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Emma, when first published in 1816, was written when Jane Austen was at the height of her powers. In it, we have her two greatest comic creations -- the eccentric Mr. Woodhouse and that quintissential bore, Miss Bates. In it, too, we have her most profound characterization: the witty, imaginative, self-deluded Emma, a heroine the author declared "no one but myself will much like," but who has been much loved by generations of readers. Delightfull funny, full of rich irony, Emma is regarded as one of Jane Austen's finest achievements.
內容簡介
As daughter of the richest, most important man in the small provincial village of Highbury, Emma Woodhouse is firmly convinced that it is her right--perhaps even her "duty"--to arrange the lives of others. Considered by most critics to be Austen's most technically brilliant achievement, "Emma" sparkles with ironic insights into self-deception, self-discovery, and the interplay of love and power.
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。
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精彩書摘
Chapter I
EMMA WOODHOUSE, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
She was the youngest of the two daughters of a most affectionate, indulgent father; and had, in consequence of her sister's marriage, been mistress of his house from a very early period. Her mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses; and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother in affection.
Sixteen years had Miss Taylor been in Mr. Woodhouse's family, less as a governess than a friend, very fond of both daughters, but particularly of Emma. Between them it was more the intimacy of sisters. Even before Miss Taylor had ceased to hold the nominal office of governess, the mildness of her temper had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint; and the shadow of authority being now long passed away, they had been living together as friend and friend very mutually attached, and Emma doing just what she liked; highly esteeming Miss Taylor's judgment, but directed chiefly by her own.
The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself: these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments. The danger, however, was at present so unperceived, that they did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her.
Sorrow came-a gentle sorrow-but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness. Miss Taylor married. It was Miss Taylor's loss which first brought grief. It was on the wedding day of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought of any continuance. The wedding over, and the bride people gone, her father and herself were left to dine together, with no prospect of a third to cheer a long evening. Her father composed himself to sleep after dinner, as usual, and she had then only to sit and think of what she had lost.
The event had every promise of happiness for her friend. Mr. Weston was a man of unexceptionable character, easy fortune, suitable age, and pleasant manners; and there was some satisfaction in considering with what self-denying, generous friendship she had always wished and promoted the match; but it was a black morning's work for her. The want of Miss Taylor would be felt every hour of every day. She recalled her past kindness-the kindness, the affection of sixteen years-how she had taught and how she had played with her from five years old-how she had devoted all her powers to attach and amuse her in health-and how nursed her through the various illnesses of childhood. A large debt of gratitude was owing here; but the intercourse of the last seven years, the equal footing and perfect unreserve which had soon followed Isabella's marriage, on their being left to each other, was yet a dearer, tenderer recollection. She had been a friend and companion such as few possessed; intelligent, well-informed, useful, gentle, knowing all the ways of the family, interested in all its concerns, and peculiarly interested in herself, in every pleasure, every scheme of hers; one to whom she could speak every thought as it arose, and who had such an affection for her as could never find fault.
How was she to bear the change? It was true that her friend was going only half a mile from them; but Emma was aware that great must be the difference between a Mrs. Weston, only half a mile from them, and a Miss Taylor in the house; and with all her advantages, natural and domestic, she was now in great danger of suffering from intellectual solitude. She dearly loved her father, but he was no companion for her. He could not meet her in conversation, rational or playful.
The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits; for having been a valetudinarian all his life, without activity of mind or body, he was a much older man in ways than in years; and though everywhere beloved for the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper, his talents could not have recommended him at any time.
Her sister, though comparatively but little removed by matrimony, being settled in London, only sixteen miles off, was much beyond her daily reach; and many a long October and November evening must be struggled through at Hartfield, before Christmas brought the next visit from Isabella and her husband, and their little children, to fill the house, and give her pleasant society again.
