Jane v. Jane 一个简与另一个
读完诺桑觉寺,写写简奥斯汀。伍尔夫这么说奥斯汀: First, that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness; second, that there are 25 elderly gentlemen living in the neighborhood of London who resent any slight upon her genius as if it were an insult offered to the chastity of their aunts. 我不能说得更好了。奥斯汀的天才并不是金句式的,而是连贯的情境,就是这个“境”——你不会了解,如果你不在其中 if you know you know. 金句易于传播,而奥斯汀小说的精髓都是反传播的,比如《傲慢与偏见》最广为传唱的“单身富汉必缺妻”开头,是很毒辣,但大多数引用也都只引其毒辣,而不见温情,在奥斯汀的世界里,男人缺一个女人,和女人缺一个男人一样,是平常事,而把财富出身纳入婚配考量,更是自然,以至于她这些评语都没法说是cynical,或者说cynical在她这并不是一个坏词。
类似地诺桑觉寺里面还有这么一句,though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in females is a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more in woman than ignorance. 单挑出来放在今日微博也是值得万转的女性主义警句。但是,如果你读了足够多的奥斯汀,你就会知道ignorance在她这里也不是一个坏词。奥斯汀所赞赏的爱情总结而言就是:从他身上学到了点什么。是的,正是杨笠所嘲讽的那种德性的,教学的,甚至有点强加于人的精进,而ignorance其实是一种虚心。Catherine和Henry Tilney绝对不是《致橡树》那种关系,也不是伊丽莎白和达西那样平等互呛的关系,他说的话她基本全都接不上来,但她就是虚心,一个真正的serious person,当她被狐朋狗友哄骗放了Henry鸽子,然后在路边看到Henry时,她
“I begged Mr. Thorpe so earnestly to stop; I called out to him as soon as ever I saw you; now, Mrs. Allen, did not—Oh! You were not there; but indeed I did; and, if Mr. Thorpe would only have stopped, I would have jumped out and run after you.”
以至于最后她的虚心拯救了爱讲聪明话的Henry. 她看不破其它男女之间虚荣的把戏,Henry对此的评价是:“your attributing my brother’s wish of dancing with Miss Thorpe to good nature alone convinced me of your being superior in good nature yourself to all the rest of the world.”
奥斯汀的意思是,教学相长并不是一种可耻的关系。每次舞蹈的间隙,她和他坐在一起听他讲话,
listening with sparkling eyes to everything he said; and, in finding him irresistible, becoming so herself.
这简直是海德格尔的世界观,就是“它向之开放的东西本身也必定以某种方式开展出来了,世内存在者向之开放的那种东西必定先行展开了。”把“女为悦己者容”理解为“女为己悦者容”的人是多么无聊,多么不通事理,多么不了解女人,至少不了解我,如果我还算一个合格的女人,那我就要代表自己说,我所做的一切都是为了feeling sexy,就是欲望被欲望着,and in finding me irresistible the boys become so themselves. 如果连敬重,佩服,崇拜,仰视都做不到,那就不要谈了;quid pro quo, 情绪价值,边界感,这都什么21st century white people shit! 接受物化,接受被物化,接受爹,接受被爹,就是这种流动的,自生的,为他人的愿望就也圆满了自己。
真的,如果细读奥斯汀,许多当代女权主义者们会被气死,(就好像如果细读波伏娃也是一样,)比如Catherine原文说:“I do not understand you.” Henry直接回复:
“Then we are on very unequal terms, for I understand you perfectly well.”
气死了吗?但是下一句Catherine又:“Me? Yes; I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.”
给Henry笑得:“Bravo! An excellent satire on modern language!”
真的如果你们懂Henry就会明白,Catherine完全没有讽刺的意思,每一句话都是这么真挚,这么虚心,这就是她的慧根了,这种虚心拯救了没有一句话不聪明,没有一句话不讽刺,想不讲笑话自己都做不到(简直像老友记里的Chandler, 创伤式的幽默)的Henry. 这也像《艾玛》里的Emma以她的热情、活泼和天真拯救了严肃的Knightley,事实上她整本书都在犯错,而他整本书都在等她改正过来。知错能改善莫大焉,而见证和陪伴另一个人变好,同样是一件救赎。有德的人对虚心者是耐心的。奥斯汀的故事就是这样,would really have liked just correcting ourselves with you. 知道了哪样是好,当然就不要再坚持自己。Again, “做自己”is such a nonsense to say.
