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Jane Austen is loved mainly as a guide to fashionable life in the Regency period,
珍.奧斯丁受人愛戴主要是因為她引領人們認識攝政時代的上流生活。
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but her own vision of her task was radically different.
但是她本人寫作的用意可是大相徑庭。
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She was an ambitious and stern moralist.
她是位有野心而且嚴苛的道德家。
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She was acutely conscious of human failings and wanted, through her novels,
她意識到人類在走下坡,並且希望透過她的小說。
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to make people less selfish and more reasonable.
讓人們更有關懷心也更通情達理。
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More dignified, and sensitive to the needs of others.
更加有尊嚴,並顧及他者的需要。
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Born in 1775, Austen grew up in a small village in Hampshire, where her father was the Anglican rector.
奧斯丁出生於 1775 年,她成長於漢普夏的一個小鎮,她的爸爸是位英國國教派的教區牧師。
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They had high social status, but were not well off.
他們有高社會階級,但是並不富裕。
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She did much of her writing at a tiny octagonal table.
她多半的著作都是在一張小小的八角形桌子完成的。
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She never married, though on a couple of occasions she was tempted.
雖然她有過幾次念頭,但她未曾結婚。
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Mostly, she lived in the country with her sister, Cassandra.
大多時候,她和姐姐卡珊卓一起住在鄉間。
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The novel was her chosen weapon in the struggle to reform humanity.
小說則是她選擇用以奮鬥、喚醒人性的利器。
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She completed six: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion.
她完成了六本書:《理性與感性》、《傲慢與偏見》、《曼斯菲爾德莊園》、《艾瑪》、《諾桑覺寺》和《勸導》。
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Some of the main things she wants to teach you are.
一些她主要想教導你的事情如下。
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1. Let your lover educate you.
讓你的愛人教導你。
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In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet start off heartily disliking each other and then gradually realize they're in love.
在《傲慢與偏見》中,達西先生和伊麗莎白班內特一開始厭惡對方,但接著逐漸意識到他們愛上彼此了。
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They make one of the great romantic couples.
他們是十分速配的一對情侶。
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But why actually are they right for one another?
但到底為什麼他們會適合彼此?
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Austen is very clear: it's for a reason we tend not to think of very much today.
奧斯丁清楚點出:那是因為一個我們今日不會多想的原因。
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Each can educate and improve the other.
雙方能互相教育,讓彼此成為更好的人。
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Darcy starts of feeling superior, because he has more money and higher status.
達西一開始覺得自己高高在上,因為他有較多的錢和較高的聲望。
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Then, at a key moment, Elizabeth condemns his arrogance and pride to his face.
然後,就在關鍵時刻,伊麗莎白當面譴責了他的傲慢和自矜。
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It sounds offensive, but later he admits:
聽起來有些冒犯,但後來他也坦誠:
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Your reproof so well applied, I shall never forget.
妳的譴責如當頭棒喝,我永遠不會忘懷。
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You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous.
妳教會了我一課,雖然起先很難接受,但實則助益良多。
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By you, I was properly humbled.
因為有妳,我學會了謙卑。
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They suit each other because by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved.
他們之所以登對,是因為藉著她的安逸、活潑的性情,他的心腸得以軟化,舉止也有所進步。
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And from his judgment, information and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.
而藉由他的評判與對於世界的知識和掌握,她必定也得到了更多重要的助益。
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In other words, they balance each other out.
換句話說,他們彼此達到了一個平衡。
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We tend to think of love as liking someone for who they are already - total acceptance.
我們傾向於認為愛一個人就是喜歡他現在的狀態——全然接受。
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But Austen is saying that the right person has got to be able to help us overcome our failings.
但是奧斯丁指出,對的人該是幫助我們改善自身缺點。
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And become more mature, honest, and kind; and we need to do something similar for them.
幫助我們變得更成熟、誠實、和善的人;同樣的,我們也要替對方做到這點。
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Darcy and Elizabeth improve one another, and then the novelist lets them get engaged.
達西和伊麗莎白改善了彼此,於是小說家讓他們訂婚。
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The story rewards them because they have developed well.
