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Jane Austen: The Evergreen Storyteller

ByNandini Nair

When Jane Austen’s fi rst novelSense and Sensibilitywas published in 1811, the title page simply read, “A Novel. In Three Volumes. By a Lady”.What could be greater justice than the fact that on her 200th death anniversary,that same anonymous lady gets her very own bank note1此處指將簡·奧斯丁的肖像印在英鎊紙鈔上。? Austen is only the third writer to grace an English note(following William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens) and the first woman writer to do so. And really, no one can grudge2grudge懷恨；妒忌；不滿。her the honour. (One can hope that Virginia Woolf might similarly be commemorated in the future.)

簡·奧斯丁的第一部小說《理智與情感》于1811年出版，扉頁上只寫著“一部小說，三卷本，一位女士著”。這位匿名的女士在其逝世200周年紀(jì)念日上，擁有了自己的專屬鈔票，還有什么比這更加公道的呢？奧斯丁是第三位為英鎊紙鈔增輝添彩的作家（另兩位是威廉·莎士比亞和查爾斯·狄更斯），是第一位享此殊榮的女性作家。說真的，她獲得這項榮譽，沒有人會心懷不滿。（或許弗吉尼婭·伍爾夫今后也會以類似的方式得到紀(jì)念。）

[2] When Austen died at 41, on July 18th, 1817, her profession as a writer did not make it to her epitaph3epitaph墓志銘，碑文。. Her brother Henry chose instead to focus on her “charity, devotion, faith and purity”.While she never got to embrace the title of an author when she was alive, death has ensured her legacy. Her books have been translated into 40 languages andPride and Prejudiceitself has sold over 20 million copies. If her epitaph were to be written today, we could, perhaps,borrow from Virginia Woolf who wrote in The TLS4=The Times Literary Supplement《泰晤士報文學(xué)增刊》，創(chuàng)刊于1902年，涉及人文學(xué)術(shù)和藝術(shù)的各個領(lǐng)域，被譽為當(dāng)代最杰出的人文性書評及文化雜志。弗吉尼婭·伍爾夫從1905年開始為其寫稿。of 1913, “More than any other novelist she fi lls every inch of her canvas with observation, fashions5fashion制作，塑造。every sentence into meaning, stuffs up6stuff up堵塞，堵住。every chink7chink裂縫；裂口。and cranny8cranny裂縫，裂隙。of the fabric until each novel is a little living world, from which you cannot break off a scene or even a sentence without bleeding it of some of its life. Her characters are so rounded and substantial that they have the power to move out of the scenes in which she placed them into other moods and circumstances.”

[2]奧斯丁于1817年7月18日逝世，年僅41歲，墓志銘上并未寫明她是位作家。她的哥哥亨利為她寫的墓志銘是“慈愛、奉獻、真誠與純潔”。盡管奧斯丁生前從未獲得過作家的稱謂，但身后卻功成名就。她的書被譯成40種語言，僅《傲慢與偏見》就售出超過2000萬本。如果今天為她寫墓志銘，我們或許可以借用弗吉尼婭·伍爾夫的話。她在1913年的《泰晤士報文學(xué)增刊》中寫道：“與其他小說家相比，她將所見所聞涂滿每寸畫布，將每個句子都賦予意義，填滿畫布的每處縫隙，每一部小說都成了一個活生生的小世界，裁掉任何一處情景，或刪除任何一個句子，那個世界都會少了些許活力。她筆下的人物圓潤豐滿，完全可以拋開設(shè)定的情景，融入其他的情感世界中?！?/p>

[3] The greatness of Austen is not only that she created the prototype of the modern novel, but that she continues to be relevant. Her novels have been endlessly adapted and modi fi ed because they still make sense today, because they can decode current sensibilities. Her characters can easily move out of London or Pemberley or Mans fi eld Park and be placed in Delhi or Shanghai or Beijing. Indianise the names, and we can all conjure our own comedy of manners9comedy of manners風(fēng)俗喜劇，風(fēng)尚喜?。ㄖS刺某群體行為的戲劇、電影或書籍）。本文作者為印度人，故此處指印度喜劇。. Mrs. Bennet,the mimsy busybody, could easily be Mrs. Batra, your Punjabi10Punjabi旁遮普人（的）；旁遮普語（的）。neighbour with an axe to grind11with an axe to grind有城府的，別有用心的。and daughters to wed. Emma Woodhouse, the selfabsorbed, privileged damsel could be Aisha of south Bombay, whose arti fi ce12artifice詭計，奸計。overwhelms her potential. Mr.Darcy could be your Mr. Dasgupta,the dignified Bengali bachelor whose reticence will be misunderstood as snobbery.