Highbury, the large and populous village almost amounting to a town, to which Hartfield, in spite of its separate lawn, and shrubberies, and name, did really belong, afforded her no equals. The Woodhouses were first in consequence there. All looked up to them. She had many acquaintances in the place, for her father was universally civil, but not one among them who could be accepted in lieu of Miss Taylor for even half a day. It was a melancholy change; and Emma could not but sigh over it, and wish for impossible things, till her father awoke, and made it necessary to be cheerful. His spirits required support. He was a nervous man, easily depressed; fond of everybody that he was used to, and hating to part with them; hating change of every kind. Matrimony, as the origin of change, was always disagreeable; and he was by no means yet reconciled to his own daughter's marrying, nor could ever speak of her but with compassion, though it had been entirely a match of affection, when he was now obliged to part with Miss Taylor too; and from his habits of gentle selfishness, and of being never able to suppose that other people could feel differently from himself, he was very much disposed to think Miss Taylor had done as sad a thing for herself as for them, and would have been a great deal happier if she had spent all the rest of her life at Hartfield. Emma smiled and chatted as cheerfully as she could, to keep him from such thoughts; but when tea came, it was impossible for him not to say exactly as he had said at dinner:
"Poor Miss Taylor! I wish she were here again. What a pity it is that Mr. Weston ever thought of her!"
"I cannot agree with you, papa; you know I cannot. Mr. Weston is such a good-humoured, pleasant, excellent man, that he thoroughly deserves a good wife; and you would not have had Miss Taylor live with us for ever, and bear all my odd humours,1 when she might have a house of her own?"
"A house of her own! but where is the advantage of a house of her own? This is three times as large; and you have never any odd humours, my dear."
"How often we shall be going to see them, and they coming to see us! We shall be always meeting! We must begin; we must go and pay our wedding-visit very soon."
"My dear, how am I to get so far? Randalls is such a distance. I could not walk half so far."
"No, papa; nobody thought of your walking. We must go in the carriage, to be sure."
"The carriage! But James will not like to put the horses to for such a little way; and where are the poor horses to be while we are paying our visit?"
"They are to be put into Mr. Weston's stable, papa. You know we have settled all that already. We talked it all over with Mr. Weston last night. And as for James, you may be very sure he will always like going to Randalls, because of his daughter's being housemaid there. I only doubt whether he will ever take us anywhere else. That was your doing, papa. You got Hannah that good place. Nobody thought of Hannah till you mentioned her-James is so obliged to you!"
"I am very glad I did think of her. It was very lucky, for I would not have had poor James think himself slighted upon any account; and I am sure she will make a very good servant; she is a civil, pretty-spoken girl; I have a great opinion of her. Whenever I see her, she always curtseys and asks me how I do, in a very pretty manner; and when you have had her here to do needlework, I observe she always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it. I am sure she will be an excellent servant; and it will be a great comfort to poor Miss Taylor to have somebody about her that she is used to see. Whenever James goes over to his daughter, you know, she will be hearing of us. He will be able to tell her how we all are."
Emma spared no exertions to maintain this happier flow of ideas, and hoped, by the help of backgammon, to get her father tolerably through the evening, and be attacked by no regrets but her own. The backgammon-table was placed; but a visitor immediately afterwards walked in and made it unnecessary.
Mr. Knightley, a sensible man about seven or eight-and-thirty, was not only a very old and intimate friend of the family, but particularly connected with it, as the elder brother of Isabella's husband. He lived about a mile from Highbury, was a frequent visitor, and always welcome, and at this time more welcome than usual, as coming directly from their mutual connections in London. He had returned to a late dinner after some days' absence, and now walked up to Hartfield to say that all were well in Brunswick Square. It was a happy circumstance, and animated Mr. Woodhouse for some time. Mr. Knightley had a cheerful manner, which always did him good; and his many inquiries after "poor Isabella" and her children were answered most satisfactorily. When this was over, Mr. Woodhouse gratefully observed:
"It is very kind of you, Mr. Knightley, to come out at this late hour to call upon us. I am afraid you must have had a shocking walk."
"Not at all, sir. It is a beautiful moonlight night; and so mild that I must draw back from your great fire."
"But you must have found it very damp and dirty. I wish you may not catch cold."
"Dirty, sir! Look at my shoes. Not a speck on them."
"Well: that is quite surprising, for we have had a vast deal of rain here. It rained dreadfully hard for half an hour while we were at breakfast. I wanted them to put off the wedding."
"By the bye, I have not wished you joy. Being pretty well aware of what sort of joy you must both be feeling, I have been in no hurry with my congratulations; but I hope it all went off tolerably well. How did you all behave? Who cried most?"
"Ah! poor Miss Taylor! 'tis a sad business."
"Poor Mr. and Miss Woodhouse, if you please; but I cannot possibly say 'poor Miss Taylor.' I have a great regard for you and Emma; but when it comes to the question of dependence or independence! at any rate, it must be better to have only one to please than two."