故事嘉獎了他們,因為他們一路走來進展許多。
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That's why the novel feels so beautifully constructed, and it illustrates a basic truth:
這也是為什麼這部小說令人感覺它架構如此美好,同時它也陳述了一項基本真理:
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marriage depends on maturity and education.
婚姻立基於成熟和教育。
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2. We shouldn't stop judging people ; but we have to judge more carefully.
我們不應該停止評斷他人,但我們必須更加小心評斷。
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Mansfield Park starts when quiet, shy Fanny Price goes to live with her much richer cousins, the Bertrams.
《曼斯菲爾德莊園》的一開始,安靜、害羞的芬妮普萊斯前去住在她較富有的親戚家——博川一家。
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In social terms, the Bertrams are stars, and Fanny is a very minor character indeed.
從社會角度而言,博川一家當屬主角,而芬妮肯定是一個非常次要的角色。
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But Austen judges by a completely different standard.
但是奧斯丁從一個完全不同的觀點評斷。
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She exchanges the normal lens through which people are viewed in society, a lens which magnifies wealth and power, for a moral lens, which magnifies qualities of character.
她調換了社會評價人的觀點,換掉了那個強調財富和權勢的世俗觀點,改為強調個人特質的道德觀點。
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Certainly, Fanny has no elegant dresses or money and can't speak French.
的確,芬妮既沒有華服也沒財富,也不會說法語。
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But by the end of Mansfield Park, she is revealed as the noble one.
但是在故事結尾,她卻被認為是最高尚的一位。
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While the Bertrams, despite their titles and accomplishments, have fallen into moral confusion.
而博川一家縱使擁有頭銜和顯赫的功績,卻落入了道德混亂。
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3. Take money seriously.
重視財務。
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Austen is quite frank about money.
論及財務,奧斯丁還頗直接的。
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In Pride and Prejudice, she explains that Mr. Bingley has an income of 4000 pounds a year - that's rather a lot - while Darcy has more than twice that.
在《傲慢與偏見》中,她說明賓利先生年收入 4000 英鎊,那可是一筆大數目,然而達西的收入是賓利的兩倍以上。
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Rather than feeling it's impolite to discuss money, Austen thinks it's an eminently suitable topic for highbrow literature.
奥斯丁並不覺得談論收入是不禮貌的,她反而認為那對於士紳文學來說是個特別適合的題材。
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Because how we handle our finances has a huge effect on our lives.
因為我們理財的方式會大大影響我們的生活。
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She takes aim at two big mistakes people make around money.
她集中闡述論及錢財時,人們會犯的兩個大錯誤。
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The first is to get over impressed by it. In Mansfield Park, Julia Bertram gets married to Mr. Rushworth, the richest character in all of Austen's novels.
第一個是太過受金錢迷惑。在《曼斯菲爾德莊園》裡,茱莉亞博川嫁給了勞斯沃先生,也就是在奧斯丁所有小說中最有錢的角色。
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But they are miserable together, and their marriage rapidly falls apart.
但他們相處得非常不愉快,婚姻很快就分崩離析了。
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But equally, Austen is convinced that it's a serious error to get married without enough money.
但同樣地奧斯丁也相信,沒有足夠的經濟基礎就結婚也是一大錯誤。
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At one point in Sense and Sensibility, it looks like Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars - who are otherwise well suited - won't be able to get married.
在《理性與感性》的某部分,艾麗諾達士伍和愛德華菲若斯,這對看來登對的佳偶,看似無法結婚。
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She writes, "They were neither of them quite enough in love to think that 350 pounds a year would supply them with the comforts of life."
她寫道,「他們任一方的熱戀程度都還不及讓他們覺得,一年 350 英鎊足夠讓他們擁有舒適的生活。」
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Elinor takes the view that wealth has much to do with happiness.
艾麗諾認為財富和幸福息息相關。
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Though, by wealth, she doesn't mean great luxury, just enough to live carefully in moderate comfort.
雖然她所謂的財富也並非意味著奢華,而只是足夠過得簡單舒適。
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And Austen agrees.
奧斯丁同意了這點。
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Marriage without a reasonable economic basis is just a folly.
