《高文爵士與綠騎士》
聖誕節前夕,一名身穿綠色盔甲的騎士闖進亞瑟王的宴會中,並向騎士們挑戰看誰敢把他的頭砍下並在一年後接受他的回擊。高文勇敢的接下了挑戰,迅速將綠騎士的頭顱砍下,不料他卻將頭顱拾起,要求高文必須在明年赴約......
《高文爵士與綠騎士》是寫於十四世紀的騎士文學,故事展示了高文的騎士精神與面對考驗下的忠誠,但它也可作為鬼故事、傳奇、道德寓言或神話。而綠騎士也被視為自然的化身。闖進宴會象徵著不可預測的干擾;立下挑戰與迎之而來的反擊似乎在訴說我們與自然界複雜的關係。這個層面也呼應我們現正面對的困境。
延用了原文的頭韻法,並在不偏離原意的前提下保留了詩意,Simon Armitage以現代英語賦予了這部中世紀敘事詩全新的生命。
Simon Armitage’s “compulsively readable, energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version” (Edward Hirsch, The New York Times) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight offers “a brilliantly well-tuned modern score for one of the finest surviving examples of Middle English poetry” (Poetry Review) that “recreates the original’s gnarled, hypnotic muscle, its tableaux and landscapes, and its weird, unsettling drama” (Mark Ford, the Financial Times). This edition, revised by Armitage with advice from scholars Alfred David and James Simpson, also offers a new introduction by the translator.