對妹妹他是個好哥哥，對公司他是個好職員。變成甲蟲，身體越來越差，他還為還清父債擔憂，還眷戀傢人，甚至為討父親歡心，自己艱難地乖乖爬回臥室。這樣善良、忠厚而又富有責任感的人，最終被親人拋棄。格裏高爾的悲劇是令人心酸的，具有豐富的社會內涵。
小說用心理描寫的方法刻畫格裏高爾這個人物。格裏高爾過去的生活、變甲蟲後的思想感情和個性特點，都是通過心理描寫表現出來的。
小說用許多筆墨寫了變形後格裏高爾悲哀凄苦的內心世界，格裏高爾雖然變成了甲蟲，但他的心理始終保持着人的狀態，他突然發現自己變成大甲蟲時的驚慌、憂鬱，他考慮家庭經濟狀況時的焦慮、自責，他遭親人厭棄後的絶望、痛苦，無不展示了一個善良、忠厚、富有責任感的小人物渴望人的理解和接受的心理。衹是這種願望終於被徹底的絶望所代替，彌漫在人物心頭的是無邊的孤獨、冷漠與悲涼。應該說，《變形記》的內在主綫就是格裏高爾變成甲蟲後的心理—情感流動的過程，主人公變成甲蟲後的內心感受和心理活動是小說的主體。小說用內心獨白、回憶、聯想、幻想等手法，去表現人物的心理活動。他不斷地回憶、聯想過去和今後的事情，不時由於恐懼焦慮、痛苦和絶望而産生幻想、幻覺，並且在自由聯想中經常出現時空倒錯、邏輯混亂、思維跳躍等，具有一定的意識流特徵。
《變形記》-評價
表現主義
卡夫卡的創作旺盛期正值德國表現主義文學運動的高潮時期。他的短篇小說《變形記》可以說是表現主義的典型之作。
表現主義的創作主張是遵循“表現論”美學原則而與傳統現實主義的“模仿論”原則相對立的。它反對“復製世界”，即不把客觀事物的表面現象作為真實的依據，而主張憑認真“觀察”和重新思考去發現或洞察被習俗觀念掩蓋着的，而為一般人所不註意的真實。為此就需要一種特殊的藝術手段，把描寫的客觀對象加以 “陌生化”的處理，以造成審美主體與被描寫的客體之間的距離，從而引起你的驚異，迫使你從另一個角度去探悉同一個事物的本質。這種藝術手段通稱“間離法”，在布萊希特那裏叫作“陌生化效果”。《變形記》的變形即是一種間離（或“陌生化”）技巧。作者想藉以揭示人與人之間——包括倫常之間——表面親親熱熱，內心裏卻是極為孤獨和陌生的實質；之所以親親熱熱，因為互相有共同的利害關係維係着，一旦割斷這種關係，則那種親熱的外觀馬上就消失而暴露出冷酷和冷漠的真相。正如恩格斯在《英國工人階級狀況》一文中所揭示的：“維係家庭的紐帶並不是家庭的愛，而是隱藏在財産共有關係之後的私人利益。”可謂一針見血。
當格裏高爾身體健康，每月能拿回工資供養全家的時候，他是這個家庭裏一名堂堂正正的而且受人尊敬的長子。但當他一旦患了不治之癥，失去了公司裏的職務，因而無法與家庭保持這種經濟聯繫的時候，他在家庭裏的一切尊嚴很快被剝奪幹淨，甚至連維持生命的正常飲食都無人過問。他變成“非人”，他的處境無異於動物。當然也可以讓主人公得一種致命的重病或遭遇一次喪失勞動力的重殘，然後寫他被傢人厭棄的過程。但這樣的構思其藝術效果不如變形那樣強烈。因為作為病人，他有口會說話，有眼睛會看人，你不能當着他的面表現出對他的厭倦，或不給他送飯吃。而一隻甲蟲，既不會說話，也沒有表情，他的孤獨感就更加令人感到凄然了——以上是從社會學觀點去看的。
如果從西方流行的“異化”觀念去看，這篇小說也是寫人與人之間、人與自我之間關係的一篇傑作。在實際生活中，卡夫卡在家庭裏與父親的關係確實是不和諧的，但與母親關係是正常的，與他第三個妹妹特別要好。但卡夫卡卻在一封信中說：“我在自己的傢裏比陌生人還要陌生。”現在卡夫卡通過《變形記》暗示我們：即使像他的妹妹那樣愛着哥哥，但一旦這位哥哥得了一種致命的絶癥，久而久之，她也會像小說中的那位女郎那樣厭棄他的。這裏，卡夫卡寫的是一種普遍的人類生存狀況。人的變形，也是自我“異化”的一種寫照。尤其是主人公變成甲蟲以後，人的習性漸漸消失，而“蟲性” 日益增加，仿佛格裏高爾異化出人的世界以後，倒是在動物的世界裏找到“蟲”的自我了。這樣的寫法是絶妙的。
在人與人之間還沒有取得和諧關係的世界裏，人的變形也是一種象徵，一切倒黴人的象徵：人一旦遭遇不幸（喪失工作能力的疾病、傷殘、政治襲擊等），他就不再被社會承認，從而失去作為人的價值的“自我”，成為無異於低等動物的“非人”。
在現代藝術創作中，變形是一種怪誕的表現手段，是一種創造 “距離”或“陌生化”的技巧。按照美國美學家桑塔那那的說法，怪誕也是一種創造；它違背客觀事物的表面真實，卻並不違背客觀事物的內在邏輯，因此它已進入現代美學的範疇，成為表現主義文學藝術偏愛的一種手法。表現主義文學創作強調從主觀的內心感受出發，作品往往具有一種個人的真實性，這在卡夫卡筆下呈現為自傳色彩。不僅主人公的身份（公司雇員）和心理（作為長子必須盡家庭義務）與作者近似，其他人物如父親、母親和妹妹幾乎都可以與卡夫卡的家庭成員進行比較。
內涵
《變形記》這個故事表面看來荒誕不經，實則藴涵了豐富而深刻的內容，主要包括以下方面：
1、首先，它真實地表現了西方現代資本主義社會裏人的異化.在西方現代資本主義社會人(例如金錢,機器,産品,生産方式等)所驅使，所脅迫，所統治而不能自主,成為物的奴隸，進而失去人的本性，變為非人.。《變形記》主人公裏高爾的故事正是人異化為非人這一哲學生存現狀.。
2、其次，作品還表現了在現代社會裏人的一種生存恐懼。人變甲蟲，在這裏象徵着莫明其妙的巨大災難的降臨，這種人不能掌握自己命運的感覺表現 了現代西方人的某種精神狀態，尤其是進入20世紀以後，兩次世界大戰的災難，周期性的經濟危機，超級大國的軍備競賽，核戰爭的威脅，環境污染和自然界生態平衡的破壞，這一切使人們對未來的命運處於一種不可知的恐懼狀態之中。《變形記》中格裏高爾的命運正反映了這種精神狀態本質的東西。
3、再次，《變形記》還表現了現代社會中人與人之間的冷漠關係。小說詳細的描寫了傢人對他從關心到厭惡到必欲置其於死地的過程，這一過程實際上是希望他恢復賺錢的能力到徹底絶望的過程。這是一個為家庭奉獻了一切，卻由於失去了原有的價值而被家庭拋棄的小人物的悲劇，這類悲劇在人情冷漠的現代社會裏並不罕見。
作品創造的藝術世界，涵蓋思想內容和藝術形式兩個方面，是內容和形式的有機統一。就思想而言，較為麯折地反映了資本主義社會的種種弊端，將荒唐、人性異化看着特定歷史條件下人類社會不可避免的現象，賦予作品以濃厚的虛無主義和悲觀主義情調;就藝術而言,善於運用怪誕和象徵的表現手法，特別是用富有表現力的手法去表現抽象的思想感情。
受存在主義學說的影響，作品深刻反映了世紀末情緒，表現了人的孤獨與恐懼，展示在人們面前的是荒誕的世界和異化的主題, 形成了獨持的“卡夫卡式”藝術風格和思想內容。特別是卡夫卡對表現主義手法運用自如,達到登峰造極之境界。其作品往往寓荒誕於真實之中，融幻想和怪誕於一體，或描寫人與“非人”的人有機碰撞;或執著於精神層面的不可逾越，真理的不可尋求，或寄寓象徵形象的塑造來展現人物的痛苦和睏惑等等，構建了“卡夫卡式”藝術風格的美學概念。
《變形記》-世人心中的卡夫卡與《變形記》
卡夫卡是現代主義文學的開山祖師，《變形記》是他的代表作品之一。如果你想瞭解現代主義文學，最好的辦法就是從反復閱讀《變形記》開始。
在本書中卡夫卡描述了小職員格裏高爾·薩姆沙突然變成一隻使傢人都厭惡的大甲蟲的荒誕情節，藉以揭示人與人之間--包括倫常之間--表面上親親熱熱，內心裏卻極為孤獨和陌生的實質，生動而深刻地再現了資本主義社會中人與人之間的冷漠。在荒誕的、不合邏輯的世界裏描繪"人類生活的一切活動及其逼真的細節"，這正是著名小說傢卡夫卡的天賦之所在。
閱讀《變形記》，有一種思維的樂趣，有一種睿智的感覺，思想上的所得顯然多於心靈的收穫，能從那極度的變形與誇張裏體會到生命的悸動與衝突。本書比較完整地代表了卡夫卡的思想深度與創造特點，是西方現代主義文學的經典作品之一。
卡夫卡的《變形記》把我們帶往不熟悉的另一世界，而其實，那另一世界原本屬於我們的人性之邦，衹是卡夫卡試圖用另一套敘述方式與技巧來展示我們人性內部的黑暗王國。因為我們平時不朝它看上一眼，初見之下，纔會感到它是如此的陌生、怪異和難以理解。
在描寫人被物化的作品中，奧地利著名的"現代藝術的探險者"卡夫卡１９１２年完成的中篇小說《變形記》，是西方現代派文學中描寫人被異化的傑作。
《影響歷史進程的一百本書》：
西方文壇推崇"卡夫卡是本世紀最佳作傢之一"，並說"如果要舉出一個作傢，他與我們時代的關係最近似但丁、莎士比亞、歌德與他們時代的關係，那麽，卡夫卡是首先會想到的名字"。儘管這些贊詞未免有過甚其詞之嫌，但以《變形記》為代表的卡夫卡的作品，的確對西方現代派文學産生了很深的影響，以至形成了一門專門研究和討論其作品的"卡夫卡學"。
《卡夫卡傳》：
如果你讀書是為了找樂趕時髦，卡夫卡的《變形記》絶對不適合你，不適合你美酒加咖啡的浪漫。書中荒誕的痛苦，會將你剛剛舉起的酒杯輕易擊碎。如果你不是一個盲目的樂觀主義者，此書可謂精彩至極，可反復閱讀、細細品味。
陌生的卡夫卡
什麽是好小說這是個永遠可以談論卻又永遠難以求解的問題。但好小說不一定是好看的小說，不一定適合大衆讀者的閱讀口味，因為好小說都是新鮮的、獨特的。它在與傳統閱讀習慣"對抗"過程中提供了新的藝術因素，使習慣於傳統閱讀的讀者不得不陷入難解之謎的深淵，所以也往往給人們留下了不怎麽好看的印象。閱讀卡夫卡的《變形記》，對讀者是一種智力、情感上的挑戰，因為他的作品是文學上的一個變數，很陌生，用傳統的閱讀方法很難解讀。
《變形記》超越時空的限製，對事件的交代極其模糊，不指明具體的時間、地點和背景。甚至泯滅了幻象和日常生活之間的界限，虛幻與現實難解難分地結合成一個整體了。看來，卡夫卡的《變形記》把我們帶往不熟悉的另一世界，而其實，那另一世界原本屬於我們的人性之邦，衹是卡夫卡試圖用另一套敘述方式與技巧來展示我們人性內部的黑暗王國。因為我們平時不朝它看上一眼，初見之下，纔會感到它是如此的陌生、怪異和難以理解。
捷剋作傢米蘭·昆德拉在《小說的藝術》中稱小說傢為"存在的勘探者"，而把小說的使命確定為"通過想像的人物對存在進行深思"，"揭示存在不為人知的方面"。卡夫卡的《變形記》就是探究存在之謎的，但他所關註的重點是"不可視的內心生活"--人的內心同樣作為現實的一部分而存在。他的《變形記》就是以深邃的寓意體現人類的某種常常被遺忘的存在狀態。
卡夫卡的小說是"夢與真實的絶妙混合。既有對現代世界最清醒的審視，又有最瘋狂的想像"。所以如果我們聯想一下現實生活中類似的事情，當我們自身的存在被一些誰也無法預料、無法逃避的境況所决定時，生活的荒誕與這個故事的荒誕就有了一種比擬的聯繫，那麽擺在我們面前的問題就尖銳了：當我們突然無法動彈，在完全無能為力，喪失了人的一切自主性的情況下，我們應該怎麽辦卡夫卡的小說帶出了我們深深的疑問。顯然，在如此荒誕的突變中，卡夫卡敏銳地覺察到現實生活某些帶本質性的問題，纔用這種象徵、誇張甚至荒誕的手法加以表現。
卡夫卡冷峻的眼光聚焦的是"真"。在他看來，"真"若要體現，就必須藉助於""。於是《變形記》中出現了大量的醜陋的意象，卡夫卡毫不客氣地放逐了文學的審美價值，似乎他覺得醜就是醜，甚至根本沒必要用美作為小說結束之前的一點安慰。所以，一直到小說的結尾，卡夫卡也沒有讓這些醜陋的意象從背面發出一點美的光芒。
最後引用一句王小波的話來結束本文，他說："我正等待着有一天，自己能夠打開一本書不再期待它有趣，衹期待自己能受到教育。"《變形記》就是一本這樣的好書。
在西方文學中我學到了卡夫卡這位作傢及他的作品，對於卡夫卡，我不是很熟悉，但他諸多成果中的一部《變形記》卻讓我難以忘懷。
《變形記》為現代主義文學的奠基之作，卡夫卡是現代主義文學的先驅，對後來現代主義文學的發展産生了深遠的影響。卡夫卡的創作旺盛期正值德國表現主義文學運動的高潮時期。他的短篇小說《變形記》可以說是表現主義的典型之作。1998 年，英國BBC廣播電臺作了一個係列節目，回顧20世紀的藝術經典，介紹100部20世紀最有影響的藝術作品，第一集就是關於卡夫卡的《變形記》。變形似乎一直是人類的一種理想，也是文學、影視作品中的經典題材，我小時便羨慕孫悟空的七十二變，今天的孩子也看着變形金剛一類的動畫片中威風凜凜的變形動作興奮不已，而且百看不厭。變形似乎是童話的專利。但卡夫卡的《變形記》卻是極為獨特的，格裏高爾也變形了，但他似乎變得並不輕鬆，讓我們讀起來也並不覺得興奮，卡夫卡究竟想要告訴我們什麽？
“一天早晨，格裏高爾。薩姆沙從不安的睡夢中醒來，發現自己躺在床上變成了一隻巨大的甲蟲。”（選自北京燕山出版社中篇小說集《變形記》中第86頁）這便是故事的開篇，我本以為是科幻小說，誰知道不是。卡夫卡用一種介呼於身臨其境的獨白，平靜的表敘着這個極盡荒誕的故事。但在他的筆下，不會有荒誕，有的衹是真實，讓人感覺恐慌的真實。一種新的寫法的誕生，讓後世不少人為之驚詫，“原來文學也可以這麽寫！”。又一位大師就這樣橫空出世了。記得美國作傢奧登說過：就作傢與其處的時代的關係而論，當代能與但丁、莎士比亞和歌德相提並論的第一人是卡夫卡。
表現主義的創作主張是遵循“表現論”美學原則而與傳統現實主義的“模仿論”原則相對立的。它反對“復製世界”，即不把客觀事物的表面現象作為真實的依據，而主張憑認真“觀察”和重新思考去發現或洞察被習俗觀念掩蓋着的，而為一般人所不註意的真實。為此就需要一種特殊的藝術手段，把描寫的客觀對象加以“陌生化”的處理，以造成審美主體與被描寫的客體之間的距離，從而引起你的驚異，迫使你從另一個角度去探悉同一個事物的本質。這種藝術手段通稱“間離法”，在布萊希特那裏叫作“陌生化效果”。《變形記》的變形即是一種間離（或“陌生化”）技巧。作者想藉以揭示人與人之間——包括倫常之間——表面親親熱熱，內心裏卻是極為孤獨和陌生的實質；之所以親親熱熱，因為互相有共同的利害關係維係着，一旦割斷這種關係，則那種親熱的外觀馬上就消失而暴露出冷酷和冷漠的真相。正如恩格斯在《英國工人階級狀況》一文中所揭示的：“維係家庭的紐帶並不是家庭的愛，而是隱藏在財産共有關係之後的私人利益。”可謂一針見血。你看，當格裏高爾身體健康，每月能拿回工資供養全家的時候，他是這個家庭裏一名堂堂正正的而且受人尊敬的長子。
但當他一旦患了不治之癥，失去了公司裏的職務，因而無法與家庭保持這種經濟聯繫的時候，他在家庭裏的一切尊嚴很快被剝奪幹淨，甚至連維持生命的正常飲食都無人過問。
他變成“非人”，他的處境無異於動物。當然也可以讓主人公得一種致命的重病或遭遇一次喪失勞動力的重殘，然後寫他被傢人厭棄的過程。但這樣的構思其藝術效果不如變形那樣強烈。因為作為病人，他有口會說話，有眼睛會看人，你不能當着他的面表現出對他的厭倦，或不給他送飯吃。而一隻甲蟲，既不會說話，也沒有表情，他的孤獨感就更加令人感到凄然了。
如果從西方流行的“異化”觀念去看，這篇小說也是寫人與人之間、人與自我之間關係的一篇傑作。在實際生活中，卡夫卡在家庭裏與父親的關係確實是不和諧的，但與母親關係是正常的，與他第三個妹妹特別要好。但卡夫卡卻在一封信中說：“我在自己的傢裏比陌生人還要陌生。”現在卡夫卡通過《變形記》暗示我們：即使像他的妹妹那樣愛着哥哥，但一旦這位哥哥得了一種致命的絶癥，久而久之，她也會像小說中的那位女郎那樣厭棄他的。這裏，卡夫卡寫的是一種普遍的人類生存狀況。人的變形，也是自我“異化”的一種寫照。尤其是主人公變成甲蟲以後，人的習性漸漸消失，而“蟲性”
日益增加，仿佛格裏高爾異化出人的世界以後，倒是在動物的世界裏找到“蟲”的自我了。這樣的寫法是絶妙的。
“格裏高爾的眼睛接着又朝窗口望去，天空很陰暗——可以聽到雨打點打在窗檻上的聲音——他的心情也變的很憂鬱了。”
“這時候天更亮了，可以清清楚楚地看到街對面一幢長得沒有盡頭的深灰色的建築——這是一所醫院——上面惹眼地開着一排排呆板的窗子；雨還在下，不過已成為一滴滴看得清的大顆粒了。”（以上均節選自《變形記》）。
上面的兩段都是對窗外景物的描寫，卡夫卡在輕易之間便把氣氛渲染的如此濃重。為主旋律的敘述又增加的完整的節拍。仿佛各個方面的特徵都是為了主題的烘托，而主題又毫無痕跡的呈現出各個方面的特徵。這種完美統一的連貫，使得文章讓人覺得如此的酣暢淋漓，故事好象就在自己的身邊發生，讓人欲罷不能。
1911年出現的《變形記》是晦澀的，深奧的，即使在近一百年後的今天，這個偉大的預言一樣的小說文本也並不是那麽容易理解。即使讀懂了這個寓言般的小說，又如何感知卡夫卡之所以悲哀呢？況且還有比悲哀更為深遠的東西包裹在其後。
Plot summary
Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed from a human into a monstrous insect. Rather than lament his transformation, Gregor worries about how he will get to his job as a traveling salesman; Gregor is the sole financial provider for his parents and sister, Grete, and their comfort is dependent on his ability to work. When Gregor's supervisor arrives at the house and demands Gregor come out of his room, Gregor manages to roll out of bed and unlock his door. His appearance horrifies his family and supervisor; his supervisor flees and Gregor attempts to chase after him, but his family shoos him back into his room. Grete attempts to care for her brother by providing him with milk and the stale, rotten food he now prefers. Gregor also develops the fears of an insect, being effectively shooed away by hissing voices and stamping feet. However, Gregor remains a devoted and loving son, and takes to hiding beneath a sofa whenever someone enters his room in order to shield them from his insect form. When alone, he amuses himself by looking out of his window and crawling up the walls and on the ceiling.
