評論
打印
Let me mention two other detectors who move between
讓我說一下另兩位偵探，他們穿梭在大學
the university and the city solving crimes in both.
與城市之間破案
They are emphatically not donnish detectives.
強調一下，他們不是學院派偵探
One is Kate Ivory, a romantic novelist whose curiosity
一位是凱特·伊沃里，她是位愛情小說家
constantly leads her into investigations.
好奇心經常驅使她進行調查
She appears in 13 novels by Veronica Stallwood,
她出現在維羅妮卡·斯托伍德的13本小說里
all have "Oxford" in the title.
它們的題目里均有"牛津"二字
Oxford Blue, Oxford Fall, Death and The Oxford Box and so on.
藍色牛津，牛津秋季，死亡和牛津箱，等等
And I think they're one of the series that realize the city
我認為它們是充分認識到了城市
and its topography and its rhythms very very well.
及其地形與節奏的系列之一
Kate may be, as one review has it,
和一篇評論里寫的一樣，凱特
spirited, independent and observant.
也許是生機勃勃，獨立，善于觀察的
But I have to confess that I find the basic premise
但是我必須坦白，這個業余偵探發現
of this amateur finding herself wide-eyed in one case after another,
自己對一件又一件案子感到吃驚，我覺得這個的基本前提
does place strain on one's credulity.
真的讓人覺得她很容易相信別人
It's a pity, because as I say
這是一大遺憾，因為就像我說的
she writes engagingly about Oxford
她寫了很多動人的關于牛津的書
and her best books are well-plotted and talkily told.
她最好的書情節很不錯，廣為流傳
The other detective in this group is also a woman, Sam Falconer.
這一組里的另一個偵探也是個女人，山姆·福爾克納
She is a professional private investigator and as her office
她是一個專業的私人偵探，因為她的辦公室
is in South London, some might object
在倫敦南部，一些人可能會
these are not Oxford stories at all.
抗議說這根本不是牛津故事
However, all 4 books written by Victoria Blake,
然而維多利亞·布雷克所寫的以山姆·福爾克納
Sam Falconer is the detective, take place mainly in Oxford
為主人公的所有4本小說里的故事主要都發生在牛津
and in the most recent, Sam actually
在最近，山姆其實
opens a branch office in the Cowley Road.
在考利路開了一個分支機構
Victoria Blake's father,
維多利亞·布雷克的爸爸
now Lord Blake was provost of Queen's College,
現在是布萊克勛爵，他曾是女王學院的教務長
and that's where she grew up.
那里是她長大的地方
She grew up inside the college.
她在學院里長大
Sam, the detective, has a step father who is a head of a college.
山姆偵探的繼父是一個學院的校長
And I think it would be fair to say that
我覺得可以這么公正地說
Sam has a love-hate relationship with the city.
山姆對這個城市既愛又恨
These detective stories are darker.
這些偵探故事比較黑暗
The viewers of Oxford are more ambivalent
這些牛津的觀察者比到目前為止
than any of those I've mentioned so far.
我提到過的所有人都更具矛盾性
One blurb calls the 4th book "A taut mix of classic crime,
第四本書的護封稱之為"經典罪案，現代黑色小說
modern noir and psychological drama".
與心理戲劇的緊密結合體"
That's about right.
這基本上正確
I reminded you of some of detective stories set in Oxford,
我提醒過大家一些將場景設置在牛津的偵探故事
but I should also emphasize how many I've not mentioned.
但我也應該強調一下有多少是我沒有提到過的
There are detective stories, for example,
舉例來說，有這樣一些偵探小說
which are essentially humorous which parody the genre.
它們是對偵探小說的拙劣模仿，但在本質上是幽默的
