内容简介：

　　《大河背后的城市》是一部充满神秘色彩的哲学小说，以生者对死者的拜访为主要情节，对生死问题进行探讨。

　　在小说的开始，罗伯特·林德霍夫博士乘坐火车来到这座位于大河背后的城市，他接到不知名的上级的委派，成为一座陌生的城市档案管理员，负责编写城市编年史。

　　这座城市目之所及是一片废墟，到处是地下墓穴，没有小孩，没有音乐，死气沉沉，城市里的人失去了活力与激情，像暗影一样，执行着无意义、重建和破坏性的任务，迷失在无限中，过着木偶般的生活。在这里罗伯特竟然遇到他认为已经去世的父亲和曾经的情人安娜，他如同进入了一个镜像世界，最终发现其实这条大河形成一道边界，将阴阳两界相隔，大河的另一边其实是死亡之城，是生命流转的中间世界，罗伯特是专门来收集人在生命的表现形式丧失后遗留的永恒的精神。在得知真相之后，罗伯特既没有选择留在死亡之城继续担任职务，也没有回到对岸继续生之旅途。他乘坐着火车，成为辗转于两个世界的流浪者，而他处于时空之外的传奇的生活方式渐渐变成一种传说。

　　在小说的结束，罗伯特依旧乘坐火车前往位于大河背后的城市，只是这一次，他是以死者的身份再次进入这座死亡之城。

　　作者简介······

　　赫尔曼·卡萨克（Hermann Kasack，1896—1966），德国作家，出生于德国一个富有的医生家庭，1914至1920年间在柏林洪堡大学学习国民经济和文学史。他是将媒体广播应用到文学传播的第一人，先后以笔名Hermann Wilhelm和Hermann Merten创作并发表了不少广播剧剧本。1949年卡萨克获得柏林市冯塔纳文学奖（Fontane Prize of the city of Berlin），1956年被授予黑森州歌德奖章（Goethe-Plakette des Landes Hessen）。《大河背后的城市》是其一生最有名的作品，其他作品有小说《伪造品》《织布机》《巨大的网》，诗集《永恒的存在》《来自中国图画书》，演讲集《马赛克石》等。

Brief introduction of contents:

"The City Behind the River" is a philosophical novel full of mystery, with the living's visit to the dead as the main plot, to explore the issues of life and death.

At the beginning of the novel, Dr. Robert Linderhof travels by train to the city behind the great River, where he is assigned by his unknown superiors to become the archivist of a strange city, responsible for compiling its chronicle.

As far as the eyes can see, the city is in ruins, full of catacombs, no children, no music, dead, the people of the city have lost their vitality and passion, like shadows, carrying out meaningless, rebuilding and destructive tasks, lost in infinity, living like puppets. Here Robert unexpectedly meets his father who he thinks has passed away and his former lover Anna, and he enters a mirror world, finally discovering that in fact, the river forms a boundary, separating the two worlds of Yin and Yang, and on the other side of the river is actually the city of death, the middle world where life flows. Robert is dedicated to collecting the eternal spirit that remains after the loss of the expression of life. After learning the truth, Robert neither chose to stay in the city of the Dead to continue his duties, nor returned to the other side to continue his journey of life. He takes a train, becomes a wanderer between two worlds, and his legendary lifestyle outside of time and space gradually becomes a legend.

At the end of the novel, Robert still takes the train to the city behind the river, only this time, he enters the city of the dead as the dead.

About the author

Hermann Kasack (1896-1966) was a German writer who was born into a wealthy family of German doctors and studied the history of national economics and literature at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 1914 to 1920. He was the first person to apply media broadcasting to literary communication, writing and publishing several radio plays under the pseudonyms Hermann Wilhelm and Hermann Merten. In 1949 he was awarded the Fontane Prize of the city of Berlin, and in 1956 he was awarded the Goethe-Plakette des Landes Hessen. "The City Behind the River" is the most famous work of his life. Other works include the novel "Forgery", "The Loom" and "The Huge Web", the poetry collection "Eternal Existence", "From China Picture Book", the lecture collection "Mosaic Stone" and so on.