No longer able to rely on Gregor's income, the other family members are forced to take on jobs and Grete's caretaking deteriorates. One day, when Gregor emerges from his room, his father chases him around the dining room table and pelts him with apples. One of the apples becomes embedded in his back, causing an infection. Due to his infection and his hunger, Gregor is soon barely able to move at all. Later, his parents take in lodgers and use Gregor's room as a dumping area for unwanted objects. Gregor becomes dirty, covered in dust and old bits of rotten food. One day, Gregor hears Grete playing her violin to entertain the lodgers. Gregor is attracted to the music, and slowly walks into the dining room despite himself, entertaining a fantasy of getting his beloved sister to join him in his room and play her violin for him. The lodgers see him and give notice, refusing to pay the rent they owe, even threatening to sue the family for harboring him while they stayed there. Grete determines that the monstrous insect is no longer Gregor, since Gregor would have left them out of love and taken their burden away, and claims that they must get rid of it. Gregor retreats to his room and collapses, finally succumbing to his wound.
The point of view shifts as, upon discovery of his corpse, the family feels an enormous burden has been lifted from them, and start planning for the future again. The family discovers that they aren't doing financially bad at all, especially since, following Gregor's demise, they can take a smaller flat. The brief process of forgetting Gregor and shutting him from their lives is quickly completed. The tale concludes with the mother and father taking note of Grete's new womanhood and growth.
Characters
Gregor Samsa
Gregor is the protagonist of the story. He works hard as a travelling salesman to provide for his sister and parents. He wakes up one morning as a monstrous insect. After the transformation, Gregor was unable to work, causing his father to work at a bank to provide for the family and pay owed debts.
Grete Samsa
Grete is Gregor's younger sister, who becomes his caretaker after the metamorphosis. At the beginning Grete and Gregor have a strong relationship but this relationship fades with time. While Grete originally volunteers to feed him and clean his room, throughout the story she grows more and more impatient with the task to the point of deliberately leaving messes in his room out of spite. She plays the violin and dreams of going to the conservatorium, a dream that Gregor was going to make come true. He was going to announce this on Christmas Eve. To help provide an income for the family after Gregor's transformation she starts working as a salesgirl in a shop.
Mr Samsa
Gregor's father owes a large debt to Gregor's boss, which is why Gregor can't quit his hated job. He is lazy and elderly, while Gregor works, but when, after the metamorphosis, Gregor is unable to provide for the family, he is shown to be an able-bodied worker. He also attempts to kill Gregor when he is discovered in his monstrous state.
Mrs Samsa
Mrs Samsa is the mother of Grete and Gregor. She is initially shocked at Gregor's transformation, however eventually decides she wants to enter his room. This seems too much for her to handle, and Gregor hides away from her in an attempt to protect her. Mrs Samsa is conflicted in her maternal concern and sympathy for Gregor, and her inherent fear of his new monstrous form.
Chief Clerk
The Chief Clerk is Gregor's boss and the person to whom Mr Samsa is in debt. He pressures Gregor to prepare for his workday with a urgency pertaining to the precarious position of his job.
Tenants
Three tenants are invited to live with the Samsas to supplement their income. The family shows great deference to these tenants throughout the length of their stay. They are fussy and cannot stand dirtiness, eventually leading to the point when they discover Gregor and threaten the family with a lawsuit, apparently believing he's just an extraordinarily large insect.
Lost in translation
The opening sentence of the novella is famous in English:
"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous insect."
"Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt."
Kafka's sentences often deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of sentences in German that require that the participle be positioned at the end of the sentence; in the above sentence, the equivalent of 'changed' is the final word, 'verwandelt'. Such constructions are not replicable in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text.
English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as "insect", but this is not strictly accurate. In Middle German, Ungeziefer literally means "unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice" and is sometimes used colloquially to mean "bug" – a very general term, unlike the scientific sounding "insect". Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor as any specific thing, but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation. The phrasing used in the David Wyllie translation and Joachim Neugroschel is "transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin".
However, "vermin" denotes in English many animals (particularly mice, rats and foxes) and in Kafka's letter to his publisher of 25 October 1915, in which he discusses his concern about the cover illustration for the first edition, he uses the term "Insekt", saying "The insect itself is not to be drawn. It is not even to be seen from a distance." While this shows his concern not to give precise information about the type of creature Gregor becomes, the use of the general term "insect" can therefore be defended on the part of translators wishing to improve the readability of the end text.
Ungeziefer has sometimes been translated as "cockroach", "dung beetle", "beetle", and other highly specific terms. The term "dung beetle" or Mistkäfer is in fact used in the novella by the cleaning lady near the end of the story, but it is not used in the narration. Ungeziefer also denotes a sense of separation between him and his environment: he is unclean and must therefore be excluded.
Vladimir Nabokov, who was a lepidopterist as well as writer and literary critic, insisted that Gregor was not a cockroach, but a beetle with wings under his shell, and capable of flight — if only he had known it. Nabokov left a sketch annotated "just over three feet long" on the opening page of his (heavily corrected) English teaching copy. In his accompanying lecture notes, Nabokov discusses the type of vermin Gregor has been transformed into, concluding that Gregor "is not, technically, a dung beetle. He is merely a big beetle. (I must add that neither Gregor nor Kafka saw that beetle any too clearly.)"
Adaptations to other media
There are several film versions, including:
* Metamorphosis (1987) at the Internet Movie Database
* Die Verwandlung (1975) at the Internet Movie Database
* Förvandlingen (1976/I) at the Internet Movie Database
* The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977) at the Internet Movie Database by Caroline Leaf
* The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka (1993) by Carlos Atanes.
* Prevrashcheniye (2002) at the Internet Movie Database
* Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis acoustical liberation from LibriVox.
* Metamorfosis (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
* A Metamorfose (2007) at the Internet Movie Database
* Immersive Kafka: The Metamorphosis / Atvaltozas (2010) by Sandor Kardos, Barnabas Takacs.
A stage adaptation was performed by Steven Berkoff in 1969. Berkoff's text was also used for the libretto to Brian Howard's 1983 opera Metamorphosis. Another stage adaptation was performed in 2006 by the Icelandic company Vesturport, showing at the Lyric Hammersmith, London. That adaptation is set to be performed in the Icelandic theater fall of 2008. Another stage adaptation was performed in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2005 by the Centre for Asian Theatre. That performance is still continuing in Bangladesh. The Lyric Theatre Company toured the UK in 2006 with its stage adaptation of Metamorphosis, accompanied by a unique soundtrack performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. American comic artist Peter Kuper illustrated a graphic-novel version, first published by the Crown Publishing Group in 2003. Megan Rees is currently working on a new stage adaptation that should be published by 2010.
Allusions/references from other works
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2008)
Stage
* Philip Glass composed incidental music for two separate theater productions of the story. These two themes, along with two themes from the Errol Morris film The Thin Blue Line, were incorporated into a five-part piece of music for solo piano entitled Metamorphosis.
Literature
Jacob M. Appel's H. E. Francis Award-winning story, "The Vermin Episode," retells The Metamorphosis from the point-of-view of the Samsas' neighbors.
Film
* The 2005 film The Producers includes a scene where the two protagonists are searching for a sure flop. The opening for the play of Metamorphosis is read and rejected for being too good.
* The 2008 film The Reader features Ralph Fiennes reading aloud from Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
* In 2002 a Russian version titled Prevrashchenie was directed by Valery Fokin with Yevgeny Mironov as Gregor.
* In 1995, the actor Peter Capaldi won an Oscar for his short-film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. The plot of the film has the author (played by Richard E. Grant) trying to write the opening line of Metamorphosis and experimenting with various things that Gregor might turn into, such as a banana or a kangaroo. The film is also notable for a number of Kafkaesque moments.
* In 1993 Carlos Atanes directed The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka, a controversial adaptation based on The Metamorphosis as well on biographical details from Kafka's family.
* in Noah Baumbach's Squid and the Whale, Jeff Daniels and Jesse Eisenberg make several references to The Metamorphosis
Animation
* In The Venture Bros. episode "Mid-Life Chrysalis", Dr. Venture's transformation into a caterpillar slightly mirrors that of Gregor Samsa's transformation.
* A reference appears in the 2006 Aardman Animations feature film Flushed Away when a refrigerator falls through the floor of the protagonist Rita's home and a giant cockroach appears reading a copy of The Metamorphosis.
* In the short-lived TV animated series Extreme Ghostbusters, season 1, episode 11 ("The Crawler"), the bug monster (that resembles a giant insect) calls himself Gregor Samsa when trying to seduce Janine to be his queen in his human form.
* Jack Feldstein created a tribute to Gregor Samsa and The Metamorphosis in his stream-of-consciousness neon animation "Shmetamorphosis" about a bug who hysterically bursts into therapist Bertold Krasenstein's office, begging to be saved.
* In the first season of the anime Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei there is an episode titled "One Morning, When Gregor Samsa Awoke, He was Carrying a Mikoshi", an obvious parody of the first line of The Metamorphosis.
Comics
* American cartoonist Robert Crumb drew an illustrated adaptation of the novella which appears in the book Introducing Kafka.
* In the comic book Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez, the eponymous Johnny is plagued by a roach that keeps appearing in his house no matter how many times he kills it (whether or not this roach is immortal or simply many different roaches is up to interpretation) and is affectionately named "Mr. Samsa".
* In The Simpsons book Treehouse of Horror Spook-tacular, Matt Groening did a spoof on the metamorphosis, entitling it Metamorphosimpsons. In addition, in one of the episodes, Lisa attends a place called "Cafe Kafka", which is shown to be a popular place for college students, and features several posters of cockroaches in Bohemian-like poses.
* Peter Kuper (illustrator of Kafka's Give It Up!) also adapted Kafka's Metamorphosis.
Television
* In the TV series Supernatural, the 4th episode of season 4 is named "Metamorphosis."
* The TV series Smallville, which is a retelling of Superman's early years as a teenager, alludes to Kafka's story in the season one, episode "Metamorphosis" where the 'Freak of the Week' is transformed into a being with insect-like abilities after suffering from exposure to meteor-infected insects (Kryptonite-induced).
* In the TV series Home Movies there is an entire episode based on Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis as a Rock Opera.
* In the TV series The Venture Bros., in the 8th episode of season 1, Dr. Venture undergoes a metamorphosis and alludes to the story.
* In the TV series The Ricky Gervais Show, in the 11th episode of season 1, named "Beetles," the characters discuss the potential of Karl Pilkingtons's metamorphosis.
Music
* Gregor Samsa is the name of an American post-rock band.
* The Rolling Stones' 1975 album Metamorphosis features cover art of the band members with insect heads.
* Showbread has a song named "Sampsa Meets Kafka". The misspelling of Samsa is intentional. Josh Dies the lead singer also lists Kafka as one of his biggest influences.
* The name of the German darkwave/metal/neoclassical band Samsas Traum is inspired by the story.
Video games
* Bad Mojo is a 1996 computer game, the storyline of which is loosely based on The Metamorphosis.
* Spore: Galactic Adventures made an adventure version of The Metamorphosis.
* In the 2001 Wizardry 8, the first boss is a gigantic cockroach named "Gregor".
