灵源山木马赢家 中英讲解

2021年1月19日发(作者：孔继荣)
Lawrence and The Rocking-Horse Winner



David Herbert Lawrence
，
1885
～
1930

Significance
l English novelist, story writer, critic, poet and painter

l one
of
the
greatest
figures
in
20th-century
English
literature

l the greatest novelist form a working family

l one of the primary shapers of 20th-century fiction

Life Experience
He graduated from the teacher- training course at University College,
Nottingham,
in
1905
and
became
a
schoolmaster
in
a
London
suburb.
In
1909
some of his poems were published in the English Review, edited by Ford
Madox,
who
was
also
instrumental
in
the
publication
of
Lawrence’s
first
novel,
The
White
Peacock
(1911).
Lawrence
eloped
to
the
Continent
in
1912
with
Frieda
von
Richthofen
Weekley,
a
German
noblewoman
who
was
the
wife
of a Nottingham professor; they were married in 1914. During World War
I
the
couple
was
forced
to
remain
in
England;
Lawrence’s
outspoken
opposition to the wa
r and Frieda’s German birth aroused suspicion that
they
were
spies.
In
1919
they
left
England,
returning
only
for
brief
visits.
Their nomadic existence was spent variously in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka),
Australia, the United States (New Mexico), and Mexico. Lawrence died at
the
age
of
45
of tuberculosis,
a
disease
with
which
he
had
struggled
for
years.

Literary Views

Lawrence believed that industrialized Western culture was dehumanizing
because
it
emphasized
intellectual
attributes
to
the
exclusion
of
natural
or physical instincts. He thought, however, that this culture was in
decline
and
that
humanity
would
soon
evolve
into
a
new
awareness
of
itself
as
being
a
part
of
nature.
One
aspect
of
this
“blood
consciousness”
would
be an acceptance of the need for sexual fulfillment.

Representative Works

His three great novels

Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), and Women in Love (1921),
concern
the
consequences
of
trying
to
deny
humanity’s
union
with
nature.
After World War I, Lawrence began to believe that society needed to be
reorganized
under
one
superhuman
leader.
The
novels
containing
this
theme
—Aaron’s
Rod
(1922),
Kangaroo
(1923),
and
The
Plumed
Serpent
(1926)
—
are all considered failures.

Lawrence’s
most
controversial
novel
is
Lady
Chatterley’s
Lover
(1928),
the
story
of
an
English
noblewoman
who
finds
love
and
sexual
fulfillment
with
her
husband’s
gamekeeper.
Because
their
lovemaking
is
described
in
intimate detail (for the 1920s), the novel caused a sensation and was
banned in England and the United States until 1959.

Writing Style

All
of
Lawrence’s
novels
ar
e
written
in
a
lyrical,
sensuous,
often
rhapsodic
prose
style.
He
had
an
extraordinary
ability
to
convey
a
sense
of
specific
time
and
place,
and
his
writings
often
reflected
his
complex
personality. Lawrence’s works include volumes of stories, poems, and
essays. He also wrote a number of plays, travel books such as Etruscan
Places (1932), and volumes of literary criticism, notably Studies in
Classic American Literature (1916).

Rocking Horse Winner

Introduction


Rocking-Horse
Winner
is
a
short
story
by
D.
H.
Lawrence.
It
was
first
published in July 1926 in Harper's Bazaar and subsequently appeared in
the
first
volume
of
Lawrence's
collected
short
stories.
It
was
made
into
a film under the same title in 1950, directed by Anthony Pelissier and
starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson.

Summary

In

Rocking-Horse
Winner,
a
young
boy,
Paul,
perceives
that
there
is
never
enough
money
in
his
family,
he
sets
out
to
find
a
way
to
get
money
through
luck.
He
discovers
that
if
he
rides
his
rocking-horse
fast
enough,
he will somehow
He
begins
to
make
money
and
secretly
funnel
this
money
to
his
mother,
but
the
desire
for
more
money
only
grows
more
intense
instead
of
going
away.
He
finally
rides
his
rocking
horse
so
furiously
in
order
to
discover
the
winner of the Derby that he falls into illness and dies.

