talking about Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” It’s a classic! It says so right

夏綠蒂·勃朗特的「簡愛」。這是經典著作，這是顯而易見地。

on the spine. Mr. Green! Mr. Green! You sound like Dirty

Green 先生！Green 先生！你的聲音像無情警察。

Harry. Yup, I got a cold, Me From the Past. Plus,

沒錯！我不久前感冒了。更何況，

it was just kind of a tubercular era, so I thought I would try to capture it by bringing

它有點結核時代的感覺，因此我想我會試著用我沙啞的聲音將你

you my husky voice. Mr. Green! Mr. Green! You sound like the voice

帶入時代感。Green 先生！Green 先生！你聽起來像

of Death Itself. You know what, Me From the Past? I know you

死神在說話。你知道來自過去的我嗎？我知道

that skipped school when you skinned your knee, but some of us are committed to learning.

你翹課時磨傷了膝蓋，但我們之中是有人致力於學習的。

So “Jane Eyre” is full of wisdom, but here’s an important lesson, all you Crash

「簡愛」富含智慧，但這裡有很重要的一課，所有文學速成班的

Course viewers: If any of you decide to embark on a career as a governess and you end up,

觀眾們：若你們中有人決定從當女家教做為事業的起跑點，而最後卻

like, working for a mysterious stranger at an isolated house tutoring his sexually precocious

為在孤立房子中神秘的陌生人教導他性早熟的

illegitimate daughter and this mysterious employer proposes marriage, take a walk up

非婚生女，而這名神秘的雇主還求婚了，請移步到

to the attic. Because it is quite likely that you are going to find an insane syphilitic

閣樓去。因為你很可能會發現一名發瘋染梅毒的

arsonist spouse locked up there. And that’s going to be bad for your relationship.

縱火犯配偶被關在那。而這對你的情感關係非常不利。

[INTRO] So “Jane Eyre” was one of the great successes

「簡愛」是維多利亞時代最為成功和

and scandals of the Victorian age, and as soon as it was published in 1847, people began

令人震驚的作品之一，它於1847年甫出版時，

trying to identify the author who wrote under the alias Currer Bell.

人們就開始要確認化名為庫瑞爾·貝爾的作者是誰。

Ugly men of fashion gave themselves “Rochester airs,” ladies adopted “Jane Eyre graces.”

趕流行的醜男人稱自己為「羅徹斯特風采」，女士們則採用「簡愛優雅」。

Some critics decried the novel as dangerous and anti-religious owing to its outspoken

有些評論家因為小說直言不諱的女主角而譴責小說是危險且

heroine. But no less a reader than Queen Victoria called

反宗教的。但維多利亞女王同樣稱它為：

it, “really a wonderful book, very peculiar in parts, but so powerfully and admirably

「非常完美的書，有部分很獨特，但書寫的是如此強而有力與」

written.” Stan, I can’t believe you gave Queen Victoria

令人讚賞。」史坦，我真不敢相信你幫維多利亞女王

that voice. It’s totally unfair to her. She was a lovely monarch!

配上那種聲音。這對她不公平，她是個極好的元首！

So Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816 into a typical English family, except that pretty

夏綠蒂·勃朗特於1816年出生於一個典型的英國家庭中，除了幾乎

much everyone was a literary genius and died tragically young from tuberculosis and opium

所有成員都是文學天才且都悲劇性地早逝於肺結核、鴉片與

and repressed desire. You know, it was Victorian England.

被壓抑的慾望。你懂得，這是維多利亞時代。

As a child, Charlotte Brontë was sent away to school with three of her sisters, two of

童年時期，夏綠蒂·勃朗特和她三個姊妹被送到寄宿學校，

whom died while in attendance. So Brontë returned home and she and her surviving siblings

其中兩名死於在校時。因此勃朗特返回家中，她和她倖存的姊妹

created the elaborate fictional worlds of Gondal and Angria, full of intrigue and passion

創造了貢代爾和安哥利亞兩個詳盡虛構的世界，那裡充滿著令人著迷、有熱情和

and ridiculous names. Basically Harry Potter. No, it wasn’t really like Harry Potter.