卡夫卡出生在布拉格的一個猶太商人家庭，沿襲了純種猶太人聰明的血統。父親是一個半行乞的屠夫的兒子，白手起傢，在傢中專橫如暴君，任意虐待妻兒，他對卡夫卡的學習、生活不聞不問，衹是偶爾指手畫腳地訓斥一通———他想把兒子培養成為性格堅強而又能幹的年輕人，但結果是適得其反。卡夫卡內心中一直對父親存有無法消除的畏懼心理，自小心裏充滿恐懼，敏感成性。加上他作為布拉格講德語的少數人的一分子，更造就了他無邊無際的孤獨。
迫於父親的壓力，他學習法律，後入一傢私人保險公司任低薪職員，一直湮沒在人群之中。他一生三次訂婚，又三次解除婚約，其中原因之一就是怕結婚會破壞他已經習慣的孤獨生活。後來他患上肺結核病，更使他遠離熱鬧的塵世生活，沉浸在自己孤獨的內心世界中。
這個孤僻的小職員的最大愛好就是寫作，他那敏感、怯懦的性格和孤僻、憂鬱的氣質確實適合做一個作傢。卡夫卡業餘創作的大部分作品在他生前一直鎖在抽屜裏，少量面世的短篇小說還不足讓他一鳴驚人，而且對他的同時代人來說，他的小說太超前了，當時的人們遠未有能力體驗卡夫卡獨特而奇怪的荒謬感。他病逝後遺留下大量手稿。
二戰之後，世界在廢墟上重建，戰爭所帶來的人類心靈深重的陰影，使人們不約而同地把目光轉嚮了30年前死去的無名作傢卡夫卡，他及其作品在西方世界掀起了一股熱潮，人們像投票選舉政界要員一樣把他列為現代派小說傢的第一候選人。
推薦閱讀版本：湯永寬譯，武漢大學出版社出版。
《城堡》-內容精要
一個寒冷的鼕天的夜晚，土地測量員K來到了一個村子，他的目的是要前往村子附近的那座城堡去執行公務。當K在村口遙望城堡時，他感到籠罩在夜色之中的城堡，如同一片空洞虛無的幻景，這樣的感覺似乎預示着他的任務不是那麽容易完成的。
他前往客店投宿，可是客店老闆對他的到來有點不知所措。他告訴K已經客滿了，衹好把K勉強安頓下來。客店裏的人得知K要去城堡，都用特別的眼神看他。一位年輕人告訴K，每個進入城堡的人都必須得有一張許可證，而要想得到許可證，就必須去找城堡裏的伯爵。
第二天，K走嚮城堡，可是耗費了一整天的時間他也無法靠近城堡一步。天色暗下來，他衹好先去找棲身之處。找來找去，又回到了昨天晚上的那傢客店。在搭雪橇前往客店的途中，他遇到了兩個自稱是他的助手的人。他們非常熱情地幫助 K，並且用電話聯絡城堡裏的辦事機構，詢問具體何時能上城堡去，對方回答：“任何時候都不能來。”
這時，來了一位叫巴納巴斯的人，他是城堡的信使，K對他的來到十分興奮，認為他可以成為自己和城堡聯繫的中間人。巴納巴斯給他帶來了城堡的信，信裏既沒有對K的到來表示歡迎，也沒有暗示他趕快離開。事情依舊毫無轉機。K和信使一道去了他傢，信使的妹妹又表示她可以幫助K，於是把 K送進了一傢旅館，她告訴K，城堡的頭面人物剋拉姆住在那裏，可以藉機找剋拉姆打通關節。
在旅館的酒吧裏，K認識了剋拉姆的情婦弗麗達，K頓時使出渾身解數試圖靠近弗麗達，然而旅館裏的人不停地添亂，助手們也在一邊添亂，使他無法和弗麗達親密地談一談關於剋拉姆。他甚至用與弗麗達結婚的許諾想換得跟剋拉姆談一次話的機會。但K最終發現弗麗達這條路是走不通的，因為她和信使一樣，是個無關緊要的小人物，她早已失寵。
K去見村長，村長告訴他，K來到村子完全是個錯誤，因為這裏根本用不着土地測量員。城堡裏不同部門彼此封閉，造成了一些差錯，所以K纔會收到公文，然而這份公文是早已無效的。村長承認他在幾年前收到一個招聘一位土地測量員的公文，然而他無論如何找不到那張可以證明K合法身份的薄紙片。村長表達了自己對這件事情的看法，他覺得K收到的公文其實是一封某個主管，比如剋拉姆，對他表示私人關心的的信，不能代表城堡的意見，因此K應當趁早回去。
K感到受騙上當了，但他堅持要求得到他應得的權利，那就是找一個住處，安頓他和弗麗達的新傢。客棧老闆一心想趕走K，K臨走前，又從老闆娘那裏聽到了關於她和剋拉姆舊情的回憶，這使K感到很不舒服，因為他不由自主地想到了自己的未婚妻。
這時村裏學校的教師奉村長之命前來，允許K帶傢眷住進學校任看門人，同時他也強調，學校其實並不需要一個看門人，他完全遵從村長的命令。K感到受到了侮辱，他拒絶了這份工作。可弗麗達堅持K接受它，她說如果K不接受，連個安身之處都沒有，那麽這對K對她自己都是十分羞愧的事情。
K對於進入城堡仍然抱着最後的希望，這已經不單純是執行公務，而是有關個人尊嚴的問題。他冒雪來到剋拉姆的旅館，女招待說這會兒剋拉姆正準備離開旅館，雪橇已在院子裏等着他，K二話沒話，守到雪橇邊，喝着白蘭地等剋拉姆出來。和以前一樣，剋拉姆本人永遠不會出現，他的秘書摩麥斯出來告訴K： “不管你跟我走或者留在這裏，你都不會見到他。”K反而陷入了進退兩難的地步，如果他離開，周圍人的神色舉止裏就表明剋拉姆就此脫身了；如果他堅持等下去，顯然也是沒有結果的。秘書拿出一份會談記錄，K指出這是引K走嚮剋拉姆的惟一道路，但首先K必須接受一番苛刻的審查，K覺得不可忍受，於是他們兩人大笑着分別了。
《城堡》作傢卡夫卡
信使巴納巴斯又帶來了剋拉姆的一封信，剋拉姆贊賞了K及其助手的測量工作，這使K睏惑不已，他至今為止從未幹什麽測量工作，每天做的事情就是在等待爭取城堡的許可。K開始懷疑信使的可靠，但他仍托巴納巴斯帶去一個回音，申訴自己焦灼地渴盼見到剋拉姆一面的心情。
之後K回到他和弗麗達的新傢，那是學校裏的一間大教室，可是K和弗麗達的生活並不安寧。兩個助手不停地淘氣，爭食物，瞅準機會睡到惟一的稻草墊子上去。第二天，學校的女教師來了，她十分吃驚，繼而不斷地責駡 K，K幾乎像個劣等動物一樣被欺辱，可他决不接受校方的解職通知。他遷怒於兩位無用的助手，宣佈辭退他們，助手們施出渾身氣力哀求K。弗麗達反對K的决定，她說一旦辭退助手，K就永遠沒有機會見到剋拉姆了。弗麗達鼓勵K不要喪失信心。
K 來到信使傢等待回音，信使的姐妹奧爾伽和阿瑪麗亞總嚮K暗示她們的傾慕之情，並且在閑聊中，暗示K，她們的哥哥巴納巴斯可能從未見過剋拉姆，他總是給K帶來那些耽誤了很久，失去時效的信。就連剋拉姆本人，也是可疑的，關於剋拉姆的種種情況，很大程度上是村裏人想象出來的。奧爾伽又告訴K，城堡裏的官員如同暴君，他們可以隨時瞧上村裏的任何姑娘，給她們寫下流無比的信。他們的談話離正題越來越遠，奧爾伽講起了阿瑪麗亞因為拒絶城堡裏另一位大官員索爾蒂尼的求愛而遭受的不幸，他們全家都被迫接受了一種幾乎整天無所事事的刑罰，城堡強製他們退出社會生活。奧爾伽提醒K，不要指望任何一位有同情心的官員為他說話。巴納巴斯為K送信，其實不過是想讓自己一傢人不露痕跡地再受恩寵，對於K來說，沒有任何意義。這場繁冗而推心置腹的談話被K的一位助手打斷了，K很快意識到弗麗達和另一位助手呆在傢裏，他趕緊回傢了。
到傢裏，K發現弗麗達不見了。原來她以為K跑去勾搭巴納巴斯的姐妹，於是和另一個助手達成協議，背叛K。這時，巴納巴斯又跑來找K，興衝衝地通知他，剋拉姆的主要秘書之一艾朗格要和K當面談一談。K和一群人等候在漆黑的旅館門口，K被最先領了進去，但艾朗格卻睡着了，K衹好等着。在等待的時候，他又重新見到了弗麗達，他們激烈爭論了忠實與不忠實的問題。弗麗達坦然地告訴K，她已經和那位助手同居了。K則十分平靜地回敬她：自從你相繼失去了剋拉姆的情婦以及我的未婚妻這兩種身份之後，你早已經沒有了魅力。聽完此話後，弗麗達似乎被觸動了。但是她又見到助手時，馬上就改變主意。她說：她再也不想回到K身邊接受他的折磨。
小說就在此處戛然而止，卡夫卡未寫完它，他原來打算的結尾是K將精疲力竭而死。後世及研究者預計的結局是：K彌留之際，城堡終於來了通知，允許K留在村子裏，但不許進入城堡，K永遠不可能到達那裏，一直到死。
《城堡》-專傢點評
當一個作傢不能被他同時代的人所理解時，他會怎樣處理自己的作品。卡夫卡選擇的是毀滅。他在遺書中委托好友布羅德將其所有作品“毫無保留地，讀也不必讀就統統予以焚毀”。萬幸布羅德自作主張將卡夫卡的遺稿保存下來，整理出版，這一次明智的“背信棄義”使我們今天依舊能一睹卡夫卡這位文學大師一生勤奮的成果。
人們提到卡夫卡，總是會提起他的《變形記》，裏面的小公務員一早起來發現自己變成了一個大甲蟲。西方文學中常常用《變形記》來指代現代化文明中人的異化。然而在這裏所推薦的《城堡》，因其多義性更富於閱讀的快樂。中篇小說《城堡》與《審判》及《美國》合稱“卡夫卡三部麯”，它們都具有卡夫卡小說一貫的荒誕不經風格：異化現象，難以排遣的孤獨和危機感，無法剋服的荒誕和恐懼。卡夫卡的小說揭示了一種荒誕的充滿非理性色彩的景象，個人式的、憂鬱的、孤獨的情緒，運用的是象徵式的手法。其中《城堡》更富於“卡夫卡式”的構思和語言風格。
和卡夫卡的其他小說一樣，《城堡》沒有惟一正確的解釋，解釋權授予了每個閱讀者，這來源於這部作品的多義性。表面上，這作品的故事再簡單不過了，一個土地測量員K來到一個村莊，想進入管轄附近地區的伯爵居住的城堡，他費了九牛二虎之力，攤上一切也沒能達到目的。《城堡》所具有的荒謬、虛擬，無明確的時代地理背景的特徵使它抹上很濃的寓言色彩，無論評論傢還是普通讀者都能夠獲得不同的結論，《城堡》究竟表達了怎樣的主題，這終了還是一個難解之謎，有人說它表現的是“人試圖進入天國而不得的痛苦”；有人則認為它集中反映了卡夫卡本人的精神世界的荒誕、孤獨與恐懼；有人則結合寫作年代背景，說明城堡實際上反映了奧匈帝國官僚體製與大衆的鴻溝，更有論者以為，《城堡》和《審判》、《美國》的主題相同，即“人們所追求的真理，不管是自由、安定，還是法律，都是存在的，但這個荒誕的世界給人們設置了種種障礙，無論你怎麽努力， 總是追求不到， 最後衹能以失敗告終。” 在《城堡》中，“城堡”是最大的謎團，它與主人公K的目標總是若即若離，也正因此，能夠激起人們相當的閱讀興趣，其中的人物如CC伯爵，以至於剋拉姆部長等都神秘莫測，足以見卡夫卡這位小說傢的天才的智慧。
《城堡》小說傢卡夫卡
閱讀卡夫卡的小說，對每一個讀者來說都是挑戰。他喜歡長句子，字裏行間充滿了大量的暗喻，他用文字堆起了一個個迷宮。讀者會在穿行文字時遇到極大的阻力。然而當你習慣他的文字風格後，你會發現，原先的阻力變成了動力，帶給你閱讀的快感。
1913年8月15日，卡夫卡在自己的日記裏寫道：“我將不顧一切地與所有人隔絶，與所有人敵對，不同任何人講話。”6天後他又這樣寫道：“現在我在我的家庭裏，在那些最好的、最親愛的人們中間，比一個陌生人還要陌生。近年來我和我的母親平均每天說不上20句話；和我的父親除了有時彼此寒暄幾句幾乎就沒有更多的話可說；和我的已婚的妹妹和妹夫們除了跟他們生氣我壓根兒就不說話。理由很簡單：我和他們沒有任何一丁點兒的事情要說。一切不是文學的事情都使我無聊， 叫我憎恨”三年之後，這個不僅和整個世界格格不入，而且也和自己格格不入的猶太人，雖然尚未進入完全與世隔絶的城堡，卻終於從家庭裏逃出，為自己找到了一條窄得像西服袖子一樣的幽深的死巷。這就是如今在布拉格頗為知名的黃金巷、又譯為“煉金術士巷”。黃金巷22號的連棟屋中間，有座建於16世紀的、衹有一個房間和一間小閣樓的小小藍屋，墻壁很薄，房捨低矮得伸手便可觸及天花板。這是被他的好友馬剋斯·布羅德稱之為“一個真正的作傢的修道士般的密室”的處所。卡夫卡在這裏繼續用謎一般的文字構築着自己靈魂的城堡。
《城堡》卡夫卡及傢人
在卡夫卡的世界裏，噩夢永遠沒有醒來的時候，在荒誕的、不合邏輯的世界裏描繪“人類生活的一切活動及其逼真的細節”，這正是作為小說傢的卡夫卡的天賦所在，當我們讀到《變形記》、《城堡》、《審判》等作品時，簡直就像面對着一尊尊充滿力量的雕塑，你能從那極度的變形與誇張裏體會到生命的悸動與衝突。對於卡夫卡自己來說，生存就是一場必須“恰當運用自己的力量（因為我們的力量永遠是有限的）”的抗爭。雖然前途黯淡，但前途畢竟終會到來。通過寫作這一形式卡夫卡為自己的抗爭找到了存在的形象。從卡夫卡自己的書信與日記，我們也許能領會到那無窮無盡的力量源泉，他這樣寫道：“不要絶望，甚至對你並不感到絶望這一點也不要絶望。恰恰在似乎一切都完了的時候，新的力量畢竟來臨，給你以幫助，而這正表明你是活着的。”“一場傾盆大雨。站立着面對這場大雨吧！讓它的鋼鐵般的光芒刺穿你。你在那想把你衝走的雨水中飄浮，但你還是要堅持，昂首屹立，等待那即將來臨的無窮無盡的陽光的照耀。”令人吃驚的是，它們竟然帶着這樣一些姿態：憂傷、理解、痛苦、謙卑，卡夫卡由此走嚮了無限深淵。最終他完成了對自己的塑造：他成為無限深淵中惟一裸行的思想者。卡夫卡的道路是對抗之路，他與存在於他身邊的世界和秩序一直是抗爭着的，藝術或者說文學寫作是他對抗外部荒誕世界的惟一武器，他別無選擇。雖然在此期間，他極度渴望實現藝術與現實的統一，甚至他個人與外部世界有過短暫的統一，但這種統一也是一瞬即逝的，表面和形式上的。他也渴望有自己的家庭，但他害怕家庭損害他的寫作；他也像凡夫俗子一樣，渴望有自己的孩子，做一名好父親，但直到他有一個已長到7歲纔夭折的孩子。
卡夫卡生前默默無聞，孤獨地奮鬥，隨着時間的流逝，他的價值纔逐漸為人們所認識，作品引起了世界的震動，並在世界範圍內形成一股“卡夫卡”熱，經久不衰。他一生的作品並不多，但對後世文學的影響卻是極為深遠的。他與法國作傢馬賽爾·普魯斯特、愛爾蘭作傢詹姆斯·喬伊斯並稱為西方現代主義文學的先驅和大師。美國詩人奧登認為：“他與我們時代的關係最近似但丁、莎士比亞、歌德與他們時代的關係。”後世的許多現代主義文學流派如“荒誕派戲劇”、法國的“新小說”等都把卡夫卡奉為自己的鼻祖。
關於卡夫卡，我們還可以說上很多很多。據說在現代文學的研究中，關於卡夫卡的論文數量之大，僅僅打印題目就需要幾十頁。但是，理解卡夫卡最好的方法，就是進入他的文字世界，安靜地傾聽他通過語言表達的內心。這不正是我們現在這個浮躁的現代文明所缺少的嗎？
《城堡》-妙語佳句
他真要以為外面是灰色的天空與灰色的土地渾然一體的荒漠世界了。
可是如果這一切的平靜、舒適與滿足都要想恐怖地告一段落，那該怎麽辦呢？
History of the novel
Kafka began writing The Castle on the evening of January 27, 1922, the day he arrived at the mountain resort of Spindlermühle (now in the Czech Republic). A picture taken of him upon his arrival shows him by a horse-drawn sleigh in the snow in a setting reminiscent of The Castle. Hence, the significance that the first few chapters of the handwritten manuscript were written in first person and at some point later changed by Kafka to a third person narrator, 'K.'
Max Brod
Kafka died prior to finishing The Castle and it is questionable whether Kafka intended on finishing it if he had survived his tuberculosis. On separate occasions he told his friend Max Brod of two different conditions: K., the book's protagonist, would continue to reside and die in the village; the castle notifying him on his death bed that his "legal claim to live in the village was not valid, yet, taking certain auxiliary circumstances into account, he was permitted to live and work there" , but then on September 11, 1922 in a letter to Max Brod, he said he was giving up on the book and would never return to it. As it is, the book ends mid-sentence.
Although Brod was instructed by Kafka to destroy all his works on his death, he did not and set about publishing Kafka's writings. The Castle was originally published in German in 1926 by the publisher Kurt Wolff Verlag of Munich. This edition sold far less than the 1500 copies that were printed. It was republished in 1935 by Schocken Verlag in Berlin, and in 1946 by Schocken Books of New York.
Brod had to heavily edit the work to ready it for publication. His goal was to gain acceptance of the work and the author, not to maintain the structure of Kafka's writing. This would play heavily in the future of the translations and continues to be the center of discussion on the text. Brod donated the manuscript to Oxford University.
Brod placed a strong religious significance to the symbolism of the castle. This is one possible interpretation of the work based on numerous Judeo-Christian references as noted by many including Arnold Heidsieck.
Malcolm Pasley
The publisher, Salmen Schocken, soon realized the translations were "bad" and in 1940 desired a "completely different approach". In 1961 Malcolm Pasley got access to all of Kafka's works, except The Trial, and deposited them in Oxford's Bodleian library. Pasley and a team of scholars (Gerhard Neumann, Malcolm Pasley, Jost Schillemeit, and Jürgen Born) started publishing the works in 1982 through S. Fischer Verlag. Das Schloß was published that year as a two volume set — the novel in the first volume, and the fragments, deletions and editor's notes in a second volume. This team restored the original German text to its full, and incomplete state, including the unique Kafka punctuation considered critical to the style.
Stroemfeld/Roter Stern
Interpretations of Kafka's intent for the manuscript are ongoing. Stroemfeld/Roter Stern Verlag is working for the rights to publish another critical edition with manuscript and transcription side-by-side. But they have met with resistance from the Kafka heirs and Pasley. This edition is not yet available.
Major editions
* 1930 Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir. Based on the First German edition, by Max Brod. Published By Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States.
* 1941 Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir. Edition include an Homage by Thomas Mann.
* 1954 Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir additional sections translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. "Definitive edition". Based on the Schocken 1951 Definitive edition .
* 1994 Translators: Muir, et al. Preface by Irving Howe.
* 1997 Translator: J. A. Underwood, Introduction: Idris Parry. Based on Pasley Critical German Text.
* 1998 Translator: Mark Harman Based on Pasley Critical German Text.
The title
The title, Das Schloß, may be translated as "the castle" or "the lock". It is also similar to Der Schluß (close or end). The castle is locked and closed to K and the townspeople; neither can gain access.
Plot
The narrator, K. arrives in the village, governed by the castle. When seeking shelter at the town inn, he gives himself out to be a land surveyor summoned by the castle authorities. He is quickly notified that his castle contact is an official named Klamm, who, in the introductory note, informs K. he will report to the Council Chairman.
The Council Chairman informs K. that, through a mix up in communication between the castle and the village, he was erroneously requested but, trying to accommodate K., the Council Chairman offers him a position in the service of the school teacher as a janitor. Meanwhile, K., unfamiliar with the customs, bureaucracy and processes of the village, continues to attempt to reach the official Klamm, who is not accessible.
The villagers hold the officials and the castle in the highest regard, justifying, quite elaborately at times, the actions of the officials, even though they do not appear to know what officials do or why they do it; they simply defend it. The number of assumptions and justifications about the functions of the officials and their dealings are enumerated through lengthy monologues of the villagers. Everyone appears to have an explanation for the official's actions that appear to be founded on assumptions and gossip. One of the more obvious contradictions between the "official word" and the village conception is the dissertation by the secretary Erlanger on Frieda's required return to service as a barmaid. K. is the only villager that knows that the request is being forced by the castle (even though Frieda may be the genesis), with no regard for anyone in the village, only Klamm. Pepi and Jeremiah quickly come to their conclusions and do not hesitate to state them.
The castle is the ultimate bureaucracy with copious paperwork that the bureaucracy maintains is "flawless". This flawlessness is of course a lie; it is a flaw in the paperwork that has brought K. to the village. There are other failures of the system which are occasionally referred to. K. witnesses a flagrant misprocessing after his nighttime interrogation by Erlanger as a servant destroys paperwork when he cannot determine who the recipient should be.
The castle's occupants appear to be all adult men and there is little reference to the castle other than to its bureaucratic functions. The two notable instances are the reference to a fire brigade and that Otto Brunswick's wife is self declared as from the castle. The latter builds the importance of Hans (Otto's son) in K's eyes, as a way to gain access to the castle officials.
The functions of the officials are never mentioned. The officials that are discussed have one or more secretaries that do their work in their village. Although the officials come to the village they do not interact with the villagers unless they need female companionship, implied to be sexual.
Characters
Note: The Muir translations refer to the Herrenhof Inn where the Harman translations translate this to the Gentleman's Inn. Below all references to the inn where the officials stay in the village is the Herrenhof Inn since this was the first, and potentially more widely read, translation.