沒有一定經濟基礎的婚姻只是場兒戲。
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Austen is showing us an elusive but crucial attitude.
奧斯丁呈現出一個難以捉摸但卻重要至極的觀點。
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Money is in some ways extremely important, and in other ways unimportant. We can't just be for it or against it.
金錢在某些方面十分重要,但在其他方面卻也不重要。我們不行全然支持或是否定某一方。
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4. Don't be snobbish.
別勢利眼。
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In Emma, the heroine - Emma herself - takes Harriett Smith - a pretty girl from the village - under her wing.
在《艾瑪》中,女主角艾瑪將海麗葉史密斯——一個來自小鎮的漂亮女子——收編旗下。
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She wants to make her an impressive match with a smart vicar.
她希望幫她和一個聰明的教區牧師牽紅線。
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Swept away by Emma's excessive praise, Harriet turns down an offer of marriage from a farmer because she thinks now that he's not good enough.
海麗葉被艾瑪過度的讚美吹捧上天,因而拒絕了來自一個農夫的求婚,因為她認為他不夠好。
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Though in fact, he is good-hearted and quietly prosperous.
雖然事實上,他既有一副好心腸而且頗為發達。
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Then the vicar turns out to be horrified at Emma's idea and Harriet has her heart broken.
結果教區牧師被艾瑪的意圖驚呆了,海麗葉也因而心碎。
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The underlying point is serious, Emma is unwittingly but cruelly snobbish.
其中潛藏的含義是很嚴肅的,艾瑪自己不知覺但她其實勢利眼至極。
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She's devoted to the wrong kind of hierarchy.
她遵照了錯誤的階級認知。
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The farmer is essentially a better person than the vicar,
農夫這個人其實本質上比教區牧師好上許多。
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but social conventions and manners make it easy to ignore this.
但是社會傳統和禮節使得人們忽視了這點。
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Jane Austen is careful to give this fault to Emma, who is in many ways an enchanting character.
珍奧斯丁小心翼翼地將這個錯失冠到艾瑪頭上,她其實在很多方面上都是一個迷人的角色。
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In other words, Jane Austen doesn't mock snobbery as the behavior of ghastly and contemptible people.
換句話說,珍奧斯丁並不嘲諷勢利為恐怖、卑鄙的人的行為。
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Instead, she regards the snob with pity, as someone who's in need of instruction, guidance, and reform.
相反地,她以憐憫的角度看到勢利這種行為,認為這個人只是少了提攜、引導和改進。
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As we all are, in our own way.
其實我們所有人在某方面都是如此。
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Austen might have written sermons; she wrote novels instead.
比起寫佈道說教,奧斯丁選擇寫小說。
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She doesn't tell us why her sense of priorities is important, instead, she shows us in a story
她不直接告訴我們何謂輕重緩急,她反倒透過小說闡述,
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which will also make us laugh, which can grip us enough that we want to finish supper early to read on.
小說會使我們歡笑,讓我們想要趕緊吃完飯繼續讀。
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Upon finishing one of the novels, we're invited to go back into the world and respond to others as she has taught us.
每當讀完了其中一本,我們就會被帶入當時的世界,透過她教導我們的和人們對話。
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To pick up on, and recoil from greed, arrogance, and pride, and to be drawn to goodness within ourselves and others.
熟悉了何謂貪慾、傲慢和自矜後,學會擺脫這些弊病,並且引導存在在我們自身和他人心中的良善。
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Sadly, the moral ambition of the novel has largely disappeared in the modern world.
令人難過的是,現今人們閱讀時幾乎不會注意到這種道德企圖。
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Yet it's really the best thing that any novel can do.
然而這的確是一本小說能成就的最棒的事。
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The satisfaction we feel when reading Jane Austen is really because she wants the world to be a certain way and we find that immensely appealing.
我們閱讀珍.奧斯丁的小說感受到的滿足感,實際來自於她希望世道所能呈現的一種特定風貌,而這種世道非常吸引人。
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It's the secret, largely unrecognized reason why she is such a loved writer.
儘管這些特點不易察覺,卻也是她身為一個作者如此受愛戴的原因。