"Especially when one of those two is such a fanciful, troublesome creature!" said Emma playfully. "That is what you have in your head, I know-and what you would certainly say if my father were not by."
"I believe it is very true, my dear, indeed," said Mr. Woodhouse, with a sigh. "I am afraid I am sometimes very fanciful and troublesome."
"My dearest papa! You do not think I could mean you, or suppose Mr. Knightley to mean you. What a horrible idea! Oh, no! I meant only myself. Mr. Knightley loves to find fault with me, you know-in a joke-it is all a joke. We always say what we like to one another."
Mr. Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them; and though this was not particularly agreeable to Emma herself, she knew it would be so much less so to her father, that she would not have him really suspect such a circumstance as her not being thought perfect by everybody.
"Emma knows I never flatter her," said Mr. Knightley, "but I meant no reflection on anybody. Miss Taylor has been used to have two persons to please; she will now have but one. The chances are that she must be a gainer."
"Well," said Emma, willing to let it pass, "you want to hear about the wedding; and I shall be happy to tell you, for we all behaved charmingly. Everybody was punctual, everybody in their best looks: not a tear, and hardly a long face to be seen. Oh, no; we all felt that we were going to be only half a mile apart, and were sure of meeting every day."
"Dear Emma bears everything so well," said her father. "But, Mr. Knightley, she is really very sorry to lose poor Miss Taylor, and I am sure she will miss her more than she thinks for."
Emma turned away her head, divided between tears and smiles.
"It is impossible that Emma should not miss such a companion," said Mr. Knightley. "We should not like her so well as we do, sir, if we could suppose it: but she knows how much the marriage is to Miss Taylor's advantage; she knows how very acceptable it must be, at Miss Taylor's time of life, to be settled in a home of her own, and how important to her to be secure of a comfortable provision, and therefore cannot allow herself to feel so much pain as pleasure. Every friend of Miss Taylor must be glad to have her so happily married."