Character Description
K., the Land-Surveyor The protagonist of the story, recognized as a land surveyor, employed as the school janitor, and a stranger to the townspeople. He spends most of the novel trying to overcome the bureaucracy of the village and to contact the castle official Klamm.
Frieda A former barmaid at the Herrenhof, who is K.'s fiancée for most of the novel. She often finds herself torn between her duty to K. and her fears regarding his over-zealousness. She eventually leaves K. and ends up in the arms of his former assistant, Jeremiah (who has since become a waitperson at the Herrenhof).
Hans, landlord
(Bridge Inn) Nephew of the original owner of the inn. According to his wife, Gardena, he is lazy and overly nice to K.
Gardena, landlady
(Bridge Inn) The self proclaimed firebrand of the Bridge Inn she is a former short-term mistress to Klamm and very distrustful of K.'s motives. She remains infatuated with Klamm.
Barnabas, a messenger A messenger of the castle assigned to K. He is new to the service. K. is instructed to use him to communicate with the official Klamm. He is very immature and sensitive.
Arthur and Jeremiah, K's assistants
(Artur and Jeremias in Harman edition) Shortly after his arrival in the village, K. is given two assistants to help him with his various needs. They are a continual source of frustration for him, however, and he eventually drives them from his service through his brutal treatment. They have been assigned to K., to make him happy, by the official Galater who was deputizing for Klamm at the time.
Mayor/Superintendent
(Village Council Chairman in Harman edition) Assigned by Klamm to give K. his assignment and hence is his superior. He explains to K why he is not needed as a land surveyor. He offers K. the job of school janitor to the dismay of the Teacher.
Mizzi, the mayor's wife The wife and assistant of the Mayor, Gardena refers to her as the one who does the work.
Klamm An elusive castle official who is K.'s Castle Authority. Like the other Castle officials in the book, his actual area of expertise is never mentioned. K. spends a large portion of the novel trying to secure a meeting with Klamm. K., it seems, fixes many of his hopes for a successful resolution to his problems upon this meeting with Klamm. He has at least two secretaries—Erlanger (First Secretary) and Momus.
In Czech (and Kafka was able to speak and read/write Czech) "klam" means "illusion."
Momus, Klamm's secretary Handles all written work for and receives all petitions to Klamm. He is also secretary for Vallabne, who is not mentioned again in the novel.
Erlanger, Klamm's secretary The First Secretary of Klamm who is sent to "interrogate" K, but only gives him a short message.
Olga, Barnabas' sister The older sister of Amalia and Barnabas. She helps K. on his quest, partly by telling him the story of why her family is considered outcasts and by teaching him some of the village customs.
Amalia, Barnabas' sister Younger sister of Barnabas and Olga. She was disgraced in the village after rudely turning down a summons from the castle official Sortini for sexual favors.
Barnabas' Father The father of Olga, Amalia and Barnabas. Past village cobbler and notable fireman. After Amalia's disgraceful interactions with Sortini's messenger, his business is ruined and he is stripped of his fire credentials
Barnabas' Mother The mother of Olga, Amalia and Barnabas.
Otto Brunswick, son-in-law of Lasemann
(brother-in-law of Lasemann in Harman edition) Hans Brunswick's father. Opportunistically takes over Barnabas' father's customers as the Barnabas family falls into disrepute from Amalia's rude treatment of Sortini's Messenger. According to the Mayor, Brunswick was the only person in the village that desired that a land surveyor be hired. No reason for this is given.
Frau Brunswick Hans Brunswick's Mother. She refers to herself as "from the castle" and is the only reference to a female at the castle.
Hans, a sympathetic Student A student at the school where K is a janitor. Offers to help K and K uses him to attempt to find ways to get to the castle through his mother.
Herrenhof Landlord Landlord of the Herrenhof Inn.
Herrenhof Landlady Well dressed landlady at the Herrenhof Inn. Seems to be the matriarch of the Inn (as is Gardena at the Bridge Inn). Is distrustful of K.
Galater He is the castle official that assigned the assistants to K. He was also "rescued" by Barnabas' father in a minor fire at the Herrenhof Inn.
Brügel
(Bürgel in Harman edition) A Secretary of a castle official, Friedrich. Friedrich is not mentioned again in the book, but in deleted text is referred to as an official who is falling out of favor. Brügel is a long winded secretary who muses about Castle interrogations with K, when the latter errantly enters his room at the Herrenhof Inn.
Sordini Castle secretary who exhaustively manages any transactions at the castle for his department and is suspicious of any potential error.
Sortini Castle official associated with the village fire brigade who solicits Amalia with a sexually explicit and rude request to come to his room at the Herrenhof.
Teacher When K. becomes the janitor at the school, the teacher becomes K.'s de facto superior. He does not approve of K. working at the school, but does not appear to have the authority to terminate K's appointment.
Miss Gisa, the school mistress The assistant school teacher who is courted by Schwarzer and also dislikes K.
Schwarzer An under-castellan's son who appears to have given up living in the castle to court Miss Gisa and become her student teacher.
Pepi A former chamber maid who is promoted to Frieda's barmaid position when the latter leaves her position at the Herrenhoff to live with K. She was a chambermaid with Emilie and Hennriette
Lasemann, a tanner, father-in-law of Otto Brunswick
(brother-in-law of Otto Brunswick in Harman edition) The village tanner that offers a few hours shelter to K. during on his first full day in the village.
Gerstacker, a Coachman Initially suspicious of K. but gives him a free sleigh back to the Bridge Inn after refusing to provide a ride to the castle. At the end of the book attempts to befriend K. since he believes K. has clout with Erlanger.
Seemann, the Fire Company chief The fire chief that strips Barnabas' father of his fireman diploma after Barnabas' family falls into shame from Amalia's rude treatment of Sortini's Messenger.
Major themes
Theological
It is well documented that Brod's original construction was based on religious themes and this was furthered by the Muirs in their translations. But it has not ended with the Critical Editions. Numerous interpretations have been made with a variety of theological angles.
One interpretation of K.'s struggle to contact the castle is that it represents a man's search for salvation. According to Mark Harman, translator of a recent edition of The Castle, this was the interpretation favored by the original translators Willa and Edwin Muir, who produced the first English volume in 1925. Harman feels he has removed the bias in the translations toward this view, but many still feel this is the point of the book.
Fueling the biblical interpretations of the novel are the various names and situations. For example, the official Galater (the German word for Galatians), one of the initial regions to develop a strong Christian following from the work of Apostle Paul and his assistant Barnabas. The name of the messenger, Barnabas, for the same reason. Even the Critical Editions naming of the beginning chapter, "Arrival", among other things liken K. to an Old Testament messiah.
Abuse of power
While in talking to Olga in (Chapter XVII, "Amalia's Secret") K. himself ridicules the officials, in general, based on Sortini's "abuse of power" in requesting Amalia to come to the Gentleman's Inn. K. caught, once again, in not understanding the customs of the village is shocked at the behavior of Sortini. Olga expresses the "heroic" actions of Amalia, but appears too understanding of the community's acceptance of the status quo when it comes to the solicitations by the officials.
Bureaucracy
The obvious thread throughout The Castle is bureaucracy. The extreme degree is nearly comical and the village residents' justifications of it are amazing. Hence it is no surprise that many feel that the work is a direct result of the political situation of the era in which it was written, which was shot through with anti-Semitism, remnants of the Habsburg bureaucracy, etc.
But even in these analyses, the veiled references to more sensitive issues are pointed out. For instance, the treatment of the Barnabas family, with their requirement to first prove guilt before they could request a pardon from it and the way their fellow villagers desert them have been pointed out as a direct reference to the anti-Semitic climate at the time.
Allusions to other works
Critics often talk of The Castle and The Trial in concert, highlighting the struggle of the protagonist against a bureaucratic system and standing before the law's door unable to enter as in the parable of the priest in The Trial.
In spite of motifs common with other works of Kafka, The Castle is quite different from The Trial. While K., the main hero of The Castle, faces similar uncertainty and difficulty in grasping the reality that suddenly surrounds him; Josef K., the protagonist of The Trial, seems to be more experienced and emotionally stronger. On the other hand, while Josef K.'s surroundings stay familiar even when strange events befall him, K. finds himself in a new world whose laws and rules are unfamiliar to him.
Publication history
Harman translation
In 1926 Max Brod persuaded Kurt Wolff Verlag to publish the first German edition of The Castle. Due to its unfinished nature and his desire to get Kafka's work published, Max Brod took some editorial freedom.
In 1961 Malcolm Pasley was able to gain control of the manuscript, along with most of the other Kafka writings (save The Trial) and had it placed in the Oxford's Bodleian library. There, Pasley headed a team of scholars and recompiled Kafka's works into the Critical Edition. The Castle Critical Edition, in German, consists of two volumes—the novel in one volume and the fragments, deletions and editor's notes in a second volume. They were published by S. Fischer Verlag in 1982, hence occasionally referred to as the "Fischer Editions".
Mark Harman used the first volume of this set to create the 1998 edition of The Castle, often refer to as based on the "Restored Text" or the "English Critical Edition".
The lack of the fragments and missing text would have little meaning to most readers if the Muir translation did not let one know that there was more to read. The casual reader may not find the additional text of value, which Harman mentions that he has not included the text. According to the Publisher's Note:
"We decided to omit the variants and passages deleted by Kafka that are included in Pasley's second volume, even though variants can indeed shed light on the genesis of literary texts. The chief objective of this new edition, which is intended for the general public, is to present the text in a form that is as close as possible to the state in which the author left the manuscript."
Harman has received general acceptance of his translation as being technically accurate and true to the original German. He has, though, received criticism for, at times not creating the prosaic form of Kafka. Some of this is due, as with Muir's translations, on accusations that Pasley compilations are also inaccurate, although better than Brod's.
As noted in the Table of Contents above, Harman includes an eleven page discussion on his philosophy behind the translation. This section provides significant information about the method he used and his thought process. There are numerous examples of passages from Pasley, Muir's translation and his translation to provide the reader with a better feel for the work. As referenced above, some feel that his (and the publisher's) praise for his work and his "patronizing" of the Muirs goes a little too far.
Muir translation
In 1930 Willa and Edwin Muir translated the First German edition of The Castle as it was compiled by Max Brod. It was published by Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States. 1941 edition was the edition that fed the Kafka post-war craze. The 1941 edition included a homage by Thomas Mann.
In 1954 the "Definitive" edition was published and included additional sections Brod had added to the Schocken Definitive German edition. The new sections were translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. Some edits were made in the Muir text namely the changes were "Town Council" to "Village Council", "Superintendent" to "Mayor", "Clients" to "Applicants" .
The 1994 edition, the current publication, contains a preface by Irving Howe.
The Muir translations make use of wording that is often considered "spiritual" in nature. In one notable example, the Muirs translate the description of the castle as "soaring unfalteringly" where Harman uses "tapered decisively". Furthermore, the word "illusory" is used from the opening paragraph forward. Some critics note this as further evidence of the bias in the translation leaning toward a mystical interpretation.
Underwood translation
A translation by J. A. Underwood was published in 1997 and 2000 (ISBN 0-14-018504-6) by Penguin in the UK.
Adaptations
The book was adapted by German director Rudolf Noelte into a film released in 1968. It was also filmed by Austrian director Michael Haneke in 1997 under the original German title Das Schloß, starring Ulrich Mühe as K. There is a 1994 Russian movie adaptation, The Castle, directed by Aleksei Balabanov. Another less-well-known adaptation was also made in Russia in 1994, called The Land Surveyor (Землемер). It was a 46-minute-long animation created at Diogen Studio and directed by Dmitriy Naumov and Valentin Telegin. . A 120-minute-long French radio adaptation, written by Stephane Michaka and directed by Cedric Aussir, was aired by France Culture in 2010.
Allusions to The Castle in other works
A story similar to that of The Castle is told in the British television series The Prisoner. In the late 1970s, an unlicensed computer game spin-off of The Prisoner took things one step further by incorporating elements of The Castle into the game play.
The novel Oficina Número 1 (Office Number 1) by Venezuelan writer Miguel Otero Silva has one character reading The Castle, and although never referred to by name, describes several parts of it.
The Castle is also referred to in Lawrence Thornton's Imagining Argentina. A professor is arrested under suspicion of subversive activities. He tells the authorities he has been meeting Dostoevsky, Koestler and Camus at a place called "the Castle". The main character's cat is also named Kafka.
Although not expressly stated as such, the Steven Soderbergh film Kafka from 1991, starring Jeremy Irons, incorporates the basic thematic elements of The Castle as well as allusions to Kafka's own life as a writer and his collected works. The title character, "Kafka", an insurance company clerk by day and a writer by night, lives and works in the shadow of the mysterious Castle, which rules over the life and death of the local citizenry through a seemingly incomprehensibly complex conspiracy of bureaucracy and cover-ups.
Iain Banks's novel Walking on Glass has characters who find themselves in a situation similar to K.'s: trapped in a castle, subject to arbitrary and bizarre rules which they must obey in order to find a way of leaving, and surrounded by "servants" who comply entirely with the rules by which the castle is run. The allusion is made specific in one of the final chapters, where reading The Castle (along with The Trial and Titus Groan) is hinted at as a key to the characters' escape from their own castle.
K., the protagonist of J.M. Coetzee's The Life and Times of Michael K, attempts to live simply outside the governing system of war torn South Africa.[citation needed]
African-American author Richard Wright references The Castle in his autobiography Black Boy.
Japanese game designer Suda51, creator of No More Heroes, is planning to make a game based on The Castle, titled Kuriyami
A world in the children's Nintendo DS game Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter, the Galactic Jungle, presents the player with a stubborn bureaucracy not unlike the one portrayed in the novel.
Gene Wolfe's novel There Are Doors contains numerous references to The Castle throughout, including a high-placed official known as Klamm, several characters referred to as "Herr K.," and an actual copy of Das Schloss found nailed to a table within a dream.
Argentinian writer Ernesto Sabato is said to be influenced by Kafka's existentialism. The main character in his novelle, "The Tunnel", is named Castel, presumably after Kafka's story title.
