《Lionel Asbo》

Des Pepperdine is a boy out of place. He lives on the thirty-third floor of a London housing project; while his peers pick fights, Des retreats to the public library. What’s more, Des’s uncle and guardian, Lionel Asbo, is one of the most notorious petty criminals in the city. Yet Lionel, full of inept devotion to his nephew, dutifully teaches Des the essentials of becoming a man (always carry a knife; pornography is easier than dating; pit bulls should be fed Tabasco sauce). To survive these lessons, Des seeks solace in a covert romantic union that would fill Lionel with rage. But just as Des begins to lead a healthier life, Lionel wins £140 million in the lottery. The money ushers in a public-relations firm for Lionel, along with a cannily ambitious topless model–poet. Through it all, Lionel remains his vicious, oddly loyal self, and his problems, as well as Des’s, only seem to multiply. By turns outrageous and touching, Lionel Asbo is an exuberant Dickensian satire of crime, celebrity, and modern culture.

马丁•艾米斯（Martin Amis），英国当代著名作家，1949年生于牛津文学世家，著名小说家金斯利•艾米斯之子。马丁•艾米斯素有英国“文坛教父”之称，与伊恩•麦克尤恩（Ian McEwan）、朱利安•巴恩斯（Julian Barnes）并称英国“文坛三巨头”。1974年，艾米斯凭其处女作《雷切尔文件》摘得毛姆文学奖，并被誉为“文学天才”。此后艾米斯借其一系列风格多变的作品步入文坛巅峰：《金钱——绝命书》（1984）入选《时代》杂志“一百部最 佳英语小说”之列；《时间箭——罪行的本质》（1991）和《黄狗》（2003）先后入围布克奖提名。虽然艾米斯屡次无缘该奖项，但却无损他成为“英国最受欢迎的年轻作家”（GRANTA杂志）的头号人物。马丁•艾米斯在创作上深受卡夫卡、纳博科夫、乔伊斯等大师的影响，在写实的手法上融入了意识流、黑色幽默及浓郁的魔幻主义风格；其先锋实验的文学品格、标新立异的创作形式、变幻莫测的情节铺陈以及惊世骇俗的语言天赋令其享尽世人瞩目，更被形容为是“蘸着迷药水书写的文坛大师”。本书译者为台湾知名学者、作家何致和先生。