约翰•赫西(John Hersey),中文名韩约翰,1914年生于天津,十岁时随父母返回美国,先后在耶鲁大学、剑桥大学完成学业。1937年夏天,他在暑假期间为诺贝尔文学奖获得者刘易斯•辛克莱尔担任秘书,同年秋到《时代》杂志工作,两年后被派往《时代》的重庆分部。整个二战期 间,他往返于欧亚大陆,为《时代》、《生活》、《纽约客》撰稿。1958年获诺贝尔文学奖提名。 约翰•赫西是最早践行“新 新闻”写作手法的记者(尽管他后来对这种手法不无批评),对美国的新闻报道产生了很大的影响。他的主要作品有《广岛》、《阿达诺之钟》(A Bell for Adano,1945年获普利策奖)等。1965年起,约翰•赫西任教于耶鲁大学,长期讲授写作课程。1993年逝世。
Writing at the height of his powers, John Hersey has created a taut, dazzling novel of suspense and revelation—in which we watch, mesmerized, the fateful convergence of two lives. A young woman, having fled from her suddenly unbearable “college kid” self—and from the place, even the lover, that were part of it—comes alone to a strange city, anxiously waiting for something new and important to begin…. A man—breezy, ponytailed, beautiful—stranded by the passing of the sixties whose excitements had nurtured and consumed him, now lavishes his whole self on loving craftsmanship, on the construction of simple, perfect wooden doors, on the mystery of locks, and on the artful offering of security (his locks and doors) to women who are alone…. The meeting of these two, and their love affair—its choreography masterminded by one, unsuspected by the other—are hypnotically told in a novel that illumines the fearful and the fear-makers in our decade.
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