译者按:在中国,杰夫·戴尔仍是一个陌生的名字,但在欧美文坛,他被认为“很可能是英国在世的最好作家”(《每日电讯》语)。是否最好的作家也许有待商榷,但毫无疑问,他是当今英国——甚至全世界——最独特的作家之一。除了无与伦比的画面感、绝妙的黑色幽默以及轻盈飘逸的结构,他的最独特处在于:他的作品无法归类。它们既像小说,又不是小说;既像评论,又不是评论;既像游记,又不是游记;既像传记,又不是传记。但与此 Translator's Note: Jeff Dale is still a strange name in China, but in European and American literary worlds he is considered “probably the best writer living in Britain” (“Daily Telegraph”). Whether or not the best writer may be open to question is undoubtedly one of the most unique writers in Britain today - and indeed even in the world. In addition to the unparalleled sense of the picture, wonderful black humor and light elegant structure, his most unique lies in: his works can not be classified. They are both fiction and not fiction; they are both commentaries and not commentaries; they are both travels and not travels; they are both biographies and not biographies. But with this