By+Sam+Jordison

On the 18 July 1817， Jane Austen died in Winchester， after a long， painful illness. Her brother James arranged for her to be buried in the cathedral. The inscription2 on her tomb reads：

In Memory of JANE AUSTEN， youngest daughter of the late Revd GEORGE AUSTEN， formerly Rector of Steventon in this County.3 She departed this Life on the 18th of July 1817， aged 41， after a long illness supported with the patience and the hopes of a Christian. The benevolence of her heart， the sweetness of her temper， and the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her and the warmest love of her intimate connections.4 Their grief is in proportion to their affection， they know their loss to be irreparable， but in their deepest affliction they are consoled by a firm though humble hope that her charity， devotion， faith and purity have rendered her soul acceptable in the sight of her REDEEMER.5

Touching words—and perhaps it is unusual for a woman of Austens time to be complimented6 for the “endowments of her mind”. But viewed from the 21st century， there is a glaring omission.7 Why did James fail to mention that his sister was one of the greatest writers who has ever lived？

Yes， he had no way of knowing that she would be remembered hundreds of years later for helping invent the English novel and as one of the finest observers of the human heart and social customs. But why did he not think it was worth mentioning that Austen was an exquisite prose stylist？8 Surely he could have mentioned her way with zingers9？ Just look at them：“For what do we live， but to make sport for10 our neighbours and laugh at them in our turn？” Or this：“Nobody minds having what is too good for them.”O(jiān)r： “It was a delightful visit；—perfect， in being much too short.”

I could happily spend this whole article rooting out11 Jane Austen quotes， but the chances are youve read them all. She is central to our culture—so much so， you might think it will be a challenge to find something new to discuss. What hasnt already been said about Austen？

But Im not worried. Like all great authors， Austen holds a mirror up to our times as much as to her own. Shes always relevant12， but also very much of her time. Reading the famous opening lines of Pride and Prejudice， who today would still believe “it is a truth universally acknowledged， that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”？ Austen shows that， even in 1813， things were a little more complicated than that exquisite phrasing suggests， but it is fascinating to read of such a society from a completely different vantage point13.endprint

Speaking of the passing of time， Im also curious to see how it feels to read Austen again. Its more than 20 years since I read anything she wrote. Some time in the mid-90s I ground out my last A-level paragraph about dramatic irony in Emma， put away my pen with relief， started reading On the Road—and didnt look back.14 I suspect there are plenty of other people in a similar situation， so it will be fascinating to engage with15 her again（especially free from the shadow of exams）. Im hoping to discover all sorts of new things in her books， and I might even catch a few jokes that were too subtle for me when I was 18.

In short， Im looking forward to it. The only question is which book to read. I think the simplest and best way to decide will be to list all of her novels. They are （in order of publication）：

1. Sense and Sensibility

2. Pride and Prejudice

3. Mansfield Park

4. Emma

5. Northanger Abbey

6. Persuasion

7. Lady Susan

Lady Susan was a short epistolary16 novel written while Austen was a teenager， but published in 1871. If it rouses17 your curiosity， I dont see why we cant count it in. Otherwise， there are six classics to choose from.

One more classic quote from Austen， which I include without comment： “The person， be it gentleman or lady， who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably18 stupid.”

1817年7月18日，在經(jīng)歷痛苦疾病的長(zhǎng)期折磨之后，簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀在英國(guó)漢普郡溫切斯特逝世。隨后，兄長(zhǎng)詹姆斯將她安葬于溫切斯特大教堂。她的碑文這樣寫(xiě)道：

懷念簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀，本郡史蒂文頓教區(qū)已故牧師喬治·奧斯汀的小女兒。1817年7月18日，簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀與世長(zhǎng)辭，年僅41歲。在此之前，她雖長(zhǎng)期患病，但始終堅(jiān)強(qiáng)隱忍，同時(shí)不忘作為一名基督教徒的信仰。她內(nèi)心仁慈、性情甜美、才華過(guò)人，令所有認(rèn)識(shí)她的人都?xì)J敬不已，親人對(duì)她也懷有無(wú)比溫柔的愛(ài)。此刻，悲傷隨著愛(ài)意一同加深。失去簡(jiǎn)給他們帶來(lái)的痛苦是難以修復(fù)的，但在他們最為痛苦的內(nèi)心深處，仍懷有一絲欣慰，他們卑微但堅(jiān)定地希望，簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀那博愛(ài)、熱忱、真誠(chéng)與純粹的靈魂能夠在救贖主面前蒙悅。

字里行間無(wú)不感人肺腑——而且在奧斯汀所處的年代，給予女性“才華過(guò)人”的褒獎(jiǎng)也許并不多見(jiàn)。但以21世紀(jì)的視角來(lái)看，銘文卻有很明顯的疏漏。為什么詹姆斯沒(méi)有提及自己的妹妹是有史以來(lái)最偉大的作家之一呢？

是的，他當(dāng)然無(wú)從知曉?shī)W斯汀在幾百年后仍為讀者所銘記。這不僅因?yàn)樗龓椭_(kāi)創(chuàng)了英國(guó)小說(shuō)的歷史先河，也因其作品對(duì)人心與世俗的深刻洞察。但是，為什么他認(rèn)為奧斯汀長(zhǎng)于創(chuàng)作精美散文的作家身份不值得一提呢？他本可以提及奧斯汀那些一語(yǔ)中的文字不是嗎？看看這幾句話：“我們?yōu)楹味?？不就是給鄰居當(dāng)笑柄，再反過(guò)來(lái)笑笑他們？”或者：“沒(méi)人介意擁有對(duì)自己極好的東西。”又或者“這是一次愉快的拜訪；——完美，只因太短暫。”

