小说家和他的国家在对现代美国小说家的诸多抱怨中,最响亮的,即便不是最聪明的,是指责他没有为他的国家说话。几个季节之前,《生活》杂志的一份社论庄重地提出了这样一个问题,“谁为今天的美国说话?”其结论是,我们的小说家,或至少我们最有天赋的小说家,没能承担起这个责任。这篇社论的主旨是,在最近十年中,这个国家已经获得了无与伦比的繁荣,比起任何其他民族,它距离一个无阶级的社会更近,它是世界上最强大的国家,但是 Among the many complaints about modern American novelists, the novelist and his country were the loudest, if not the most intelligent, accusing him of not speaking to his country. A few seasons ago, an editorial in Life magazine solemnly raised the question, “Who speaks for today’s United States?” The conclusion is that our novelist, or at least our most gifted novelist , Failed to assume this responsibility. The thrust of this editorial is that in the last decade the country has enjoyed an unparalleled boom that is closer to a classless society than any other nation and is the most powerful country in the world but