No plain Jane
Nov 19th 2009
From The Economist print edition

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen. Edited by Susannah Carson.
“SOME literary works are mortal; Jane Austen’s are immortal,” writes Harold Bloom in his foreword to this delightful volume. In it, 33 writers—from Virginia Woolf to Jay McInerney, from Somerset Maugham to Fay Weldon, from Martin Amis to A.S. Byatt—explain the whys and wherefores of our love affair with this provincial spinster, whose six novels have embedded themselves so powerfully in the minds and lives of countless readers over the past two centuries.
Harold Bloom在這本佳作的序言中寫著:「有些文學作品是稍縱即逝,Jane Austen的小說則是長盛不衰,」從Virginia Woolf, Jay McInerney 到A.S. Byatt 33位作家把他們鍾愛這位鄉下的未婚女子的前因後果一一道來,她的六本著作深植讀者心底和生活中長達兩世紀之久。
The breadth of Austen’s appeal is indeed extraordinary. All her works deal with love and courtship, but she is much more adept at reaching a wide audience than other romantic novelists. Young and old, men and women, scholars and those reading solely for pleasure—all find that her writing satisfies again and again. Not only is she one of the most read authors in the canon; she is one of the most reread.
Austen的小說吸引力之廣非比尋常。所有她的小說都是有關愛情婚姻,卻比其他浪漫愛情小說更能於吸引廣大讀者。無論男女老少、學者,都能從她的作品中一再得到滿足。她不僅是作品擁有讀者最多的作家還能讓人一讀再讀。
Yet Austen is never merely a comfort blanket, for her novels make readers think as much as they allow them to escape into another world. She may be the greatest propagandist for bourgeois marriage that English literature has produced, yet she is never smug and her happy endings are tempered by wise realism. As for her prose style, even the greatest cynic has to marvel at the control with which she employs her characteristic irony.
但是Austen不僅只是空虛無聊時所看,她的小說讓讀者得以進入新天地。她也許是英國文學史上中最擁護中產階級婚姻意識的,卻從未自命不凡、皆大歡喜的結局又帶有明智的現實主義。至於她的寫作風格,即使是愛挖苦、批評的人也不得不佩服她對特有諷刺風格運用自如的寫作技巧。
Each one of Austen’s novels has its champions, though apart from the author herself, who feared it was rather too sparkling, it would be hard to find anyone who was not captivated by the vibrant wit of “Pride and Prejudice”. “Emma”, too, is universally praised for its extraordinary mastery of narrative form, and for making readers love its flawed, and even unlikeable, heroine; she who attempts to control the lives of those around her but is blinded by her own self-satisfaction. Readers’ favourites, however, often change according to their moods and situations. The autumnal feel of “Persuasion”, in which Anne Elliot gets a second chance at love, tends to appeal to older readers; others may find their sympathies shifting between the characters over time, especially with “Sense and Sensibility” and “Northanger Abbey”.
每一部Austen的小說都有位特別突出的主角人物,除作者會擔心個性太外露以外,很難有人不為”傲慢與偏見”的伊莉莎白的風趣機智所吸引。”艾瑪”所駕馭的敘事風格也是受到一致的好評也令讀者愛上有缺點又不討人喜歡的女主角,她本打算安排別人的生活,卻被自負矇蔽雙眼。然而,讀者的最愛常常隨著心情和環境而變化。在”Persuasion”勸導中Anne Elliot 重獲愛情,這種步入中年的感覺吸引了年長的讀者;隨著時光流逝,有些讀者也會和不同的主角找到共鳴,如”理性與感性”、”諾桑覺寺”.
The least easy for modern readers is “ Mansfield Park ”. Unlike the confident Elizabeth Bennet or the overconfident Emma Woodhouse, its heroine, Fanny Price, is quiet, timid and moralistically opposed to amateur theatricals. It is only by imagining ourselves into the world of the early 19th century that we can begin to empathise with Fanny’s scruples. Yet if readers accept the historical context they can then appreciate that Austen is actually dealing with the much more universal moral problem of selfishness.
As Susannah Carson writes in her excellent introduction, today’s critics are split between those who emphasise Austen’s timeless understanding of human nature, and those who stress the very real differences between her time and our own. This volume illustrates both, and it shows how, after 200 years, it is still possible to have new insights. Had you ever noticed that silly Mrs. Bennet, whom everyone loves to mock, ends up having the last laugh in “Pride and Prejudice”? That her machinations to marry off her daughters all work out? Austen’s irony is so deliciously multilayered that every rereading will yield a fresh perspective. This book offers many such discoveries, and it would make a perfect Christmas present for anyone who loves Austen.
如同Susannah Carson在書評的絕佳前言中所寫,時下的書評分成兩派:一種強調Austen對人性的理解永不過時,另一種強調當時與我們的時代大為不同。這本書兩者觀點都有說明,顯現兩百年後依然有新的見解。你可曾注意到”傲慢與偏見”中大家喜歡嘲笑的愚蠢的Mrs. Bennet 卻是最後得意的人。千方百計讓女兒都嫁出去的她可是如願以償。Austin的嘲諷妙不可言、層層疊疊,每讀一次都會產生新的觀點。
Instructor: Clay Hsieh
整理: Josie Lai
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