荒誕的名詞。就像是哈利波特一樣。不，不完全跟哈利波特一樣。

It was more like all that extra Lord of the Rings stuff, you know, like the Elvish dictionaries.

它更像是另類魔戒的玩意，就像精靈語字典。

Then Brontë became a schoolteacher and eventually a governess, experiences that she drew on

勃朗特成了學校教師，最後當了家庭教師，她的經歷成了寫作

while writing “Jane Eyre,” which she published just after her sister Emily brought out “Wuthering

「簡愛」的素材，此書是在她妹妹艾蜜莉的「咆嘯山莊」出版後

Heights” and just before her sister Anne published “Agnes Grey,” all under male

以及安的「阿格尼斯·格雷」出版前之間出版的。當然，所有著作都是以

pseudonyms of course. Lest you think all Brontës were brilliant,

男性筆名出版的。以免你誤會所有勃朗特家人都是天才，

for the record, their brother Patrick was a terrible writer. I feel a little bad saying

根據紀載，她們的哥哥派翠克是個糟透的作家。我對於他31歲時

that because he died of tuberculosis and opium overdose when he was just 31, but he had no

死於肺結核與鴉片吸食過度還這麼說有點愧疚，但他沒什麼

potential. Anyway, Charlotte’s pseudonym was Currer

天分。夏綠蒂的筆名是庫瑞爾·貝爾，

Bell and as she wrote to the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, she felt that the alias gave her

而根據她寫給小說家伊莉莎白·蓋斯凱爾的信中表示，她覺得筆名給了她

daring. If she relinquished it, she said, “strength and courage would leave her and

勇氣。若她放棄筆名，她提到：「力量與勇氣會離開她，

she should ever after shrink from writing the plain truth.”

她會永遠無法寫出真理。」

Brontë lived long enough to publish three more books and get married before dying at

勃朗特存活的時間足以讓她出版三本以上的書籍，並且在38歲

the age of 38 from tuberculosis and complications associated with pregnancy. Did everyone have

死於肺結核與懷孕併發症前結了婚。是否所有

tuberculosis in 19th century England? So, what actually happens in the story? Well,

英國十九世紀的人都死於肺結核？故事的內容到底是什麼呢？

let’s go to the Thought Bubble: Sad orphan Jane Eyre is raised by her mean

我們來看看思想泡泡：可憐的孤兒簡愛由她

aunt, who neither likes nor loves her. Jane leaves this miserable situation for a charity

刻薄的舅媽養大，她一點都不喜愛簡愛。簡離開這糟糕的處境

school (very much like the one that Brontë attended) at which many of the girls die of

到了寄宿學校(和勃朗特入學的很類似)，在那裡有許多女孩死於

typhus. She completes her schooling, teaches at the school for a while, and then decides

斑疹傷寒。她完成學業，並在學校教學了一陣子，之後決定她想

she wants a wider experience of the world, so she takes a job as governess at Thornfield

得到世上更寬廣的經驗，因此她接受了桑費爾德莊園的家教工作，

Hall, the country estate of the gentleman Mr. Rochester. Despite many red flags, including

這座莊園是屬於一名叫羅徹斯特的紳士的。盡管有許多示警紅旗，其中包含

an episode in which Mr. Rochester disguises himself as a fortune telling gypsy woman in

一段羅徹斯特先生裝成一個算命的吉匹賽女郎

an attempt to find out how Jane feels about him, they fall in love

去試圖探視出簡對他的感覺的插曲，他們相愛了。

Just when they’re about to marry. Jane learns that Mr. Rochester is actually already married

當他們正要結婚時，簡發現羅徹斯特先生其實早就結婚了。

— to an insane woman that he keeps locked in the attic. Jane flees and after nearly

和一個被他鎖在閣樓的瘋女人。簡逃離了，且差點死於

dying from cold and hunger, she’s rescued by the Rivers siblings who conveniently turn

