4月书单｜优秀的人是怎样炼成的，这8本传记告诉你！

每个时代都有值得我们铭记的人，对资深书迷来说，一本好的人物传记可以算是一份宝藏了。今天就给大家推荐几本非常好看的传记，让我们一起回顾那些传奇人物的非凡人生！

1《弗里达：传奇女画家的一生》 Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo

海登·赫雷拉 Hayden Herrera

Hailed by readers and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age 18 that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs with men as diverse as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky; her association with the Communist Party; her absorption in Mexican folklore and culture; and her dramatic love of spectacle.凭借着引人入胜的内容，这本墨西哥画家弗里达·卡罗的传记受到全国读者和评论家们的欢迎。该书讲述了一位极具魅力和独创性的女性，同时也是一位由自身经历造就了独特活力的艺术家的故事：墨西哥革命期间在墨西哥城度过的童年、18岁时那场使她失去生育能力的毁灭性事故、与壁画家迭戈·里韦拉的曲折婚姻、与野口勇和莱昂·托洛茨基等人之间的情感纠葛、与共产党的关系、对墨西哥民间传说和文化的着迷以及她对景象的戏剧化的热爱。

Here is the tumultuous life of an extraordinary 20th-century woman — with illustrations as rich and haunting as her legend.这就是这位非凡的生于20世纪的女性动荡的一生。书中插图丰富多彩、令人难以忘怀，正如她的传奇故事一般。

2 《知无涯者：拉马努金传》 The Man Who Knew Infinity

罗伯特·卡尼格尔 Robert Kanigel

In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G. H. Hardy, begging the preeminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Realizing the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled.1913年，一位年轻但从未受过教育的印度文员给数学家哈代写了一封信，恳求这位杰出的英国数学家就他对数字的几个观点发表自己的看法。在意识到这是一封天才的杰作后，哈代立马安排斯里尼瓦瑟·拉马努金来到英国，由此成就了史上Z不可思议也Z富有成果的合作之一。

With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, "the Prince of Intuition", tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, "the Apostle of Proof".出于对能引起共鸣的丰富细节的追求，罗伯特·卡尼格尔带我们从马德拉斯的寺庙和贫民窟畅游到剑桥大学的法庭和教堂。在那里，虔诚的印度教徒——“直觉王子”拉马努金与老练而古怪的“证明使徒”哈代一起检验了他的卓越理论。

3 《塞缪尔·约翰逊传》 The Life of Samuel Johnson

詹姆斯·博斯韦尔 James Boswell

In Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality. While Johnson's Dictionary remains a monument of scholarship, and his essays and criticism command continuing respect, we owe our knowledge of the man himself to this biography.博斯韦尔所著的《塞缪尔·约翰逊传》刻画出了一位极其直率且具有独创性的英国大文豪形象。尽管《约翰逊字典》已经是一座学术丰碑，且他的文章和评论一直被人们所尊重，但如果我们想要对塞缪尔·约翰逊有更深入的了解，这本《塞缪尔·约翰逊传》定是必不可少的读物。

Through a series of wonderfully detailed anecdotes, Johnson emerges as a sociable figure with a huge appetite for life, crossing swords with other great 18th-century luminaries, from Garrick and Goldsmith to Burney and Burke — even his long-suffering friend and disciple James Boswell.随着一系列精彩且细致的故事不断展开，一个热爱生活、善于社交的约翰逊呈现在我们眼前。在书中，约翰逊与18世纪的其他杰出人物不断交锋、争论，这其中包括加里克和戈德史密斯、伯尼和伯克等人，甚至包括他饱受折磨的朋友和门徒詹姆斯·博斯韦尔。

Yet Johnson had a vulnerable, even tragic, side, and anxieties and obsessions haunted his private hours. Boswell's sensitivity and insight into every facet of his subject’s character ultimately make this biography as moving as it is entertaining.然而，约翰逊也有脆弱甚至悲惨的一面，在他独处的时候，他既焦虑又执迷。博斯韦尔对约翰逊各方面敏锐的洞察力使这部传记既有趣又感人。

4 《凯瑟琳大帝：一个女人的画像》 Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

罗伯特·马西 Robert K. Massie

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history.作为普利策奖得主，罗伯特·马西曾著有《彼得大帝》、《尼古拉与亚历山德拉》和《罗曼诺夫家族》等作品。如今，他带着又一部传记佳作回来了。这部传记讲述了一位德国公主的非凡故事，描述了她如何从籍籍无名的公主成长为历史上Z杰出、Z有权势、Z迷人的女性之一。

Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For 34 years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution. Catherine's family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies — all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few stories richer than that of Catherine the Great.凯瑟琳出生于一个小小的贵族家庭，坚定的信念使她Z终成为俄国女皇。34年来，内政外交、文化发展和俄罗斯人民的福祉都掌握在她的手中。同时，她也处理过国内叛乱、国外战争以及法国大革命引起的政治变革和暴力浪潮。凯瑟琳的家人、朋友、部下、将军、情人和敌人在这本传记中都被刻画得栩栩如生。历史上很少有比凯瑟琳大帝更丰富的故事了。

5 《迷失Z城》 The Lost City of Z

大卫·格恩 David Grann

In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called "The Lost City of Z". In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett's quest for "Z" and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century.1925年，传奇英国探险家珀西·福西特开始了他的亚马逊丛林冒险，他企图寻找传说中的文明却再也没有回来。多年来，无数人为了寻找他以及被他称为“迷失Z城”的那个地方而丧生。在这部纪实文学佳作中，大卫·格恩将福西特追寻“Z城”的神秘故事和他进入致命丛林的经历交织在一起，从而揭开20世纪Z伟大的探险之谜。

6 《薇拉》 Véra

史黛西·希芙 Stacy Schiff

Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and hailed by critics as both "monumental" (The Boston Globe) and "utterly romantic" (New York Magazine), Stacy Schiff’s Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) brings to shimmering life one of the greatest literary love stories of our time.史黛西·希芙的《薇拉》（弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫的夫人）是2000年普利策传记文学奖的获奖作品，评论家曾赞其为“丰碑”（《波士顿环球报》）和“终极浪漫”（《纽约时报》），它生动展现了这个时代一个伟大的文学爱情故事。

"Without my wife," Vladimir Nabokov once noted, "I wouldn't have written a single novel." Set in prewar Europe and postwar America, spanning much of the century, the story of the Nabokovs' 52-year marriage reads as vividly as a novel. Véra, both beautiful and brilliant, is its outsized heroine - a woman who loves as deeply and intelligently as did the great romantic heroines of Austen and Tolstoy. Stacy Schiff's Véra is a triumph of the biographical form.博纳科夫曾说道：“没有我的妻子，我一本小说也写不出来。”纳博科夫和夫人52年的婚姻故事以战前的欧洲和战后的美国为背景，读起来就像小说一样生动。美丽而又才华横溢的薇拉是书中绝对的女主角，她像简·奥斯丁和托尔斯泰笔下的女主人公一样爱得深情又聪明。史黛西·希芙的《薇拉》是传记类读物的一次成功。

7 《俗世威尔：莎士比亚如何成为莎士比亚》 Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

斯蒂芬·格林布拉特 Stephen Greenblatt

A young man from a small provincial town moves to London in the late 1580s and, in a remarkably short time, becomes the greatest playwright not of his age alone but of all time. How is an achievement of this magnitude to be explained? Stephen Greenblatt brings us down to earth to see, hear, and feel how an acutely sensitive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life, could have become the world's greatest playwright.16世纪80年代末，一个来自小镇的年轻人搬到了伦敦，并在短时间内成为了不仅是他这一代甚至是有史以来Z伟大的剧作家。如何解释如此巨大的成就呢？斯蒂芬·格林布拉特会带着我们一步步去看、去听、去感受，一个极度敏感又才华横溢的男孩，身处伊丽莎白时代丰富多彩的生活中，是如何成为世界上Z伟大的剧作家的。

8 《教授与疯子》 The Professor and the Madman

西蒙·温切斯特 Simon Winchester

The making of the Oxford English Dictionary was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, was stunned to discover that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than 10,000. But their surprise would pale in comparison to what they were about to discover when the committee insisted on honoring him. Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.《牛津英语词典》的编纂可谓是有史以来Z雄心勃勃的项目之一。在收集词条定义的过程中，由詹姆斯·默里教授领导的监督委员会惊讶地发现，一位叫迈纳的医生竟然提交了一万多份定义。然而当委员会坚持要表彰他的时候，他们发现了更令人震惊的事情。迈纳医生不仅是美国内战的老兵，也是一名精神病罪犯收容所的囚徒。

Masterfully researched and eloquently written, The Professor and the Madman is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history.《教授与疯子》研究透彻、文笔流畅，是一部关于疯狂、天才以及两位杰出人物令人难以置信的痴迷的非凡传奇，正是这两位杰出人物成就了《牛津英语词典》和文学史。

文章来源：外研社Unipus