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In Mansfield Park, first published in 1814, when the author had reached her full maturity as a novelist, Jane Austen paints some of her most witty and perceptive studies of character. Against a genteel country landscape of formal parks and stately homes, the gossipy Mrs. Norris becomes a masterful comic creation; the fickle young suitor Henry Crawford provides an unequaled portrait of an unscrupulous young man; and the complexly drawn Fanny Price emerges as one of Jane Austen's finest achievements—the poor cousin who comes to stay with her wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park and learns how the game of love can too easily turn to folly. More intricately plotted and wider in scope than Austen's earlier works, Mansfield Park continues to enchant and delight us as a superb example of a great author's craft. 作者简介
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.
简·奥斯汀,是英国著名女性小说家,她的作品主要关注乡绅家庭女性的婚姻和生活,以女性特有的细致入微的观察力和活泼风趣的文字真实地描绘了她周围世界的小天地。 精彩书评
"Never did any novelist make more use of an impeccable sense of human values."
——Virginia Woolf 精彩书摘
Chapter One
About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet's lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income. All Huntingdon exclaimed on the greatness of the match, and her uncle, the lawyer, himself, allowed her to be at least three thousand pounds short of any equitable claim to it. She had two sisters to be benefited by her elevation; and such of their acquaintance as thought Miss Ward and Miss Frances quite as handsome as Miss Maria, did not scruple to predict their marrying with almost equal advantage. But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them. Miss Ward, at the end of half a dozen years, found herself obliged to be attached to the Rev. Mr. Norris, a friend of her brother-in-law, with scarcely any private fortune, and Miss Frances fared yet worse. Miss Ward's match, indeed, when it came to the point, was not contemptible, Sir Thomas being happily able to give his friend an income in the living of Mansfield, and Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand a year. But Miss Frances married, in the common phrase, to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a Lieutenant of Marines, without education, fortune, or connections, did it very thoroughly. She could hardly have made a more untoward choice. Sir Thomas Bertram had interest, which, from principle as well as pride, from a general wish of doing right, and a desire of seeing all that were connected with him in situations of respectability, he would have been glad to exert for the advantage of Lady Bertram's sister; but her husband's profession was such as no interest could reach; and before he had time to devise any other method of assisting them, an absolute breach between the sisters had taken place. It was the natural result of the conduct of each party, and such as a very imprudent marriage almost always produces. To save herself from useless remonstrance, Mrs. Price never wrote to her family on the subject till actually married. Lady Bertram, who was a woman of very tranquil feelings, and a temper remarkably easy and indolent, would have contented herself with merely giving up her sister, and thinking no more of the matter: but Mrs. Norris had a spirit of activity, which could not be satisfied till she had written a long and angry letter to Fanny, to point out the folly of her conduct, and threaten her with all its possible ill consequences. Mrs. Price in her turn was injured and angry; and an answer which comprehended each sister in its bitterness, and bestowed such very disrespectful reflections on the pride of Sir Thomas, as Mrs. Norris could not possibly keep to herself, put an end to all intercourse between them for a considerable period.
Their homes were so distant, and the circles in which they moved so distinct, as almost to preclude the means of ever hearing of each other's existence during the eleven following years, or at least to make it very wonderful to Sir Thomas, that Mrs. Norris should ever have it in her power to tell them, as she now and then did in an angry voice, that Fanny had got another child. By the end of eleven years, however, Mrs. Price could no longer afford to cherish pride or resentment, or to lose one connection that might possibly assist her. A large and still increasing family, an husband disabled for active service, but not the less equal to company and good liquor, and a very small income to supply their wants, made her eager to regain the friends she had so carelessly sacrificed; and she addressed Lady Bertram in a letter which spoke so much contrition and despondence, such a superfluity of children, and such a want of almost every thing else, as could not but dispose them all to a reconciliation. She was preparing for her ninth lying-in, and after bewailing the circumstance, and imploring their countenance as sponsors to the expected child, she could not conceal how important she felt they might be to the future maintenance of the eight already in being. Her eldest was a boy of ten years old, a fine spirited fellow who longed to be out in the world; but what could she do? Was there any chance of his being hereafter useful to Sir Thomas in the concerns of his West Indian property? No situation would be beneath him-or what did Sir Thomas think of Woolwich? or how could a boy be sent out to the East?
The letter was not unproductive. It re-established peace and kindness. Sir Thomas sent friendly advice and professions, Lady Bertram dispatched money and baby-linen, and Mrs. Norris wrote the letters.
Such were its immediate effects, and within a twelvemonth a more important advantage to Mrs. Price resulted from it. Mrs. Norris was often observing to the others, that she could not get her poor sister and her family out of her head, and that much as they had all done for her, she seemed to be wanting to do more: and at length she could not but own it to be her wish, that poor Mrs. Price should be relieved from the charge and expense of one child entirely out of her great number. "What if they were among them to undertake the care of her eldest daughter, a girl now nine years old, of an age to require more attention than her poor mother could possibly give? The trouble and expense of it to them, would be nothing compared with the benevolence of the action." Lady Bertram agreed with her instantly. "I think we cannot do better," said she, "let us send for the child."