迫於父親的壓力，他學習法律，後入一傢私人保險公司任低薪職員，一直湮沒在人群之中。他一生三次訂婚，又三次解除婚約，其中原因之一就是怕結婚會破壞他已經習慣的孤獨生活。後來他患上肺結核病，更使他遠離熱鬧的塵世生活，沉浸在自己孤獨的內心世界中。
這個孤僻的小職員的最大愛好就是寫作，他那敏感、怯懦的性格和孤僻、憂鬱的氣質確實適合做一個作傢。卡夫卡業餘創作的大部分作品在他生前一直鎖在抽屜裏，少量面世的短篇小說還不足讓他一鳴驚人，而且對他的同時代人來說，他的小說太超前了，當時的人們遠未有能力體驗卡夫卡獨特而奇怪的荒謬感。他病逝後遺留下大量手稿。
二戰之後，世界在廢墟上重建，戰爭所帶來的人類心靈深重的陰影，使人們不約而同地把目光轉嚮了30年前死去的無名作傢卡夫卡，他及其作品在西方世界掀起了一股熱潮，人們像投票選舉政界要員一樣把他列為現代派小說傢的第一候選人。
推薦閱讀版本：湯永寬譯，武漢大學出版社出版。
《城堡》-內容精要
一個寒冷的鼕天的夜晚，土地測量員K來到了一個村子，他的目的是要前往村子附近的那座城堡去執行公務。當K在村口遙望城堡時，他感到籠罩在夜色之中的城堡，如同一片空洞虛無的幻景，這樣的感覺似乎預示着他的任務不是那麽容易完成的。
他前往客店投宿，可是客店老闆對他的到來有點不知所措。他告訴K已經客滿了，衹好把K勉強安頓下來。客店裏的人得知K要去城堡，都用特別的眼神看他。一位年輕人告訴K，每個進入城堡的人都必須得有一張許可證，而要想得到許可證，就必須去找城堡裏的伯爵。
第二天，K走嚮城堡，可是耗費了一整天的時間他也無法靠近城堡一步。天色暗下來，他衹好先去找棲身之處。找來找去，又回到了昨天晚上的那傢客店。在搭雪橇前往客店的途中，他遇到了兩個自稱是他的助手的人。他們非常熱情地幫助 K，並且用電話聯絡城堡裏的辦事機構，詢問具體何時能上城堡去，對方回答：“任何時候都不能來。”
這時，來了一位叫巴納巴斯的人，他是城堡的信使，K對他的來到十分興奮，認為他可以成為自己和城堡聯繫的中間人。巴納巴斯給他帶來了城堡的信，信裏既沒有對K的到來表示歡迎，也沒有暗示他趕快離開。事情依舊毫無轉機。K和信使一道去了他傢，信使的妹妹又表示她可以幫助K，於是把 K送進了一傢旅館，她告訴K，城堡的頭面人物剋拉姆住在那裏，可以藉機找剋拉姆打通關節。
在旅館的酒吧裏，K認識了剋拉姆的情婦弗麗達，K頓時使出渾身解數試圖靠近弗麗達，然而旅館裏的人不停地添亂，助手們也在一邊添亂，使他無法和弗麗達親密地談一談關於剋拉姆。他甚至用與弗麗達結婚的許諾想換得跟剋拉姆談一次話的機會。但K最終發現弗麗達這條路是走不通的，因為她和信使一樣，是個無關緊要的小人物，她早已失寵。
K去見村長，村長告訴他，K來到村子完全是個錯誤，因為這裏根本用不着土地測量員。城堡裏不同部門彼此封閉，造成了一些差錯，所以K纔會收到公文，然而這份公文是早已無效的。村長承認他在幾年前收到一個招聘一位土地測量員的公文，然而他無論如何找不到那張可以證明K合法身份的薄紙片。村長表達了自己對這件事情的看法，他覺得K收到的公文其實是一封某個主管，比如剋拉姆，對他表示私人關心的的信，不能代表城堡的意見，因此K應當趁早回去。
K感到受騙上當了，但他堅持要求得到他應得的權利，那就是找一個住處，安頓他和弗麗達的新傢。客棧老闆一心想趕走K，K臨走前，又從老闆娘那裏聽到了關於她和剋拉姆舊情的回憶，這使K感到很不舒服，因為他不由自主地想到了自己的未婚妻。
這時村裏學校的教師奉村長之命前來，允許K帶傢眷住進學校任看門人，同時他也強調，學校其實並不需要一個看門人，他完全遵從村長的命令。K感到受到了侮辱，他拒絶了這份工作。可弗麗達堅持K接受它，她說如果K不接受，連個安身之處都沒有，那麽這對K對她自己都是十分羞愧的事情。
K對於進入城堡仍然抱着最後的希望，這已經不單純是執行公務，而是有關個人尊嚴的問題。他冒雪來到剋拉姆的旅館，女招待說這會兒剋拉姆正準備離開旅館，雪橇已在院子裏等着他，K二話沒話，守到雪橇邊，喝着白蘭地等剋拉姆出來。和以前一樣，剋拉姆本人永遠不會出現，他的秘書摩麥斯出來告訴K： “不管你跟我走或者留在這裏，你都不會見到他。”K反而陷入了進退兩難的地步，如果他離開，周圍人的神色舉止裏就表明剋拉姆就此脫身了；如果他堅持等下去，顯然也是沒有結果的。秘書拿出一份會談記錄，K指出這是引K走嚮剋拉姆的惟一道路，但首先K必須接受一番苛刻的審查，K覺得不可忍受，於是他們兩人大笑着分別了。
《城堡》作傢卡夫卡
信使巴納巴斯又帶來了剋拉姆的一封信，剋拉姆贊賞了K及其助手的測量工作，這使K睏惑不已，他至今為止從未幹什麽測量工作，每天做的事情就是在等待爭取城堡的許可。K開始懷疑信使的可靠，但他仍托巴納巴斯帶去一個回音，申訴自己焦灼地渴盼見到剋拉姆一面的心情。
之後K回到他和弗麗達的新傢，那是學校裏的一間大教室，可是K和弗麗達的生活並不安寧。兩個助手不停地淘氣，爭食物，瞅準機會睡到惟一的稻草墊子上去。第二天，學校的女教師來了，她十分吃驚，繼而不斷地責駡 K，K幾乎像個劣等動物一樣被欺辱，可他决不接受校方的解職通知。他遷怒於兩位無用的助手，宣佈辭退他們，助手們施出渾身氣力哀求K。弗麗達反對K的决定，她說一旦辭退助手，K就永遠沒有機會見到剋拉姆了。弗麗達鼓勵K不要喪失信心。
K 來到信使傢等待回音，信使的姐妹奧爾伽和阿瑪麗亞總嚮K暗示她們的傾慕之情，並且在閑聊中，暗示K，她們的哥哥巴納巴斯可能從未見過剋拉姆，他總是給K帶來那些耽誤了很久，失去時效的信。就連剋拉姆本人，也是可疑的，關於剋拉姆的種種情況，很大程度上是村裏人想象出來的。奧爾伽又告訴K，城堡裏的官員如同暴君，他們可以隨時瞧上村裏的任何姑娘，給她們寫下流無比的信。他們的談話離正題越來越遠，奧爾伽講起了阿瑪麗亞因為拒絶城堡裏另一位大官員索爾蒂尼的求愛而遭受的不幸，他們全家都被迫接受了一種幾乎整天無所事事的刑罰，城堡強製他們退出社會生活。奧爾伽提醒K，不要指望任何一位有同情心的官員為他說話。巴納巴斯為K送信，其實不過是想讓自己一傢人不露痕跡地再受恩寵，對於K來說，沒有任何意義。這場繁冗而推心置腹的談話被K的一位助手打斷了，K很快意識到弗麗達和另一位助手呆在傢裏，他趕緊回傢了。
到傢裏，K發現弗麗達不見了。原來她以為K跑去勾搭巴納巴斯的姐妹，於是和另一個助手達成協議，背叛K。這時，巴納巴斯又跑來找K，興衝衝地通知他，剋拉姆的主要秘書之一艾朗格要和K當面談一談。K和一群人等候在漆黑的旅館門口，K被最先領了進去，但艾朗格卻睡着了，K衹好等着。在等待的時候，他又重新見到了弗麗達，他們激烈爭論了忠實與不忠實的問題。弗麗達坦然地告訴K，她已經和那位助手同居了。K則十分平靜地回敬她：自從你相繼失去了剋拉姆的情婦以及我的未婚妻這兩種身份之後，你早已經沒有了魅力。聽完此話後，弗麗達似乎被觸動了。但是她又見到助手時，馬上就改變主意。她說：她再也不想回到K身邊接受他的折磨。
小說就在此處戛然而止，卡夫卡未寫完它，他原來打算的結尾是K將精疲力竭而死。後世及研究者預計的結局是：K彌留之際，城堡終於來了通知，允許K留在村子裏，但不許進入城堡，K永遠不可能到達那裏，一直到死。
《城堡》-專傢點評
當一個作傢不能被他同時代的人所理解時，他會怎樣處理自己的作品。卡夫卡選擇的是毀滅。他在遺書中委托好友布羅德將其所有作品“毫無保留地，讀也不必讀就統統予以焚毀”。萬幸布羅德自作主張將卡夫卡的遺稿保存下來，整理出版，這一次明智的“背信棄義”使我們今天依舊能一睹卡夫卡這位文學大師一生勤奮的成果。
人們提到卡夫卡，總是會提起他的《變形記》，裏面的小公務員一早起來發現自己變成了一個大甲蟲。西方文學中常常用《變形記》來指代現代化文明中人的異化。然而在這裏所推薦的《城堡》，因其多義性更富於閱讀的快樂。中篇小說《城堡》與《審判》及《美國》合稱“卡夫卡三部麯”，它們都具有卡夫卡小說一貫的荒誕不經風格：異化現象，難以排遣的孤獨和危機感，無法剋服的荒誕和恐懼。卡夫卡的小說揭示了一種荒誕的充滿非理性色彩的景象，個人式的、憂鬱的、孤獨的情緒，運用的是象徵式的手法。其中《城堡》更富於“卡夫卡式”的構思和語言風格。
和卡夫卡的其他小說一樣，《城堡》沒有惟一正確的解釋，解釋權授予了每個閱讀者，這來源於這部作品的多義性。表面上，這作品的故事再簡單不過了，一個土地測量員K來到一個村莊，想進入管轄附近地區的伯爵居住的城堡，他費了九牛二虎之力，攤上一切也沒能達到目的。《城堡》所具有的荒謬、虛擬，無明確的時代地理背景的特徵使它抹上很濃的寓言色彩，無論評論傢還是普通讀者都能夠獲得不同的結論，《城堡》究竟表達了怎樣的主題，這終了還是一個難解之謎，有人說它表現的是“人試圖進入天國而不得的痛苦”；有人則認為它集中反映了卡夫卡本人的精神世界的荒誕、孤獨與恐懼；有人則結合寫作年代背景，說明城堡實際上反映了奧匈帝國官僚體製與大衆的鴻溝，更有論者以為，《城堡》和《審判》、《美國》的主題相同，即“人們所追求的真理，不管是自由、安定，還是法律，都是存在的，但這個荒誕的世界給人們設置了種種障礙，無論你怎麽努力， 總是追求不到， 最後衹能以失敗告終。” 在《城堡》中，“城堡”是最大的謎團，它與主人公K的目標總是若即若離，也正因此，能夠激起人們相當的閱讀興趣，其中的人物如CC伯爵，以至於剋拉姆部長等都神秘莫測，足以見卡夫卡這位小說傢的天才的智慧。
《城堡》小說傢卡夫卡
閱讀卡夫卡的小說，對每一個讀者來說都是挑戰。他喜歡長句子，字裏行間充滿了大量的暗喻，他用文字堆起了一個個迷宮。讀者會在穿行文字時遇到極大的阻力。然而當你習慣他的文字風格後，你會發現，原先的阻力變成了動力，帶給你閱讀的快感。
1913年8月15日，卡夫卡在自己的日記裏寫道：“我將不顧一切地與所有人隔絶，與所有人敵對，不同任何人講話。”6天後他又這樣寫道：“現在我在我的家庭裏，在那些最好的、最親愛的人們中間，比一個陌生人還要陌生。近年來我和我的母親平均每天說不上20句話；和我的父親除了有時彼此寒暄幾句幾乎就沒有更多的話可說；和我的已婚的妹妹和妹夫們除了跟他們生氣我壓根兒就不說話。理由很簡單：我和他們沒有任何一丁點兒的事情要說。一切不是文學的事情都使我無聊， 叫我憎恨”三年之後，這個不僅和整個世界格格不入，而且也和自己格格不入的猶太人，雖然尚未進入完全與世隔絶的城堡，卻終於從家庭裏逃出，為自己找到了一條窄得像西服袖子一樣的幽深的死巷。這就是如今在布拉格頗為知名的黃金巷、又譯為“煉金術士巷”。黃金巷22號的連棟屋中間，有座建於16世紀的、衹有一個房間和一間小閣樓的小小藍屋，墻壁很薄，房捨低矮得伸手便可觸及天花板。這是被他的好友馬剋斯·布羅德稱之為“一個真正的作傢的修道士般的密室”的處所。卡夫卡在這裏繼續用謎一般的文字構築着自己靈魂的城堡。
《城堡》卡夫卡及傢人
在卡夫卡的世界裏，噩夢永遠沒有醒來的時候，在荒誕的、不合邏輯的世界裏描繪“人類生活的一切活動及其逼真的細節”，這正是作為小說傢的卡夫卡的天賦所在，當我們讀到《變形記》、《城堡》、《審判》等作品時，簡直就像面對着一尊尊充滿力量的雕塑，你能從那極度的變形與誇張裏體會到生命的悸動與衝突。對於卡夫卡自己來說，生存就是一場必須“恰當運用自己的力量（因為我們的力量永遠是有限的）”的抗爭。雖然前途黯淡，但前途畢竟終會到來。通過寫作這一形式卡夫卡為自己的抗爭找到了存在的形象。從卡夫卡自己的書信與日記，我們也許能領會到那無窮無盡的力量源泉，他這樣寫道：“不要絶望，甚至對你並不感到絶望這一點也不要絶望。恰恰在似乎一切都完了的時候，新的力量畢竟來臨，給你以幫助，而這正表明你是活着的。”“一場傾盆大雨。站立着面對這場大雨吧！讓它的鋼鐵般的光芒刺穿你。你在那想把你衝走的雨水中飄浮，但你還是要堅持，昂首屹立，等待那即將來臨的無窮無盡的陽光的照耀。”令人吃驚的是，它們竟然帶着這樣一些姿態：憂傷、理解、痛苦、謙卑，卡夫卡由此走嚮了無限深淵。最終他完成了對自己的塑造：他成為無限深淵中惟一裸行的思想者。卡夫卡的道路是對抗之路，他與存在於他身邊的世界和秩序一直是抗爭着的，藝術或者說文學寫作是他對抗外部荒誕世界的惟一武器，他別無選擇。雖然在此期間，他極度渴望實現藝術與現實的統一，甚至他個人與外部世界有過短暫的統一，但這種統一也是一瞬即逝的，表面和形式上的。他也渴望有自己的家庭，但他害怕家庭損害他的寫作；他也像凡夫俗子一樣，渴望有自己的孩子，做一名好父親，但直到他有一個已長到7歲纔夭折的孩子。
卡夫卡生前默默無聞，孤獨地奮鬥，隨着時間的流逝，他的價值纔逐漸為人們所認識，作品引起了世界的震動，並在世界範圍內形成一股“卡夫卡”熱，經久不衰。他一生的作品並不多，但對後世文學的影響卻是極為深遠的。他與法國作傢馬賽爾·普魯斯特、愛爾蘭作傢詹姆斯·喬伊斯並稱為西方現代主義文學的先驅和大師。美國詩人奧登認為：“他與我們時代的關係最近似但丁、莎士比亞、歌德與他們時代的關係。”後世的許多現代主義文學流派如“荒誕派戲劇”、法國的“新小說”等都把卡夫卡奉為自己的鼻祖。
關於卡夫卡，我們還可以說上很多很多。據說在現代文學的研究中，關於卡夫卡的論文數量之大，僅僅打印題目就需要幾十頁。但是，理解卡夫卡最好的方法，就是進入他的文字世界，安靜地傾聽他通過語言表達的內心。這不正是我們現在這個浮躁的現代文明所缺少的嗎？
《城堡》-妙語佳句
他真要以為外面是灰色的天空與灰色的土地渾然一體的荒漠世界了。
可是如果這一切的平靜、舒適與滿足都要想恐怖地告一段落，那該怎麽辦呢？
History of the novel
Kafka began writing The Castle on the evening of January 27, 1922, the day he arrived at the mountain resort of Spindlermühle (now in the Czech Republic). A picture taken of him upon his arrival shows him by a horse-drawn sleigh in the snow in a setting reminiscent of The Castle. Hence, the significance that the first few chapters of the handwritten manuscript were written in first person and at some point later changed by Kafka to a third person narrator, 'K.'
Max Brod
Kafka died prior to finishing The Castle and it is questionable whether Kafka intended on finishing it if he had survived his tuberculosis. On separate occasions he told his friend Max Brod of two different conditions: K., the book's protagonist, would continue to reside and die in the village; the castle notifying him on his death bed that his "legal claim to live in the village was not valid, yet, taking certain auxiliary circumstances into account, he was permitted to live and work there" , but then on September 11, 1922 in a letter to Max Brod, he said he was giving up on the book and would never return to it. As it is, the book ends mid-sentence.
Although Brod was instructed by Kafka to destroy all his works on his death, he did not and set about publishing Kafka's writings. The Castle was originally published in German in 1926 by the publisher Kurt Wolff Verlag of Munich. This edition sold far less than the 1500 copies that were printed. It was republished in 1935 by Schocken Verlag in Berlin, and in 1946 by Schocken Books of New York.
Brod had to heavily edit the work to ready it for publication. His goal was to gain acceptance of the work and the author, not to maintain the structure of Kafka's writing. This would play heavily in the future of the translations and continues to be the center of discussion on the text. Brod donated the manuscript to Oxford University.
Brod placed a strong religious significance to the symbolism of the castle. This is one possible interpretation of the work based on numerous Judeo-Christian references as noted by many including Arnold Heidsieck.
Malcolm Pasley
The publisher, Salmen Schocken, soon realized the translations were "bad" and in 1940 desired a "completely different approach". In 1961 Malcolm Pasley got access to all of Kafka's works, except The Trial, and deposited them in Oxford's Bodleian library. Pasley and a team of scholars (Gerhard Neumann, Malcolm Pasley, Jost Schillemeit, and Jürgen Born) started publishing the works in 1982 through S. Fischer Verlag. Das Schloß was published that year as a two volume set — the novel in the first volume, and the fragments, deletions and editor's notes in a second volume. This team restored the original German text to its full, and incomplete state, including the unique Kafka punctuation considered critical to the style.
Stroemfeld/Roter Stern
Interpretations of Kafka's intent for the manuscript are ongoing. Stroemfeld/Roter Stern Verlag is working for the rights to publish another critical edition with manuscript and transcription side-by-side. But they have met with resistance from the Kafka heirs and Pasley. This edition is not yet available.
Major editions
* 1930 Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir. Based on the First German edition, by Max Brod. Published By Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States.
* 1941 Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir. Edition include an Homage by Thomas Mann.
* 1954 Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir additional sections translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. "Definitive edition". Based on the Schocken 1951 Definitive edition .
* 1994 Translators: Muir, et al. Preface by Irving Howe.
* 1997 Translator: J. A. Underwood, Introduction: Idris Parry. Based on Pasley Critical German Text.
* 1998 Translator: Mark Harman Based on Pasley Critical German Text.
The title
The title, Das Schloß, may be translated as "the castle" or "the lock". It is also similar to Der Schluß (close or end). The castle is locked and closed to K and the townspeople; neither can gain access.
Plot
The narrator, K. arrives in the village, governed by the castle. When seeking shelter at the town inn, he gives himself out to be a land surveyor summoned by the castle authorities. He is quickly notified that his castle contact is an official named Klamm, who, in the introductory note, informs K. he will report to the Council Chairman.
The Council Chairman informs K. that, through a mix up in communication between the castle and the village, he was erroneously requested but, trying to accommodate K., the Council Chairman offers him a position in the service of the school teacher as a janitor. Meanwhile, K., unfamiliar with the customs, bureaucracy and processes of the village, continues to attempt to reach the official Klamm, who is not accessible.
The villagers hold the officials and the castle in the highest regard, justifying, quite elaborately at times, the actions of the officials, even though they do not appear to know what officials do or why they do it; they simply defend it. The number of assumptions and justifications about the functions of the officials and their dealings are enumerated through lengthy monologues of the villagers. Everyone appears to have an explanation for the official's actions that appear to be founded on assumptions and gossip. One of the more obvious contradictions between the "official word" and the village conception is the dissertation by the secretary Erlanger on Frieda's required return to service as a barmaid. K. is the only villager that knows that the request is being forced by the castle (even though Frieda may be the genesis), with no regard for anyone in the village, only Klamm. Pepi and Jeremiah quickly come to their conclusions and do not hesitate to state them.
The castle is the ultimate bureaucracy with copious paperwork that the bureaucracy maintains is "flawless". This flawlessness is of course a lie; it is a flaw in the paperwork that has brought K. to the village. There are other failures of the system which are occasionally referred to. K. witnesses a flagrant misprocessing after his nighttime interrogation by Erlanger as a servant destroys paperwork when he cannot determine who the recipient should be.
The castle's occupants appear to be all adult men and there is little reference to the castle other than to its bureaucratic functions. The two notable instances are the reference to a fire brigade and that Otto Brunswick's wife is self declared as from the castle. The latter builds the importance of Hans (Otto's son) in K's eyes, as a way to gain access to the castle officials.
The functions of the officials are never mentioned. The officials that are discussed have one or more secretaries that do their work in their village. Although the officials come to the village they do not interact with the villagers unless they need female companionship, implied to be sexual.
Characters
Note: The Muir translations refer to the Herrenhof Inn where the Harman translations translate this to the Gentleman's Inn. Below all references to the inn where the officials stay in the village is the Herrenhof Inn since this was the first, and potentially more widely read, translation.
Character Description
K., the Land-Surveyor The protagonist of the story, recognized as a land surveyor, employed as the school janitor, and a stranger to the townspeople. He spends most of the novel trying to overcome the bureaucracy of the village and to contact the castle official Klamm.
