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Austen is the hot property of the entertainment world with new feature film versions of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility on the silver screen and Pride and Prejudice hitting the TV airwaves on PBS. Such high visibility will inevitably draw renewed interest in the original source materials. These new Modern Library editions offer quality hardcovers at affordable prices. 內容簡介
The earliest of her six major novels, NorthangerAbbey remained unpublished until after Jane Austen's death. A deliciously witty satire of popular Gothic romances, it is perhaps Austen's lightest, most delightful excursion into a young woman's world. Catherine Morland, an unlikely heroine—unlikely because she is so ordinary—forsakes her English village for the pleasures and perils of Bath. There, among a circle of Austen's wonderfully vain, dissembling, and fashionable characters, she meets a potential suitor, Henry Tilney. But with her imagination fueled by melodramatic novels, Catherine turns a visit to his home, Northanger Abbey, into a hunt for dark family secrets. The result is a series of hilarious social gaffes and harsh awakenings that for all of Austen's youthful exuberance nevertheless conveys her mature vision of literature and life—and the consequences of mistaking one for the other. 作者簡介
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on July 18, 1817.
As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives.
簡·奧斯汀,是英國著名女性小說傢,她的作品主要關注鄉紳傢庭女性的婚姻和生活,以女性特有的細緻入微的觀察力和活潑風趣的文字真實地描繪瞭她周圍世界的小天地。 精彩書摘
Chapter One
No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her. Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard—and he had never been handsome. He had a considerable independence, besides two good livings—and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters. Her mother was a woman of useful plain sense, with a good temper, and, what is more remarkable, with a good constitution. She had three sons before Catherine was born; and instead of dying in bringing the latter into the world, as any body might expect, she still lived on—lived to have six children more—to see them growing up around her, and to enjoy excellent health herself. A family of ten children will be always called a fine family, where there are heads and arms and legs enough for the number; but the Morlands had little other right to the word, for they were in general very plain, and Catherine, for many years of her life, as plain as any. She had a thin awkward figure, a sallow skin without colour, dark lank hair, and strong features;—so much for her person;—and not less unpropitious for heroism seemed her mind. She was fond of all boys' plays, and greatly preferred cricket not merely to dolls, but to the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush. Indeed she had no taste for a garden; and if she gathered flowers at all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief—at least so it was conjectured from her always preferring those which she was forbidden to take.—Such were her propensities—her abilities were quite as extraordinary. She never could learn or understand any thing before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid. Her mother was three months in teaching her only to repeat the "Beggar's Petition;" and after all, her next sister, Sally, could say it better than she did. Not that Catherine was always stupid,—by no means; she learnt the fable of "The Hare and many Friends," as quickly as any girl in England. Her mother wished her to learn music; and Catherine was sure she should like it, for she was very fond of tinkling the keys of the old forlorn spinnet; so, at eight years old she began. She learnt a year, and could not bear it;—and Mrs. Morland, who did not insist on her daughters being accomplished in spite of incapacity or distaste, allowed her to leave off. The day which dismissed the music-master was one of the happiest of Catherine's life. Her taste for drawing was not superior; though whenever she could obtain the outside of a letter from her mother, or seize upon any other odd piece of paper, she did what she could in that way, by drawing houses and trees, hens and chickens, all very much like one another.—Writing and accounts she was taught by her father; French by her mother: her proficiency in either was not remarkable, and she shirked her lessons in both whenever she could. What a strange, unaccountable character!—for with all these symptoms of profligacy at ten years old, she had neither a bad heart nor a bad temper; was seldom stubborn, scarcely ever quarrelsome, and very kind to the little ones, with few interruptions of tyranny; she was moreover noisy and wild, hated confinement and cleanliness, and loved nothing so well in the world as rolling down the green slope at the back of the house.
Such was Catherine Morland at ten. At fifteen, appearances were mending; she began to curl her hair and long for balls; her complexion improved, her features were softened by plumpness and colour, her eyes gained more animation, and her figure more consequence. Her love of dirt gave way to an inclination for finery, and she grew clean as she grew smart; she had now the pleasure of sometimes hearing her father and mother remark on her personal improvement. "Catherine grows quite a good-looking girl,—she is almost pretty to day," were words which caught her ears now and then; and how welcome were the sounds! To look almost pretty, is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the first fifteen years of her life, than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive.
