William Golding The Inheritors-继承者

作者：William Golding

书名：The Inheritors《继承者》

中文简介：威廉·戈尔丁自称是乐观的悲观主义者，他此生都在探讨“人性之恶”，同时也在思考“罪恶的救赎”。他的作品就是足以撼动灵魂的人性寓言。《继承者》亦是如此：春季来临，一小群原始尼安德特人像往年一样返回他们熟悉的栖息地。但是这一年，发生了诡异的事情——神秘莫测的声响和气味，难以解释的暴力行径，还有那些藏在树叶之后、若隐若现、无法想象的生物。这些尼安德特人，他们生死难料，他们的世界悬而未决。故事透过他们的眼睛探查了一个新的种族——我们自身，智人——的出现，以及伴随着其支配地位的不断加强，对古老种族带来的灭顶之灾。戈尔丁用平淡、冷漠、拙朴的语言描述出世间最凝重的残忍与苦痛，人类文明的进步竟要付出如此冷酷血腥、道德堕落的代价，作为继承者的我们，是否明白我们继承的是一个怎样的世界？又有什么比这更值得我们去思考和反省？这部小说或许比《蝇王》更宏大深刻，戈尔丁将它视为他本人最成功之作。

英文简介：When the spring came the people - what was left of them - moved back by the old paths from the sea. But this year strange things were happening, terrifying things that had never happened before. Inexplicable sounds and smells; new, unimaginable creatures half glimpsed through the leaves. What the people didn't, and perhaps never would, know, was that the day of their people was already over.

From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors is a startling recreation of the lost world of the Neanderthals, and a frightening vision of the beginning of a new age.