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标题: 何谓名著--what is a great book [打印本页]

作者: 笑仙人 时间: 13.7.2003 23:34
WHAT IS A GREAT BOOK? Mortimer J. Adler There is no end to the making of books. Nor does there seem to be any end to the making of lists of “great books.” There have always been more books than anyone could read. And as they have multiplied through the centuries, more and more blue-ribbon listshave had to be made. No matter how long your life, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. You can rejoice in the fact that the number of such is relatively small. The listing of the best books is as old as reading and writing. The teachers and librarians of ancient Alexandria did it. Quintilian did it for Roman education, selecting, as he said, both ancient and modern classics. In the Renaissance, such leaders of the revival of learning as Montaigne and Erasmus made lists of the books they read. It is to be expected that the selections will change will the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity in the lists which represent the best choices of any period. In every age, the list makers include both ancient and modern books in their selections, and they always wonder whether the moderns are up to the great books of the past. What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The six I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I've found most useful in explaining my choices over the years. Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DON QUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer'sliad hs been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years. A great book need not even be a best seller in its own day. It may take time for it to accumulate its ultimate audience. The astronomer Kepler, whose work on the planetary motions is now a classic, is reported to have said of his book that “it may wait a century for a reader, as God has waited 6000 years for an observer.” Great books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they be philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal. There is one kind of prior reading, however, which does help you to read a great book, and that is the other great books the author himself read. Let me illustrate this point by taking Euclid's elements of Geometry and Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Euclid requires no prior study of mathematics. His book is generally an introduction to geometry, and to basic arithmetic as well. The same cannot be said for Newton, because Newton uses mathematics in the solution of physical problems. His style shows how deeply he was influenced by Euclid's treatment of ration and proportions. His book is, therefore, not readily intelligible, even to scientists, unless Euclid has been read before. I am not saying that great scientific books can be read without effort. I am saying that if they are read in an historical order, the effort is rewarded. Just as Euclid illuminates Newton and Galileo, so they in turn help to make Einstein intelligible. The point applies to philosophical books as well. Great books are always contemporary. In contrast, the books we call “contemporary”, because they are currently popular, last only for a year or two, or ten at the most. You probably cannot recall the names of many earlier best sellers, and you probably would not be interested in reading them. But the great books are never outmoded by the movement of thought or the shifting winds of doctrine and opinion.

eople regard the “classics” as the great has-beens, the great books of other times. “Our times are different,” they say. On the contrary, the great books are not dusty remains for scholars to investigate, they are, rather, the most potent civilizing forces in the world today. The fundamental human problems remain the same in all ages. Anyone who reads the speeches of Demosthenes and the letters of Cicero, or the essays of Bacon and Montaigne, will find how constant is the preoccupation of men with happiness and justice, with virtue and truth and even with stability and change itself. We may accelerate the motions of life, but we cannot seem to change the routes that are available to its goals. Great books are the most readable. They will not let you down if you try to read them well. They have more ideas per page than most books have in their entirety. That is why you can read a great book over and over again and never exhaust its contents. They can be read at many different levels of understanding, as well as with a great diversity of interpretations. Obvious examples are GULLIVER'S TRAVELS , ROBINSON CRUSOE and the ODYSSEY. Children can read them with enjoyment, but fail to find therein all the beauty and significance which delight an adult mind. Great books are the most instructive. This follows from the fact that they are original communications; they contain what cannot be found it other books. Whether you ultimately agree or disagree with what they say, these are the primary teachers of mankind; they have made the basic contributions to human thought. It is almost unnecessary to add that the great books are the most influential books. In the tradition of learning, they have been most discussed by readers who have also been writers. These are the books about which there are many other books --- countless and, for the most part, forgotten. Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Inquiry not only begins with wonder, but usually ends with it also. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified not destroyed, by understanding its limitations. It is our privilege, as readers, to belong to the larger brotherhood of man which recognizes no national boundaries. I do not know how to escape from the strait-jacket of political nationalism. I do know how we become friends of the human spirit in all its manifestations, regardless of time and place. It is by reading the great books. From Reader's Digest