寒冷與飢餓中，她被李佛斯家的手足救了，結果他們順道發現

out to be her long lost cousins. She’s at the point of being bullied into marrying one

是簡長期失聯的表親。她在被逼迫要嫁給其中一名表親時，

of these cousins when she senses that Mr. Rochester calling her. He lost an eye and

感應到羅徹斯特先生在呼喚她。他的妻子燒毀桑費爾德莊園時，

a hand when his wife burned down Thornfield Hall, but on the upside, his wife died in

他失去一隻眼睛和一隻手。但與此同時，他太太也死於大火，

the fire, so he is now an eligible bachelor. Jane is free to marry him and his sight is

因此他成了合適的單身貴族。簡可以與他結婚，而他的視力

miraculously restored, and everyone not already dead lives happily ever after.

也奇蹟般地好轉了，所有人也都活生生的過得幸福快樂。

Thanks, Thought Bubble. Now that plot summary may not make it sound like a terribly sophisticated

謝啦，思想泡泡。這個故事大綱也許聽來不太像一本精雕細琢的

novel, but in fact, I think it’s one of the most sophisticated novels of the 19th

小說，但事實上，我想這是十九世紀最精雕細琢的小說之一了。

century. Like as with a lot of great works of literature,

就像許多文學巨作一樣，

it’s pretty hard to assign “Jane Eyre” to just one genre. I mean, to get things off

很難將「簡愛」分類為某種類別。此書為了有個

to a complicated start, the subtitle calls the book an autobiography. But clearly it

簡單的開場，副標題稱此書為一本自傳。但顯然

isn’t, because it has an author’s name that isn’t Jane Eyre.

它並不是，因為它的作者的名字並非簡愛。

But then again, in a more abstract sense, maybe it is. Like one of the book’s first

但話說回來，從抽象化來理解，也許它是自傳。如同此書的首位

admirers, George Henry Lewes wrote, “It is an autobiography, — not, perhaps, in

欽慕者喬治·亨利·路易斯寫道：「它是本自傳，

the naked facts and circumstances, but in the actual suffering and experience—it is

並不是因為那赤裸裸的事實與環境，而是因那真實存在的痛苦與經歷，

soul speaking to soul; it’s an utterance from the depths of a struggling, suffering,

那是靈魂與靈魂的對話。那是來自掙扎、痛苦深處的話語

much- enduring spirit.” Lewes’s companion, the novelist George Eliot

堅忍不拔的靈魂。」路易斯的友人，一名小說家名叫喬治·艾略特

(another female writer who used a male name) described Brontë almost exactly as Brontë

（另一名用男性筆名的女性作家）用勃朗特會描述簡愛的方式

would describe Jane Eyre, as “a little, plain, provincial, sickly-looking old maid.

來描述勃朗特：「一名嬌小、樸素、鄉野、病弱樣的老姑娘。

Yet what passion, what fire in her!” And that really gets at something at the heart

但又是怎樣的熱情與心火在其中！」而這真的有捕捉到

of “Jane Eyre,” like people assume that women who are plain and provincial and sickly-looking

「簡愛」的核心，就像那些被認定為嬌小、樸素、鄉野、病弱樣的女人，

didn’t have the rich inner lives and the fire and the passion that we find in Jane

她們沒有簡愛身上有的富足的內在生活、

Eyre. And that’s part of what made the novel so

熱情與心火。而那正是讓這本小說如此有

revolutionary and so popular with female readers. I mean, any reader who learns even a little

革命性，且受到女性讀者的歡迎。任何有注意到一丁點

of Brontë’s biography will notice a lot of overlap between her experiences and Jane

勃朗特傳記的讀者就會注意到她和簡愛的經歷

Eyre’s, like, particularly in the descriptions of Jane’s time at the charity school and

有許多重疊之處，尤其是簡在寄宿學校的描寫，

also her sense of the intermediate position between servant and lady that a governess

以及她對於在家庭教師和淑女之間

occupies. But whether you choose to read “Jane Eyre”

身分地位的觀感。但不論你是否要將「簡愛」當成

as a fictionalized autobiography, it is certainly a great bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is

一本小說式的自傳來閱讀，這絕對是一本極佳的成長小說。成長小說是

a fancy German term that we use to describe a novel about a young person’s education

一個別緻的德國用語，我們用來描述小說中一名年輕人的教育或

or coming of age. So at the beginning of the book, Jane has

步入成年之時。而書的開場中，簡

no education and is punished whenever she tries to think for herself or defend her independence.

