如果我们想把某位当代美国短篇小说家的技巧作为一个孤立因素来研究,最适当的人选就是“纽约人”派小说家约翰·契弗(John Cheever,1912—1982)。因为在半个世纪的创作生涯中,他没有致力于提出新的思想,没有对人生、社会和宇宙发表过抽象的独创见解。他的人生观与人们在美国市郊能碰上的随便哪一位白领人士似乎没有什么不同。但他却凭了一种微妙的力量,成 If we want to study the skills of a contemporary American short story writer as an isolated factor, the most appropriate candidate is John New Yorker novelist John Cheever (1912-1982). Because in half a century of creative career, he did not devote himself to put forward new ideas, did not give abstract original ideas on life, society and the universe. His outlook on life seems to be no different from the whimsical white-collar people that people can meet in the suburbs of the United States. But with a subtle power, he became