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Books and Arts; Book Review;New fiction；Celebration of the vanities
文藝；書評(píng)；新書出爐；名利贊
The Privileges. By Jonathan Dee.
《高人一等》喬納森·迪著。
AT THE best of times, the self-made rich are usually held up in fiction as shallow, contemptible and undeserving of sympathy even when their wealth leads to misery and ends in ruin. And these are certainly not the best of times. Yet Jonathan Dee has courageously stuck to his guns in writing a novel about the marriage of a gilded couple of ambitious chancers who not only amass great wealth from humble beginnings, but who are neither damaged nor made wretched by their success.
最好的時(shí)代，小說里白手起家的富人一貫淺薄可鄙，倘若窮困潦倒、破敗坍臺(tái)，也不配得到一絲同情。如今當(dāng)然不是最好的時(shí)代。而喬納森·迪勇氣可嘉、堅(jiān)持立場，寫了一對(duì)野心勃勃、富有豪闊的機(jī)會(huì)主義者的婚姻，兩人出身低微、聚斂財(cái)富，既沒有被自身的成功所害，也沒有變得不幸。
The story of Adam and Cynthia Morey's life together begins with a bravura description of their wedding in Pittsburgh. Unusually young to get married, it quickly becomes clear that handsomer, smarter and more self-confident than everyone else around them, they are made for one another and already destined to be among life's winners. Adam moves smoothly from investment banking to a small but respected New York private equity firm where he rapidly becomes its capricious founder's protégé, heir apparent and the recipient of ever more inflated bonuses. Meanwhile, Cynthia devotes herself to raising their two young children and encouraging Adam to get on with acquiring the means to give them both the privileged lifestyle and social status she feels is their due.
亞當(dāng)和辛西婭·莫雷的人生故事，始于兩人在匹茲堡舉行婚禮的宏大描寫。兩人結(jié)婚時(shí)異常年輕，一出場就顯得比周遭的人漂亮、聰明、自信，兩人是天作之合，注定要成為生活的贏家。亞當(dāng)順利地從投資銀行轉(zhuǎn)投紐約一家規(guī)模雖小卻體面的私募股權(quán)企業(yè)，他迅速化身為多變的公司創(chuàng)始人的得意門生和繼任者，接收大額紅利。與此同時(shí)，辛西婭專心致志地?fù)狃B(yǎng)兩個(gè)幼子，鼓勵(lì)亞當(dāng)勇往直前、用盡手段，讓兩人得到高人一等的生活方式和社會(huì)地位，她覺得這是理所應(yīng)當(dāng)。
When Adam decides to push things along with a little insider trading, you expect this will be the couple's undoing. But Mr Dee studiously avoids such easy clichés. He presents us with more a celebration of the vanities than a bonfire. Adam regards his risk-taking as noble. When he eventually tells Cynthia how they have become so spectacularly rich so quickly she tells him: “You are a man Adam. You are a man amongst men.”
等到亞當(dāng)決定為一段內(nèi)幕交易鋌而走險(xiǎn)，你以為會(huì)這對(duì)夫婦會(huì)失敗沒落。但是喬納森·迪有意不落入這種老套情節(jié)。他對(duì)我們稱頌的是富貴名利而不是熊熊烈火。亞當(dāng)把自己的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)控制奉若神明。他最終告訴辛西婭，他們?nèi)绾物w黃騰達(dá)，辛西婭馬上對(duì)他說：“你只是凡人亞當(dāng)。蕓蕓眾生中凡人一個(gè)。”
In many ways, “The Privileges” is an oddity. Chapters often leap ahead by several years without any explanation of what has happened other than hints of the Moreys untroubled progress, for example when it emerges that the family now has a private jet and that staff are employed to help write cheques for the philanthropic causes Cynthia supports. At the end, doubts are raised about the effects of tremendous wealth on the couple's two grown-up children. But otherwise, it is left to the reader's imagination to wonder what impact (if any) the impending financial crash will have on the couple. Lucidly written and with a pitch-perfect ear both for contemporary mores and dialogue, “The Privileges” is entertaining—and morally ambiguous.
從很多方面來看，《高人一等》古怪透頂。各章節(jié)常常跳過幾年，絲毫不解釋情節(jié)進(jìn)展，除了暗示莫雷夫婦一帆風(fēng)順的成功，比如說，事實(shí)表明，這家人如今有了私人飛機(jī)，一班雇員來為辛西婭支持的慈善事業(yè)幫忙填寫支票。到末了，不免讓人懷疑這對(duì)夫婦的巨額財(cái)富對(duì)兩個(gè)長大成人的孩子有何影響。不過，這要留給諸位讀者想象，猜想眼前發(fā)生的金融危機(jī)對(duì)他們有什么沖擊。本書寫得清晰明了，當(dāng)代風(fēng)俗與對(duì)話一覽無余，《高人一等》足夠有趣，道德上卻模棱兩可。
