红字：The Scarlet Letter(英文朗读…

There could not be a more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter. — D. H. Lawrence     “It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne’s best things—an indefinable purity and lightness of conception...One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art.” — Henry James   The Scarlet Letter is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850, and was an instant best-seller. It is also one of the first mass-produced books in America. Set in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. The book explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt. The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in America. It was popular when first published and is considered a classic work today. It inspired numerous film, television, and stage adaptations. Critics have described it as a masterwork and novelist D. H. Lawrence called it a “perfect work of the American imagination”.
【推荐语】
      《红字》美国浪漫主义作家纳撒尼尔·霍桑长篇代表作，其隐晦的主题思想、超常的表现形式及巧妙的文学艺术手法使其一直成为文学界研究的对象。《红字》不仅涉及当时一个严肃而敏感的婚外情话题，而且还触及到了有争议和激的女性主义思想，所以，撰写这样的小说是对当时基督教价值判断的颠覆和挑战。       《红字》为英文原版，经典32本便于随身携带阅读，精校版忠于原著，同时提供英文朗读免费下载。在品读精彩故事的同时，亦能提升英语阅读水平，请按图书封底博客即可音频下载页面。
【作者】
      纳撒尼尔·霍桑（1804—1864），美国19世纪后期浪漫主义文学的重要作家。他的代表作《红字》一经问世，便引起了巨大轰动。小说以深邃的主题，象征、隐喻等艺术手法的运用而形成了独特的风格，其象征手法影响了《白鲸》的作者麦尔维尔、法国的波德莱尔以及现代派文学的象征主义。此外，霍桑对美国文学史上一批卓有成就的作家诸如海明威、菲兹杰拉德、福克纳等都产生较大影响。