沒受到教育，且在她試圖自我思考或維護自主權時被懲罰。

But then in each subsequent section of the novel—the school, Thornfield, her escape,

但小說中的每個段落之後，學校、桑費爾德莊園、她的逃跑、

her return —Jane learns something that helps her way in the world and to assert herself.

她的歸來，簡都學到一些能讓她在世間展現自我價值的東西。

And it’s only at the end of the novel, when she can approach Mr. Rochester as an equal

且只有在小說的結尾處，在她能以平等伴侶而非依靠者的身分接觸

partner rather than a dependent, her education is complete.

羅徹斯特先生時，她的教育已圓滿。

“Jane Eyre,” like Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” borrows from the traditions of the Romantic

「簡愛」就像瑪麗·雪萊的「科學怪人」一樣，借鏡傳統的

and gothic novels, like from Romanticism we get the radical focus on the individual and

浪漫和歌德小說，就像浪漫主義，我們對與眾不同的人和

some of Jane’s interest in dreams and intuition and the supernatural.

一些簡對夢想、直覺與超自然現象的興趣上有著絕對的聚焦點。

And from the gothic tradition, we get the fun page-turner stuff: the mysterious house

從歌德文學傳統中，我們得到了些有趣且引人入勝的東西：一棟有著

with the person you don’t expect to be there, the mad wife, the arson, the stabbing, the

出乎意料的人存在的房子、瘋狂的妻子、縱火、刺傷以及

shock of the interrupted marriage ceremony. These days we associate so-called “genre

婚禮被中斷的衝擊。現今我們將所謂的「流派小說」

novels” with a lack of seriousness, but what makes “Jane Eyre” special is its

與缺乏嚴肅性連結在一起，但讓「簡愛」變得如此特別的就是因它的

seriousness and its psychological realism. It’s also, and I think this is something

嚴肅性和心理學的寫實主義。我想這同時也是我們在討論書籍時常常會

that goes underappreciated a lot when we talk about books, really good writing sentence

被忽略的點，這是句裡行間極佳的

to sentence. I mean, this book came out more than a hundred

寫作方式。此書是在一百六十多年前

and sixty years ago but the writing is so clear and so precise that it often feels contemporary.

出現的，但它的寫作是如此清晰與精確，以至於常常讓人覺得是當代文學。

The poet and critic Adrienne Rich wrote of “Jane Eyre,” “It takes its place…between

詩人兼評論家艾德麗安·里奇對「簡愛」寫道：「它在假定的領域間

the realm of the given, that which is changeable by human activity, and the realm of the fated,

佔有一席之地，也就是人類活動的變動性、命運的領域，

that which lies outside human control: between realism and poetry.”

這些是在人類的控制範圍外的：在寫實主義和詩歌之間。」

And we noted earlier how for most of the novel, Jane is between servant and lady, Mr. Rochester

is between married and unmarried, and Bertha, the mad woman in the attic, is portrayed as

being between an animal and human. So all kind of like crazy - oh it must be

time for the open letter. Oh look, it’s Funshine Bear. We can’t

all be as happy as you are, buddy. An open letter to Psychotropic Drugs.

Dear Psychotropic Drugs, there’s this whole thing about how, like, artists need to be

mentally ill and, need to, like, wallow in their illness in order to create things.

But when I read about the way that mental illness was dealt with in Victorian England,

I feel profoundly grateful to you. In the end, Psychotropic Drugs, you don’t

make me less creative, you make it possible for me to create.

Long story short, Psychotropic Drugs, I am very grateful that I don’t live in a 19th

century English attic. Best wishes, John Green. Crazy, horrifying, very gothic things keep

happening to Jane, but she reacts to most of them in her level-headed governess way.

