評論
打印
The real Jane Austen
一個真實的簡奧斯汀
As vital as her stories
生氣勃勃，人如其著
She still fascinates 200 years after the publication of "Pride and Prejudice"
《傲慢與偏見》問世兩百年后，她依然神秘撩人
The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things. By Paula Byrne.
《真實的簡奧斯汀：細微之物，足見平生》 寶拉伯恩著
“A LIFE of usefulness, literature, and religion, was not by any means a life of event,” wrote Henry Austen of his spinster sister Jane. This image of the sequestered author persisted for years. But contemporary scholars have reappraised “dear Aunt Jane” as an independent and worldly-wise woman who wielded a sardonic pen. She continues to fascinate, 200 years after the publication of “Pride and Prejudice”. This is the charm of a new biography from Paula Byrne, a British author, who breathes yet more life into Austen and her works by considering the objects that populated her days.
“她的一生雖裨益他人，與文學與宗教為伴，卻并無白云蒼狗，大起大伏。”簡的哥哥亨利曾這樣寫道。多年以來，簡的形象一直是終生未嫁，隱僻幽居。然而，當代學者開始重新審視這名“親愛的奧斯汀姑姑”，把她看作一個深諳塵世智慧的獨立女性，舞動著手中的譏諷之筆。《傲慢與偏見》問世兩百年后，她依然神秘撩人——這份魅力同樣延續到英國作家寶拉伯恩為奧斯汀所著的傳記之中。在寶拉筆下，那個時代的流行物件，是通向奧斯汀生平及著作神秘之門的鑰匙，展示出一個更加生氣勃勃的簡。
Each chapter is organised around a single thing. Some are Austen's possessions, such as a topaz cross she received from her brother. Others are simply from the period, such as a barouche (an upmarket carriage), which helps to illustrate how well-travelled she was and how transport indicates status in her novels. In “Northanger Abbey” Catherine Morland finds a trip in Henry Tilney's curricle erotic, whereas she is nonplussed by John Thorpe's gig. Broadly chronological, this thematic approach offers a revealing picture of Austen and a lively social history.
這本傳記的每一章都圍繞著一個單獨的物件展開。有些是奧斯汀的私人收藏，例如她從哥哥那兒得到的一個托帕石十字架。其余的則是那個時代的流行品，例如四輪馬車（一駕上等馬車），足現她游歷之廣以及在她的作品中，交通工具對于身份的烘托。在《諾桑覺寺》里，凱瑟琳.莫蘭覺得享利.蒂爾尼的二輪馬車新奇誘人，面對約翰.索普的馬車時卻不知所措。這種主題式的記傳方式，按時序徐徐展開一幅奧斯汀生平及其活躍的社會活動的長卷。
Austen's formative years are the most interesting. Three vellum notebooks contain her “Juvenilia”—the stories and poems she wrote as a teenager. Her “greatest gifts are here in embryo”, writes Ms Byrne, clearly relishing Austen's satire and lack of restraint. The young author lampooned famous figures and offered parodies of sentimental novels. But she reserved her choicest words of wit for her sister Cassandra. When they were not living together they corresponded frequently, and Austen often tried out different voices—“gossipy, jokey, affectionate”—to make her laugh.
奧斯汀寫作的成型期最耐人尋味。有三本羊皮紙筆記記錄了她的“少女之作”——她在青少年時期寫的故事與詩歌。寶拉很享受此時奧斯汀式的譏諷語調和無拘無束，她寫道，她“無與倫比的天賦在此醞釀成型”。此時年輕的奧斯汀嘲諷當時鼎鼎有名的人物，戲仿那些多愁善感的小說。但是她最具智慧鋒芒的字字珠璣卻是散落在與其姊卡桑德拉的信件中。兩人不住在一處時便頻繁通信，而奧斯汀常常嘗試不同的腔調——漫談式的，玩笑式的，或是浪漫式的——來逗她發笑。
During this time the movements of family followed the flows of inheritance; a vexatious matter that drives Austen's narratives. Old maids and mothers were often housed by rich cousins; a child might be made heir to childless relatives. An East Indian shawl introduces Aunt Phila—who at 21 sailed to Bengal in order to find a husband—and her daughter, Eliza. A romantic figure, and presumably illegitimate, Eliza first married a man who fell under the guillotine in the French Revolution, and later married Austen's brother Henry. This coquettish cousin is fictionalised as Mary Crawford in “Mansfield Park”. Austen also drew on Henry's militia experience for her depiction of flirtatious redcoats in “Pride and Prejudice”. Her midshipman brothers helped inform references to the navy.
在這段時期，因為繼承的緣故，她不得不經常搬遷—這類煩心事反倒豐富了她的敘述內容。老姑娘和母親總是寄居在有錢的侄子家中；孩子會成為膝下無子的親戚的繼承人。一條來自東印度的披肩引出了費拉阿姨—她在二十一歲時乘船到孟加拉尋找結婚對象——和她的女兒伊萊莎的故事。伊萊莎是個天性浪漫的私生女，她的先夫死于法國大革命的斷頭臺上；后來她嫁給了奧斯汀的哥哥亨利。這個輕佻嬌縱的嫂子后來成了她在《曼斯菲爾德莊園》里瑪麗.克勞福德小姐的原型。亨利本人的軍旅生涯也為她在《傲慢與偏見》中浮夸的“紅制服”軍人形象提供了素材。而她作做海軍的兄弟們則提供了海軍生活的第一手材料。
The book's liveliest passages are about city life and romance. Austen frequently visited London and lived in Bath for years. She was probably not a beauty—only one authenticated portrait exists (although Ms Byrne makes a strong case for another with uncertain provenance). But her wit and intelligence lured many a suitor. None of them stuck, but many are recalled with mirth in her letters. Austen was no prude. Her novels feature illicit liaisons and she gives Mary Crawford a sexually loaded naval joke about “Rears and Vices”. But she had high standards and a mortal fear of childbirth. She was all too aware of the way women either died during labour or “grew old by confinements and nursing”.
這本傳記最輕快活潑的篇章描述了城市生活和浪漫故事。奧斯汀頻繁造訪倫敦并在巴斯寓居多年。她可能算不得一個美人—她的畫像中只有一幅真跡存世（盡管寶拉堅信另一幅來歷不明的畫像也是真跡），但是她的機鋒和智慧卻吸引了許多追求者。無人獲其芳心，成就美眷；然而在她的信件中，關于他們的回憶大多充滿歡樂。奧斯汀并非嚴肅拘謹之人，她的小說寫到過男女私通；瑪麗.克勞福德就曾開過一個下流的海軍玩笑“臀部與罪惡”。不過她的確道德自律，且畏懼生產。她十分明白：有些女性會死于生產，或是在不斷懷孕和持續哺乳中年華逝去。
Ms Byrne has an obvious affection for her subject. This book may offer few revelations, but it paints a fresh and vivid picture of an inimitable woman.
顯而易見，寶拉對其傳記對象—簡奧斯汀—充滿喜愛之情。這本書可能并無多少“驚人內幕”，但它無疑描繪出了這名獨一無二的女性—血肉豐滿,栩栩如生。
