The Road of Destiny
O. HenryYuanfang Publishing House2020
Rating 4.0- Series
- World's Three Great Short Story Masters Collection
- ISBN
- 9787807239451
Tags
Literature Foreign Literature UnderclassHuman Warmth and ColdnessFateHumorous ToneShort Story CollectionAbsurditySatirical HumorFranceAmerican LiteratureSummary
The Road of Destiny is the title of an O. Henry short story and also the title of this Chinese short-story collection. The central title piece follows a young French poet, David Mignot: after quarreling with his sweetheart Yvonne, he leaves his hometown overnight and arrives at a fork in the road. In an almost dreamlike manner, the work unfolds three paths in parallel: one leads him into the mansion of an aristocratic marquis, entangling him in an absurd forced marriage and a duel; one takes him to Paris, where he is schemed against by the court and made to serve as the king's double; and one leads him back to his hometown to marry Yvonne, only to be worn down day by day in the tug-of-war between making a living and his poetic heart. The three choices lead to different scenes and encounters, yet the endings are equally bleak, and the story thus asks: can the choices and perseverance one prides oneself on truly change fate? Beyond this representative piece, the collection also includes "The Higher Pragmatism"-style pieces such as "The Heart and the Skyscraper," "The Hargraves Hoax," "The Madison Square Arabian Nights," and "The Souvenir," more than twenty works in all, with subjects ranging across New York street life, Western small towns, and fictional Latin American nations. They continue O. Henry's customary humorous tone, witty dialogue, and surprise endings, presenting the warmth and coldness of human relations in America's lower and middle classes and reflecting the author's "smile with tears" compassion.Editor's review
读欧·亨利，最怕读到“名篇摘编”。这一版《命运之路》的好处，是把作为集名的同名篇放回完整位置——三岔路、三次人生、同一个结局，那种近乎宿命论的结构感，只有在短篇里亲历一遍才明白欧·亨利不只擅长“抖包袱”。全书所选二十余篇题材颇杂：骗局、冒险、都市奇遇、异国传奇皆有，读来像逛一条老纽约的街，转角就撞见一个荒诞故事。刘艳译文整体通畅，保留了原作的俏皮与反讽。若要挑一处不足，是选本毕竟不是全集，篇目编排也偏重可读性而非编年，研究型读者会觉得不够“全”。但作为随身读本，它足够让人重新认识这位“美国生活幽默百科全书”式的小说家。Who it's for
A good fit for
- 喜欢短篇小说、偏爱意外结局叙事的读者
- 想通过选本认识欧·亨利全貌的入门读者
- 需要通勤或睡前零碎时间阅读故事的人
- 对“选择与命运”主题有共鸣的文学爱好者
Not a good fit for
- 期望读到欧·亨利全部作品的研究型读者
- 只想要《麦琪的礼物》等名篇合集的读者
- 偏好长篇、需要连续情节推进的读者
Reading tips
- 先读同名开篇《命运之路》，体会三条分岔路的平行叙事结构。
- 每次只读三四篇，留时间回味结尾突转，不必一口气读完。
- 留意骗局类、冒险类与都市类篇目的语调差异，建立对欧·亨利风格的立体印象。
- 读完可对照英文原著或英文原著版选本，感受其口语化对话的翻译难度。
About the publisher
Yuanfang Publishing House China · Founded in 1992Yuanfang Publishing House focuses on Chinese-language publishing while also issuing books in Mongolian and other ethnic-minority scripts. Its scope covers ethnology, ethnic history and ethnic culture and arts, extending to history, economics and lifestyle titles. Among the 78 books in the database, popular science and history titles account for a large share: the former include The Mysteries of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and Mysteries of Unknown Knowledge, while the latter include The Long March, The Liberation of Tibet and The Founding Ceremony of the PRC. Biography and military titles such as Wang Jingwei's Dream of Leadership, Defending Yan'an and The Huaihai Campaign reflect a direction toward popular historical narrative and knowledge dissemination. Representative authors include Wang Shunyi and Pan Qiang'en, who mainly contribute to science and history writing. Overall, drawing on the regional culture of Inner Mongolia, the publisher has developed a profile that balances ethnic studies, historical documentary writing and science popularization.
FAQ
《命运之路》是长篇还是短篇集？
是短篇小说集。欧·亨利1909年出版的同名英文集含22篇；中文版为选本，收入《命运之路》及《心灵和摩天大楼》《哈格雷夫斯的骗局》等二十余篇。同名短篇《命运之路》讲什么？
写法国青年诗人戴维·米尼奥与恋人伊旺争吵后离家，在三岔路口面临三条道路：进入侯爵宅邸、赴巴黎卷入宫廷阴谋、或折返故乡成婚。三种选择各有遭遇，结局却同样黯淡，作品借此探讨命运与选择。这个中译本由谁翻译、哪个出版社出版？
由刘艳翻译，远方出版社2020年4月出版，属“世界三大短篇小说之父作品集”系列，ISBN为9787807239451。阅读欧·亨利需要什么背景知识？
一般不需要。故事多取材于20世纪初美国城市与市井生活，少量涉及西部与拉美背景，随文即可理解；若想深入，可了解“欧·亨利式结尾”这一叙事传统的来源。This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
O. Henry Author · American · 1862–1910O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter, was born in North Carolina in 1862 and died in New York in 1910. A master of the American short story, he is ranked alongside Chekhov and Maupassant as one of the world's three great short-story writers. His works are mostly drawn from everyday city life, with characters ranging from ordinary citizens to the poor and humble. His language is humorous and light, and he is known for ending stories with unexpected twists, a technique widely called the "O. Henry ending." His representative works include The Gift of the Magi and The Last Leaf, and he is commonly classified under foreign literature, classic works, and world classics. This site carries twenty-six of his works, including several short-story collections and English-language editions.