《纯真年代》

摘要:19世纪70年代的美国上流社会，年轻女子离婚是件很不道德的事情。而从欧洲回到纽约的女伯爵埃伦，恰是这样一个“败坏门风”的人。埃伦的表妹梅已和律师纽兰·阿切尔订婚。纽兰虽然处事中规中矩但内心极端蔑视这个社会虚伪的道德准则。事实上青春时代的纽兰既已暗恋过埃伦，多年后再次相遇，使他的内心波澜起伏。纽兰为抑制自己的情感，向梅求婚，端庄娴静的梅内心玲珑剔透，早已察觉未婚夫情感有异，但却不动声色，二人结婚了。纽兰很快便发现自己在婚姻的束缚下渐渐失去了自我，并深刻地明白了：自己真正爱的人是埃伦。纽兰无法再欺骗自己，终于向同样备受煎熬的埃伦倾吐了心中的爱，并决心去欧洲找埃伦。但此时，妻子梅平静地告诉他：自己已怀孕，并且告诉了埃伦。世俗的规则终于成功地拆散了埃伦和纽兰。多年后，已届老年并已丧妻的纽兰终于有机会见到埃伦，然而他只是在楼下遥望着埃伦的窗口，年轻时代的埃伦灿烂的笑容在纽兰的心中如鲜花绽放??

关键词： 文化背景 文化差异 英美文化 跨文化

在影视欣赏选修课的第一次作业就是电影《纯真年代》观后感。看第一遍的时候只觉得剧幕设置很精致，92年上映十几年后看却依然华丽。影片背景为十九世纪的上流社会，服装、佳肴、豪宅装潢、人物举止谈吐皆十分考究。看完整部剧，却又禁不住想要看一看原著。在网络上搜索，才知道是美国女作家伊迪丝·华顿的作品。《纯真年代》被认为是 伊迪丝·华顿 结构技巧最为完美的一部小说，并使她成为了历史上第一个获得普立策文学奖的女性作家。故事的发生地纽约是华顿出生的地方，在那里她度过了自己的青少年时代和最初几年的婚姻时光。她从自己亲身经历与熟悉的环境中提炼素材，塑造人物，将作品题材根置于深厚的现实土壤之中。

看完《纯真年代》，这个片子看下来感觉慢慢的，挺幽雅的。

冠冕堂皇后掩盖着不为人知的心理斗争，片里每个人都是伟大的，因为他们内心是高贵的，在不温不火的节奏下面隐含着一颗火热的心。每个人都在这种节奏下追求着或保护着自己的幸福。 主人公梅施是美丽，善良的，她用她自己的“纯真”保护了自己的爱情。

…… …… 余下全文

上个周六，我终于读完了《纯真年代》的原版小说。这本纸张轻薄的长篇小说，曾是我打发地铁漫长时光的福音。而对《纯真年代》的热爱，却是起因于大四毕业前老光写的论文。看完此书，不难理解为何老光选此题材作为她的论文内容，因为有太多值得回味、值得思考、久久无法释怀的东西。尽管它文艺腔浓郁，但在对爱情追忆的同时，对19世纪纽约社会思潮和风俗，伊迪丝·沃顿的独到、叛逆和一针见血，细腻的心理描绘，为她赢得了普利策奖，她也是第一个获得这个殊荣的女性。

改编自小说的电影《纯真年代》，居然出自马丁·斯科西斯之手！虽然大多热爱他一贯热血沸腾风格的影迷对这部电影失望之极，它却成了我唯一喜欢的老马的作品。（当然《飞行大亨》也算不错，比《纽约黑帮》强些）而且，这部电影即便在美国电影史上也创造了相当的成就，单是里面无与伦比的道具和服饰的精致考究，就足以迷乱人眼，而三位主角的精湛演出，也凝固为我最欣赏的一个阵容。丹尼尔·戴·刘易斯最柔情百转的时刻在哪里？《纯真年代》。米歇尔·菲佛最体现演技的电影是哪部？《纯真年代》。薇奥娜·赖德最出彩的荧幕形象是什么？《纯真年代》里的梅。

导演为了力求体现小说的原汁原味，除了人物台词全部采用原书中的语言外，附加了大量旁白，对每个场景背景、对每个角色的诠释都作了一一交待。而这些交待，看起来太过一本正经，太罗嗦，有很多都可以完全忽略不必说出来。毕竟电影脚本不能等同于小说段落。老马这么操作，我认为是电影最大的缺憾。

19世纪的纽约，上流社会人人都缩在一个固定成俗的模里，他们尊崇conformity（一致性），任何对他们而言有悖常理的人或事，都是绝不允许的。在这个看似自由完美的社会实质是扼杀人性的。人人戴着伪善的面具，个个道貌岸然。年轻律师阿切（丹尼尔饰），虽然出身名门，始终周旋在这些虚伪的人中间，内心深处对这些传统礼教颇有抵触，但却也不敢做出太“有损”社会的“不体面”的事。而他乖巧玲珑、妩媚娇艳的未婚妻梅（薇奥娜饰），出身于更富有统治力量的望族，垄断着纽约上层社会人物的主流活动。她那个娇小的身躯后面，由一个庞大而令人窒息的社会力量来做坚强后盾。她的一言一行就是社会准则的活榜样，而她的脸犹如一张唯美、友好、亲善的幕布，阿切始终对幕后的一切感到扑朔迷离。表面上，他属于这个圈子的中坚力量，尤其与梅的婚约更牢固了这个地位；事实上，他个人更倾向于站在圈子旁的边缘人，甚至试图跳出这个圈子。

…… …… 余下全文

The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence is a novel by Edith Wharton. The story was happened in New York City's upper class in the 1870s, and told us a story of love triangle.

