普通讀者

吳爾芙, 普通讀者 -- 珍奧斯汀 (節錄)
(石永禮的譯文，略修)

Hence our knowledge of Jane Austen is derived from a little gossip, a few letters, and her books. As for the gossip, gossip which has survived its day is never despicable; with a little rearrangement it suits our purpose admirably.

這麼一來，要瞭解珍奧斯汀，只得依據幾則閒言、幾封書信和她幾部作品。能夠留傳至今的閒言，未可小覷，稍加整理就非常有用。

For example, Jane "is not at all pretty and very prim, unlike a girl of twelve . . . Jane is whimsical and affected," says little Philadelphia Austen of her cousin.

比如小費拉德菲亞談到珍，說她堂姐「一點不漂亮，又十分古板，不像個十二歲的女孩子……怪脾氣，愛裝模作樣」。

Then we have Mrs. Mitford, who knew the Austens as girls and thought Jane "the prettiest, silliest, most affected husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers".

有位繆福太太，奧斯汀兩姐妹做小姑娘的時候就認識，認為珍是她「印象中最漂亮、最傻氣、最愛裝腔作勢的輕浮丫頭，只顧忙著找對象」。

Next, there is Miss Mitford's anonymous friend "who visits her now [and] says that she has stiffened into the most perpendicular, precise, taciturn piece of 'single blessedness' that ever existed, and that, until Pride and Prejudice showed what a precious gem was hidden in that unbending case, she was no more regarded in society than a poker or firescreen. . . . The case is very different now, the good lady goes on; she is still a poker—but a poker of whom everybody is afraid. . . . A wit, a delineator of character, who does not talk is terrific indeed!"

繆福小姐那位不知名的朋友——「到珍家裡小敘，見珍變了個木訥的『老小姐』，人又古板又拘謹，若非寫了部《傲慢與偏見》，讓人一窺硬殼裡藏著珍珠，定然像根撥火棍或塊防火板般絕不起眼……」這位好太太還說：「現在出了書，大大不同嘍。撥火棍依舊——不過人見人怕……一聲不響專愛寫別人的才女，誰不怕！」

On the other side, of course, there are the Austens, a race little given to panegyric of themselves, but nevertheless, they say, her brothers "were very fond and very proud of her. They were attached to her by her talents, her virtues, and her engaging manners, and each loved afterwards to fancy a resemblance in some niece or daughter of his own to the dear sister Jane, whose perfect equal they yet never expected to see."

此外，還有奧斯汀一家——雖不愛張揚，卻傳聞珍的哥哥都「非常喜歡她，以她為榮，因為她有才氣、有品德、有風度。後來，哥哥都愛想像侄女或女兒中，有誰跟愛妹某一點相像——然而堪與珍相匹者，恐未見」。

Charming but perpendicular, loved at home but feared by strangers, biting of tongue but tender of heart—these contrasts are by no means incompatible, and when we turn to the novels we shall find ourselves stumbling there too over the same complexities in the writer.

珍奧斯汀既可愛又古板，既是家中寶、出門又人人怕，刀子嘴又心腸軟——這些明顯的差別，並非不相容。看看她的小說，we shall find ourselves stumbling there too over the same complexities in the writer。