The Cries of London

Name: The Cries of London
ISBN: 9787532744664

阿狄生Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaJul 2015

4.0

Word count: 166K words
Chapters: 46
ISBN: 9787532744664

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Summary

From the imperishable prose of English literature, thirty-one pieces have been gathered, written by fourteen authors of the eighteenth to the twentieth century. They bring out strikingly the writers' distinctive temper—calm and rich in feeling, humorous with a touch of irony. The title is taken from an essay by Addison in the eighteenth century, which chats about the street life and customs of the day: newspaper sellers, pastry sellers, the fire brigade... The representative nineteenth-century writer chosen here is Lamb, whose pieces record the bittersweet pleasures and reveries he found in life as a busy clerk. There is also work by Virginia Woolf, who, while pioneering the stream-of-consciousness novel, wrote in a light, essayistic manner of her love of literature and her impressions, making a remarkable flower of twentieth-century English prose.

Editor's review

The London Cries is a selection of essays from The Spectator, the magazine founded by the 18th-century English essayists Joseph Addison (formerly rendered A-disheng in Chinese) and Richard Steele, published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House. It is not a work of fiction but a social panorama of 18th-century London painted in words. With keen observation, elegant prose, and gentle irony, Addison freezes in lasting text the arguments in coffeehouses, the clamor of markets, the speech and manners of every sort of character, and even the street vendors' cries. Reading these essays is like traveling back to a London where the Enlightenment was dawning and a commercial society was taking shape. Addison's value lies not only in his literary quality—his essays are a key link in the development of English prose from the classical to the modern, establishing a model of clear, plain, elegant style—but also in the depth of his social observation. The "cries" he describes are both the real background sound of daily life and a metaphor for the desires and needs of every social class. For modern readers, the book offers an excellent window into the social mentality and everyday details of an era of change, and its humor and wisdom still resonate today. The book is highly rated on Douban, where readers praise its enduring insight and unhurried narrative style.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in 18th-century British society, culture, and the history of daily life
Lovers of literature who appreciate the essay form and enjoy concise, elegant, insightful prose
Those looking for light yet thought-provoking reading for odd moments
Writers or anyone interested in the development of style and the craft of essay writing

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for strongly plotted, fast-paced fiction
Readers with no patience for or interest in historical context and social commentary

Reading tips

You need not read it in order; dip in at random and start with pieces that interest you, experiencing Addison's "spectator" perspective.
As you read, imagine yourself on an 18th-century London street or in a coffeehouse; this brings out the vividness of the scenes and the subtlety of the irony.
Reading alongside popular books on the Enlightenment or British history can deepen your understanding of the background.

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
英国随笔简论——《伦敦的叫卖声》译序
阿狄生与斯梯尔
旁观者自述
旁观者俱乐部
《旁观者报》的宗旨
伦敦的叫卖声
某君日记
斯威夫特
关于一把扫帚的沉思
育婴刍议
《婢仆须知》总则
哥尔斯密斯
黑衣人
西敏大寺记游
兰姆
梦幻中的孩子们
读书漫谈
退休者
兰姆自传
兰姆书简四通
赫兹里特
论平易的文体
论青年的不朽之感
伊利亚
亨特
睡眠小议
德·昆西
知识的文学与力量的文学
夏洛蒂·勃朗特
艾里斯·贝尔与阿克顿·贝尔生平纪略
佩特
《文艺复兴史研究》的引言和结语
斯蒂文森
理想中的黄金国
乞丐
为闲人一辩
本森
随笔作家的艺术
鲁卡斯
葬礼
伍尔夫
玛丽·沃尔斯顿克拉夫特
多萝西·华兹华斯
“我是克里斯蒂娜·罗塞蒂”
一个人应该怎样读书？

FAQ

Is the author A-disheng or Addison?

These are different Chinese renderings of the same person. Joseph Addison is now generally translated as Yuesefu Aidisen; A-disheng is an older rendering, retained in this book. He was a celebrated English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician.

Is the whole book about "street cries"?

Not at all. The title The London Cries comes from one famous essay in the collection and is used to suggest the book's overall focus on street life and the many facets of society. The contents range widely over manners, morals, literature, fashion, and character sketches.

How difficult is the book?

Addison's essays are known for their clarity and fluency, and the Chinese translation strives to convey that style. Although historical background is involved, the essays themselves are not obscure; their core is observation and reflection, so ordinary readers can easily get started and enjoy both pleasure and insight.

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About the author

阿狄生 Author

Public information about Addison is limited; all that is currently known is that a single work, The Cries of London, is attributed to this author and is classified as prose and miscellaneous writings. Judging from the title and genre, the author turns attention to the sounds and scenes of everyday city life, with the writing likely dwelling on ordinary things such as street vendors' calls and the bustle of alleys and lanes, recording and portraying the urban character of London in the form of prose sketches. Writing of this kind tends to be plain in language and rich in observation, skilled at drawing interest and meaning from small scenes of daily life; it preserves a flavor of the streets while carrying the relaxed tone of a literary essayist. On the available evidence, Addison's life, nationality and full body of work cannot be established, and the influence of the work remains to be further examined. Readers who open The Cries of London may treat it as a prose glimpse of old London street life and appreciate the author's delicate attention to the city's sounds and ordinary existence.