佩内洛普·菲兹杰拉德是当代英国文坛上享有盛名的女作家,大器晚成的她凭借小说《离岸》赢得了1979年的布克奖。该小说讲述的是20世纪60年代,一群常年居住在伦敦泰晤士河巴特希河段上这一特殊群体的离奇生活与情感故事。本文旨在全面介绍这一特殊群体,探讨他们各自选择船居生活以及水上家园之梦破灭的原因,以期帮助读者更好地理解该小说所蕴含的深刻的现实意义。 Penelope Fitzgerald, a prestigious female writer in contemporary British literary circles, was late bloomer who won the 1979 Booker Prize for her off-shore novel. The novel is about the bizarre life and emotional story of a special group of people living in the Battersea River Thames in London in the 1960s. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive introduction to this particular group and to explore the reasons for their own choice of boat life and the dream of water homeland shattered in order to help the reader better understand the profound practical implications of the novel.