"Oh, no," he said slowly, "as long as I'm a virgin and don't bother you." He grinned at my astonished expression and went back out.
A married English lady in the middle of the 20th century traveled to Scotland in the middle of the 18th century by chance. Although she loved her husband deeply and tried to return to the modern age, she married a Scottish warrior in ancient times because of various opportunities. And gradually fell in love with him. It seems that this legendary romance story can easily become bloody. "Ooulander" (Ooulander), the first edition of the novel in 1991, is too easy for us to think of a bunch of similar stories of dog blood that have long been familiar. However, if you really read the 800-page novel attentively, you will agree that it is not bloody, just like setting aside Ma Jingtao’s blood-blooded performance in the Qiong Yao TV series. As far as the novel written by Qiong Yao is concerned, everything It's not so bizarre and exaggerated. A novel is not necessarily much richer than its story outline, but a good novel must be so. The character image and action logic in "Strangers" are convincing, and you will be moved by the author's delicate brushwork.
Different from the vulgar story of crossing, the crossing history of "A stranger" is not only to create a legendary background, but also to make the protagonist from the modern age turn into a godlike character in the ancient skills. Speaking of which, the heroine Claire has the conditions to become a goddess in ancient Scotland. Her husband in modern times is a historian, and her uncle is an archeologist. Because of their relationship, she has a certain degree of understanding of that period of ancient Scotland. During the Second World War, she was a field nurse. Her modern medical knowledge was quite magical in ancient Scotland, which was still half-medicine and half-witch. In the age when the civil war in England and Scotland was on the verge, her skills had considerable room for the Scottish warriors. . Not long after the novel unfolded, Clarie passed through, and immediately used her medical ability to bone the actor Jamie. Using her knowledge of history, Jamie and others avoided the ambush of the English Dragoons, thus winning the interest of the Old Scots and readers. Admiringly. However, throughout the book, Clarie's unusual ability did not meet the expectations of some readers to make her a goddess in Old Scotland. This just allowed her as a foreigner to survive among the Scots who are hostile to the English people, and her ability aroused both respect and suspicion and questioning. In that era when there were absolutely no female doctors, a woman who knew how to treat Called a healer, it would conflict with religion if he was not careful, and would be burned to death as a witch allied with the devil. This writing method is quite ambitious. It reduces the legendary character of the story, and tries to lead to the investigation of the difference between ancient and modern. Modern knowledge must be very different in ancient times, but it may not shine. As the title of the book "Foreigner" implies, the story of this traversal is essentially about the process of a modern person understanding, looking at and adapting to the ancient times, and this modern person is an Englishman who has not yet fully formed the British concept and right. In the Scots who were hostile to the English and about to revolt against the King of England, it was a woman who had fallen into the pile of rough men. The writer of the novel spent a lot of energy searching historical materials in the library, which eventually turned into a meticulous depiction of ancient Scottish politics, religion, customs, etc., and the conflict between them and modern concepts while telling legendary love stories.
One of the more ambitious aspects of "Strangers" is that it is not satisfied with the taste of pleasing modern readers, or the taste of modern female readers-it is conceivable that the main audience of this type of novel is modern women. An older married woman fell in love with a virgin who was 15 years younger than her husband. Not long after the same novel unfolded, Jamie and Claire rode a horse together. Not long after Jamie took the cloak to protect Clarie from the wind and rain, Jamie fell from the horse and fainted due to his injuries. Claire healed him. Attentive readers can certainly understand that the plot setting of the male lead rather than the female lead fainted is a reversal compared to the traditional romantic story, and it is more in line with the taste of modern female readers. Nevertheless, throughout the book, just like Claire did not become a goddess in ancient times because of her modern knowledge, she is not a strong woman. Claire certainly reflects the temperament of modern women, such as the daring to express opinions and say "no" in front of men, is not shorter than the average ancient Scots man, has seen wars, does not cry in front of violence like ancient Scots women, has what ancient women did not have. She, who is knowledgeable and intelligent, is also weak and needs the protection of a man. Clarie is both modern and traditional as a woman. Traditionally, a wise woman can not only accept male chauvinism, appropriately arouse men's mercy, and appropriately obey the roughness of men, but also can see what the big men can't support. There are fewer women like that because there are fewer men like that. When Claire is among the savage ancient men, no matter how gentlemen are, we can find that Claire is more like a traditional woman. Neither the novel author nor Claire completely viewed the relationship between men and women in ancient times from the standpoint of modern and modern women’s liberation. "In that fascinating and passing era, men are men, and the handsome and wild faces of the Scottish Highlanders have not been poisoned by civilization," Claire thought. The virgin Jamie, who is much younger than Claire’s husband and three or four years younger than Claire, is not a masterful scholar. He is a brave and bloody warrior. He is not as smooth as Claire’s modern husband. He is hairy and has a full back. It is the scar left by the leather whip. In the consideration of the traditional image of men and women and the relationship between men and women, the author of the novel wrote the most adventurous thing to make such a Jamie, the hero who loves the heroine, and the bloody and tender warrior, once acted like a rough man of his time. Flogged the heroine. This plot made many readers who were originally fascinated by male protagonists angry. I guess most of them are angry female readers. However, if we put aside our obsession with modern values, think about the causes and consequences of this episode and its historical context, and listen carefully to Claire's own feelings, perhaps we will think that it is the most patience of this popular novel. One of the aftertastes. In addition, just to enumerate, just like the novel's not simple observation of the relationship between men and women in ancient and modern times, the novel does not completely stand from the standpoint of modern medicine. There is no lack of ancient religions called superstition and paranoia. This is not only because religion still has a place in modern times, but also because since the protagonist has passed through, the author still believes that there is a mystery in this world that is beyond the existing rational cognition.
Generally speaking, the process of reading "A stranger" is quite enjoyable. This legendary love story is very attractive in the author's pen, and if you are not only looking forward to another "Stunning Heart" or "You from the Stars" ", readers can enjoy the author’s efforts beyond romance. Regrettably, although the novel has sold as much as 20 million copies worldwide since its publication, it has been rated by more than 280,000 people on the highly-rated reading site Goodreds, with an average score of 4.14. The novel has not yet been released in mainland China. Translation. Taiwan published a translation last year. I have read the 11 chapters that have flowed out on the Internet. The translation quality is good, but the price of the book is more expensive. The TV series of the same name was filmed in the United States this year. From the current 3 episodes, it is generally loyal to the original work, and the minor changes are quite wonderful. Compared with novels, the pace of TV shows is not slow, unless you just want to watch a bloody story. The heroes and heroines of the TV series may not conform to the aesthetic taste of all modern audiences, just as the values implied in the novel may not conform to the value orientation of all modern audiences, but they are as good as the overall taste of the original work. This TV series may belong to it. Even if you read the original, you will feel it tasteful, and you will feel it tasteful even after you read it. The current imdb score of foreign countries is as high as 9 points. Finally, by the way, as a 30-year-old male reader who studies serious literature as a professional, the popular novel "A stranger" is the second female writer's novel that I feel very pleasant after reading it all at once. The reason is It may be what I tried to talk about earlier-it not only uses history as a background for transcendence, it is immersed in history, and its thinking about history is also very flavorful for men. Of course, even if both the heroine and the heroine have done it. What makes people uncomfortable is still fascinating. This is skill.
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