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書籍專區 文學館 小說/散文 Ex-Wife (Faber Editions)

Ex-Wife (Faber Editions)

作者:Parrott, Ursula

出版社:Faber & Faber

出版日期:2024.08.29

ISBN:9780571388059

書號:20315900

裝訂:平裝

定價:$480

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內容簡介

震撼爵士年代的驚世作品!

 

離婚的後果是什麼?

雙薪夫婦、抽菸飲酒、享受生活,Peter和Patricia的結合,在1924年可謂相當新潮。

 

對於在婚姻之外的愛情,兩人秉持誠信原則,不欺瞞且尊重彼此,直到Peter得知,在這段開放式關係裡,自己的好友成了Patricia的愛人。一次次的猜忌與爭執逐漸升溫成衝突,Peter開始以暴力逼迫Patricia離婚。

 

向來極力壓抑對丈夫風流韻事的忌妒,但當她向他坦承自己也有情人時,怎就無可挽回地走上了離婚一途?知名百貨公司的廣告文案負責人Patricia,從愛情事業兩得意的新時代女性一夕之間成了「婚姻失敗的棄婦」,錯愕又心碎的Patricia開始學著接受自己的新身分:前妻,一個「失去某人的愛、失去婚姻,不再『完整』」的女人,並重新摸索如何生活。

 

作者Ursula Parrott以一段破裂的婚姻,映照出在消費與享樂文化興起、道德與性別框架看似鬆動的一戰戰後,女性面對的另一輪矛盾處境:即便經濟獨立、眼界開闊而渴望冒險,卻仍難以拋卻社會眼光與規訓。

 

在那個紙醉金迷的爵士年代,伴隨地下酒吧的樂聲與喧鬧的,是魚與熊掌般難以兼得的家庭及事業、來自社會的雙重標準 (相較Patricia向丈夫坦白的後果,做著同樣行為的Peter幾乎未受任何指責),以及暴力的內(家庭)與外(社會)夾擊,作者的尖銳與近乎殘酷的幽默,讓本書於1929年匿名出版即造成轟動,後更被改編為電影《The Divorcee》。

 

An instant bestseller when it was published anonymously in 1929—the story of a divorce and its aftermath, which scandalized the Jazz Age.

It's 1924, and Peter and Patricia have what looks to be a very modern marriage. Both drink. Both smoke. Both work, Patricia as a head copywriter at a major department store. When it comes to sex with other people, both believe in “the honesty policy.” Until they don‘t. Or, at least, until Peter doesn‘t—and a shell-shocked, lovesick Patricia finds herself starting out all over again, but this time around as a different kind of single woman: the ex-wife.

An instant bestseller when it was published anonymously in 1929, Ex-Wife captures the speakeasies, night clubs, and parties that defined Jazz Age New York—alongside the morning-after aspirin and calisthenics, the lunch-hour visits to the gym, the girl-talk, and the freedoms and anguish of solitude. It also casts a cool eye on the bedrooms and the doctor’s offices where, despite rising hemlines, the men still call the shots. The result is a unique view of what its author Ursula Parrott called “the era of the one-night stand”: an era very much like our own.

 
作者介紹
Ursula Parrott
Ursula Parrott (1899–1957) is the pen name of Katherine Ursula Towle, author of twenty books and over one hundred stories and articles. Born in Boston, she attended Radcliffe College and moved to Greenwich Village after marrying journalist Lindesay Marc Parrott. Their 1926 divorce inspired her at first anonymous debut, Ex-Wife, which sold over 100,000 copies in 1929 and was adapted into Hollywood sensation The Divorcee during the Depression. Parrott soon became one of the most successful female writers of the 1930s, with her work adapted into movies starring Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and Humphrey Bogart. Her tumultuous private life included three more marriages and a rumoured liaison with F. Scott Fitzgerald. After her popularity declined, amidst various high-profile court cases and personal struggles, Parrott died of cancer in a charity ward in New York.