我本來(lái)很樂(lè)意用整個(gè)篇幅將簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀所說(shuō)過(guò)的名言列舉出來(lái)，但有可能你已經(jīng)全部讀過(guò)了。她是我們文化的核心——她如此重要，以至于你可能會(huì)覺(jué)得，找出點(diǎn)兒有新意的東西來(lái)討論是個(gè)極大的挑戰(zhàn)。關(guān)于奧斯汀，還有什么未被挖掘的呢？

但我并不擔(dān)心。像其他所有偉大的作家一樣，奧斯汀的作品像一面鏡子一樣反照了她自己的以及我們的時(shí)代。她的觀點(diǎn)總是中肯切題，同時(shí)不乏其時(shí)代特點(diǎn)?！栋谅c偏見(jiàn)》的開(kāi)場(chǎng)白廣為人知：“凡是有錢(qián)的單身漢，總想娶位太太，這已經(jīng)成了一條舉世公認(rèn)的真理?！倍缃瘢l(shuí)還會(huì)將此奉為信條呢？簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀告訴讀者，即便是在1813年，事情也比她用精致措辭所表達(dá)的情況更復(fù)雜一些。但是，從完全不同的角度來(lái)解讀這樣的社會(huì)，也非常吸引人。

談及時(shí)光的流逝，我也好奇重讀奧斯汀會(huì)有什么感受。自我上次閱讀她的作品已有二十余年。上世紀(jì)90年代中期，我苦心孤詣地寫(xiě)完了一篇關(guān)于“《愛(ài)瑪》中的戲劇諷刺手法”的A-level課程論文的最后一段，然后如釋重負(fù)地放下筆，接著開(kāi)始閱讀《在路上》——此后我便再?zèng)]回頭看過(guò)奧斯汀的作品。我猜想和我有類似情況的人還很多，所以，重讀簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀一定是件非常吸引人的事情（尤其是在沒(méi)有考試陰影的情況下）。我期待能夠在她的作品中重新發(fā)掘各種新鮮元素，而且我甚至還可能理解一些在我18歲時(shí)還曾覺(jué)得過(guò)于微妙的笑話。endprint

簡(jiǎn)言之，我對(duì)此滿心期待。唯一的問(wèn)題就是，應(yīng)該選擇讀哪本書(shū)。我認(rèn)為，最簡(jiǎn)單有效的決定方式就是列出她所有的作品以供選擇。作品如下（按出版順序排列）：

1. 《理智與情感》

2. 《傲慢與偏見(jiàn)》

3. 《曼斯菲爾德莊園》

4. 《愛(ài)瑪》

5. 《諾桑覺(jué)寺》

6. 《勸導(dǎo)》

7. 《蘇珊夫人》

《蘇珊夫人》是奧斯汀青少年時(shí)期寫(xiě)就的一篇簡(jiǎn)短的書(shū)信體小說(shuō)，遲至1871年才發(fā)表。如果它能激發(fā)出你的興趣，不妨把它也算進(jìn)去。如果不算的話，也還有六部經(jīng)典之作可供選擇。

我在此列出奧斯汀的另一句經(jīng)典名言但不作評(píng)論：“不論男士還是女士，如果閱讀優(yōu)秀的小說(shuō)都不能使其感到愉悅，那他或她一定愚蠢得令人無(wú)法忍受?！?/p>

1. bicentenary： 兩百周年（紀(jì)念）。

2. inscription： 銘文，碑文。

3. late： 已故的；Revd： Reverend的縮寫(xiě)，牧師的尊稱；rector：（英國(guó)國(guó)教教會(huì)的）教區(qū)長(zhǎng)。

4. benevolence： 樂(lè)于行善，仁慈；endowment： [常作復(fù)數(shù)] 天資，天賦。

5. irreparable： 不能挽回的，不能修補(bǔ)的；affliction： 痛苦，折磨；charity：博愛(ài)仁慈，善良寬厚；render： 使得；Redeemer： // 耶穌基督，救世主。

6. compliment： 恭維，稱贊。

7. glaring：（錯(cuò)誤）明顯的；omission：疏漏。

8. exquisite： 高雅的，細(xì)膩的；stylist：注重作品風(fēng)格的作家，文體家。

9. zinger： 擊中要害的話，簡(jiǎn)短無(wú)禮卻幽默的評(píng)論。

10. make sport for： 給他人當(dāng)笑柄，成為某人的笑柄。

11. root out： 根除，連根拔起。這里作比喻，指“一一列舉”。

12. relevant： 中肯的，切題的。

13. vantage point： 立場(chǎng)，觀點(diǎn)。

14. grind out： （尤指單調(diào)地或艱難地）大量生產(chǎn)；A-Level： 英國(guó)高中課程（General Certificate of Education Advanced Level），也是英國(guó)學(xué)生的大學(xué)入學(xué)考試課程；On the Road：《在路上》，是美國(guó)“垮掉的一代”代表作家杰克·凱魯亞克創(chuàng)作于1957年的小說(shuō)。這部小說(shuō)絕大部分是自傳性的，被公認(rèn)為上世紀(jì)60年代嬉皮士運(yùn)動(dòng)和垮掉一代的經(jīng)典之作。

15. engage with： 融入其中。

16. epistolary： //（小說(shuō)）書(shū)信體的。

17. rouse： 激起（情感）。

18. intolerably： 令人難耐地，無(wú)法忍受地。endprint