The Exorcist

William Peter BlattyBeijing Times Chinese Press2015

Rating 4.2
Word count
189K words
Chapters
8
Series
The Exorcist series
ISBN
9787569900064

Tags

Literature Foreign Literature Film SourceExorcism RitualFaith CrisisReason and FaithAcademic TrainingHorror FictionFortieth AnniversaryModern ScholarshipAmerican Literature

Summary

In an apartment near an old house in Washington, D.C., actress Chris is struggling with her career and her daughter Regan's strange illness. Twelve-year-old Regan first behaves oddly and speaks words no one can understand, then undergoes inexplicable physical changes; hospital after hospital, round after round of tests and psychiatric consultations yield no explanation or cure. Meanwhile, phenomena that defy common sense keep occurring in the house, and people close to Chris meet with misfortune. At her wit's end, she turns to the young Catholic Jesuit priest Karras. Karras is in the midst of his own crisis of faith: intelligent and trained in modern scholarship, he is precisely the one hardest to convince that a demon really exists. The Church finally approves an exorcism, and the experienced old exorcist Father Merrin arrives to preside, with Karras assisting. The two generations of priests face not only the voice and power inside a child but also their own doubts, fears, and guilt. The novel unfolds through suspense, pulled back and forth between medicine and theology, reason and faith, and finally hands the question back to the reader: if evil does exist, how should one confront the darkness within oneself? This volume is a newly revised translation based on the American fortieth-anniversary edition and is the novel on which the 1973 film of the same name was based.

Editor's review

在恐怖文学的谱系里，《驱魔人》常被当作坐标：它把一个孩子的病房写成战场，把神父的怀疑写成真正的怪物。布拉蒂没有靠血浆堆砌恐惧，而是用医疗记录式的冷静笔法，逐层剥开一个家庭的无力感——母亲试遍所有办法却只能看着女儿远去，这比任何尖叫都更让人不安。 本书的另一个看点是卡拉斯神父。他不是天生的圣徒，而是一个现代知识分子，会分析、会怀疑，也正因为怀疑，成了邪灵最容易撬开的那道缝隙。默林神父的坚定与他的动摇相互映照，构成全书最耐读的部分。 对于看过1973年电影《驱魔人》的读者，这部原著能补上大量被镜头省略的心理层次与人物前史；对于只读小说的读者，它也足够独立成立。四十周年纪念版据英文原版重新修订译出，译文由姚向辉执笔，语言干净利落，保留了原作的冷峻质感。

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Reading tips

  1. 建议白天或光线充足时阅读，前两部的铺垫较慢，耐心读完会发现都是伏笔。
  2. 可把卡拉斯神父的信仰挣扎当作主线来读，邪灵的情节反而更像一次压力测试。
  3. 读完不妨对照1973年同名电影，看布拉蒂亲自改编时删减了哪些心理描写。
  4. 若对原型事件好奇，可另行查阅1949年马里兰州附魔事件的公开报道，但注意区分史实与小说加工。

About the publisher

Beijing Times Chinese Press China · Founded in 2011

Beijing Times Chinese Press takes classic works and prose miscellanies as an important publishing direction, along with foreign literature, social novels, Eastern philosophy and art books. Its catalogue includes such Chinese classics as Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Wandering, Xiao Hong's The Field of Life and Death, Zhang Dai's Reminiscences of Tao'an, Yuan Mei's Recipes from the Sui Garden and Hong Yingming's Caigentan, as well as foreign classics such as Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon. Among its translator resources is Wen Jieruo, whose translations provide reliable support for bringing foreign literary works into the Chinese-speaking world. While organizing traditional texts and reissuing classics, the press pays attention to readability and accessibility of editions, enabling ancient prose, notes and philosophical works to reach contemporary readers. Public information is limited; the above is only a brief account of the publishing directions reflected in the books held in the database.

Contents

  1. Prologue: Northern Iraq
  2. Part One: The Beginning
  3. Part Two: The Edge
  4. Part Three: The Abyss
  5. Part Four: "Lord, hear my cry..."
  6. Epilogue
  7. Author's Note
  8. Acknowledgments

FAQ

这本书和1973年的电影《驱魔人》是什么关系？ 小说1971年出版，1973年由作者布拉蒂亲自改编成电影，影片获十项奥斯卡提名并拿下最佳改编剧本奖。原著比电影多了大量人物前史与心理描写，尤其是卡拉斯神父的信仰危机。
读之前需要先看电影吗？ 不需要。小说可以独立阅读，甚至先读小说再看电影更容易体会到改编的取舍。若已看过电影，阅读时也不会损失悬念之外的东西，反而会注意到书中被省略的情节线。
书里的故事是真实事件吗？ 布拉蒂的灵感来自1949年马里兰州一桩少年附魔事件的公开报道，但人物、对白与大量情节都是文学虚构，应作为小说而非纪实作品阅读。
这一版和上海译文2009年版有何不同？ 2015年北京时代华文书局版据美国四十周年纪念版重新修订译出，为精装本，并附赠西方驱魔题材画作明信片；2009年上海译文版为平装，篇幅略短。
书里是否有很多宗教术语，读起来会吃力吗？ 术语量不算大，涉及弥撒、驱魔礼、耶稣会等背景，书中都随情节自然交代。完全不了解天主教也能顺畅阅读，只是对驱魔仪式的细节体会会浅一些。

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About the author

William Peter Blatty Author

William Peter Blatty is an American writer best known for his novel The Exorcist. Widely regarded as a classic of modern horror literature, the work explores faith, good and evil, and human struggle, with a dark and tense atmosphere that blends suspense with reflection, and it has had a broad influence on later horror fiction and genre film and television. The Exorcist remains his most representative work and has established his place in foreign literature, especially in the field of horror. It should be noted that public information on the details of his life, such as exact birth and death years, nationality, and educational background, is limited and difficult to present fully; this entry offers only a brief account of his writing based on the limited information available, and readers may further understand his style through his works themselves.