奥斯汀还有特别招现代人恨的一点,就是她喜欢judge. 所有男女主的婚姻都得到了所有共同朋友的祝福,那些私奔的,背弃传统的,不顾他人眼光的,全都没有好下场。谈恋爱是一群人的事——高中生就这样,你们还记得吗,表白前两个人都没有怎么真正单独相处过,都是在一起借着讨论其他人的事,八卦里,机锋里,拙劣地挑动男女对立里(Henry说了多少故意打男拳的话,“it appears to me that the usual style of letter-writing among women is faultless, except in three particulars – A general deficiency of subject, a total inattention to stops, and a very frequent ignorance of grammar.”)就确认和交出了彼此。简奥斯汀的世界就是高中生的世界,“箱庭”的世界,小小的团体,没有比为谁而鸽掉谁更值得做的道德抉择,没有比谁和谁多说了几句越线的话更值得探讨的事,每一次你做出一个judgment然后你的judgement就会立刻被judge. 我不是说,比起《欲望都市》里那种没有人在乎任何人、人可以肆意展露或藏起自己的大纽约城,这更美好,或令人怀念,我只是说,这就是她的设定,几百米的巨浪,比其它星球慢七倍的时间,真菌孢子寄生在宇航员的体内,这些设定你都可以接受,那你也应该接受前现代性,公共的、集体的爱情,以及作为喻体的婚姻:一个人想明白了一件事才可以去结婚了,婚礼是一项对反思、谅解和性格进步的表彰仪式。
不想走出自己舒适区的现代读者应该去读《简爱》,简爱里的婚姻都是乔治马丁式的,混乱,阴谋,电闪雷鸣之夜,阁楼里的疯女人。简爱的全部内容就是“做自己”,最金句的金句,引领了女性乃至人性觉醒浪潮的段落就是“勇简爱怒斥罗彻侯”:
“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! ... I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are!”
这一段话在奥斯汀这被拆尽了:
奥斯汀不但让Henry Tilney说了we are on very unequal terms (see above);
还在《艾玛》直接开幕雷击,直接对poor obscure plain and little做了取反义词的练习:
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition......
(哦对,这个开头我觉得对自诩有品位的现代读者来说才是真的劲爆,这就是把最重要的条款直接写在合同第一条,一点也不藏,一点“主义”也不讲,一点“正确性”的退路也没留,爱看不看,不看拉倒了。詹明信写过:毕加索和乔伊斯对于前现代人来说是丑陋的,惊世骇俗的,但是对于后现代训练有素的观众来说已经完全是现实主义,早已被一整套学术系统嚼干了,早已成为传统本身了。文艺“复兴”都是不知道多少个世纪之前的事了,如果简爱对于维多利亚时代是开天辟地的,那么维多利亚时代的奥斯汀对于今日之我就才是开天辟地的,人应该去阅读对自己而言开天辟地的作品,对吗? 我第一次听到简爱的独白是小学三年级在高思的语文课上,那之后我做自己十五年矣,暂且不论if it helped, if it worked, 最大的问题是you do get a bit bored of it. 到今年差不多夏天结束的时候我告别了自由主义。 另外,在奥斯汀心中,integrity, smartness, kindness, 悟性,反思性,自我意识(英语里的self consciousness其实是他人意识,是在乎他人怎么看自己)其实都是一回事,余下的全都是阶级趣味了。而她开头就已经把阶级这个变量控制好了。跨越阶级如何相爱的问题并不是奥斯汀负责解决的,《爱情神话》也是这个道理)
更休论整本诺桑觉寺其实就是对哥特小说的parody,不只是genre上的——Catherine和Isabella为哥特小说Udolpho而结缘,她从头到尾都想要去哥特城堡,真到了Tilney庄园又为自己的幻想而闹出种种笑话,在这里奥斯汀使出各种恐怖悬疑技法,最后却全是一出red herring我真怀疑她和阿加莎克里斯蒂只是走上了不同岔路的双子——更是反动了哥特精神,她不鼓吹大勃朗特的平等,不鼓吹二勃朗特的自由(those violent delights have violent ends奥斯汀一定会摇头惋惜地说),只有恰如其分(temperance,也是塔罗里的一张好牌),只有the medium of custom and conventionalities, 这并不是说简爱spirit是不存在的,而是说spirit without custom and conventionalities是不存在的,spirit speaks exactly through the medium of custom and conventionalities and that is how we stand at God’s feet.
Henry打消Catherine对他家过往的哥特幻想时这样说:
“Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians. Consult your own understanding, your own sense of the probable, your own observation of what is passing around you. Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them? Could they be perpetrated without being known, in a country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing, where every man is surrounded by a neighbourhood of voluntary spies, and where roads and newspapers lay everything open? Dearest Miss Morland, what ideas have you been admitting?”
