The Country Girls Trilogy

Name: The Country Girls Trilogy
ISBN: 9787522525983

埃德娜·奥布莱恩Jiuzhou Press2025

4.2

Chapters: 5
Series: The Country Girls Trilogy
ISBN: 9787522525983

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Summary

The Country Girls Trilogy is the breakthrough trilogy by Irish writer Edna O'Brien, consisting of The Country Girls (1960), The Lonely Girl (1962), and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964), together with an epilogue. The Chinese edition, translated by Li Linbo, was first introduced in 2025 by Jiuzhou Press (Post Wave Literature). The story is set in 1950s rural Ireland, a deeply conservative society steeped in religion. Kate (Katherine Brady) and Baba (Bridget Brennan) grow up together in the same convent school: Kate is docile and sensitive, devoted to her gentle mother while enduring an alcoholic, violent father; Baba comes from the rural middle class, sharp-tongued and daring. Rivals and friends by turns, they pass their youth amid suffocating rules and dreadful meals, until, unwilling to wait for life to wither, they decide to run away and seek more varied lives elsewhere. The second book follows their adventures in Dublin: neon lights, grocery counters, and a love affair gone out of control reveal the price of freedom, as emotional manipulation and lost innocence follow close behind. The third moves the scene to London, where the sugar coating of marriage slowly melts and Kate struggles with coldness, suspicion, and self-blame, even fearing the loss of custody of her child, and must turn to Baba for help. The epilogue closes their later lives from Baba's perspective. The novel writes of women's real desires and emotions in a blunt style. Banned upon its first publication in 1960 and publicly burned by a parish, it is now regarded as a classic of women's literature whose edge has not dulled after more than sixty years. "Running away may not bring freedom, but it is always the beginning of revolt."

Editor's review

一本书被政府列为禁书、被教区当众焚毁、被母亲用墨水圈出“不当”词句，却在此后六十年里不断被新一代女读者重新拾起——这就是埃德娜·奥布莱恩的《出走》。它写于爱尔兰最压抑的年代，写的是两个乡下女孩如何从修道院的高墙里走出来，又在都柏林和伦敦的霓虹与婚姻里一次次撞上新的围墙。中文版首次完整引进三部曲与尾声，由西安外国语大学李林波教授翻译，收入后浪“我们 WoMen”书系，812 页一次读完凯特与芭芭的大半生。值得推荐的理由有三：其一，它不制造“独立女性”的偶像，凯特会幻想、会妥协，芭芭会刻薄、会自伤，两人的友谊里也掺着嫉妒与背叛，真实得近乎不体面；其二，奥布莱恩的文字带着乔伊斯式的锋利与幽默，写农村的贫困、男性的暴力、家庭的沉默，都不肯替读者留台阶；其三，它提醒我们“出走”从来不是终点，以为的逃离往往被接续为另一种控制。对读惯了励志式成长叙事的读者，这本书是一剂清醒药。

Who it's for

A good fit for

喜欢埃莱娜·费兰特“那不勒斯四部曲”、偏爱女性友谊叙事的读者
对爱尔兰文学、20 世纪 60 年代禁书史与文化审查议题感兴趣的读者
正在思考“出走与自由”命题、20—40 岁的女性读者
需要一部厚实、可反复重读的长篇小说作为深度阅读项目的读者

Not a good fit for

期待轻快甜宠、结局圆满治愈的读者
对宗教规训、欲望书写与压抑氛围较敏感的读者
只想读单一短篇、不愿投入长篇三部曲阅读时间的读者

Reading tips

三部曲按顺序阅读，结尾的“尾声”务必读，它把两人的一生收束成一次对话。
把每部书对应的人生阶段（乡村少年、都市闯荡、婚姻困境）与自己或身边人的经历对照着读，更容易读出痛感。
可搭配费兰特、门罗、安妮·埃尔诺的作品对读，观察不同语境的女性书写如何彼此呼应。
阅读时留意叙事视角的切换与凯特、芭芭的互文，两人像一枚硬币的两面，不宜只偏爱一人。

About the publisher

Jiuzhou Press China · Founded in 1993

Jiuzhou Press is a comprehensive publisher with humanities, social sciences, and classic works as important publishing directions, maintaining a sustained focus on philosophy, history, literature, and social culture. Its catalogue includes works by modern literary masters such as Xiao Hong and Lu Xun, as well as intellectual and art history works by Xu Fuguan, including A History of Chinese Theories of Human Nature: Pre-Qin Volume, A History of Han Thought, and The Spirit of Chinese Art: A Study of Shitao. It also translates and introduces overseas academic works such as Peter H. Wilson's The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy and Peter Suber's The Case of the Speluncean Explorers, and covers cross-cultural exchange themes such as From Dunhuang to Samarkand. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of original texts with academic translation, forming relatively stable author and title resources in categories including philosophy, military affairs, theory, and social culture. More complete information about the press's publishing history and plans is limited in publicly available sources; this summary is based only on the titles in the catalogue.

Preface
Part One: The Country Girls
Part Two: The Lonely Girl
Part Three: Girls in Their Married Bliss
Epilogue

FAQ

《出走》是单本小说还是三部曲合集？

是三部曲合集，中文版一册收入《乡下女孩》《孤独女孩》《幸福婚姻中的女孩》三部作品加一篇尾声，全书约 812 页，一次读完整段成长史，无需分别购买。

这本书为什么会被禁？

1960 年首部《乡下女孩》出版时，因直白书写女性欲望与情感、戳破宗教化社会的体面，被爱尔兰当局列为禁书，部分教区还公开焚毁该书；连作者的母亲也用墨水圈出了“不当”词句。

没读过爱尔兰文学，能读得进去吗？

可以。小说以两个女孩的第一人称经验推进，情节线清晰，并不依赖背景知识；宗教与社会环境可通过书中细节自行理解，如有兴趣可再补充爱尔兰 20 世纪中叶的社会史。

中文版是完整译本吗？

2025 年九州出版社（后浪文学）版由李林波翻译，据出版信息收录三部作品及尾声，属于该三部曲中文简体版的首次完整引进，具体删节情况可对照原书版权页说明。

读完凯特和芭芭的故事还值得再读作者其他作品吗？

值得。奥布莱恩创作逾六十年，另有《异教徒之地》《森林里》《黄昏之光》《小红椅》等，题材从女性处境延伸至政治与社会问题，可循创作年代继续追踪她的变化。

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About the author

埃德娜·奥布莱恩 Author

Edna O'Brien is an Irish writer known for her exploration of women's experience and inner lives. Her writing often portrays women's situations within family, marriage and social expectation in delicate, candid and literary prose, which gives her a distinctive place among readers of foreign literature. Two of her works are held here: the novel The Country Girls (three volumes) and the memoir I Am No One: An Edna O'Brien Memoir. The former shows her continuing narrative exploration, while the latter looks back on her life and writing career. Public information about the details of her life is limited, so no inferences are made here; still, the works at hand show a lasting attention to women's inner worlds, and her themes are both personal and of their time, making them worth close reading for those interested in foreign literature.