Cool Machine(书名《冷酷机器》). By Colson Whitehead. Doubleday; 368 pages; $30. Fleet; £22
《冷酷机器》。科尔森·怀特黑德著。双日出版社；368页；30美元。舰队出版社；22英镑。
COLSON WHITEHEAD is one of just four American novelists to win two Pulitzer prizes for fiction (along with Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner and John Updike). He is the only one to win for two consecutive(连续的) books: “The Underground Railroad” in 2017 and “The Nickel Boys” in 2020. He is also the only one to win in an era in which literature must fight for its relevance.(他也是唯一一位在文学必须为自身相关性而战的时代获奖的作家。) His novels take up that fight by embracing fiction’s capacity to entertain and delight, rather than to instruct or edify(教化，启迪). He is neither the most inventive of the Pulitzered quartet (that would be Faulkner), nor the most prolific(多产的) (Tarkington) or overpraised (Updike). But he is, without doubt(毫无疑问), the most fun to read.
科尔森·怀特黑德是仅有的四位两次获得普利策小说奖的美国小说家之一（另外三位是布思·塔金顿、威廉·福克纳和约翰·厄普代克）。他是唯一一位凭借连续两部作品获奖的作家：2017年的《地下铁道》和2020年的《尼克男孩》。他也是唯一一位在文学必须为自身相关性而战的时代获奖的作家。他的小说通过拥抱小说娱乐和愉悦的能力来迎接这场战斗，而不是说教或教化。在普利策四人组中，他不是最有创造力的（那是福克纳），也不是最多产的（塔金顿）或最被过度赞誉的（厄普代克）。但他毫无疑问是最有趣的。
In addition to a requisite coming-of-age novel and serious historical heavy-hitters that won him the Pulitzers, his oeuvre includes a zombie novel, a satire of journalism and a terrific crime trilogy set in Harlem, of which “Cool Machine” is the conclusion.(除了必备的成长小说和为他赢得普利策奖的严肃历史重磅作品外，他的作品还包括一部僵尸小说、一部新闻业讽刺作品，以及一部以哈莱姆为背景的精彩犯罪三部曲，《冷酷机器》是其收官之作。) The protagonist is Ray Carney, a furniture salesman and family man whose father was a crook. His best friend is Pepper, the sort of laconic(简洁的，寡言的) but loyal roughneck(粗鲁的人，硬汉) who pops up in countless crime novels to provide muscle(提供武力支持) for brainy protagonists.
除了必备的成长小说和为他赢得普利策奖的严肃历史重磅作品外，他的作品还包括一部僵尸小说、一部新闻业讽刺作品，以及一部以哈莱姆为背景的精彩犯罪三部曲，《冷酷机器》是其收官之作。主人公雷·卡尼是一名家具销售员和顾家男人，他的父亲是个骗子。他最好的朋友是佩珀，那种沉默寡言但忠诚的粗汉，在无数犯罪小说中都会出现，为聪明的主角提供武力支持。