Frieda A former barmaid at the Herrenhof, who is K.'s fiancée for most of the novel. She often finds herself torn between her duty to K. and her fears regarding his over-zealousness. She eventually leaves K. and ends up in the arms of his former assistant, Jeremiah (who has since become a waitperson at the Herrenhof).
Hans, landlord
(Bridge Inn) Nephew of the original owner of the inn. According to his wife, Gardena, he is lazy and overly nice to K.
Gardena, landlady
(Bridge Inn) The self proclaimed firebrand of the Bridge Inn she is a former short-term mistress to Klamm and very distrustful of K.'s motives. She remains infatuated with Klamm.
Barnabas, a messenger A messenger of the castle assigned to K. He is new to the service. K. is instructed to use him to communicate with the official Klamm. He is very immature and sensitive.
Arthur and Jeremiah, K's assistants
(Artur and Jeremias in Harman edition) Shortly after his arrival in the village, K. is given two assistants to help him with his various needs. They are a continual source of frustration for him, however, and he eventually drives them from his service through his brutal treatment. They have been assigned to K., to make him happy, by the official Galater who was deputizing for Klamm at the time.
Mayor/Superintendent
(Village Council Chairman in Harman edition) Assigned by Klamm to give K. his assignment and hence is his superior. He explains to K why he is not needed as a land surveyor. He offers K. the job of school janitor to the dismay of the Teacher.
Mizzi, the mayor's wife The wife and assistant of the Mayor, Gardena refers to her as the one who does the work.
Klamm An elusive castle official who is K.'s Castle Authority. Like the other Castle officials in the book, his actual area of expertise is never mentioned. K. spends a large portion of the novel trying to secure a meeting with Klamm. K., it seems, fixes many of his hopes for a successful resolution to his problems upon this meeting with Klamm. He has at least two secretaries—Erlanger (First Secretary) and Momus.
In Czech (and Kafka was able to speak and read/write Czech) "klam" means "illusion."
Momus, Klamm's secretary Handles all written work for and receives all petitions to Klamm. He is also secretary for Vallabne, who is not mentioned again in the novel.
Erlanger, Klamm's secretary The First Secretary of Klamm who is sent to "interrogate" K, but only gives him a short message.
Olga, Barnabas' sister The older sister of Amalia and Barnabas. She helps K. on his quest, partly by telling him the story of why her family is considered outcasts and by teaching him some of the village customs.
Amalia, Barnabas' sister Younger sister of Barnabas and Olga. She was disgraced in the village after rudely turning down a summons from the castle official Sortini for sexual favors.
Barnabas' Father The father of Olga, Amalia and Barnabas. Past village cobbler and notable fireman. After Amalia's disgraceful interactions with Sortini's messenger, his business is ruined and he is stripped of his fire credentials
Barnabas' Mother The mother of Olga, Amalia and Barnabas.
Otto Brunswick, son-in-law of Lasemann
(brother-in-law of Lasemann in Harman edition) Hans Brunswick's father. Opportunistically takes over Barnabas' father's customers as the Barnabas family falls into disrepute from Amalia's rude treatment of Sortini's Messenger. According to the Mayor, Brunswick was the only person in the village that desired that a land surveyor be hired. No reason for this is given.
Frau Brunswick Hans Brunswick's Mother. She refers to herself as "from the castle" and is the only reference to a female at the castle.
Hans, a sympathetic Student A student at the school where K is a janitor. Offers to help K and K uses him to attempt to find ways to get to the castle through his mother.
Herrenhof Landlord Landlord of the Herrenhof Inn.
Herrenhof Landlady Well dressed landlady at the Herrenhof Inn. Seems to be the matriarch of the Inn (as is Gardena at the Bridge Inn). Is distrustful of K.
Galater He is the castle official that assigned the assistants to K. He was also "rescued" by Barnabas' father in a minor fire at the Herrenhof Inn.
Brügel
(Bürgel in Harman edition) A Secretary of a castle official, Friedrich. Friedrich is not mentioned again in the book, but in deleted text is referred to as an official who is falling out of favor. Brügel is a long winded secretary who muses about Castle interrogations with K, when the latter errantly enters his room at the Herrenhof Inn.
Sordini Castle secretary who exhaustively manages any transactions at the castle for his department and is suspicious of any potential error.
Sortini Castle official associated with the village fire brigade who solicits Amalia with a sexually explicit and rude request to come to his room at the Herrenhof.
Teacher When K. becomes the janitor at the school, the teacher becomes K.'s de facto superior. He does not approve of K. working at the school, but does not appear to have the authority to terminate K's appointment.
Miss Gisa, the school mistress The assistant school teacher who is courted by Schwarzer and also dislikes K.
Schwarzer An under-castellan's son who appears to have given up living in the castle to court Miss Gisa and become her student teacher.
Pepi A former chamber maid who is promoted to Frieda's barmaid position when the latter leaves her position at the Herrenhoff to live with K. She was a chambermaid with Emilie and Hennriette
Lasemann, a tanner, father-in-law of Otto Brunswick
(brother-in-law of Otto Brunswick in Harman edition) The village tanner that offers a few hours shelter to K. during on his first full day in the village.
Gerstacker, a Coachman Initially suspicious of K. but gives him a free sleigh back to the Bridge Inn after refusing to provide a ride to the castle. At the end of the book attempts to befriend K. since he believes K. has clout with Erlanger.
Seemann, the Fire Company chief The fire chief that strips Barnabas' father of his fireman diploma after Barnabas' family falls into shame from Amalia's rude treatment of Sortini's Messenger.
Major themes
Theological
It is well documented that Brod's original construction was based on religious themes and this was furthered by the Muirs in their translations. But it has not ended with the Critical Editions. Numerous interpretations have been made with a variety of theological angles.
One interpretation of K.'s struggle to contact the castle is that it represents a man's search for salvation. According to Mark Harman, translator of a recent edition of The Castle, this was the interpretation favored by the original translators Willa and Edwin Muir, who produced the first English volume in 1925. Harman feels he has removed the bias in the translations toward this view, but many still feel this is the point of the book.
Fueling the biblical interpretations of the novel are the various names and situations. For example, the official Galater (the German word for Galatians), one of the initial regions to develop a strong Christian following from the work of Apostle Paul and his assistant Barnabas. The name of the messenger, Barnabas, for the same reason. Even the Critical Editions naming of the beginning chapter, "Arrival", among other things liken K. to an Old Testament messiah.
Abuse of power
While in talking to Olga in (Chapter XVII, "Amalia's Secret") K. himself ridicules the officials, in general, based on Sortini's "abuse of power" in requesting Amalia to come to the Gentleman's Inn. K. caught, once again, in not understanding the customs of the village is shocked at the behavior of Sortini. Olga expresses the "heroic" actions of Amalia, but appears too understanding of the community's acceptance of the status quo when it comes to the solicitations by the officials.
Bureaucracy
The obvious thread throughout The Castle is bureaucracy. The extreme degree is nearly comical and the village residents' justifications of it are amazing. Hence it is no surprise that many feel that the work is a direct result of the political situation of the era in which it was written, which was shot through with anti-Semitism, remnants of the Habsburg bureaucracy, etc.
But even in these analyses, the veiled references to more sensitive issues are pointed out. For instance, the treatment of the Barnabas family, with their requirement to first prove guilt before they could request a pardon from it and the way their fellow villagers desert them have been pointed out as a direct reference to the anti-Semitic climate at the time.
Allusions to other works
Critics often talk of The Castle and The Trial in concert, highlighting the struggle of the protagonist against a bureaucratic system and standing before the law's door unable to enter as in the parable of the priest in The Trial.
In spite of motifs common with other works of Kafka, The Castle is quite different from The Trial. While K., the main hero of The Castle, faces similar uncertainty and difficulty in grasping the reality that suddenly surrounds him; Josef K., the protagonist of The Trial, seems to be more experienced and emotionally stronger. On the other hand, while Josef K.'s surroundings stay familiar even when strange events befall him, K. finds himself in a new world whose laws and rules are unfamiliar to him.
Publication history
Harman translation
In 1926 Max Brod persuaded Kurt Wolff Verlag to publish the first German edition of The Castle. Due to its unfinished nature and his desire to get Kafka's work published, Max Brod took some editorial freedom.
In 1961 Malcolm Pasley was able to gain control of the manuscript, along with most of the other Kafka writings (save The Trial) and had it placed in the Oxford's Bodleian library. There, Pasley headed a team of scholars and recompiled Kafka's works into the Critical Edition. The Castle Critical Edition, in German, consists of two volumes—the novel in one volume and the fragments, deletions and editor's notes in a second volume. They were published by S. Fischer Verlag in 1982, hence occasionally referred to as the "Fischer Editions".
Mark Harman used the first volume of this set to create the 1998 edition of The Castle, often refer to as based on the "Restored Text" or the "English Critical Edition".
The lack of the fragments and missing text would have little meaning to most readers if the Muir translation did not let one know that there was more to read. The casual reader may not find the additional text of value, which Harman mentions that he has not included the text. According to the Publisher's Note:
"We decided to omit the variants and passages deleted by Kafka that are included in Pasley's second volume, even though variants can indeed shed light on the genesis of literary texts. The chief objective of this new edition, which is intended for the general public, is to present the text in a form that is as close as possible to the state in which the author left the manuscript."
Harman has received general acceptance of his translation as being technically accurate and true to the original German. He has, though, received criticism for, at times not creating the prosaic form of Kafka. Some of this is due, as with Muir's translations, on accusations that Pasley compilations are also inaccurate, although better than Brod's.
As noted in the Table of Contents above, Harman includes an eleven page discussion on his philosophy behind the translation. This section provides significant information about the method he used and his thought process. There are numerous examples of passages from Pasley, Muir's translation and his translation to provide the reader with a better feel for the work. As referenced above, some feel that his (and the publisher's) praise for his work and his "patronizing" of the Muirs goes a little too far.
Muir translation
In 1930 Willa and Edwin Muir translated the First German edition of The Castle as it was compiled by Max Brod. It was published by Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States. 1941 edition was the edition that fed the Kafka post-war craze. The 1941 edition included a homage by Thomas Mann.
In 1954 the "Definitive" edition was published and included additional sections Brod had added to the Schocken Definitive German edition. The new sections were translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. Some edits were made in the Muir text namely the changes were "Town Council" to "Village Council", "Superintendent" to "Mayor", "Clients" to "Applicants" .
The 1994 edition, the current publication, contains a preface by Irving Howe.
The Muir translations make use of wording that is often considered "spiritual" in nature. In one notable example, the Muirs translate the description of the castle as "soaring unfalteringly" where Harman uses "tapered decisively". Furthermore, the word "illusory" is used from the opening paragraph forward. Some critics note this as further evidence of the bias in the translation leaning toward a mystical interpretation.
Underwood translation
A translation by J. A. Underwood was published in 1997 and 2000 (ISBN 0-14-018504-6) by Penguin in the UK.
Adaptations
The book was adapted by German director Rudolf Noelte into a film released in 1968. It was also filmed by Austrian director Michael Haneke in 1997 under the original German title Das Schloß, starring Ulrich Mühe as K. There is a 1994 Russian movie adaptation, The Castle, directed by Aleksei Balabanov. Another less-well-known adaptation was also made in Russia in 1994, called The Land Surveyor (Землемер). It was a 46-minute-long animation created at Diogen Studio and directed by Dmitriy Naumov and Valentin Telegin. . A 120-minute-long French radio adaptation, written by Stephane Michaka and directed by Cedric Aussir, was aired by France Culture in 2010.
Allusions to The Castle in other works
A story similar to that of The Castle is told in the British television series The Prisoner. In the late 1970s, an unlicensed computer game spin-off of The Prisoner took things one step further by incorporating elements of The Castle into the game play.
The novel Oficina Número 1 (Office Number 1) by Venezuelan writer Miguel Otero Silva has one character reading The Castle, and although never referred to by name, describes several parts of it.
The Castle is also referred to in Lawrence Thornton's Imagining Argentina. A professor is arrested under suspicion of subversive activities. He tells the authorities he has been meeting Dostoevsky, Koestler and Camus at a place called "the Castle". The main character's cat is also named Kafka.
Although not expressly stated as such, the Steven Soderbergh film Kafka from 1991, starring Jeremy Irons, incorporates the basic thematic elements of The Castle as well as allusions to Kafka's own life as a writer and his collected works. The title character, "Kafka", an insurance company clerk by day and a writer by night, lives and works in the shadow of the mysterious Castle, which rules over the life and death of the local citizenry through a seemingly incomprehensibly complex conspiracy of bureaucracy and cover-ups.
Iain Banks's novel Walking on Glass has characters who find themselves in a situation similar to K.'s: trapped in a castle, subject to arbitrary and bizarre rules which they must obey in order to find a way of leaving, and surrounded by "servants" who comply entirely with the rules by which the castle is run. The allusion is made specific in one of the final chapters, where reading The Castle (along with The Trial and Titus Groan) is hinted at as a key to the characters' escape from their own castle.
K., the protagonist of J.M. Coetzee's The Life and Times of Michael K, attempts to live simply outside the governing system of war torn South Africa.[citation needed]
African-American author Richard Wright references The Castle in his autobiography Black Boy.
Japanese game designer Suda51, creator of No More Heroes, is planning to make a game based on The Castle, titled Kuriyami
A world in the children's Nintendo DS game Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter, the Galactic Jungle, presents the player with a stubborn bureaucracy not unlike the one portrayed in the novel.
Gene Wolfe's novel There Are Doors contains numerous references to The Castle throughout, including a high-placed official known as Klamm, several characters referred to as "Herr K.," and an actual copy of Das Schloss found nailed to a table within a dream.
Argentinian writer Ernesto Sabato is said to be influenced by Kafka's existentialism. The main character in his novelle, "The Tunnel", is named Castel, presumably after Kafka's story title.
《判决》（1912）是卡夫卡最喜愛的作品，表現了父子兩代人的衝突。主人公格奧爾格·本德曼是個商人，自從幾年前母親去世後就和父親一起生活，現在生意興隆。他在房間裏給一位多年前遷居俄國的朋友寫信，告訴他自己訂婚的消息。寫完信來到父親的房間，意外的是父親對他態度非常不好，懷疑他根本就沒有遷居到俄國的朋友，指責他背着自己做生意，還盼着自己早死。突然，父親又轉了話題，嘲笑格奧爾格在欺騙他朋友，而父親自己倒是一直跟那位朋友通信，並早已把格奧爾格訂婚的消息告訴他了。格奧爾格忍不住頂撞了父親一句，父親便判獨生子去投河自盡。於是獨生子真的投河死了。作品所描寫的在父子兩人的口角過程中，清白善良的兒子竟被父親視為有罪和執拗殘暴，在父親的淫威之下，獨生子害怕、恐懼到了喪失理智，以致自盡。父親高大強壯而毫無理性，具有一切暴君的特徵。這個貌似荒誕的故事是卡夫卡負罪心態的生動描述，父親的判决也是卡夫卡對自己的判决。主人公臨死前的低聲辯白——“親愛的父母親，我可是一直愛你們的”，則是卡夫卡最隱秘心麯的吐露。這種故事的框架是典型的卡夫卡式的，是他內心深處的負罪感具象化之後的産物。然而作品的內涵顯然不在於僅僅表現父子衝突，更在於在普遍意義上揭示出人類生存在怎樣一種權威和凌辱之下。另一方面又展現人物為戰勝父親進行的一係列抗爭。兒子把看來衰老的父親如同孩子般放到床上後，真的把他“蓋了起來”。從表面上看，他這樣做是出於孝心；在深層含義上他是想埋葬父親，以確立自己作為新的一傢之主的地位。小說在體現了卡夫卡獨特的“審父”意識的同時，也表現了對傢長式的奧匈帝國統治者的不滿。與此同時卡夫卡還通過這個獨特的故事揭示了西方社會中現實生活的荒謬性和非理性。
Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never completed, although it does include a chapter which brings the story to an end. After his death in 1924, Kafka's friend and literary executor Max Brod edited the text for publication.
The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.
Plot summary
(As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.)
On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.
K. goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.
K. returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.
Later, in a store room at his own bank, K. discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking K. for bribes, as a result of complaints K. previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.
K. is visited by his uncle, who is a friend of a lawyer. The lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle seems distressed by K.'s predicament. At first sympathetic, he becomes concerned K. is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces K. to an advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who K.'s uncle suspects is the advocate's mistress. K. has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.
K. visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K. returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.
K. is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a court painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. K. learns that, to Titorelli's knowledge, not a single defendant has ever been acquitted. He sets out what K.'s options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant: they consist of different delay tactics to stretch out his case as long as possible before the inevitable "Guilty" verdict. Titorelli instructs K. that there's not much he can do since he doesn't know of what crime he has been accused.
K. decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K. some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years and he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's meaningless and circular advice. The advocate mocks Block in front of K. for his dog-like subservience. This experience further poisons K.'s opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. (This chapter was left unfinished by the author.)
K. is asked to tour an Italian client around local places of cultural interest, but the Italian client short of time asks K. to tour him around only the cathedral, setting a time to meet there. When the client doesn't show up, K. explores the cathedral which is empty except for an old woman and a church official. K. decides to leave as a priest K. notices seems to be preparing to give a sermon from a small second pulpit, lest it begin and K. be compelled to stay for its entirety. Instead of giving a sermon, the priest calls out K.'s name, although K. has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K. a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K.'s fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.
On the last day of K.'s thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: "Like a dog!"
Characters
Others
Fräulein Bürstner - A boarder in the same house as Josef K. She lets him kiss her one night, but then rebuffs his advances. She makes a brief reappearance in the novel's final pages.
Fräulein Montag - Friend of Fräulein Bürstner, she talks to K. about ending his relationship with Fräulein Bürstner after his arrest. She claims she can bring him insight, because she is an objective third party.
Frau Grubach - The proprietress of the lodging house in which K. lives. She holds K. in high esteem, despite his arrest.
Uncle Karl - K.'s impetuous uncle from the country, formerly his guardian. Upon learning about the trial, Karl insists that K. hire Herr Huld, the lawyer.
Herr Huld, the Lawyer - K.'s pompous and pretentious advocate who provides precious little in the way of action and far too much in the way of anecdote.
