Brilliant and original, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers introduces a remarkable new writer whose breathtaking stories are set in China and among Chinese Americans in the United States. In this rich, astonishing collection, Yiyun Li illuminates how mythology, politics, history, and culture intersect with personality to create fate. From the bustling heart of Beijing, to a fast-food restaurant in Chicago, to the barren expanse of Inner Mongolia, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers reveals worlds both foreign and familiar, with heartbreaking honesty and in beautiful prose. “Immortality,” winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for new writers, tells the story of a young man who bears a striking resemblance to a dictator and so finds a calling to immortality. In “The Princess of Nebraska,” a man and a woman who were both in love with a young actor in China meet again in America and try to reconcile the lost love with their new lives. “After a Life” illuminates the vagaries of marriage, parenthood, and gender, unfolding the story of a couple who keep a daughter hidden from the world. And in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” in which a man visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter, only to discover that all is not as it seems, Li boldly explores the effects of communism on language, faith, and an entire people, underlining transformation in its many meanings and incarnations. These and other daring stories form a mesmerizing tapestry of revelatory fiction by an unforgettable writer.

被英国作家毛姆评为“真正杰作文学书”。

托马斯·曼是德国著名的现实主义作家。中学毕业后在一家保险公司就业，创作出第一部中篇小说《堕落》，后进大学进修，从事专业写作。长篇小说《布登勃洛克一家》发表后成名，四部曲《约瑟和他的兄弟们》是他的最高成就。除了长篇小说，他的中短篇小说写作在世界文学史上占有很重要的文学地位。本书选收了他的八部中短篇小说，基本上是他的代表性作品，如《特里斯坦》、《死于威尼斯》和《马里奥和魔术师》等。他的小说结构精致，情节细腻，人物清晰，每部作品都有不同的情调和气氛，而且语言很有个性。他于一九二就年获得诺贝尔文学奖，是德国二十世纪的最重要作家之一。

"Cathedral" is itself a short story written by Carver. It is about a man whose wife is old friends with a blind man. The story shows the husband/narrator's distaste for the blind man who is coming to visit him and his wife for a few days. At times it seems that the man is jealous of the blind man for being so close to his wife; at other times it seems that the husband is disgusted by the man's blindness. In the end they bond in a way through the comunication they share about what a cathedral looks like.

作者著有天使，望故乡

这部《外国经典短篇小说文本分析》终于要和读者见面了。 法国文学批评家阿尔贝·蒂博代（A Thibaudet）在他的著《六说文学批评》中曾经区分了三种不同的文学批评：第一种，是由一般读者和报刊记者完成的“自发的批评”；第二种，是专家教授完成的“职业的批评”；第三种，是文学大家所表述的“大师的批评”。蒂博代对以大学教授为主的“职业的批评”颇多嘲讽之词，比如老生常谈、死守规则、思想懒惰、缺乏敏锐的艺术感觉、迟疑症、沉闷的学究气、没有洞察力等。但是蒂博代也承认，职业的批评家有良好的教养、深厚的历史感、知识体系化、视野开阔、持论平正通达等长处。也许是自己身在大学教学和科研体制之内的缘故，每读到蒂博代对大学教授的“职业的批评”的肯定之处，总感到欣慰，而对他所谈及的“职业的批评”的弊病，则每每力求通过自己的努力来克服。阅读蒂博代的这本著作，我更明确了自己工作的性质：是一种区别于“大师的批评”和“自发的批评”的学理性的工作。马克斯·韦伯（Max Weber）在《学术作为一种职业》中说过：“科学已经进入了一个前所未闻的专业化阶段，并且将来也是这样”。这话是在20世纪头一个10年说的，那么，现在更应该是这样了。读马克斯·韦伯，让我心情更加宁静、淡泊，一心做自己的事。或许可以说，这部著作就是在这样的心境下完成的。