Someone tries to burn Mr. Rochester in his bed? Someone bites his houseguest? She stops

to ask herself, “What crime was this that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion,

and could neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner?—what mystery, that broke out

now in fire and now in blood, at the deadest hours of night?”

Jane has these terrible disturbing dreams the night before her wedding and a horrible

lady monster thing appears in her room and rips her bridal veil in two? But Jane manages

to just put it all aside, and goes through with the ceremony.

It’s not until a man stands up in church and reads out a notarized document explaining

everything that Jane admits there’s definitely something suspicious going on. And it takes

her another day to decide to leave Thornfield. So we know that “Jane Eyre” isn’t a

detective novel, right? Let’s just take a moment to acknowledge that while Jane is

a feisty and very appealing heroine, she is no Sherlock.

So why does Jane keep failing to recognize what seems to the reader so obvious? Well,

if you’ve ever been in love, then you might have noticed you have an astonishing ability

to ignore red flags. For instance, Meredith used to date a ginger

(red flag #1), who kept hitting on her roommate (red flag #2), and eventually, of course,

you know, it happened. By “it,” I of course mean that he burned

her bed. I’m sorry gingers, that was a cheap joke,

but I do dislike Meredith’s ex-boyfriend. Anyway, more importantly than any of that,

in the middle of the novel, Jane’s education is still ongoing. She hasn’t yet achieved

financial independence or independent thought, she hasn’t yet found the strength to give

up Mr. Rochester when he proposes that she live with him as his mistress.

And by the end of the novel, she’s much better at reading clues. Like when she hears

Mr. Rochester’s voice calling out to her from clear across the country, she doesn’t

think, “Wow, that seems improbable.” She goes!

And when she finds him, he’s lost his sight, but of course, Jane has finally learned how

to see, to pay attention not just to what’s in front of her, but also what’s happening

beyond and beneath the visible world. So when Charlotte Brontë was young, she wrote

to the poet Robert Southey hoping for encouragement. He acknowledged her talent, but told her not

to waste any more time at it because, “Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life,

and it ought not to be.” Now Jane seems perfectly happy to give up

writing her autobiography in favor of having all of Mr. Rochester’s babies and her declaration,

“Reader, I married him” is probably the most famous sentence in the book. But it’s

important to remember that Jane doesn’t marry Mr. Rochester until she can meet him

on an equal, if not superior footing. Like earlier in the book he has all the money

and all the power and all the secrets, right? By the end of the novel, she has money, and

also vision, both literal and metaphorical. Jane consistently rejects men who try to control

her and she shows a lot of perceptive critiques of gender dynamics, like a passage in which

she declares: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally:

but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field

for their efforts as much as their brothers do…and it is narrow-minded in their more

privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings

and knitting stockings.” Sorry, pudding lovers but this novel clearly

says to heck with pudding! I’m only making pudding when I can make pudding on my own

terms! Also, who would want to wear knitted stockings?

So I think you can read the novel as striking at least a soft blow for gender equality,

but many feminist critics, like Sandra Gilbert, sense that there’s something a little more

disturbing going on in Jane’s journey from abused child to perfect Victorian wife.

Gilbert focuses where very little of the actual novel does, on that mad woman in the attic,

Mr. Rochester’s first wife, Bertha Mason. I mean, was Bertha really the fallen woman

that Rochester describes? Let’s remember that Mr. Rochester freely admits to keeping

a lot of mistresses, but the novel never really scolds his sexual behavior.

Meanwhile, keeping mentally ill, inconvenient wives chained to the attic, which, by the

way, really happened in Brontë’s day, is more or less approved of.

Now some read Bertha, who hails from a tropical island and has dark skin, as a commentary

on Britain’s treatment of its colonies. But my favorite reading is to see Bertha as

a kind of dark mirror for Jane, of all the feelings and desires that Jane has to repress

in order to fit the mold of Victorian womanhood, a creature who “snatched and growled like