作者: 笑仙人 时间: 13.7.2003 23:34
何谓名著? 〔美〕莫蒂默·J. 艾德勒 书籍源源不断地问世，因此选定“名著”书目的工作似乎也无止境。书总是多得读不胜读。多少世纪以来，书籍的数量与日俱增，越来越多的名著佳作书目有待选定。 不管你在世上活多久，充其量也只能浏览浩瀚书海中的极小部分，而且在这些你读过的少数书中应包括经典名著。事实上，经典名著为数很少，你可为此而感到庆幸。 人们开始了读书和写作的活动，同时也就开始了编选最佳书目的工作。古代亚历山大城的教师和图书管理人员就曾做过这种工作。罗马修辞学家昆提连为罗马教育也做过这项工作，他说过，他选定了古今经典名著。文艺复兴时期，领导文艺复兴运动的学者，如法国的蒙田和荷兰的伊拉兹马斯都曾把他们读过的书籍编制目录。 人们预料，随着时代的变迁，选择书籍的方向会有所改变；然而，无论哪个时代，选定的名著佳作书目却令人惊异地一致。每个时代，编目人都把古代和现代佳作选进书目，但他们却一直怀疑，现代著作是否能赶上古代名著。 评定名著的标准是什么? 下面提出的六点可能不够全面，但它们都是我多年来选定标准最有用的依据。 名著或许阅读者最多。它们不是一二年的畅销书籍，而是经久不衰的畅销书籍。《飘》的读者与莎士比亚戏剧或《堂·吉诃德》相比，数目有限。在过去的三千年里，荷马的《伊利亚特》史诗读者至少有二千五百万，这样的估计不会是无稽之谈。 一部名著无须在问世之际就成为畅销书籍，读者数量的积累需要时日。十六世纪德国天文学家开普勒关于行星运动的著作现已成为经典名著；但据说，当时他对该书曾讲过这样一句话，“这本书可能要等上一个世纪才有一个读者，就像上帝等了六千年才有了一个天文观察者一样。” 名著绝不引经据典，艰深难懂，而是通俗易读。它们不是专家为专业人员撰写的专业书籍。无论是哲学、科学、还是历史、诗歌等方面的名著，所探讨的都是人类的普遍性问题，而不是学术性问题。它们面向大众，而不是专家教授。阅读高级教科书，必须先读初级课本。名著探讨的是一切问题的基本道理；从这一意义上说，它们可视为初级课本。它们各自之间没有联系，不像一套教科书那样，按照书中问题的难易程度，或专业的深浅分级别类。 然而，有一种预读，的确可以加深你对一部名著的理解，就是预读名著作者本人读过的其他名著。让我以欧几里得的《几何学大纲》和牛顿的《自然哲学的数学原理》二书为例，来证明这一点。阅读欧几里得几何学无须先学习数学，他的书，概括地讲，是几何学入门，也是基础数学入门。而牛顿的书则不同，因为他使用数学解释物理问题。牛顿书中的写法表明，他深受欧几里得对量和比例分析的影响。因此，如果事先没读过欧几里得几何学，牛顿的书是不易理解的，即使科学家也是如此。 我并不是说，可以不费气力地读懂科学名著。我是说，如果按照历史顺序阅读它们，则不会徒劳。正如欧几里得的几何学帮助人们理解牛顿和伽利略的著作一样，它们又可帮助人们读懂爱因斯坦的书。这一点也适用于哲学名著。 名著永远不会落后于时代。与此相反，有一些称为“当代作品”的书籍，风靡一时，只畅销一年或两年，最多不过十年。你很可能记不起许多早年的畅销书名，也可能无何兴趣去读它们；但名著绝不会因思潮的改变或学说与见解的风向而过时。 人们往往视“经典著作”为过时的名著，其他时代的名著。他们说，“我们这个时代不同了。”经典名著绝不是供学者钻研的故纸堆，恰恰相反，它们是今日世界上最强大的文明力量。 在历史的各个时代，人类的基本问题都是相同的。凡是读过古希腊演说家德摩斯梯尼演讲集，古罗马政治家西塞罗书简集，或培根和蒙田论文集的人，都不难发现，人们都在专心不懈地探索幸福和公正，美德和真理，甚至连其永恒性和变化性也在探索之中。我们也许可以加快生活的步伐，但似乎无法改变达到生活目的所必由之路。 名著隽永耐读。如果读法得当，你就会感到开卷有益。名著一页上的思想内容多于许多书籍的整本内容，这就是一部名著可以反复阅读，每读必有所获的道理。 名著可雅俗共赏，理解深浅程度不同，见仁见智，注释各异。明显的例子有《格列佛游记》，《鲁滨逊飘流记》和《奥德赛》。儿童虽不能领略书中深为大人喜爱的优美文笔和深刻含义，但读起来同样津津有味。 名著最有启发教益，因为它们都有独创的见解，包含了其它书籍未见的内容。不管人们最终是否赞同书中所述，它们仍然是人类智慧的启蒙老师，对人类思想史作出了根本性的贡献。 毋庸赘言，名著最有影响力。在学术研究的传统中，许多本人也是作家的读者，讨论研究各种名著很多，并著书发表己见，这样的书籍数不胜数，绝大部分已被世人遗忘。 名著探讨的是人生长期未解决的问题。世界上确实存在人类知识与思维尚不能解释的奥秘。对问题的探讨不仅始于惊奇，往往也终于惊奇。伟大的思想家会坦诚地承认奥秘的存在。这种对个人局限性的认识和承认，并无损于人类的智慧，反而会增长智慧。 我们感到荣幸的是，做为广大读者，我们都从属于一个没有国家界线的、更为广阔的人类团体。虽然我不知道如何摆脱政治民族主义的束缚，但却知道如何成为不受时间、地点限制的，通过各种形式表现出来的人类精神的朋友，这就是通过阅读名著。 译自〔美〕《读者文摘》

作者: quantum 时间: 14.7.2003 06:48
For the list of the great books, please check the headline post: English Classics. <!--emo&

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