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午夜降临前抵达

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作者深入欧洲腹地,以精道的语言打磨旅途见闻,信手拈来各种逸闻掌故。他书写相遇与别离、出发与抵达、历史与现实、文学与音乐、美食与美酒,也审视那些逝去的灵魂、孤独的陌生人。笔锋中流转的幽默戏谑和温柔情怀,使得路上的风景闪烁 出令人动容的隽永光泽。
无论是布拉格午夜的小酒馆、布达佩斯的旧书店,还是苏台德的森林,的里雅斯特的港口……这片大陆的荣光与苦难,不安与希望,因为他的行走,得以被记录和书写。
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旅行作家/诗人 刘子超 三年深入欧洲腹地
德国·捷克·波兰·斯洛伐克·奥地利·匈牙利·斯洛文尼亚·的里雅斯特
现实与想象交织的沉浸体验,极具小说质感的旅行文字
中国国家地理出品,许知远 | 苗炜 | 廖伟棠 | 吴苏媚 诚意推荐
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或许,每个人都有一颗中欧的心灵:
它既是怀疑的、反乌托邦的,也是清醒的、低调的,更是游荡的,自省的。
而生活总有一条可以穿越的边境。
当时空变换,午夜降临,那藏在旅行深处的世界,我们终将抵达……

328 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2015

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62 people want to read

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刘子超

6 books15 followers

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5 stars
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56 (40%)
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34 (24%)
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9 (6%)
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Camelia Rose.
895 reviews115 followers
April 14, 2024
I wrote a review in Chinese and asked ChatGPT to translate it. Here is our conversation:

Me: Can you please translate the following paragraph in Chinese to English?

G: Of course! Please provide the Chinese text you'd like me to translate.

Me: 刘子超是一个国内的书友推荐的。《午夜降临前抵达》(中欧游记)是他的第一本游记。我的第一印象是好重的翻译腔。不奇怪,作者也是翻译,翻译过 John Updike 的书。书里处处掉书袋,倒也掉得不难看,只是作者的口气模模糊糊像20世纪白男作家,例如:“我买了单,走出门,双手插在大衣口袋里。湿冷的海风忽然迎面而来,像姑娘们凉薄的嘴唇”。我比较喜欢那股兴致勃勃想了解世界的精神。书出版于2015年,有些观察蛮有意思:“相比一个没人关心政治的社会,一个人人都热衷参与政治的社会,反而更可怕—只有集权时代才会出现的情况”。然而,集权社会的政治是从上到下推进的,不想搞也得搞,让你搞什么你就必须搞什么。2015年Trump、Brexit和新冠还没有发生、中国的GDP眼看要超过美国了… 才9年,一个时代已经过去了。又:花了不少时间Google 游记里提到的人名地名的原文。原来的里雅斯特就是Trieste!

G: Liu Zichao was recommended by a domestic book enthusiast. "Arriving Before Midnight" (A Journey through Central Europe) is his first book. My first impression was that the translation felt quite heavy. Not surprisingly, the author is also a translator who has translated books by John Updike. Throughout the book, there are plenty of literary references, which aren't too bad, but the author's tone is somewhat vague, reminiscent of 20th-century white male writers, for example: "I paid the bill, walked out, and put my hands in the pockets of my coat. The damp, cold sea breeze suddenly hit me in the face, like the chilly lips of young girls." I quite like the enthusiasm to understand the world portrayed in the book. Published in 2015, some of the observations are quite interesting: "Compared to a society where nobody cares about politics, a society where everyone is enthusiastic about politics is even scarier—such situations only occur in authoritarian times." However, in authoritarian times, politics is pushed from top to bottom; whether you want to participate or not, you have to. Whatever they tell you to do, you must do. In 2015, Trump, Brexit, and COVID-19 hadn't happened yet, and China's GDP was on the verge of surpassing that of the United States... Only nine years have passed, and an era has already come to an end. Also, I spent a lot of time googling the original names of people and places mentioned in the travelogue. It turns out "里雅斯特" is Trieste!