Full Summary
The
story
describes
a
young
middle-class
Englishwoman
who

no
luck
Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; the
family's
lifestyle
exceeds
its
income,
and
unspoken
anxiety
about
money
permeate
the
household.
Her
children,
a
son
Paul
and
two
younger
sisters,
sense this anxiety.

The
rocking-horse
magically
gives
Paul
advance
knowledge
of
the
winners
of important races such as Ascot. Paul's uncle, Oscar Cresswell, and
Bassett,
the
gardener
and
Cresswell's
former
batman,
both
place
large
bets
on the horses Paul names. After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange
to
give
the
mother
a
gift
of
five
thousand
pounds,
but
the
gift
only
lets
her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be lucky,
and
we
learn
that
his
secret
is
to
ride
his
rocking-horse
until
he

As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner.

Paul faints and remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by
Cresswell,
Bassett
has
placed
Paul's
bet
on
Malabar,
at
fourteen
to
one.
When
he
is
informed
by
Bassett
that
he
now
has
80,000
pounds
(equivalent
to 2006's 3 million pounds or 6 million U.S. dollars), Paul says to his
mother:


then I'm absolutely sure
–
oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you?
I am lucky!



But the boy died in the night.

Analysis

Setting

The setting is post industrial revolution England, and the story takes
place during a period the Americans call ‘the roaring 20’s’, a time
characterized
by
greed
and
a
grasping
materialism.
The
home
of
the
family
is
a
posh
suburban
English
dwelling,
maybe
it
is
a
rural
part
of
England
within reach of London. Lawrence keeps the actual geography anonymous,
probably to drive the point that the disease of materialism knows no
particular
geography,
though
he
does
mention
Lincolnshire
as
the
site
of
the Derby race.

Style

l The opening paragraphs of “The Rocking
-
Horse Winner” are
written
in
a
style
similar
to
that
of
a
fairy
tale.
Instead
of
“once
upon
a
time,”
though,
Lawrence
begins
with
“There
was
a
woman
who
was
beautiful, who started with al
l the advantages, yet she had no luck.”
This
is
a
conscious
attempt
on
the
part
of
the
author
to
use
the
traditional
oral storytelling technique.

l This
story
also
combines
the
supernatural
elements
of
a
fable,
mainly
Paul’s
ability
to
“know”
the

winners
just
by
riding
his
rocking
horse, with the serious themes of an unhappy marriage and an unhealthy
desire
for
wealth
at
all
costs.
The
story
begins
with
fable-like
simplicity but ends with a serious message about wasted lives.

Characters

the
mother
--
a
cold,
unfeeling,
grasping,
materialistic
woman
disguised
in the cover of a loving mother and wife;

the
husband
--
more
or
less
a
non-
entity,
who
has
an
office
‘somewhere’,
and who went to Eton.

Young Paul -- innocent, sensitive, intelligent, being prepared to go to
Eton as well, an upper class preparatory school in England. This is a
family
which
is
upwardly
grasping,
will
never
become
members
of
the
aristocracy,
but
Paul
is
being
groomed
to
climb
the
next
rung
of
the
social
ladder.

English gardener -- he is passive, loyal, a little bit afraid of his
superiors, and somewhat greedy to the extent he participates in Paul’s
winnings at the track.

Uncle
Oscar
--
a
bit
of
what
the
British
call
a
‘bounder’,
an
unscrupulous
man
who
takes
advantage
of
his
nephew’s
supernatural
talents
to
his
own
advantage,
without
considering
for
a
moment
the
pressures such activity may place upon the young boy.

Bassett
Bassett is the family gardener who helps Paul place bets on horses. He
used to work around horses and racing and he talks about racing all the
time, so it seems reasonable that Paul would seek his advice. He takes
the
boy
seriously
and
follows
all
the
boy’
s
instructions
in
placing
the
bets.
He
also
keeps
Paul’s
money
safely
hidden
away,
at
least
until
Uncle
Oscar
gets
involved.
He
is
the
only
adult
who
treats
Paul
with
a
serious