The Death of Vergil

Answer 1

The Death of Virgil was the masterpiece of the famous Austrian writer Herman Bloch. The novel was published in 1945 and was considered a modern classic comparable to Ulysses.

Bloch's creation was closely related to his experiences. He was born in 1886 into a Vienna merchant family and was trained to be the successor of the family business. However, due to his strong interest in philosophy and natural science, he entered the University of Vienna to study philosophy, mathematics, and physics at the age of 39. With the understanding of the limitations of philosophical positivistic in the face of reality, he turned to literary creation. In 1938, he was exiled to the United States due to the war. The Death of Vergil was his greatest achievement in exile. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 and died of a heart attack the following year.

The novel originated from the legend of the ancient Roman poet Virgil: Virgil spent eleven years to complete the first draft of the Aneid and wanted to burn the epic before his death. This legend was similar to Bloch's own situation. At that time, the Nazism was prevalent, and his living and thinking space was compressed. In the spring of 1937, he began to write this novel. During the writing period, he experienced hardships such as being arrested and imprisoned. Later, he continued to write in exile in the United States. After eight years, he changed his manuscript five times and finally published it.

The novel was based on Vergil's 18 hours of inner activity before his death. It described the darkness and madness of human nature that night and incorporated the author's deep reflection on the modern world. It was composed of four parts," Water,"" Fire,"" Earth," and " Qi." Each part represented a movement of the quartet, and the rhythm reflected the corresponding music beat. In the novel, Virgil was shocked by the fall of society in the Aneid and wanted to burn the manuscript but was stopped. The last chapter was his illusion. He got rid of the shackles of the world and saw the scene of creation that was opposite to the Bible, reaching a place where words and words could not be said. After the novel was published, it received rave reviews and many famous authors gave it high praise. In 2024, the first simplified Chinese translation of this work was finally released. It was translated by Liang Xijiang, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University, and Zhong Haonan, a young translator.
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