(Except for a few mistakes and stilted sentences, the translation is not bad!)

Me: 好重的翻译腔 is not "that the translation felt quite heavy"

G: My apologies for the oversight. "好重的翻译腔" can be more accurately translated as "a translation style that feels heavy" or "a heavy-handed translation style." Thank you for pointing that out!

Me: 好重的翻译腔 means the text, although written in the original language, feels like a translation from other languages

G: Thank you for the clarification. In that case, a more accurate translation would be "the text reads like a heavy-handed translation from another language."

Me: In sentence "原来的里雅斯特就是Trieste! " , "的里雅斯特" is the full name, not "里雅斯特".

G: Thank you for the clarification. In that case, the correct translation of the sentence "原来的里雅斯特就是Trieste!" would be: "So the original '的里雅斯特' is actually Trieste!"

(It made it worse. A better translation is: “It turns out "的里雅斯特" is Trieste!)

Me: In sentence "刘子超是一个国内的书友推荐的" , "国内的书友" is not "a domestic book enthusiast."

G: You're correct. "国内的书友" refers to "book friends within the country." A more accurate translation would be: "Liu Zichao was recommended by a book friend within the country." Thank you for pointing out the nuance!

Me: “我比较喜欢那股兴致勃勃想了解世界的精神” can be translated better.

G: A better translation for "我比较喜欢那股兴致勃勃想了解世界的精神" could be: "I particularly admire the enthusiastic spirit of wanting to explore the world."

(“比较” is not “particularly” in this sentence, but I have had enough, so I let it go.)
Profile Image for Tsai Wei-chieh.
Author 5 books108 followers
April 7, 2022
新冠时代中旅行不易,只好阅读旅行文学望梅止渴。感觉自己对中欧的了解还真是没有中亚来得熟悉,导致这本书给我的陌生感比《失落的卫星》还高一些。

速记一些段落和场景:

第2页,我们时代的稀缺:
“这种自由自在的身份,若有若无的归属,大概正是如今最为稀缺的东西。”

第29-31页讲到了关于德累斯顿大轰炸的可议之处,想到了这本新书:
辛克莱·麦凯:《德累斯顿》,北京: 文汇出版社,2022年。

圣玛丽亚教堂高塔上的号声与鞑靼人。(第60页)

东西方相似处:波兰人宣称发明了伏特加对比韩国人宣称孔子是韩国人。(第62页)

一切的战争、屠杀与罪行对后人的影响:一位在奥斯维辛想查询自己家人是否在死难名单上的俄国大叔,面对着不愿使用俄语对话的波兰女讲解员,只敢用不熟悉的英语坑坑巴巴地询问着。(第66页)

解释有心无力的时刻:放弃跟澳大利亚姑娘说明火锅跟水煮鱼的差别。(第81页)

Ewiggestrigen:永远活在过去的人(第105页)

布达佩斯的四虎市场与中国倒爷(第115页):这段让我想到了乌兰巴托的Narantul黑市。

匈牙利国家图书馆收集世界上所有关于匈牙利的书,每本书收藏六册。(第123页):这段让我想到了热衷于搜集各种《蒙古秘史》版本的蒙古人。

古拉什(Goulash)在捷克和斯洛伐克与匈牙利的差别(第126页):原来我在乌兰巴托吃到的是前者的做法。

分辨日本人的三种方法其中之一是他们总能在鸟不拉屎的地方,找到极为正宗的日本料理。(第131页)

斯洛文尼亚语和民族命运的关系(第141页)

旅行(与活着)的意义?(第152页)

“至少是理论上,旅行或多或少会改变一个人。会使那个人朝着更宽容,更理性,对世界的理解更全面的方向迈进几步。至于到底是几步,那就要看每个人的天赋和修养了。但毫无疑问,这向前迈出的几步就是旅行的意义,也是活着的意义。”

第173页讲到了匈牙利的佩奇老城:
“就像环绕佩奇老城的城墙,原本是为了阻挡蒙古人而建,可最终无法阻挡任何人。”