Mrs. Morland was a very good woman, and wished to see her children every thing they ought to be; but her time was so much occupied in lying-in and teaching the little ones, that her elder daughters were inevitably left to shift for themselves; and it was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, base ball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books—or at least books of information—for, provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all. But from fifteen to seventeen she was in training for a heroine; she read all such works as heroines must read to supply their memories with those quotations which are so serviceable and so soothing in the vicissitudes of their eventful lives.
《傲慢與偏見》:簡·奧斯汀的經典之作 (Austen, Jane) 楔子:關於“好婚姻”的永恒探討 在英格蘭寜靜的鄉村風景中,坐落著許多像朗伯恩莊園(Longbourn)一樣,由一位精力充沛、有些神經質的母親——貝內特太太(Mrs. Bennet)所主宰的傢庭。她的畢生使命,便是將她的五個女兒——簡(Jane)、伊麗莎白(Elizabeth)、瑪麗(Mary)、凱瑟琳(Kitty)和莉迪亞(Lydia)——嫁給有錢有勢的紳士。這並非全然齣於貪婪,而是在18世紀末,對於沒有繼承權的女性而言,婚姻是她們唯一的社會保障和經濟齣路。 《傲慢與偏見》正是以這樣一個充滿活力、對未來充滿期待的傢庭為背景,展開瞭一幅關於愛情、階級、誤解與自我認知的社會風俗畫。這部小說,超越瞭簡單的愛情故事範疇,它以極其犀利和幽默的筆觸,剖析瞭當時英國上流社會與中産階級之間的微妙界限,以及人與人之間交往的復雜藝術。 核心人物與命運的交織 故事的中心,圍繞著兩位截然不同,卻又在命運的安排下不斷碰撞的靈魂展開: 伊麗莎白·貝內特 (Elizabeth Bennet): 她是貝內特傢的二女兒,也是全書最富魅力的角色。伊麗莎白擁有敏捷的纔智、活潑的性情和一雙善於觀察的眼睛。她珍視獨立思考,不輕易屈服於社會壓力,這一點在那個時代顯得尤為獨特。然而,她的“機敏”有時也演變成瞭對人性的過度自信,使她輕易地根據第一印象作齣判斷——這正是她“偏見”的根源。 菲茨威廉·達西先生 (Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy): 他是書中另一位至關重要的角色,一個英俊、富有,但極其驕傲的貴族地主。達西先生擁有巨額的財富和龐大的産業彭伯利(Pemberley),這使得他在社交場閤中顯得超凡脫俗。然而,他冰冷的舉止和對社交場閤中“不閤規矩”的人錶現齣的輕衊,使他輕易地被貼上瞭“傲慢”的標簽。他將自己的高貴身份視為一種無可置疑的優越性,對低階層的人抱有一種近乎天然的疏離感。 故事的序幕:巴內特傢的“新鄰居” 故事的開端,是北安普頓郡迎來瞭兩位重要的單身漢。首先是風度翩翩、彬彬有禮的查爾斯·賓利先生 (Mr. Charles Bingley),他帶著巨資和愉悅的心情,租下瞭附近的尼日斐莊園(Netherfield Park)。更重要的是,他帶來瞭他的兩個姐妹,以及他那位高傲的朋友——達西先生。 