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閱讀賞析---四的法則---The Rule of Four
2007/03/02 20:41:16瀏覽324|回應0|推薦0

四的法則----"The Rule of Four"
歷時六年才完成 
是由兩位長春藤畢業的好友
合作完成的第一部小說

暨驚悚但也有謀殺 有愛情 有危險 
巧妙地結合了歷史與懸疑
若沒有某種程度的文藝復興時期的藝術史知識
及對當時人文主義的了解
讀起英文版真是感覺耗費多時
所以感謝中文版的即時出版
不必耗費時日上網不斷查詢文中所提之線索
感謝之致呢

書扉上的書評一致誇獎它完美地結合了
費滋傑羅的"大亨小傳"中不同階級間的苦戀
隱晦的部分
令人聯想到艾可的"玫瑰的名字"
而作者的學識淵博
揭露了文藝復興時期的一個
dark secrect
就和丹布朗的"達文西密碼"一樣
令人嘆為觀止

此書假借一本名為"尋夢綺愛"(
Hypnerotomachia Pollphill)
描述成為堪稱早年印刷史上最受珍藏
卻最不為人所熟知的一本書
至今比"古騰堡聖經"還要少
所以他的作者本身就是個謎
小說中的描述隱晦難懂
甚至語焉不詳毫無連貫可言
搞的眾學者一頭霧水

而"四的法則"故事中的四位主角們
是長春藤盟校普林斯頓的應屆畢業生
其中一位主角(Paul)的畢業論文
即是以此書為專題
進而上演一齣不分古今的人性考驗大悲劇

書名取為"四的法則"  
那麼何謂"四的法則"
(上過網查出這是一個法律專有名詞
但與本書書名毫不相干)

若你讀過"聖經密碼"這部書
你就能很快的理解作者寫書的邏輯來自何處

在中文版第328-331頁處作者解釋道
是指此書"尋夢綺愛"的原文
為何會以義大利文拉丁文甚至希臘文多國語言書寫
是因為作者將一個可怕的秘密放上書裡
藉由將所有文字拿掉標點符號後全部打散
再將文字排成方陣而再根據書中所給的四的法則
"南四東十北二西六"的相對位置
即可找出"尋夢綺愛"的隱藏內容

這是一本不可小看的小說
既有張力又可享受故事的懸疑與淵博知識的激盪
消遣有了知識也增加了
是值得推薦的好書

English Introduction

    
    An ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide memorably in THE RULE OF FOUR -- a brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery. 

    It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili--a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499. 

    For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past -- and an obstacle to the woman he loves. For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living. But as their deadline looms, research has stalled -- until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue. And when a fellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia 's secrets. 

    Suddenly the stakes are raised, and as the two friends sift through the codes and riddles at the heart of the text, they are beginning to see the manuscript in a new light--not simply as a story of faith, eroticism and pedantry, but as a bizarre, coded mathematical maze. 

    And as they come closer and closer to deciphering the final puzzle of a book that has shattered careers, friendships and families, they know that their own lives are in mortal danger. Because at least one person has been killed for knowing too much. And they know even more.
 
    From the streets of fifteenth-century on Rome to the rarified realm of the Ivy League, from a shocking 500 year-old murder scene to the drama of a young man's coming of age, THE RULE OF FOUR takes us on an entertaining, illuminating tour of history--as it builds to a pinnacle of nearly unbearable suspense.

( 心情隨筆心靈 )
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