In 1949, one in New York writer Hollyn occasionally wrote to Mark Cohen's second-hand bookstore at 84 Charing Cross, London to order a few books, starting a twenty-year correspondence with the bookstore, especially one of the clerks. Frank Doll. The original book is a collection of letters from both sides. Helin is straightforward and humorous, with a little bit of a silly big sister's impetus, Frank is restrained and polite, and gentle. Both sides love books and have the same taste. He sold them to her at a ridiculously cheap price, and Helin sent them a lot of rare food during the rationing period in London after the war. From the letter, you can see the vivid characters of the letter writers, and the words are extremely interesting. I
read the Chinese version not long ago. I ordered it on amazon, because I can't buy it anywhere else. The Chinese version has a very good translation, and the original charm is translated. The translator is a book lover, and his resume only states that he is a branch of Eslite The artist of the Ancient Books Department is an expert in translation, elegant in writing, and detailed in annotations. He said in the preface that he had been waiting for someone to translate the book, but he could not wait, so he translated it himself, and he did not find a good publication in advance. Shang. He is really from my generation. The English version is even more unpretentious than the Chinese version. It's a thin paperback book, and I read it all at once. There is no preface. It's the style of Hollyn and Frank.
I like Hollym's pair . The love of books, if it weren't for her love of books and leaving this collection of letters, she would be forgotten along with countless other anonymous writers, and no one would remember the TV series she wrote and edited. There are many people who play with pens in the world. The journalists and writers who write the articles cannot help themselves. How much of what they write is what they really want to write? However, only the things with true temperament can be passed down. Truth. Just read a few pages of "Tolkien's Letters", the young Tolkien mentioned in a letter to his fiancée the Elvish language he was creating, and called it a crazy hobby. I don't know how many people this hobby has affected. Apart from professionals, who should read his academic works?
Hollyn and Frank regarded each other as confidants, but their relationship never surpassed friendship. Frank was always a good husband and a good father. Hollyn was down and out and had no money to go to London, and they never met. Later, when Frank died of an illness, Hollyn It was only after the book was published that he was invited by a British publisher, and finally set foot on Charing Cross Street. When I read the book, I saw the news of Frank's death, and my tears came down. This story is only touching, but it has a sad ending. It makes people feel low.
Watching the movie version is like taking a screenwriting class. Because I already know the plot, the main focus for me is how to visualize a story that is purely a letter. The movie is very faithful to the original book, retaining A large number of original letters are spoken in the form of narration, and the expansion and exploration of the characters is enough, so the film is also light, and only makes a fuss about the details. Appropriately adding the historical events at that time is equivalent to showing the style of the era through the story.
The two main characters, Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, are almost the resurrection of the people in the book, and the performances are very good. Especially Anne, who makes a lonely and lonely Optimistic female writers are penetratingly portrayed. On the whole, this film is not great, small, light, not even a love story, only a little bit of affection is revealed, it is only about people and people. The care between them and the confidant formed by common hobbies.
It just happened that today I read Cai Zhizhong's "Tales of Vegetable Roots", which was full of dust. There is a passage saying that people with superb skills are not considered extraordinary people, and the real extraordinary people are ordinary people. The story of 84 Charing Cross is just an annotation of this sentence.
Today, 84 Charing Cross is a pub. If you have a chance to go to London, you must go there.
Hollyn says in the book, she She never buys books she hasn't read, and she doesn't keep books close by, she
disposes of books every year. These are all good and inspiring ideas. The Cauldron Bar is also on Charing Cross.
Written in February 2007
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