The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve

普立茲獎與美國國家圖書獎得主─葛林布萊又一巨著！

探究刻畫人類本源之作–創世紀的亞當與夏娃

 

　　以《大轉向》獲得兩大權威獎項肯定，新歷史主義學派開山祖師葛林布萊再度爬梳文學作品與藝術創作，找尋千年來歷史定格與轉變的背後實境。

 

　　先不論科學的定義，人的起源始自何時？來自何方？古老文明中，不同的民族與文化皆命定般地發展出多元的觀點。然而，隨著美索不達米亞地區各種美麗的神話消逝無蹤，從被巴比倫人俘虜的猶太人手中，我們只繼承了〈創世紀〉。

 

　　亞當與夏娃的故事僅由幾段古代經文寫成，到了奧古斯丁手中，伊甸園的故事從寓言變成了文字真理，墮落更化身原罪的載體。在人類曾以此慶祝性與文明的樂園，他貶低性愛（葛林布萊認為這是奧古斯丁與自己貞操的鬥爭），並賦予人類一個純潔無瑕的初始狀態–身體與心靈是全然無慾的。

 

　　以亞當與夏娃的遭遇作為一面鏡子，我們似乎可窺見那充滿恐懼與慾望的深遠歷史。既是對人類責任的讚美詩，也是有關人類悲慘的黑暗寓言。

 

　　葛林布萊跟蹤回最遙遠的過去，揭示幾世紀以來巨大的神學、藝術與文化投資，使得這些虛構人物能在猶太人、基督徒與穆斯林世界中擁有如此深刻地共鳴。最終，對今日數以萬計的人來說，仍是非常「真實」的存在。以他曾描寫莎士比亞與波吉歐（大轉向的僧侶主角）不可思議的才華，葛林布萊查探了奧古斯丁、杜勒、彌爾頓等人在這龐大的集體創作計畫中積極的個人參與，他也直指這故事演變出的多樣性：豐富的寓言、惡毒的厭女情節、深刻的道德洞察力和一些藝術與文學的偉大勝利。

 

　　聖經的起源故事是人文學科仍須提供的模型：並非事物的科學性質，而是邂逅這個自古以來強烈困擾我們物種的問題。即便達爾文已將科學事實攤開在陽光下，人類起源的神話還是持續盤旋在所有文明的領地之上。(文/博客來編譯)

 

　　內含16頁彩色插圖

 

　　Stephen Greenblatt―Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning author of The Swerve and Will in the World―investigates the life of one of humankind’s greatest stories.

 

　　Bolder, even, than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity’s first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole, long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.

 

　　Tracking the tale into the deep past, Greenblatt uncovers the tremendous theological, artistic, and cultural investment over centuries that made these fictional figures so profoundly resonant in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim worlds and, finally, so very “real” to millions of people even in the present. With the uncanny brilliance he previously brought to his depictions of William Shakespeare and Poggio Bracciolini (the humanist monk who is the protagonist of The Swerve), Greenblatt explores the intensely personal engagement of Augustine, Dürer, and Milton in this mammoth project of collective creation, while he also limns the diversity of the story’s offspring: rich allegory, vicious misogyny, deep moral insight, and some of the greatest triumphs of art and literature.

 

　　The biblical origin story, Greenblatt argues, is a model for what the humanities still have to offer: not the scientific nature of things, but rather a deep encounter with problems that have gripped our species for as long as we can recall and that continue to fascinate and trouble us today.