Uncle Tom's Cabin / Bantam classic ed.
作者： by Harriet Beecher Stowe ; with an introduction by Alfred Kazin.
出版社：
简介： Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel by American abolitionist author
Harriet Beechehr Stowe which treats slavery as a central theme. The
work was first published on March 20, 1852. The story focuses on
the tale of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave, the central
character around whose life the other characters—both fellow slaves
and slave owners—revolve. The novel dramatizes the harsh reality of
slavery while also showing that Christian love and faith can
overcome even something as evil as enslavement of fellow human
beings.
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century
(and the second best-selling book of the century after the Bible)
and is credited with helping to fuel the abolitionist cause in the
1850s. In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of
the book were sold. The book's impact was so great that when
Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the American Civil War,
some historians believe he said, "So you're the little woman who
wrote the book that made this great war!"
The book also created and spread several common stereotypes about
African-Americans, many of which endure to this day. These include
the affectionate, dark-skinned mammy; the Pickaninny stereotype of
black children; and the Uncle Tom, or dutiful, long-suffering
servant faithful to his white master or mistress. In recent years,
the negative associations with Uncle Tom's Cabin have to a large
degree overshadowed the historical impact of the book.
First published in 1843, Charles Dickens' classic tale of miserly
Ebenezer Scrooge, whose cold and embittered heart is warmed by the
joys and rewards of love, is the ideal holiday read.
Publisher Comments:
Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names
are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet
Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle
Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment
of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as
the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and
condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking,
controversial, and powerful work — exposing the attitudes of white
nineteenth-century society toward "the peculiar institution" and
documenting, in heartrending detail, the tragic breakup of black
Kentucky families "sold down the river." An immediate international
sensation, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 300,000 copies in the first year,
was translated into thirty-seven languages, and has never gone out
of print: its political impact was immense, its emotional influence
immeasurable.
From AudioFile:
Classic nineteenth-century literature can be difficult to read
and hear. But this production is an exception. Buck Schirner's
characters are so vivid, so well enunciated, that we wish Stowe had
created more people for Schirner to give voice to. His characters
argue about slavery, lament their fortunes and survive by their
wits. He gives each person emotion and depth and reads Stowe's
prose with conviction. Indeed, it's hard not to, given the moral
force behind her words. The only negative is when Schirner reads in
his own voice, which is low and flat. Because of his excellent
vocal work, though, the book reminds us that the debate over race
and human worth was as vivid in the 1850's as it is today.
From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister
This is one of those books that everybody has heard about but few
people these days have actually read. It deserves to be read - not
simply because it is the basis for symbols so deeply ingrained in
American culture that we no longer realize their source, nor
because it is one of the bestselling books of all time. This is a
book that changed history. Harriet Beecher Stowe was appalled by
slavery, and she took one of the few options open to nineteenth
century women who wanted to affect public opinion: she wrote a
novel, a huge, enthralling narrative that claimed the heart, soul,
and politics of pre-Civil War Americans. It is unabashed propaganda
and overtly moralistic, an attempt to make whites - North and South
- see slaves as mothers, fathers, and people with (Christian)
souls. In a time when women might see the majority of their
children die, Harriet Beecher Stowe portrays beautiful Eliza
fleeing slavery to protect her son. In a time when many whites
claimed slavery had "good effects" on blacks, Uncle Tom's Cabin
paints pictures of three plantations, each worse than the other,
where even the best plantation leaves a slave at the mercy of fate
or debt. By twentieth-century standards, her propaganda verges on
melodrama, and it is clear that even while arguing for the
abolition of slavery she did not rise above her own racism. Yet her
questions remain penetrating even today: "Is man ever a creature to
be trusted with wholly irresponsible power?" -- For great reviews
of books for girl
Book Dimension
Height (mm) 178 Width (mm) 110