One major character of this story, Newland Archer is a young, popular, successful lawyer. Before he meets Ellen Olenska, his life has never changed, and always has been filled with the old culture and customs of the old society. Ellen makes him find the new and wrong things in upper class. At one time, Newland had lost himself in his love to Ellen and wanted to elope with her. But after his wife’s pregnancy, Newland still surrenders to the society, find the “right” way to continue his own lift, and never out of loyalty to their marriage.

Well, in the beginning of the story, Ellen has fled from her unhappy marriage, and has returned to America. She fell in love with Newland. However, because of she love he, Ellen drives an important decision. When she has heard the May's pregnancy, she immediately decides to disappear from his life and leave America.

…… …… 余下全文

The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence (1920) is a novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize —— the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman. The story occurs among New York City's upper class in the 1870s. at that time, being was better than doing, occupation and abilities were secondary to blood connections, reputation and

appearances excluded everything and everyone not of one's caste.

Major Characters

Newland Archer: The story's protagonist is a young, popular, successful lawyer living with his mother and sister in an elegant New York City house. Since childhood, his life has been shaped by the customs and expectations of upper class New York City society. At story's start, he is proud and content to dream about a traditional marriage in which he will be the husband-teacher and she the wife-student. His life changes when he meets Ellen. He begins questioning the values on which he was raised. He sees the sexual inequality of New York society and the shallowness of its customs, and struggles to balance social commitment to May with love for Ellen. In the end, though, Newland Archer finds that the only place for their love is in his memories.

…… …… 余下全文

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

The Age of Innocence is an unfading novel which has been regarded as the perfect one of Edith Wharton's. The author created the characters and refined the materials from her personal experience and familiar environment. Its theme was rooted in realism. In this novel, the clue of Beaufort's fate stood in contrast to the plotline of Archer's disastrous love, which had left the common love story with the profound social significance.

In the 1870s, it was immoral for women to get a divorce in the American upper class. Ellen Olenska, a countess coming back to New York from Europe, was such a shameless woman. However, her coming back provoked a commotion in the lifeless upper class. Ellen's cousin, May Welland, was engaged to Newland Archer. Faced with all kinds of behaviours of Ellen after her coming back, Archer, unlike other high-society people who thought of her as a over-coquettish and loose woman , quite appreciated Ellen who had the courage to break the stereotypical image. He was never satisfied with such rigid rules that women couldn't express their feeling freely and catch other people's eyes. They couldn't divorce their husbands even though their marriage was unhappy. At this point, Ellen's appearance stirred up his rethinking of his own marriage, the freedom of women and even the deeply conservative society where he lived.

…… …… 余下全文

The age of innocence

I had already seen the film The age of innocence before ,it really impressed me a lot about the triangle love .At that time ,I thought it was difficult for me to choose from May and Ellen . A few days ago , I found the book in the library ,I was so excited and I didn’t even have any hesitate to borrow it to get deeply into it and I had the answer of the “real heroine ” of the story .It is a novel by Edith Wharton ,which won the Pulitzer Prize –the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman . The story occurs among the New York City’s upper class in the 1870s .At that time ,being was better than doing ,occupation and abilities were secondary to blood connections , reputation and appearance exuded everything and everyone not of one’s caste .

The major characters of the story are : Newland Archer: The story's protagonist is a young, popular, successful lawyer living with his mother and sister in an elegant New York City house. Since childhood, his life has been shaped by the customs and expectations of upper class New York City society. At story's start, he is proud and content to dream about a traditional marriage in which he will be the husband-teacher and she the wife-student. His life changes when he meets Ellen. He begins questioning the values on which he was raised. He sees the sexual

…… …… 余下全文

Victims of society

The age of innocence is more than a traditional love triangle. In this novel, Newland Archer, May Welland and Ellen Olenska all live uncomfortably because society is the domain of the values. To defy the social ethic is to disturb the

foundations’ of society and to threaten those values. The novel is a description of the struggle between the individual and the society because of the change as a society moves from a familiar, traditional culture to one that is less formal and allows people to get greater freedom.

We can see many characters' struggle against this old-fashioned and traditional community as the society changed. Ellen has fled her unhappy marriage to redeem her dignity and fought for her freedom. She is a free spirit who helps Newland Archer see through the New York society. She attends parties with disreputable people such as Julius Beaufort and Mrs. Lemuel Struthers. Finally, New York City invited her as a foreign visitor to a party as to privately send her to Europe. We can see from the novel. “As his glance travelled from one placid well-fed face to another he saw all the harmless-looking people engaged upon May’s canvas-backs as a band of dumb conspirators, and himself and the pale woman on his right as the centre of their conspiracy.” As May pretends that she doesn't know about Newland's passionate feelings for Ellen. We learn after May’s death that she knew the entire time that Newland and Ellen loved each other and how Newland sacrificed his happiness to keep everyone’s reputation. And Newland also struggle against the society. He sees the sexual inequality of New York society and the shallowness of its customs. And he shows his love for Ellen: first following her to Skuytercliff, then Boston, and finally willing to follow her to Europe. But at last, he still surrenders to the community. It could be said that May and Ellen represents two sides of Newland Archer—both are people he is afraid to become. If he is like May, he experiences death of the mind, death of the soul, and becomes what he is expected to be to keep the foundations of the society steady and strong. If he becomes like Ellen, he will lose everything that he has built his own foundations on. In the end, he is neither, nor is he himself. His

…… …… 余下全文