《一抔尘土》小说的标题取自艾略特的《荒原》，主人公托尼•拉斯特和他的妻子布伦达一起住在一座名为“赫顿庄园”的哥特式古老建筑中，过着恬静安逸、近乎隐居的乡村生活。托尼到伦敦办事时，偶然遇见了只能算是点头之交的约翰•比弗。出于礼貌，托尼邀请他来家中做客。
约翰•比弗是一个整天无所事事的花花公子，不久便真的到庄园来拜访。比弗的拜访结束了托尼夫妇原本平静的世界，他向布伦达大谈伦敦社交界的种种热闹景象、各类逸闻趣事。内心早已厌倦了枯燥无聊的乡村生活的布伦达经不住诱惑，于是以学习为名，在伦敦租了一间房子，重返久违的社交界，并逐渐与约翰•比弗产生了恋情。
托尼和布伦达唯一的儿子安德鲁的意外身亡导致了两人的婚姻最终破裂。为了排遣苦闷，托尼与一位探险家一同前往亚马孙森林寻找一座被埋没的古城，却不幸沦为当地土著的囚徒，永远地滞留在了遥远的他乡。
作者简介
伊夫林•沃（1903—1966）
英国著名小说家，被誉为“英语文学史上最具摧毁力、成果最显著的讽刺小说家之一”。他是一位优秀的文体家，作品的文字简洁，文笔辛辣，结构巧妙。
1903年，伊夫林•沃出生于英国汉普斯特德的一个文学世家，父亲是著名出版商和文学评论家。沃从小受家庭环境的影响，热爱文学。自1928年发表第一部长篇小说《衰落与瓦解》，一举成名后，他先后出版了20余部长篇小说，多部短篇小说集，以及不少游记。
1998年，著名的兰登书屋现代文库评选出“20世纪百部最佳英文小说”，沃有三部作品入选，包括《一抔尘土》（1934）、《独家新闻》（1938）、《故园风雨后》（1945）。
Taking its title from Eliot's The Waste Land, the protagonist Tony Rust and his wife Brenda live a quiet, almost reclusive country life in an old Gothic building called Hutton Hall. When Tony was in London on business, he ran into John Beaver, who was only a nodding acquaintance. Tony invited him to his home as a courtesy.
John Beaver, an idle playboy, soon paid a real visit to the manor. Beaver's visit put an end to Tony and his wife's peaceful world, and he told Brenda all the excitement and anecdotes of London society. In the name of learning, Brenda rents a house in London, returns to her long-lost social life, and gradually falls in love with John Beaver.
The accidental death of Tony and Brenda's only son, Andrew, leads to the breakup of their marriage. In order to relieve the pain, Tony and an explorer went to the Amazon forest to find a buried ancient city, but unfortunately became a prisoner of the local natives, forever stranded in a distant land.
About the author
Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966)
He is known as "one of the most destructive and successful satirists in the history of English literature". He is an excellent stylist whose works are concise, pungent and cleverly structured.
Evelyn Waugh was born in 1903 in Hampstead, England, into a literary family, the son of a prominent publisher and literary critic. Influenced by his family environment since childhood, Waugh loves literature. Since becoming famous with his first novel, Decline and Collapse, in 1928, he has published more than 20 novels, several collections of short stories, and a number of travel books.
In 1998, the prestigious Random House Modern Library selected three of Wough's "100 Best English-language novels of the 20th century", including A Handful of Dust (1934), The Scoop (1938), and Brideshead Revisited (1945).
热门标签
书单推荐