Leni - Herr Huld's nurse, she has feelings for Josef K. and soon becomes his lover. She shows him her webbed hand, yet another reference to the motif of the hand throughout the book. Apparently, she finds accused men extremely attractive—the fact of their indictment makes them irresistible to her.
Vice-President - K.'s unctuous rival at the Bank, only too willing to catch K. in a compromising situation. He repeatedly takes advantage of K.'s preoccupation with the trial to advance his own ambitions.
President - Manager of the Bank. A sickly figure, whose position the Vice-President is trying to assume. Gets on well with K., inviting him to various engagements.
Rudi Block, the Merchant - Block is another accused man and client of Huld. His case is five years old, and he is but a shadow of the prosperous grain dealer he once was. All his time, energy, and resources are now devoted to his case, to the point of detriment to his own life. Although he has hired five additional lawyers on the side, he is completely and pathetically subservient to Huld.
Titorelli, the Painter - Titorelli inherited the position of Court Painter from his father. He knows a great deal about the comings and goings of the Court's lowest level. He offers to help K., and manages to unload a few identical landscape paintings on the accused man.
Style
Parable
(Taken directly from Novels for Students: The Trial.)
Kafka intentionally set out to write parables, not just novels, about the human condition. The Trial is a parable that includes the smaller parable Before the Law. There is clearly a relationship between the two but the exact meaning of either parable is left up to the individual reader. K. and the Priest discuss the many possible readings. Both the short parable and their discussion seem to indicate that the reader is much like the man at the gate; there is a meaning in the story for everyone just as there is one gate to the Law for each person.
The parable within Kafka's masterpiece highlights perfectly the essence of his philosophy. Assigned unique roles in life, individuals must search deep within the apparent absurdity of existence to achieve spiritual self-realisation. The old man, therefore, is the symbol of this universal search inherent to mankind. 'The Trial' is not simply a novel about the potential disaster of over-bureaucratisation in society; it is an exploration of the personal and, particularly, spiritual, needs of human beings.
Legality
In a recent study based on Kafka’s office writings, Reza Banakar points out that many of Kafka’s descriptions of law and legality are often treated as metaphors for things other than law, but also are worthy of examination as a particular concept of law and legality which operates paradoxically as an integral part of the human condition under modernity. Joseph K. and his inexplicable experience of the law in The Trial were, for example, born out of an actual legal case in which Kafka was involved.
Film portrayals
* In the 1962 Orson Welles movie adaptation of The Trial, Josef K. is played by Anthony Perkins. Kyle MacLachlan portrays him in the 1993 version.
* Martin Scorsese's 1985 film After Hours is a re-imagining of the Trial.
Theatre adaptions
* The writer and director Steven Berkoff adapted several of Kafka's novels into plays and directed them for stage. His version of The Trial was first performed in 1970 in London and published in 1981.
Selected publication history
* Oxford World's Classics, 4 October 2009, Translation: Mike Mitchell, ISBN 9780199238293
* Dover Thrift Editions, 22 July 2009, Translation: David Wyllie, ISBN 9780486470610
* Penguin Modern Classics, 29 June 2000, Translation: Idris Parry, ISBN 9780141182902
* Schocken Books, 25 May 1999, Translation: Breon Mitchell, ISBN 9780805209990
* Everyman's Library, 30 June 1992, Translation: Willa and Edwin Muir, ISBN 9780679409946
Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never completed, although it does include a chapter which brings the story to an end. After his death in 1924, Kafka's friend and literary executor Max Brod edited the text for publication.
The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.
Plot summary
(As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.)
On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.
K. goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.
K. returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.
Later, in a store room at his own bank, K. discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking K. for bribes, as a result of complaints K. previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.
K. is visited by his uncle, who is a friend of a lawyer. The lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle seems distressed by K.'s predicament. At first sympathetic, he becomes concerned K. is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces K. to an advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who K.'s uncle suspects is the advocate's mistress. K. has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.
K. visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K. returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.
K. is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a court painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. K. learns that, to Titorelli's knowledge, not a single defendant has ever been acquitted. He sets out what K.'s options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant: they consist of different delay tactics to stretch out his case as long as possible before the inevitable "Guilty" verdict. Titorelli instructs K. that there's not much he can do since he doesn't know of what crime he has been accused.
K. decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K. some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years and he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's meaningless and circular advice. The advocate mocks Block in front of K. for his dog-like subservience. This experience further poisons K.'s opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. (This chapter was left unfinished by the author.)
K. is asked to tour an Italian client around local places of cultural interest, but the Italian client short of time asks K. to tour him around only the cathedral, setting a time to meet there. When the client doesn't show up, K. explores the cathedral which is empty except for an old woman and a church official. K. decides to leave as a priest K. notices seems to be preparing to give a sermon from a small second pulpit, lest it begin and K. be compelled to stay for its entirety. Instead of giving a sermon, the priest calls out K.'s name, although K. has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K. a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K.'s fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.
On the last day of K.'s thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: "Like a dog!"
Characters
Others
Fräulein Bürstner - A boarder in the same house as Josef K. She lets him kiss her one night, but then rebuffs his advances. She makes a brief reappearance in the novel's final pages.
Fräulein Montag - Friend of Fräulein Bürstner, she talks to K. about ending his relationship with Fräulein Bürstner after his arrest. She claims she can bring him insight, because she is an objective third party.
Frau Grubach - The proprietress of the lodging house in which K. lives. She holds K. in high esteem, despite his arrest.
Uncle Karl - K.'s impetuous uncle from the country, formerly his guardian. Upon learning about the trial, Karl insists that K. hire Herr Huld, the lawyer.
Herr Huld, the Lawyer - K.'s pompous and pretentious advocate who provides precious little in the way of action and far too much in the way of anecdote.
Leni - Herr Huld's nurse, she has feelings for Josef K. and soon becomes his lover. She shows him her webbed hand, yet another reference to the motif of the hand throughout the book. Apparently, she finds accused men extremely attractive—the fact of their indictment makes them irresistible to her.
Vice-President - K.'s unctuous rival at the Bank, only too willing to catch K. in a compromising situation. He repeatedly takes advantage of K.'s preoccupation with the trial to advance his own ambitions.
President - Manager of the Bank. A sickly figure, whose position the Vice-President is trying to assume. Gets on well with K., inviting him to various engagements.
Rudi Block, the Merchant - Block is another accused man and client of Huld. His case is five years old, and he is but a shadow of the prosperous grain dealer he once was. All his time, energy, and resources are now devoted to his case, to the point of detriment to his own life. Although he has hired five additional lawyers on the side, he is completely and pathetically subservient to Huld.
Titorelli, the Painter - Titorelli inherited the position of Court Painter from his father. He knows a great deal about the comings and goings of the Court's lowest level. He offers to help K., and manages to unload a few identical landscape paintings on the accused man.
Style
Parable
(Taken directly from Novels for Students: The Trial.)
Kafka intentionally set out to write parables, not just novels, about the human condition. The Trial is a parable that includes the smaller parable Before the Law. There is clearly a relationship between the two but the exact meaning of either parable is left up to the individual reader. K. and the Priest discuss the many possible readings. Both the short parable and their discussion seem to indicate that the reader is much like the man at the gate; there is a meaning in the story for everyone just as there is one gate to the Law for each person.
The parable within Kafka's masterpiece highlights perfectly the essence of his philosophy. Assigned unique roles in life, individuals must search deep within the apparent absurdity of existence to achieve spiritual self-realisation. The old man, therefore, is the symbol of this universal search inherent to mankind. 'The Trial' is not simply a novel about the potential disaster of over-bureaucratisation in society; it is an exploration of the personal and, particularly, spiritual, needs of human beings.
Legality
In a recent study based on Kafka’s office writings, Reza Banakar points out that many of Kafka’s descriptions of law and legality are often treated as metaphors for things other than law, but also are worthy of examination as a particular concept of law and legality which operates paradoxically as an integral part of the human condition under modernity. Joseph K. and his inexplicable experience of the law in The Trial were, for example, born out of an actual legal case in which Kafka was involved.
Film portrayals
* In the 1962 Orson Welles movie adaptation of The Trial, Josef K. is played by Anthony Perkins. Kyle MacLachlan portrays him in the 1993 version.
* Martin Scorsese's 1985 film After Hours is a re-imagining of the Trial.
Theatre adaptions
* The writer and director Steven Berkoff adapted several of Kafka's novels into plays and directed them for stage. His version of The Trial was first performed in 1970 in London and published in 1981.
Selected publication history
* Oxford World's Classics, 4 October 2009, Translation: Mike Mitchell, ISBN 9780199238293
* Dover Thrift Editions, 22 July 2009, Translation: David Wyllie, ISBN 9780486470610
* Penguin Modern Classics, 29 June 2000, Translation: Idris Parry, ISBN 9780141182902
* Schocken Books, 25 May 1999, Translation: Breon Mitchell, ISBN 9780805209990
* Everyman's Library, 30 June 1992, Translation: Willa and Edwin Muir, ISBN 9780679409946
美國《華盛頓郵報》這樣評價米蘭·昆德拉：“昆德拉是歐美最傑出和始終最為有趣的小說傢之一。”《新聞周刊》也說：“昆德拉把哲理小說提升到了夢態抒情和感情濃烈的一個新水平。” 《華盛頓時報》還說：“《生存中不能承受之輕》是20世紀最偉大的小說之一，昆德拉藉此奠定了他世界上最偉大的在世作傢的地位。”
《生命中不能承受之輕》-名書簡介
作者：（捷剋）米蘭·昆德拉
類型：小說
成書時間：1984年
《生命中不能承受之輕》-背景搜索
《生命中不能承受之輕》米蘭·昆德拉
米蘭·昆德拉，1929年生於捷剋布爾諾市。父親為鋼琴傢、音樂藝術學院的教授，受家庭熏陶，童年時代便學作麯；少年時開始廣泛閱讀世界名著；青年時從事寫作、畫畫、音樂、電影。三十歲左右發表第一篇短篇小說，决定走文學創作之路。
1967年，他的第一部長篇小說《玩笑》在捷剋出版，獲得巨大成功，奠定了他在文壇上的地位。1968年，蘇聯入侵捷剋後，《玩笑》不但被列為禁書而且昆德拉的工作也失去了。1975年與傢人離開捷剋，來到法國。
移居法國後，昆德拉迅速走紅，成為法國讀者最喜愛的外國作傢之一。他的絶大多數作品，如《笑忘錄》、《生命中不能承受之輕》、《不朽》等都是首先在法國走紅，然後纔引起世界文壇的矚目。他曾多次獲得國際文學奬，並多次被提名為諾貝爾文學奬的候選人。
《生命中不能承受之輕》-內容精要
捷剋首都布拉格的一位外科醫生托馬斯是個固執地拒絶“媚俗”的人，他背叛父母的意願離了婚，有着衆多的情人，其中最為親密的情人是畫傢薩賓娜。有一次他到郊外的一個小鎮上出診，認識了那裏的女招待特麗莎。樸素而美麗的特麗莎讓托馬斯一見鐘情，而特麗莎對風度翩翩的托馬斯也頗有好感。
不久特麗莎到城裏找托馬斯，他們同居在一起。在薩賓娜的幫助下，愛好攝影的特麗莎在某雜志社謀到一份工作。托馬斯雖然愛特麗莎，但是卻不願做家庭責任的附庸，更不願像別人那樣甘於平淡地生活，仍然與別的女人鬍混。特麗莎雖然出身下層，但她內心渴望高尚的精神生活。特麗莎深愛着托馬斯卻不能接受他這種生活方式，然而又不能左右他，衹有痛苦地與他維護着一個家庭的外殼。
1968年8月，前蘇聯領導人所指揮的坦剋，在 “主權有限論”等等旗號下，以突然襲擊的方式，一夜之間攻占了布拉格，扣押了捷剋黨政領導人。 “布拉格之春”強烈地震動了這個家庭，特麗莎立刻找到了自己的意義，她熱心地充當着一個愛國記者的角色，拍下了大量蘇軍入侵的照片。與特麗莎不同，不願媚俗的托馬斯雖然憎恨入侵者，同情反抗者，卻不願用行動支持他們，不願為他們簽名，也不願簽名幫助政府，托馬斯認為，為誰簽名都是一種媚俗行為，他不願替別人充當製造聲勢的工具。
後來，托馬斯和特麗莎為了逃避當局的迫害去了中立國瑞士。令特麗莎沒有想到的是薩賓娜也流亡到此，且與托馬斯重修舊好。特麗莎無法繼續忍受下去，憤然返回了布拉格。在離開特麗莎最初的幾天，托馬斯確實感到了自由，但很快這種輕飄飄的失落感又讓他難以忍受，於是他也重回布拉格尋找特麗莎。在布拉格，托馬斯因一篇文章得罪有關當局，並拒絶在收回自己文章的聲明上簽字而受到迫害。最後托馬斯與特麗莎二人移居鄉下，不幸在一次車禍中雙雙意外身亡。
和托馬斯一樣，薩賓娜也是一個堅决的反“媚俗”者，不過她卻從人們的“媚俗”中得到了好處。在瑞士，人們由於同情她的祖國而願意掏錢買她的畫，這讓她發了一大筆財。在一次宴會上，薩賓娜和瑞士的一名大學教師弗蘭茨相戀。弗蘭茨是一個相貌英俊的男士，事業有成，所有這些成功以後的感覺讓他覺得“輕”。他渴望反抗，渴望激情，於是他加入了聲援捷剋人民的遊行示威大軍。後來在越南入侵柬埔寨期間加入赴柬醫療隊，但他這種堂吉訶德式的行動並沒有産生任何實際成果，後來受到歹徒的襲擊而喪生。
《生命中不能承受之輕》-專傢點評
米蘭·昆德拉說過，生長於一個小國在他看來實在是一種優勢，因為身處小國，要麽做一個可憐的、眼光狹窄的人，要麽成為一個廣聞博識的世界性的人。昆德拉就是一個世界性的人，他說：“如果一個作傢寫的東西衹能令本國的人瞭解，則他不但對不起世界上所有的人，更對不起他的同胞，因為他的同胞讀了他的作品，衹能變得目光短淺。”《生命中不能承受之輕》以醫生托馬斯、攝影愛好者特麗莎、畫傢薩賓娜、大學教師弗蘭茨等人的生活為綫索，通過他們之間的感情糾葛，散文化地展現了蘇軍入侵後，捷剋各階層人民的生活和情緒，富於哲理地探討了人類天性中的“媚俗”本質，從而具備了從一個民族走嚮全人類的深廣內涵。
米蘭·昆德拉在這部小說中，圍繞幾個人物的不同經歷，經他們對生命的選擇將小說引入哲學層面，對諸如回歸、媚俗、遺忘、時間偶然性與必然性等多個範疇進行了思考。這是一部哲理小說，與傳統的小說不同，它不再通過故事情境本身吸引讀者，而是用將讀者引入哲理的思考之中，通過生活中具體的事件引起讀者形而上的深層思考。米蘭·昆德拉正是由於能夠將小說藝術與現代西方哲學結合起來，故而成為當今世界文壇上最為引人註目的作傢。
米蘭·昆德拉的思想帶有強烈的存在主義的傾嚮，因此，在《生命中不能承受之輕》中，作者對人生的命運與價值的關註是該書主題。生命的存在與價值的問題是任何一個人也無法逃避的問題，生命衹是一個過程而已。在米蘭·昆德拉看來，人生是一種痛苦，這種痛苦來自於我們對生活目標的錯誤選擇，對生命價值的錯誤判斷，世人都在為自己的目的而孜孜追求，殊不知，目標本身就是一種空虛。生命因“追求”而變得庸俗，人類成了被“追求”所役使的奴隸，在“追求”的名義下，我們不論是放浪形骸，還是循規蹈矩，最終衹是無休止地重複前人。因此，人類的歷史最終將衹剩下兩個字———“媚俗”。
媚俗一詞源於德語的 Kitsch，被米蘭·昆德拉在多次演講中引用。昆德拉認為，媚俗是以做作的態度取悅大衆的行為，這種行為侵蝕人類最初美好的心靈，是一種文明病。他甚至指出藝術中的現代主義在眼下幾乎也變成了一種新的時髦，新的Kitsch，失掉了最開始那種解放個性的初衷。媚俗不僅是我們的敵人也是我們自己。在《生命中不能承受之輕》中，昆德拉藉薩賓娜的思索表達了他的看法，衹要有公衆存在，衹要留心公衆存在，而不是按自己的意願行事，就免不了媚俗。不管我們承認與否，媚俗是人類境況的一個組成部分，很少有人能脫俗。媚俗不僅僅是某些人或某些國傢的問題，而是整個人類的問題。由於媚俗，人們往往會用意志代替個人追求，由於媚俗，人們往往會扭麯自我的價值判斷以迎合整體的價值取嚮。當整個價值判斷體係完全失重，美與醜、善與惡、好與壞無從判別，甚至形成一體時，生命在外界和內心的沉重抗擊之下也就變得無所適從，變成了不能承受之輕。
《生命中不能承受之輕》-妙語佳句
人從來就想重寫自己的傳記，改變過去，抹去痕跡，抹去自己的，也抹去別人的，想遺忘遠不是那麽簡單。
Synopsis
The Unbearable Lightness of Being takes place in Prague in 1968. It explores the artistic and intellectual life of Czech society during the Communist period, from the Prague Spring to the Soviet Union’s August 1968 invasion and its aftermath. The characters are Tomáš, a successful surgeon; his wife Tereza, a photographer anguished by her husband's infidelities; Tomáš’s lover Sabina, a free-spirited artist; and the secondary characters Franz, the Swiss university professor and lover of Sabina; and Simon, Tomáš’s estranged son from an earlier marriage.
Challenging Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence (the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum), the story’s thematic meditations posit the alternative that each person has only one life to live, and that which occurs in that life, occurs only once and shall never occur again — thus the “lightness” of being; whereas eternal recurrence imposes a “heaviness” on our lives and on the decisions we make (it gives them weight, to borrow from Nietzsche's metaphor), a heaviness that Nietzsche thought could be either a tremendous burden or great benefit depending on one's perspective.
