Book Currents

Douglas Stuart on Great Novels of Gay Life

道格拉斯·斯图尔特谈同志生活的伟大小说

The novelist—whose new book, “John of John,” is out now—shares a few of his favorite works of historical fiction that center on queer characters.

小说家——其新作《约翰的约翰》（John of John）现已出版——分享了几部他钟爱的、以酷儿角色为核心的历史虚构作品。

May 6, 2026

When the Booker Prize-winning novelist Douglas Stuart started out as a writer, he said recently, “anything that had gay content in it was on a certain shelf in the store—usually at the back.” Not long ago, Stuart—whose new book, “John of John,” is out now—joined us to recommend a few of the profusion of great gay novels that have been published since then. His remarks have been edited and condensed.

布克奖获奖小说家道格拉斯·斯图尔特（Douglas Stuart）近日谈及自己刚成为作家时的经历："那时，书店里所有涉及同性恋内容的书都摆在某个特定书架上——通常是在最角落的位置。"不久前，斯图尔特——其新作《约翰的约翰》（John of John）现已出版——与我们一同推荐了自那时起涌现的众多优秀同性恋题材小说中的几部。以下内容经过编辑和精简。

As Meat Loves Salt

by Maria McCann

I’ve read this novel maybe six or seven times. It deals with so many things—war, class, a country in flux—and every time I read it, I find something very different in it, because it is so richly and intricately drawn. It’s one of those books which have a real panorama of human emotion in it. I would say it’s for fans of Hilary Mantel or “Wuthering Heights.”

这本小说我大概读过六七遍。它涵盖了太多内容——战争、阶级、一个动荡中的国家——而每次重读，我都能在其中发现截然不同的东西，因为它描绘得如此丰富而精妙。这是一部真正展现人类情感全景的作品。我想，希拉里·曼特尔（Hilary Mantel）或《呼啸山庄》（Wuthering Heights）的读者会喜欢它。

The book takes place in the seventeenth century, at the time of the English Civil War. The protagonist is a darkly violent, possessive young man named Jacob Cullen, who works in a manor house. At the outset, he does something so unforgivable that he sets out to join Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army, as though to cleanse himself by losing himself in war.

故事背景设定在十七世纪英国内战时期。主人公雅各布·卡伦（Jacob Cullen）是个阴郁暴戾、占有欲极强的年轻人，在庄园宅邸里做工。故事开篇，他犯下不可饶恕的罪行，于是投奔奥利弗·克伦威尔（Oliver Cromwell）的新模范军，仿佛要在战争中迷失自我，以此洗刷罪孽。

Then he falls in love with a fellow-soldier. After the war, the two of them set about establishing a utopian farming colony, based on equality and reclaiming the land for common use. Although their relationship begins as a love story, the book brings home the profits of Jacob’s earlier brutality—fate catches up to him, and everything that is love and passion sort of spoils into wrath and obsession.

随后，他爱上了一位战友。战后，两人着手建立一个乌托邦式的农业公社，以平等为基石，将土地收归公用。尽管他们的关系始于一段爱情故事，但书中揭示了雅各布早期暴行的代价——命运最终追上了他，一切爱与激情渐渐腐化为愤怒与执念。

Clear

by Carys Davies

This novel is set in Scotland during the Highland Clearances, a period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when Scottish landlords drove the rural poor off their land because the landlords realized that they could make more profit if they put sheep on it. It’s a very important, very cruel period of Scottish history that we don’t talk about enough.

这部小说的背景设定在苏格兰高地清洗时期——十八至十九世纪，苏格兰地主将农村贫民驱逐出土地，因为他们意识到，若在土地上放牧羊群，便能获得更高利润。这是苏格兰历史上极为重要、极其残酷的一段时期，而我们对此谈论得远远不够。

The events of the Clearances catalyze the action in this novel, which begins with John, a Presbyterian minister, having accepted a commission to sail to a remote island and evict its last tenant. The tenant, Ivar, has been living alone on the island for decades, with only the elements and the animals and the sea for company. Shortly after John gets to the island, he has a terrible accident. He’s found unconscious and badly injured, and Ivar takes him home and tends to him.

《清空》中的事件推动了这部小说的情节发展。故事开篇，长老会牧师约翰接受了一项任务，要乘船前往一座偏远岛屿，驱逐岛上最后一位佃户。这位名叫伊瓦尔（Ivar）的佃户已在岛上独居数十年，陪伴他的只有风雨、野兽和海洋。约翰登岛后不久，遭遇了一场可怕的事故。人们发现他昏迷不醒、伤势严重，伊瓦尔将他带回家中悉心照料。

The two men develop a closeness. For John, who is not only a minister but also married, this is obviously very taboo—but it’s also rendered as natural. Outside the gaze of the broader world, he can just be who he is. It’s a deeply romantic setup. And I think that’s what I love about this book—you can look at the characters and their sexuality in isolation from the morals and the judgments of society. Complications arise only when the world arrives on their doorstep.

两人之间逐渐生出亲密。对约翰而言——他不仅是牧师，更是有妇之夫——这显然是大忌，但书中却将其描绘得自然而然。在世俗目光之外，他只需做真实的自己。这设定浪漫至极。我想这正是我钟爱此书之处——你可以将角色及其情欲从社会的道德评判中抽离出来审视。只有当外界闯入他们的世界时，纠葛才随之而来。

The Story of the Night

《夜色故事》

by Colm Tóibín

This is one of Tóibín’s most beautiful books, I think. It’s a novel about loss and change, loving and losing, set in Argentina in the nineteen-eighties. The main character is an introverted English teacher named Richard Garay, who lives a very quiet and small life, in the shadow of his widowed mother.

我认为这是托宾最美丽的作品之一。这部小说以二十世纪八十年代的阿根廷为背景，讲述了一个关于失去与变迁、爱与失落的故事。主人公理查德·加雷（Richard Garay）是一位性格内向的英语教师，在寡母的阴影下过着极其安静而狭小的生活。

One day, Richard’s mother dies. She’s been such a pivotal influence in his life that her death is, for him, a kind of reluctant liberation. And then, one day, he meets a handsome stranger, and they fall in love. After that, we watch as he is sent into a period of change and enlightenment against the backdrop of a country that is also rapidly changing.

某天，理查德的母亲离世了。她在他生命中占据着如此关键的位置，以至于她的离去，对他而言，成了一种带着不舍的解脱。又有一天，他遇见了一位英俊的陌生人，两人坠入爱河。此后，我们目睹他在一个同样急速变迁的国家背景下，经历了一段蜕变与觉醒的时期。

One of the things I love about this book is its depiction of a gay son and his mother, the way it shows the devotion that they have for each other, how they are a balm for one another’s loneliness—but also how they are, in some ways, each in the other’s way, each part of the reason why the other is stuck in life and can’t move forward. Once the mother goes, you see this wonderful transformation in Richard, who finds himself and has this great love. It’s a love story that broke my heart, by the end.

这本书最打动我的地方之一，在于它描绘了一对同性恋儿子与母亲之间的关系：它展现了他们彼此间的深情，如何成为对方孤独的慰藉——但同时也揭示了，在某种程度上，他们又互相牵绊，各自成为对方困于生活、无法前行的原因之一。当母亲离世后，你会看到理查德身上发生了一场美妙的蜕变，他找到了自我，并拥有了一段伟大的爱情。到最后，这是一个让我心碎的爱情故事。

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