The Valley of the Moon
Jack LondonBaihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House2014
No rating yet- Word count
- 240K words
- Series
- Foreign Literature Classics Reading Series · American Literature Classics
- ISBN
- 9787550009325
Tags
Literature Foreign Literature Social ObservationEconomic DepressionRoad TripWorking-Class FamilyUtopiaClassic NovelAutobiographicalFull-Length NovelBack to the LandAmerican LiteratureSummary
The Valley of the Moon is a novel by Jack London published in 1913, regarded as a late work of the author's career with a strong autobiographical flavor. The story takes place in Oakland, California, at the turn of the century: the male protagonist, Billy Roberts, is a driver for a livestock company and a former professional boxer; the female protagonist, Saxon Brown, is a laundry worker. The two meet, fall in love, and form a young working-class family, but soon find themselves in dire straits under the impact of a dockworkers' strike and economic depression. Billy joins the strike and is caught up in the beating of strikebreakers during a violent clash and is arrested; during this period Saxon loses her unborn child, and the family nearly falls apart. After Billy is released, Saxon persuades him to leave the city and give up illusions about the labor movement; the couple set out on horseback and by wagon, crossing the countryside, farms, and immigrant communities of California, taking odd jobs while searching for land of their own. On the journey they meet Portuguese immigrant farmers skilled in intensive cultivation, briefly stay at the Bohemian artists' colony in Carmel, and reflect on the American pattern of early farmers exhausting the soil and then moving on. In the end, the two settle in the "Valley of the Moon" in Sonoma County, build a self-sufficient homestead, and await the arrival of a new life. With a road-trip structure, the novel unfolds the natural scenery of Northern California and embodies Jack London's critique of the industrialized city and his longing for sustainable agriculture and simple living.Editor's review
杰克·伦敦以《野性的呼唤》《马丁·伊登》为中国读者熟知，而《月亮谷》是他晚期更具沉思气质的一部作品。它的特别之处在于：这不是英雄冒险，而是一对普通工人夫妇的“出走”。作者把自己的第二任妻子查米恩、自己在奥克兰的青春、在索诺玛经营牧场的经验，几乎一样一样地写进了比利与撒克逊的命运里，读来带有强烈的自传温度。小说前半段写罢工、失业与家庭破碎，笔力沉重，毫不回避工业化都市对底层劳动者的损耗；后半段转为公路小说式的漫游，葡萄园、河谷、移民农庄与艺术家聚居地次第展开，被评论者称为“早于凯鲁亚克五十年的上路之作”。译者齐永法、龚晓明的译文语言朴实流畅，适合中文读者接近这位美国作家较少被提及的一面。对于关心美国文学史、城乡变迁与土地议题的读者，这本书提供了一个世纪初的珍贵视角。Who it's for
A good fit for
- 喜欢杰克·伦敦并希望读完其代表作之外作品的读者
- 对美国工业化时代劳工生活与城乡变迁感兴趣的读者
- 偏爱公路漫游式叙事、喜欢自然风物描写的读者
- 关注回归田园、可持续农业与简朴生活议题的读者
Not a good fit for
- 期待强烈悬念与快节奏情节的读者
- 只想读《野性的呼唤》式的动物冒险故事的读者
Reading tips
- 可先读前言，了解小说与作者本人经历的对应关系，有助理解自传色彩。
- 前半段城市部分与后半段漫游部分节奏差异较大，建议连续读完以体会转折用意。
- 阅读时可留意作者对土地耕作方式的议论，这是理解全书主旨的关键。
About the publisher
Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1990Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House is a professional literature and art publisher. Judging from the books in the database, its publishing focus is on foreign literature, world classics, prose and miscellaneous writings, and classic works, while also covering literary appreciation and cultural reading. Representative titles include The Painter of Modern Life, Jane Eyre, Six Chapters of a Floating Life, The Moon and Sixpence, Selected Prose of Ji Xianlin, A Sportsman's Sketches, and Collected Prose of Famous Masters, involving Chinese and foreign authors such as Charles Baudelaire, Charlotte Brontë, Shen Fu, and W. Somerset Maugham, as well as translators including Guo Hong'an, Chen Jinhui, Jing Xing, and Jiao Haili. Overall, the press emphasizes the introduction of classic texts and the compilation of prose works, presenting a publishing profile centered on literary reading and cultural accumulation. As public information is limited, other aspects are not elaborated here.
FAQ
这本书是杰克·伦敦的哪一类作品？
《月亮谷》出版于一九一三年，属于杰克·伦敦晚期长篇小说，带有明显的自传色彩，风格上不同于《野性的呼唤》的动物冒险，更接近社会写实与公路漫游的结合。中文版由谁翻译？
百花洲文艺出版社的中文版由齐永法、龚晓明翻译，收入“外国文学经典阅读丛书·美国文学经典”，二〇一四年出版，ISBN 为 9787550009325。书名“月亮谷”指真实地点吗？
指加利福尼亚索诺玛县一带，杰克·伦敦本人曾在格伦艾伦建牧场。书中人物把索诺玛谷解为印第安语“月亮之谷”，此词源说法存有争议。书中提到的艺术家聚居地有原型吗？
有。小说中主角在卡梅尔停留的波希米亚艺术家聚居地，取材于杰克·伦敦早年在奥克兰与卡梅尔一带与艺术家交往的经历。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
Jack London Author · American · 1876–1916Jack London (1876–1916) was an American realist writer, journalist, and social activist. Born in San Francisco, he worked as a sailor and a gold prospector in his early years before gaining fame through his writing. His works are often set against harsh natural environments and struggles for survival, marked by vigorous prose and tightly plotted narratives that focus on the conflicts of will, instinct, and fate, combining adventure with social critique. His representative works include The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea-Wolf, and Martin Eden. The library holds 35 of his works, including multiple editions of The Call of the Wild and the short-story collection Love of Life. Commonly classified under foreign literature, world classics, and exam reading, he remains a widely read and enduring classic author.