The German expression Einmal ist keinmal encapsulates “lightness” so: “what happens but once, might as well not have happened at all. If we have only one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all”; if concluded logically, life ultimately is insignificant. Hence, because decisions do not matter, they are rendered light, because they do not cause personal suffering. Yet, simultaneously, the insignificance of decisions — our being — causes us great suffering, perceived as the unbearable lightness of being consequent to one’s awareness of life occurring once and never again; thus no one person’s actions are universally significant. This insignificance is existentially unbearable when it is considered that people want their lives to have transcendent meaning. As literary art, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is considered a modernist humanist novel and a post-modern novel of high narrative craft.[citation needed]
Publication
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) was not published in the original Czech until 1985, as Czech: Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí, by the exile publishing house 68 Publishers (Toronto, Canada). The second Czech edition was published in October 2006, in Brno (Czech Republic), some eighteen years after the Velvet Revolution, because Kundera did not approve it earlier. The first English translation by Michael Henry Heim was published in hardback in 1984 by Harper & Row in the US and Faber and Faber in the UK and in paperback in 1985. The US paperback was reprinted in New York City by Perennial in 1999 with ISBN 0-06-093213-9.
Characters
* Tomáš - The story's protagonist: a Czech surgeon and intellectual. Tomáš is a light-hearted womanizer who lives for his work. He considers sex and love to be distinct entities: he copulates with many women but loves only his wife, Tereza. He sees no contradiction between these two activities. He explains womanizing as an imperative to explore the idiosyncrasies of people (women, in this case) only expressed during sex. At first he views his wife as a burden he is obligated to take care of, but this changes when he abandons his twin obsessions of work and womanizing and moves to the country with Tereza. There, he communicates with his son after having to deal with the consequences of a letter to the editor in which he likens the Czech Communists to Oedipus (although this was unintentional). Later, his son Simon tells Sabina that Tomáš and Tereza died in a car crash. His epitaph is He wanted the Kingdom of God on Earth.
* Tereza - Young wife of Tomáš. A gentle, intellectual photographer, she delves into dangerous and dissident photojournalism during the Soviet occupation of Prague. Tereza does not condemn Tomáš for his infidelities, instead characterising herself as weaker than he is. She is mostly defined by the division she places between soul and body due to her mother's flagrant embrace of all the body's grotesque functions which has led Tereza to view her body as disgusting and shameful. Throughout the book she expresses a fear of simply being another body in Tomáš's array of women. Once Tomáš and Tereza move to the countryside she devotes herself to taking care of cattle and reading. During this time she becomes fond of animals, reaching the conclusion that they were the last link to the paradise abandoned by Adam and Eve, and becomes alienated from other humans.
* Sabina - Tomáš's favorite mistress and closest friend. Sabina lives her life as an extreme example of lightness, finding profound satisfaction in the act of betrayal. She declares war on kitsch and struggles against the constraints imposed by her puritan ancestry and the communist party. This struggle is shown through her paintings. She occasionally expresses excitement at humiliation, shown through the use of her grandfather's bowler hat, a symbol that is born during one sexual encounter between her and Tomáš, before it eventually changes meaning and becomes a relic of the past. Later in the novel she begins to correspond with Simon while living under the roof of some older Americans who admire her artistic skill. She expresses her desire to be cremated and thrown to the winds after death - the last symbol of eternal lightness.
* Franz - Sabina's lover and a Geneva professor and idealist. Franz falls in love with Sabina whom he (erroneously) considers a liberal and romantically tragic Czech dissident. Sabina considers both of those identities kitsch. He is a kind and compassionate man. As one of the dreamers of the novel, he bases his actions on loyalty to the memories of his mother and of Sabina. His life revolves completely around books and academia eventually to the extent that he seeks lightness and ecstasy by participating in marches and protests, the last of which is a march in Thailand to the Cambodian border. While in Bangkok, after the march he is mortally wounded during a mugging. Ironically, he always sought to escape the kitsch of his wife, Marie-Claude, but dies in her presence allowing Marie-Claude to claim he always loved her. The inscription on his grave was: "A return after long wanderings."
* Karenin - The dog of Tomáš and Tereza. Although physically a female, the name given always alludes to masculinity, and is a reference to the husband of Anna in Anna Karenina. Karenin lives his life according to routine and displays extreme dislike of change. Once the married couple moves to the country, Karenin becomes more content than ever as he is able to enjoy more the attention of his owners. He also quickly befriends a pig named Mefisto. During this time Tomáš discovers that Karenin has cancer and even after removing a tumor it is clear that Karenin is going to die. On his deathbed he unites Tereza and Tomáš through his "smile" at their attempts to improve his health. When he dies, Tereza expresses a wish to place an inscription over his grave: "Here lies Karenin. He gave birth to two rolls and a bee" in reference to a dream she had shortly before his death.
Film
Main article: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)
In 1988, an American-made film adaptation of the novel was released starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lena Olin, and Juliette Binoche.
《生命中不能承受之輕》-名書簡介
作者：（捷剋）米蘭·昆德拉
類型：小說
成書時間：1984年
《生命中不能承受之輕》-背景搜索
《生命中不能承受之輕》米蘭·昆德拉
米蘭·昆德拉，1929年生於捷剋布爾諾市。父親為鋼琴傢、音樂藝術學院的教授，受家庭熏陶，童年時代便學作麯；少年時開始廣泛閱讀世界名著；青年時從事寫作、畫畫、音樂、電影。三十歲左右發表第一篇短篇小說，决定走文學創作之路。
1967年，他的第一部長篇小說《玩笑》在捷剋出版，獲得巨大成功，奠定了他在文壇上的地位。1968年，蘇聯入侵捷剋後，《玩笑》不但被列為禁書而且昆德拉的工作也失去了。1975年與傢人離開捷剋，來到法國。
移居法國後，昆德拉迅速走紅，成為法國讀者最喜愛的外國作傢之一。他的絶大多數作品，如《笑忘錄》、《生命中不能承受之輕》、《不朽》等都是首先在法國走紅，然後纔引起世界文壇的矚目。他曾多次獲得國際文學奬，並多次被提名為諾貝爾文學奬的候選人。
《生命中不能承受之輕》-內容精要
捷剋首都布拉格的一位外科醫生托馬斯是個固執地拒絶“媚俗”的人，他背叛父母的意願離了婚，有着衆多的情人，其中最為親密的情人是畫傢薩賓娜。有一次他到郊外的一個小鎮上出診，認識了那裏的女招待特麗莎。樸素而美麗的特麗莎讓托馬斯一見鐘情，而特麗莎對風度翩翩的托馬斯也頗有好感。
不久特麗莎到城裏找托馬斯，他們同居在一起。在薩賓娜的幫助下，愛好攝影的特麗莎在某雜志社謀到一份工作。托馬斯雖然愛特麗莎，但是卻不願做家庭責任的附庸，更不願像別人那樣甘於平淡地生活，仍然與別的女人鬍混。特麗莎雖然出身下層，但她內心渴望高尚的精神生活。特麗莎深愛着托馬斯卻不能接受他這種生活方式，然而又不能左右他，衹有痛苦地與他維護着一個家庭的外殼。
1968年8月，前蘇聯領導人所指揮的坦剋，在 “主權有限論”等等旗號下，以突然襲擊的方式，一夜之間攻占了布拉格，扣押了捷剋黨政領導人。 “布拉格之春”強烈地震動了這個家庭，特麗莎立刻找到了自己的意義，她熱心地充當着一個愛國記者的角色，拍下了大量蘇軍入侵的照片。與特麗莎不同，不願媚俗的托馬斯雖然憎恨入侵者，同情反抗者，卻不願用行動支持他們，不願為他們簽名，也不願簽名幫助政府，托馬斯認為，為誰簽名都是一種媚俗行為，他不願替別人充當製造聲勢的工具。
後來，托馬斯和特麗莎為了逃避當局的迫害去了中立國瑞士。令特麗莎沒有想到的是薩賓娜也流亡到此，且與托馬斯重修舊好。特麗莎無法繼續忍受下去，憤然返回了布拉格。在離開特麗莎最初的幾天，托馬斯確實感到了自由，但很快這種輕飄飄的失落感又讓他難以忍受，於是他也重回布拉格尋找特麗莎。在布拉格，托馬斯因一篇文章得罪有關當局，並拒絶在收回自己文章的聲明上簽字而受到迫害。最後托馬斯與特麗莎二人移居鄉下，不幸在一次車禍中雙雙意外身亡。
和托馬斯一樣，薩賓娜也是一個堅决的反“媚俗”者，不過她卻從人們的“媚俗”中得到了好處。在瑞士，人們由於同情她的祖國而願意掏錢買她的畫，這讓她發了一大筆財。在一次宴會上，薩賓娜和瑞士的一名大學教師弗蘭茨相戀。弗蘭茨是一個相貌英俊的男士，事業有成，所有這些成功以後的感覺讓他覺得“輕”。他渴望反抗，渴望激情，於是他加入了聲援捷剋人民的遊行示威大軍。後來在越南入侵柬埔寨期間加入赴柬醫療隊，但他這種堂吉訶德式的行動並沒有産生任何實際成果，後來受到歹徒的襲擊而喪生。
《生命中不能承受之輕》-專傢點評
米蘭·昆德拉說過，生長於一個小國在他看來實在是一種優勢，因為身處小國，要麽做一個可憐的、眼光狹窄的人，要麽成為一個廣聞博識的世界性的人。昆德拉就是一個世界性的人，他說：“如果一個作傢寫的東西衹能令本國的人瞭解，則他不但對不起世界上所有的人，更對不起他的同胞，因為他的同胞讀了他的作品，衹能變得目光短淺。”《生命中不能承受之輕》以醫生托馬斯、攝影愛好者特麗莎、畫傢薩賓娜、大學教師弗蘭茨等人的生活為綫索，通過他們之間的感情糾葛，散文化地展現了蘇軍入侵後，捷剋各階層人民的生活和情緒，富於哲理地探討了人類天性中的“媚俗”本質，從而具備了從一個民族走嚮全人類的深廣內涵。
米蘭·昆德拉在這部小說中，圍繞幾個人物的不同經歷，經他們對生命的選擇將小說引入哲學層面，對諸如回歸、媚俗、遺忘、時間偶然性與必然性等多個範疇進行了思考。這是一部哲理小說，與傳統的小說不同，它不再通過故事情境本身吸引讀者，而是用將讀者引入哲理的思考之中，通過生活中具體的事件引起讀者形而上的深層思考。米蘭·昆德拉正是由於能夠將小說藝術與現代西方哲學結合起來，故而成為當今世界文壇上最為引人註目的作傢。
米蘭·昆德拉的思想帶有強烈的存在主義的傾嚮，因此，在《生命中不能承受之輕》中，作者對人生的命運與價值的關註是該書主題。生命的存在與價值的問題是任何一個人也無法逃避的問題，生命衹是一個過程而已。在米蘭·昆德拉看來，人生是一種痛苦，這種痛苦來自於我們對生活目標的錯誤選擇，對生命價值的錯誤判斷，世人都在為自己的目的而孜孜追求，殊不知，目標本身就是一種空虛。生命因“追求”而變得庸俗，人類成了被“追求”所役使的奴隸，在“追求”的名義下，我們不論是放浪形骸，還是循規蹈矩，最終衹是無休止地重複前人。因此，人類的歷史最終將衹剩下兩個字———“媚俗”。
媚俗一詞源於德語的 Kitsch，被米蘭·昆德拉在多次演講中引用。昆德拉認為，媚俗是以做作的態度取悅大衆的行為，這種行為侵蝕人類最初美好的心靈，是一種文明病。他甚至指出藝術中的現代主義在眼下幾乎也變成了一種新的時髦，新的Kitsch，失掉了最開始那種解放個性的初衷。媚俗不僅是我們的敵人也是我們自己。在《生命中不能承受之輕》中，昆德拉藉薩賓娜的思索表達了他的看法，衹要有公衆存在，衹要留心公衆存在，而不是按自己的意願行事，就免不了媚俗。不管我們承認與否，媚俗是人類境況的一個組成部分，很少有人能脫俗。媚俗不僅僅是某些人或某些國傢的問題，而是整個人類的問題。由於媚俗，人們往往會用意志代替個人追求，由於媚俗，人們往往會扭麯自我的價值判斷以迎合整體的價值取嚮。當整個價值判斷體係完全失重，美與醜、善與惡、好與壞無從判別，甚至形成一體時，生命在外界和內心的沉重抗擊之下也就變得無所適從，變成了不能承受之輕。
《生命中不能承受之輕》-妙語佳句
人從來就想重寫自己的傳記，改變過去，抹去痕跡，抹去自己的，也抹去別人的，想遺忘遠不是那麽簡單。
Synopsis
The Unbearable Lightness of Being takes place in Prague in 1968. It explores the artistic and intellectual life of Czech society during the Communist period, from the Prague Spring to the Soviet Union’s August 1968 invasion and its aftermath. The characters are Tomáš, a successful surgeon; his wife Tereza, a photographer anguished by her husband's infidelities; Tomáš’s lover Sabina, a free-spirited artist; and the secondary characters Franz, the Swiss university professor and lover of Sabina; and Simon, Tomáš’s estranged son from an earlier marriage.
Challenging Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence (the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum), the story’s thematic meditations posit the alternative that each person has only one life to live, and that which occurs in that life, occurs only once and shall never occur again — thus the “lightness” of being; whereas eternal recurrence imposes a “heaviness” on our lives and on the decisions we make (it gives them weight, to borrow from Nietzsche's metaphor), a heaviness that Nietzsche thought could be either a tremendous burden or great benefit depending on one's perspective.
The German expression Einmal ist keinmal encapsulates “lightness” so: “what happens but once, might as well not have happened at all. If we have only one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all”; if concluded logically, life ultimately is insignificant. Hence, because decisions do not matter, they are rendered light, because they do not cause personal suffering. Yet, simultaneously, the insignificance of decisions — our being — causes us great suffering, perceived as the unbearable lightness of being consequent to one’s awareness of life occurring once and never again; thus no one person’s actions are universally significant. This insignificance is existentially unbearable when it is considered that people want their lives to have transcendent meaning. As literary art, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is considered a modernist humanist novel and a post-modern novel of high narrative craft.[citation needed]
Publication
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) was not published in the original Czech until 1985, as Czech: Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí, by the exile publishing house 68 Publishers (Toronto, Canada). The second Czech edition was published in October 2006, in Brno (Czech Republic), some eighteen years after the Velvet Revolution, because Kundera did not approve it earlier. The first English translation by Michael Henry Heim was published in hardback in 1984 by Harper & Row in the US and Faber and Faber in the UK and in paperback in 1985. The US paperback was reprinted in New York City by Perennial in 1999 with ISBN 0-06-093213-9.
Characters
* Tomáš - The story's protagonist: a Czech surgeon and intellectual. Tomáš is a light-hearted womanizer who lives for his work. He considers sex and love to be distinct entities: he copulates with many women but loves only his wife, Tereza. He sees no contradiction between these two activities. He explains womanizing as an imperative to explore the idiosyncrasies of people (women, in this case) only expressed during sex. At first he views his wife as a burden he is obligated to take care of, but this changes when he abandons his twin obsessions of work and womanizing and moves to the country with Tereza. There, he communicates with his son after having to deal with the consequences of a letter to the editor in which he likens the Czech Communists to Oedipus (although this was unintentional). Later, his son Simon tells Sabina that Tomáš and Tereza died in a car crash. His epitaph is He wanted the Kingdom of God on Earth.
* Tereza - Young wife of Tomáš. A gentle, intellectual photographer, she delves into dangerous and dissident photojournalism during the Soviet occupation of Prague. Tereza does not condemn Tomáš for his infidelities, instead characterising herself as weaker than he is. She is mostly defined by the division she places between soul and body due to her mother's flagrant embrace of all the body's grotesque functions which has led Tereza to view her body as disgusting and shameful. Throughout the book she expresses a fear of simply being another body in Tomáš's array of women. Once Tomáš and Tereza move to the countryside she devotes herself to taking care of cattle and reading. During this time she becomes fond of animals, reaching the conclusion that they were the last link to the paradise abandoned by Adam and Eve, and becomes alienated from other humans.
* Sabina - Tomáš's favorite mistress and closest friend. Sabina lives her life as an extreme example of lightness, finding profound satisfaction in the act of betrayal. She declares war on kitsch and struggles against the constraints imposed by her puritan ancestry and the communist party. This struggle is shown through her paintings. She occasionally expresses excitement at humiliation, shown through the use of her grandfather's bowler hat, a symbol that is born during one sexual encounter between her and Tomáš, before it eventually changes meaning and becomes a relic of the past. Later in the novel she begins to correspond with Simon while living under the roof of some older Americans who admire her artistic skill. She expresses her desire to be cremated and thrown to the winds after death - the last symbol of eternal lightness.
* Franz - Sabina's lover and a Geneva professor and idealist. Franz falls in love with Sabina whom he (erroneously) considers a liberal and romantically tragic Czech dissident. Sabina considers both of those identities kitsch. He is a kind and compassionate man. As one of the dreamers of the novel, he bases his actions on loyalty to the memories of his mother and of Sabina. His life revolves completely around books and academia eventually to the extent that he seeks lightness and ecstasy by participating in marches and protests, the last of which is a march in Thailand to the Cambodian border. While in Bangkok, after the march he is mortally wounded during a mugging. Ironically, he always sought to escape the kitsch of his wife, Marie-Claude, but dies in her presence allowing Marie-Claude to claim he always loved her. The inscription on his grave was: "A return after long wanderings."
* Karenin - The dog of Tomáš and Tereza. Although physically a female, the name given always alludes to masculinity, and is a reference to the husband of Anna in Anna Karenina. Karenin lives his life according to routine and displays extreme dislike of change. Once the married couple moves to the country, Karenin becomes more content than ever as he is able to enjoy more the attention of his owners. He also quickly befriends a pig named Mefisto. During this time Tomáš discovers that Karenin has cancer and even after removing a tumor it is clear that Karenin is going to die. On his deathbed he unites Tereza and Tomáš through his "smile" at their attempts to improve his health. When he dies, Tereza expresses a wish to place an inscription over his grave: "Here lies Karenin. He gave birth to two rolls and a bee" in reference to a dream she had shortly before his death.
Film
Main article: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)
In 1988, an American-made film adaptation of the novel was released starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lena Olin, and Juliette Binoche.