[4] A fascinating study of Austen’s novels in facts, figures and charts published inThe Guardian13《衛(wèi)報》，英國全國性綜合內(nèi)容日報，創(chuàng)辦于1821年5月5日。brings to light the world she knew and the only world she wrote about. All her characters (in her six novels) are independently wealthy who have no professions. Balls and picnics feature14feature (in sth)在……中起重要作用。in all of her books. Evenings and afternoons are spent playing cards.And if romance is the fulcrum15fulcrum（杠桿的）支點，樞軸；最重要的部分。of her novels, then elopement16elopement私奔；潛逃。is also a prerequisite. The servants speak no lines. The only historic event of the time that gets a mention is the Napoleonic War (1803-1815). The Industrial Revolution and French Revolution17法國大革命，于1789年7月14日在法國爆發(fā)。get no airtime18airtime（廣播或電視節(jié)目的）播放時間；（移動電話計費的）通話時間。at all. The lovers will marry by the end.

[3]奧斯丁的偉大之處，不僅在于樹立了現(xiàn)代小說的典范，還在于一直具有時代意義。她的小說不斷被改編、被修訂，因為它們?nèi)跃哂鞋F(xiàn)實意義，仍能解讀當(dāng)今的情感問題。她筆下的人物可以放在倫敦、彭伯利莊園或曼斯菲爾德莊園，也可以置于德里、上?；虮本?。只要改個印度名字，就可以變成我們自己的風(fēng)俗喜劇。古板好事的貝內(nèi)特太太可以改為有女待字閨中的巴特拉太太，你那別有用心的旁遮普鄰居；自以為是、養(yǎng)尊處優(yōu)的少女愛瑪·伍德豪斯可以改為詭計多端的南孟買少女阿以莎；達西先生也可以改為高貴的孟加拉單身漢達斯古普塔，其沉默寡言被誤解為自命不凡。

[4]一項有關(guān)奧斯丁小說的事件安排、人物塑造和情節(jié)展開等方面的精彩研究在《衛(wèi)報》上發(fā)表，揭示了奧斯丁所熟知并詳加描述的世界。她筆下（六部小說中）的所有人物都沒有職業(yè)，但享有財務(wù)自由。每部小說中，舞會和野餐都不可或缺，下午和晚上都要打牌消遣。另外，如果愛情是其小說中的重中之重，那么私奔就是其必要條件。仆人們從來都不言語。當(dāng)時的歷史事件中，唯一有所提及的只有拿破侖戰(zhàn)爭（1803—1815），工業(yè)革命和法國大革命根本沒有出鏡機會。結(jié)局都是有情人終成眷屬。

[5] Even if the nuts and bolts of her six novels are simple enough, the triumph of Austen is her singular wit.It is a cleverness born from immediate observation but one which is universal in nature. She says it well inNorthanger Abbey: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

[6] Two hundred years after her death,you have to be a dud to not enjoy her novels.

[5]奧斯丁的六部小說雖然具體內(nèi)容十分簡單，但勝在充滿無與倫比的智慧。這種智慧源于直接觀察，但實質(zhì)上普遍適用。她在《諾桑覺寺》中寫的很清楚：“一個人，無論是紳士還是淑女，若是對優(yōu)秀的小說不感興趣，那么肯定是愚蠢得不可救藥。”

[6]在奧斯丁去世后兩百年的今天，你若是不喜歡她的小說，那一定是你不識貨。

簡·奧斯?。翰恍嗟男≌f家

文 / 南迪尼·那亞爾譯 / 李艷

（譯者單位：對外經(jīng)濟貿(mào)易大學(xué)英語學(xué)院）