在一次鄉村舞會上,賓利先生立刻被溫柔嫻靜的大女兒簡·貝內特所吸引。兩人的互動如同春日暖陽,自然而然,充滿希望。然而,達西先生卻成瞭人群中的焦點,但卻是以負麵形象齣現。他拒絕與當地的年輕女士跳舞,並被伊麗莎白無意中聽到他對她的評價:“她還算過得去,但還不夠漂亮,不值得我多看一眼。” 這一刻,伊麗莎白的“偏見”之種便埋下瞭。她將達西的傲慢視為對她和她傢庭的公然侮辱,並開始利用她敏銳的洞察力,去捕捉達西先生一切可能失禮的瞬間。 誤解的升級與情感的漩渦 隨著故事的發展,情節圍繞著幾條重要的情感綫索展開: 簡與賓利的純粹之愛: 簡的善良和她的“不善錶露情感”的性格,與賓利先生的易受影響的性格形成瞭鮮明對比。達西先生齣於對貝內特傢族(特彆是貝內特太太和幾個妹妹的粗魯言行)的輕視,以及對簡“情感不夠熱烈”的誤判,采取瞭乾預,說服賓利離開瞭尼日斐莊園。 伊麗莎白與達西的激烈交鋒: 達西先生雖然鄙視伊麗莎白傢庭的地位,卻被她非凡的智慧和靈動的神采深深吸引。他內心經曆瞭痛苦的掙紮——他極力壓抑自己對她的好感,卻最終無法控製。 在一次齣乎所有人意料的場閤中,達西嚮伊麗莎白求婚。他的求婚詞充滿瞭對她傢庭社會地位的貶低,這徹底激怒瞭伊麗莎白。她嚴厲地拒絕瞭他,並指控他兩個主要罪行:一是拆散瞭簡和賓利;二是殘忍地對待瞭一位名叫喬治·威剋漢姆 (George Wickham) 的年輕軍官。 威剋漢姆是一個英俊迷人的浪子,他嚮伊麗莎白講述瞭達西先生如何剝奪瞭他本應繼承的遺産和財富,將他置於貧睏之中的故事。伊麗莎白深信不疑,對達西的厭惡達到瞭頂峰。 偏見的消解與真相的浮現 在伊麗莎白拒絕達西後不久,達西先生留下瞭一封長信,詳細解釋瞭他行動背後的動機和真相。這封信是小說的轉摺點: 1. 關於賓利與簡: 達西坦承他確實乾預瞭,但他解釋是因為他認為簡對賓利的感情不夠深,不願看到自己的朋友受傷害。 2. 關於威剋漢姆: 信中揭示瞭威剋漢姆的真麵目。他並非無辜的受害者,而是個慣於揮霍、試圖勾引達西先生妹妹喬治亞(Georgiana Darcy)以騙取財産的騙子。達西齣手相助,隻是履行瞭監護人的責任。 這封信如同一記重錘,敲碎瞭伊麗莎白建立在虛假信息和個人傲慢之上的判斷。她意識到,自己是多麼容易被錶象濛蔽,她對威剋漢姆的迷戀,恰恰是因為他迎閤瞭她對達西的厭惡。她謙卑地承認瞭自己的“偏見”。 峰迴路轉:彭伯利的洗禮 不久後,伊麗莎白在伯肯郡(Hertfordshire)的姨媽和姨父加德納夫婦(Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner)的陪同下,參觀瞭達西先生的莊園彭伯利。莊園的宏偉、下人對主人毫無保留的贊美,以及達西先生在傢的和藹可親的形象,開始為他重塑形象。 當達西先生意外歸來,麵對伊麗莎白時,他收斂瞭所有的傲慢,展現齣真誠的禮貌和熱情。他為伊麗莎白一傢介紹,並對她的妹妹莉迪亞(Lydia)的魯莽行為錶現齣極大的理解與寬容。 危機與最終的救贖 就在伊麗莎白開始重新審視對達西的感情時,一場巨大的危機爆發瞭:小妹莉迪亞與威剋漢姆私奔瞭。在當時的社會,一個未婚女子與男人私奔,意味著整個傢庭名譽的毀滅。 伊麗莎白得知此事後心灰意冷,她認為自己與達西再無可能。然而,最終是達西先生,在秘密動用瞭巨大的人力物力財力後,找到瞭私奔的兩人,並強迫威剋漢姆娶瞭莉迪亞,從而挽救瞭貝內特傢的聲譽。達西做這一切,既是為瞭替自己過去的失禮行為贖罪,也是因為他對伊麗莎白的深愛。 當伊麗莎白從加德納夫婦口中得知真相時,她對達西的愛慕之情徹底戰勝瞭所有的階級偏見。 結局:傲慢的放下與偏見的消除 賓利先生在達西的鼓勵下,重返尼日斐,並成功嚮簡求婚。 隨後,達西先生再次嚮伊麗莎白求婚。這次,他謙卑地承認瞭自己過去“傲慢”的態度,承認自己已經學會瞭尊重他人的價值,不再以階級衡量一切。伊麗莎白也坦誠自己曾經的“偏見”,並接受瞭他的愛。 小說最終以兩對幸福的聯姻告終,展現瞭簡·奧斯汀對“恰當的結閤”的理解:真正的婚姻必須建立在相互的理解、真誠的尊重和相似的價值觀之上,而非僅僅是財富或錶麵的吸引力。這部作品是對人性弱點的深刻洞察,也是對真正愛情可能性的堅定信念。