箭作为上帝向人类发起疾病的隐喻。(第220页)

第275页,意大利人以说话爱打手势闻名:
“我没了胳膊怎么说话?”
575 reviews9 followers
November 7, 2021
假期间抽点细碎的时间慢慢读完,作者三观和旅行关倒是和自己很接近。
Profile Image for Xiahou.
54 reviews
October 10, 2021
對我而言,看作者講述途中遇見的人的故事比較有意思,可惜這只佔很小的篇幅——儘管全書本來就不厚。更多的,卻是多少有點不知所云的「旁徵博引」。
其實把旅途中隨時迸發出來的遐想紀錄下來也未嘗不可,但以我個人的體會來看,書裏實在充斥了太多矯情和擰巴,頗有故作深沉之嫌。
人們總是把旅行賦予太多意義和儀式感,想想真是有點可笑。
50 reviews
December 29, 2021
写的特别舒适,也很有画面感,作者的书基本上每本不落下。
Profile Image for RZ.
130 reviews2 followers
August 27, 2022
蛮喜欢作者的文笔!期待之后也可以游历欧洲点风景。
Profile Image for Joel.
172 reviews
March 14, 2025
While reading, I searched for pictures and videos from various places on rednote and looked at the author’s travel route map included with the book. My mind flew to another place, as if I had detached from the mundane life of the present.

The problem is that this book, like the latest Land of Blood and Honey, follows a formulaic writing style: 1. Arrive in a place— 2. Describe the people and scenery— 3. Share related historical events— and this pattern repeats continuously.

When writing about people and landscapes, the excessive use of associations and metaphors gives the writing a greasy feel. It seems that every piece of music, every book, and anything that can be linked to something has to be written down and shown off, making me feel like a pretentious intellectual trying to flaunt their knowledge and experiences while simultaneously hiding their vanity—a contradictory “literary youth.”

However, being able to write book after book in this way, and still gaining recognition from readers, is a skill of Liu Zichao.

So, I switched to a new reading method, skipping most of the historical associations that seem to come straight from Wikipedia. I only read carefully when this content was closely related to the people he encountered.

Aside from the lingering feeling of emptiness, after finishing this book along with Land of Blood and Honey, I pieced together a sentiment from the scattered words in the book:

How inhuman were the ruling parties of these small countries in Eastern and Central Europe during the Cold War? (You know what I mean.) Apart from encountering a young man in a former Yugoslav republic who nostalgically remembered the glory of Tito’s era, Liu Zichao didn’t meet anyone who liked that time.

The remaining relics weren’t places like concentration camps or labor camps used to suppress dissenters and political opponents, they were secret police offices or vacation resorts for senior officials. Reading this makes you clench your fists and want to rewatch HBO’s Chernobyl.

Next, I’ll have some time to read Liu Zichao’s best-reviewed The Lost Satellite and look forward to experiencing his more personal travel insights.
40 reviews1 follower
June 1, 2025
An assessible and suitable read before my travelling to Poland and Czech two weeks later. The extensive knowledge of the author is fervently demonstrated through his quotes and historical commentary. Sometimes it can be a bit too sentimental: it's always about his solitude and then resolving it with a beer. Although there is a pattern for his feelings, what stands out the most to me is his ability to dissect and present a particular essence of each Central European countries. The proudness and extravagance of Austria, the quietness and forgotten Slovakia, the dignity of Czechs, and the nostalgia of Hungary.

The book illuminates how big a gallery the world can be, and to properly examine each canvas, I should read and study the history and the culture beforehand.