但凡认真从现实角度想一下,就会意识到Catherine的猜疑——将军杀妻——有多冒犯;而Henry的这段批评虽然犀利但又有多体面。在这样的场景里,奥斯汀所强调的Englishness和Christianity也当然不只是说,鸡犬相闻之地,我们不会轻易谋杀,而是亲口演示了一个民族真正的品行,那就是日常生活中的decency. 而拥有太多自我浑然是一件可忌惮的事。相比之下,简爱所高呼的那种价值——一个纯然因为自己存在就有的价值——真有点胡搅蛮缠了,就好像Matt Gaetz给未成年女孩打赏时留下的附语,“just because” (爷就乐意)。因为所以,科学道理。注意奥斯汀可也从来没有说人是手段;正相反正是因为人归根结底是目的,所以才偶尔不得不互为手段。 简爱常被赞为是reinvention of self; 要我说读奥斯汀是reintroduction of Other, 对现代读者重新引入了他者。 每句话说出来我都会先想听者会如何想,听者一回复我又会立刻转到前一人,这让我意识到谈话和语言的本质,就像在现实中说话那样。如果没有罗彻斯特,简爱的独白就没有意义。看看奥斯汀塑造出的那些大小空间,每两个地点之间不同的天气下驱马车各要多少时间,中间又要停几个驿站,简直能绘制地图基于此。而罗彻斯特的城堡并没有邻居。
最后,即使如此,奥斯汀对哥特小说的严厉仍然只持续一瞬,就像一场乡间的雨。诺桑觉寺里单纯的Catherine读哥特小说,头脑空空的Isabella读哥特小说,但奥斯汀显然激赞的Tilney兄妹俩,也读哥特小说,甚至废寝忘食;唯一的区别是他们也读历史。但他们对Catherine的爱好全然理解,Henry甚至在Catherine入驻庄园当晚给她编了一个文字冒险游戏——他们是这样和蔼地等待着她naturally grew out of it. 全书里唯一反对哥特小说的反而是最让人讨厌的角色,庸俗、碎嘴的爹男John Thorpe, 而且最典的是他在挥斥方遒的时候甚至搞错了作者的名字。而Catherine纠正他时“with some hesitation, from the fear of mortifying him” 又这么谦逊。一个真正的温和的人她就连批判都是温和的。
所以我说读奥斯汀是如此令人喜形于色。奥斯汀就像里尔克一样,她从来不带来抽象的感悟。Catherine对Henry说,
“But we have a charming morning after it,” she added, desiring to get rid of the subject; “and storms and sleeplessness are nothing when they are over. What beautiful hyacinths! I have just learnt to love a hyacinth.”
“And how might you learn? By accident or argument?”
“Your sister taught me; I cannot tell how. Mrs. Allen used to take pains, year after year, to make me like them; but I never could, till I saw them the other day in Milsom Street; I am naturally indifferent about flowers.”
太美丽了,甚至不只是诗歌意义上的,充满着情感,但又不是激情,只是mildly delightful. Catherine为花开心,为明亮的早晨和虚惊一场开心,为错开了话题开心,Henry为她的开心而开心(那句by accident or argument我真的太喜欢了。这就是Henry Tilney啊,伟大的faggot straight man,在reddit简奥斯汀板块上所有的美国大妞都钟意他,他可以陪女生聊muslin,言情小说,他甚至和自己的妹妹都聊得来——对比一下James和Catherine!奥斯汀太会写对话了,只是让他说话就让人爱他了),甚至不在场的Eleanor,我只说一个点,就是每个女孩儿都懂吧if you like something (e.g. an indie band, a catchphrase, a new way of braiding your hair) first, it’s kinda “your” thing. And if other girls like “your thing” after you without giving credit to you it’s borderline theft. This is why people sometimes say “everything you like now I liked 5 years ago.” That’s claiming sovereignty in an identity war. 当Catherine喜欢,她不只是说自己喜欢,她说自己“learnt to love”it, and Eleanor “taught” her. 谁会不喜欢和这样的人做朋友?这又怎么只是一支hyacinth的事?谁能不像Henry那样承认:The mere habit of learning to love is the thing; and a teachableness of disposition in a young lady is a great blessing.
哎这些话和不读奥斯汀的人说真是说不明白。真就是伍尔夫说的那样奥斯汀can’t be caught in the act of greatness她不是一个有aha / gotcha / eureka moment的作家,不是一个能被拆开引用的作家,而那些不在现实生活中认认真真和人说话、思考别人说的话的人,也真是读不明白奥斯汀的。每一个热爱看《再见爱人》这种综艺的人都有搞奥斯汀小说文本精读的潜能,真的,读奥斯汀不需要超人的智识,一个常人的灵光就够了(但要想写得像奥斯汀一样好,恐怕尼采也做不到),我又要引用伍尔夫:The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste. Her fool is a fool, her snob is a snob, because he departs from the model of sanity and sense which she has in mind, and conveys to us unmistakably even while she makes us laugh. Never did any novelist make more use of an impeccable sense of human values. 如果要我为图灵测试出考题,我就会说,请简述奥斯汀角色的可爱之处,如果要我公正地选陪审团,我就会说,能为奥斯汀的喜剧而笑的人。
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