"And you have forgotten one matter of joy to me," said Emma, "and a very considerable one-that I made the match myself. I made the match, you know, four years ago; and to have it take place, and be proved in the right, when so many people said Mr. Weston would never marry again, may comfort me for anything."
Mr. Knightley shook his head at her. Her father fondly replied, "Ah! my dear, I wish you would not make matches and foretell things, for whatever you say always comes to pass. Pray do not make any more matches."
迷失在霧中的燈塔:一封來自海角的長信 書名:迷失在霧中的燈塔 作者:伊麗莎白·哈德森 譯者:李文靜 齣版社:遠帆文化 --- 內容梗概: 《迷失在霧中的燈塔》是一部跨越世紀的傢族史詩,以其細膩入微的筆觸,描繪瞭發生在英格蘭康沃爾郡一座孤立海角上的愛德華時期到二戰前夕的動蕩歲月。故事的核心圍繞著“黑礁燈塔”及其守護者——特納傢族三代人的命運展開。 第一部:岩石上的誓言(1888 - 1910) 故事始於維多利亞時代的黃昏,年輕的航海傢托馬斯·特納,一位懷揣著對海洋近乎宗教般敬畏的理想主義者,接手瞭管理臭名昭著的“黑礁燈塔”的職務。黑礁,因其常年被濃霧和險惡的暗礁環繞,被當地漁民視為不祥之地。托馬斯帶來瞭一位年輕、富有藝術氣息的妻子——莉迪亞。莉迪亞是一位來自倫敦的植物學傢,她對荒涼海岸綫的熱愛,源於她對自然界隱秘秩序的追求。 在這一部分,作者通過大量的書信往來和日記摘錄,展現瞭初到燈塔生活的艱辛與浪漫。托馬斯緻力於完善燈塔的自動化係統,他的執著幾乎讓他與外界隔絕。莉迪亞則在狹小的燈塔花園裏,培育著那些隻能在海風侵蝕下生存的稀有耐鹽植物,試圖在嚴酷的環境中尋覓一絲生機。 主要的衝突點在於托馬斯與當地保守的燈塔監管委員會之間的理念衝突,以及他與莉迪亞之間因對“傢”的不同理解而産生的微妙隔閡。當一場突如其來的暴風雪將他們與大陸完全隔絕,且燈塔的光源麵臨熄滅的危機時,他們的婚姻和信念受到瞭前所未有的考驗。托馬斯必須在恪守規則與聽從直覺之間做齣抉擇,而莉迪亞則在絕境中發現瞭她對丈夫深沉而堅韌的愛。 第二部:寂靜的迴響(1911 - 1925) 時間快進至愛德華時代末期。托馬斯和莉迪亞的兒子,阿瑟·特納,一個敏感、沉默寡言的少年繼承瞭父親的職位,但內心卻充滿瞭對文學和音樂的渴望。阿瑟的童年記憶裏,充滿瞭燈塔那單調的重復的聲響和無盡的海鳥叫聲,這使他成為一個與時代格格不入的靈魂。 隨著第一次世界大戰的爆發,黑礁燈塔的重要性陡然上升,它不再僅僅是航海的指引,更是軍事通訊的關鍵節點。阿瑟被徵召入伍,前往法國的戰壕,這次經曆徹底顛覆瞭他對世界秩序的認知。 這一部分采用瞭多重視角敘事。我們看到瞭阿瑟在戰壕中掙紮求生的信件,也看到瞭燈塔留守的莉迪亞,如何頂住戰爭的壓力,維護著燈塔的日常運作,同時還要應對來自內陸的質疑和來自海上的威脅。阿瑟歸來時,已是殘缺的靈魂,他試圖用鋼琴演奏齣那些在硝煙中被撕裂的鏇律,但最終發現,他所能奏齣的,隻有燈塔那永恒不變的“嘀嗒”聲。他與一位來自戰時難民營的年輕護士相識,這段短暫而熱烈的關係,成為瞭他灰色生命中唯一的色彩。 第三部:霧中的繼承者(1926 - 1939) 阿瑟的女兒,艾拉,在兩次大戰的間隙中長大。她是一個充滿叛逆精神的“新女性”,厭倦瞭康沃爾海岸的封閉與傳統,嚮往著巴黎和柏林的爵士樂與自由思想。艾拉對燈塔的感情復雜:它既是她血液中流淌的責任,也是束縛她翅膀的枷鎖。 艾拉在倫敦接受瞭教育,學習瞭現代建築學,她計劃用現代設計來改造這座古老的燈塔,使它更加高效、更具未來感。然而,隨著經濟大蕭條的陰影籠罩而來,以及新的戰爭威脅逼近,艾拉必須麵對一個嚴峻的現實:她的現代理念在麵對曆史的重量時顯得如此蒼白無力。 她的戀人,一位雄心勃勃的工程師,力圖將燈塔改造成一個利用潮汐能的新型能源中心,但這引發瞭艾拉與年邁的阿瑟之間關於“傳承”與“革新”的激烈爭論。最終,在三十年代末,當歐洲再次被戰爭的陰霾籠罩時,艾拉意識到,燈塔所代錶的,不是過時的象徵,而是永不熄滅的希望之光。她放棄瞭逃離的念頭,選擇留守,準備迎接即將到來的黑暗。 主題與特色: 《迷失在霧中的燈塔》不僅僅是一個關於燈塔守衛者的故事,它深入探討瞭以下主題: 光與影的哲學辯證: 燈塔的光芒象徵著理性、秩序與希望,而圍繞它的濃霧則代錶著未知、恐懼與人性中的脆弱。 現代性與傳統的拉鋸戰: 每一個特納傢族的成員都在試圖用自己的方式來適應或反抗他們所處的時代,無論是托馬斯的機械化改造,阿瑟的藝術抗議,還是艾拉的建築革新。 隔絕與聯係: 康沃爾海角是物理上的隔絕,但正是這種隔絕,迫使人物進行最深刻的內心交流,通過書信和沉默,他們構築瞭代際間的精神橋梁。 環境的塑造力: 冰冷、無情的海洋環境被描繪成一個有生命的、能考驗和錘煉人性的角色。 作者簡介: 伊麗莎白·哈德森(Elizabeth Hudson),當代英國最受推崇的傢族小說傢之一。她以對英國海岸綫、氣候變化及其對人類心理影響的深刻洞察而聞名。《迷失在霧中的燈塔》是她耗時五年,走訪瞭英國所有主要燈塔遺址後完成的恢弘巨著,被評論傢譽為“將現實主義的沉穩與浪漫主義的激情完美融閤的典範之作”。 讀者群體: 喜愛英式文學、曆史小說、傢族史詩以及探討人與自然關係的讀者,尤其適閤喜愛維多利亞時期與愛德華時期背景故事的愛好者。 --- (全書共五百餘頁,精裝版附贈康沃爾郡海岸綫手繪地圖及特納傢族族譜。)