From WW2 till the cold war, central Europe's fate is tragically doomed as it rests in the gap between two arrogant superpowers. A quote to keep me enticed for my pending exploration of Europe, and hoepfully, the world: 「進入二十世紀以後,喧囂的革命風潮、殘酷的戰爭、無情的大清洗,席捲並摧毀了一切精巧和珍玩。人類幾乎是在一片貧瘠的沙漠上,重新嘗試學習尊嚴和教養」。

Travel when you have the chance before sickness and idleness catches you my friend!
Profile Image for Hao Luo.
58 reviews
February 19, 2024
These feelings about “on the road” really speak to me a lot - that sense of freedom where you can switch between different identities in different cultures, under different social context, yet without the fear of getting lost in them. What if we just have a littttle bit more of them as well when “off the road”?
Profile Image for Yifei Men.
327 reviews6 followers
September 1, 2023
也许并不追求所谓的旅行的意义。

地球的某一个遥远的地方,与陌生的旅人相遇的浪漫、动容。

阅历的沉淀,路上的不安定,踏上未知的路所需要的是一颗扎稳根的心。

走远的时候,没有目的地就没有所谓的迷路。

抵达的同时也是离开的预告。


刘子超笔下的中欧孤寂,陈腐,带着年代感,没有急速的发展变迁,沧桑和宏大中混杂着颓废和绝望。大美的山间,小镇,城堡,教堂;城市的灯火,脚步,熙攘,寂寥。笔者的内心有一种安静的坚定,在寻找,却不迷茫。
Profile Image for Yuxin Zhang.
96 reviews1 follower
May 4, 2021
非常掉书袋,罗列众多作家艺术家在旅行目的地的姓名,也罗列本书作者吃了什么食物喝了什么酒。在作者看来可能是再正常不过的行程记录和自然而然冒出的想法,但这样偏个人见闻的体验还是不要写到公开出版作品里吧。
15 reviews
October 13, 2021
作者的知识量惊人,年纪轻,但无论从知识或者阅历都无法望其项背,佩服,但游记文学或许有些加工的成分,希望在这里看到一些真性情的东西,哪怕是挥霍与放纵,但都是读书人的克制和隐忍,不停的喝着啤酒,哪怕是突然而来的艳遇
Profile Image for Annie Yang-Perez.
254 reviews4 followers
September 17, 2022
确实是本用心写就的书,但其中的冷静和虚无仍然有些刻意,感觉直到最终章的里雅斯特整个表达才真正鲜活真实起来,让我体会到了联结。我其实一直不能理解全靠自我驱动义无反顾赶路的人,而他后记中说想做一个writer that travels终于给了我些答案——他在追人生体验。希望未来的他会容许自己放慢脚步乘兴随缘更深切肆意地感受,也期待他未来更优秀的中文书写的世界体验。
Profile Image for Karena Xu.
3 reviews
June 19, 2023
relaxing book on the journey, some very refreshing perspective to understand travelling and culture.
39 reviews1 follower
Read
September 3, 2023
刘子超 / 文汇出版社 / 2021-8 / 59.00元
2023-07-18 读过
30 reviews
November 20, 2023
看完失落的衛星再看這本,看得出當年還是年輕人
Profile Image for Proton.
35 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2023
喜欢中间不断提及的历史和书籍。但不知道为什么也有些自以为是和油腻
3 reviews
December 8, 2024
读了10页,产生严重心理不适,作者有一种不自知的厌女心理以及自我优越感。

我常以为旅游会让一个人变得open-minded。其实不然,也有可能走到反面- 反复加强他已有的认知。
5 reviews
October 30, 2025
莫名其妙的自我優越感,對陌生人女性的指指點點。無由頭地總是提到酒,是想顯得小資嗎?旅行文學不該門檻這麼低,用成見強化偏見,讀者作者都觸及不到真實。
Profile Image for Yujia Huang.
105 reviews2 followers
November 25, 2025
刘子超怎么就脱离不了正常写作写着写着变成一根屌的写法,只要出现女性形象不是被他意淫就是被他评头论足,充满刻板印象的厌女言论浓度过高了
Profile Image for Wu.
83 reviews
November 15, 2022
中欧的景色很美,可我不太喜欢作者的文字。或许写作写多了,自然知道什么样的文字可以营造出诗意与感伤的氛围,但是我却感受不到,也没有打动我。可能把文字写得实一些,不要这么虚无缥缈会更好吧!
Profile Image for FlowC.
7 reviews
November 6, 2023
塔特拉山,猎人小屋,感谢这片梦境。
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