Sir Thomas could not give so instantaneous and unqualified a consent. He debated and hesitated;-it was a serious charge;-a girl so brought up must be adequately provided for, or there would be cruelty instead of kindness in taking her from her family. He thought of his own four children-of his two sons-of cousins in love, &c.;-but no sooner had he deliberately begun to state his objections, than Mrs. Norris interrupted him with a reply to them all whether stated or not.
"My dear Sir Thomas, I perfectly comprehend you, and do justice to the generosity and delicacy of your notions, which indeed are quite of a piece with your general conduct; and I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety of doing every thing one could by way of providing for a child one had in a manner taken into one's own hands; and I am sure I should be the last person in the world to withhold my mite upon such an occasion. Having no children of my own, who should I look to in any little matter I may ever have to bestow, but the children of my sisters?-and I am sure Mr. Norris is too just-but you know I am a woman of few words and professions. Do not let us be frightened from a good deed by a trifle. Give a girl an education, and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without farther expense to any body.
A niece of our's, Sir Thomas, I may say, or, at least of your's, would not grow up in this neighbourhood without many advantages. I don't say she would be so handsome as her cousins. I dare say she would not; but she would be introduced into the society of this country under such very favourable circumstances as, in all human probability, would get her a creditable establishment. You are thinking of your sons-but do not you know that of all things upon earth that is the least likely to happen; brought up, as they would be, always together like brothers and sisters? It is morally impossible. I never knew an instance of it. It is, in fact, the only sure way of providing against the connection. Suppose her a pretty girl, and seen by Tom or Edmund for the first time seven years hence, and I dare say there would be mischief. The very idea of her having been suffered to grow up at a distance from us all in poverty and neglect, would be enough to make either of the dear sweet-tempered boys in love with her. But breed her up with them from this time, and suppose her even to have the beauty of an angel, and she will never be more to either than a sister."
"There is a great deal of truth in what you say," replied Sir Thomas, "and far be it from me to throw any fanciful impediment in the way of a plan which would be so consistent with the relative situations of each. I only meant to observe, that it ought not to be lightly engaged in, and that to make it really serviceable to Mrs. Price, and creditable to ourselves, we must secure to the child, or consider ourselves engaged to secure to her hereafter, as circumstances may arise, the provision of a gentlewoman, if no such establishment should offer as you are so sanguine in expecting."
"I thoroughly understand you," cried Mrs. Norris; "you are every thing that is generous and considerate, and I am sure we shall never disagree on this point. Whatever I can do, as you well know, I am always ready enough to do for the good of those I love; and, though I could never feel for this little girl the hundredth part of the regard I bear your own dear children, nor consider her, in any respect, so much my own, I should hate myself if I were capable of neglecting her. Is not she a sister's child? and could I bear to see her want, while I had a bit of bread to give her? My dear Sir Thomas, with all my faults I have a warm heart: and, poor as I am, would rather deny myself the necessaries of life, than do an ungenerous thing. So, if you are not against it, I will write to my poor sister to-morrow, and make the proposal; and, as soon as matters are settled, I will engage to get the child to Mansfield; you shall have no trouble about it. My own trouble, you know, I never regard.
I will send Nanny to London on purpose, and she may have a bed at her cousin, the sadler's, and the child be appointed to meet her there. They may easily get her from Portsmouth to town by the coach, under the care of any creditable person that may chance to be g...
怀特庄园的沉寂与喧嚣:一部关于家庭、地位与选择的时代画卷 《高傲与偏见》 作者:简·奥斯汀 (此书简介,内容详尽,不含《曼斯菲尔德庄园》的任何信息) 一部跨越时代的爱情与社会观察的杰作,简·奥斯汀以其精妙的笔触,为我们描绘了18世纪末英国乡村的生动图景,以及一群充满活力与缺憾的人物群像。 故事的中心,是贝内特一家,居住在遥远的赫特福德郡的朗伯恩庄园。贝内特先生是一位举止优雅、富有智慧的绅士,却偏爱在书房中躲避世俗的烦扰;而贝内特夫人,则是一位典型的乡绅夫人,她毕生的使命,就是为她那五个尚未出嫁的女儿——简、伊丽莎白、玛丽、凯瑟琳(丽迪娅)和格蕾丝——找到体面的归宿。在当时,继承法规定,财产只能由男性继承,这意味着一旦贝内特先生去世,她们将无依无靠,这使得婚姻的紧迫性达到了极致。 初遇:引人注目的登场与错位的印象 宁静的乡村生活被一场突如其来的盛事打破——富裕而英俊的单身贵族查尔斯·宾利先生,租下了附近的尼日斐庄园。他带着他的高傲的妹妹们,以及他那位风度翩翩、但性情孤僻的挚友,菲茨威廉姆·达西先生,一同来到乡间。 宾利先生的到来,立刻点燃了贝内特夫人的希望。在一场热闹的舞会上,宾利先生的随和与热情,使他迅速赢得了所有人的好感,尤其获得了贝内特家长女简·贝内特——一位拥有古典美貌与温顺性格的淑女——的青睐。 然而,达西先生则完全是另一番景象。他地位显赫,财产惊人,但举止间流露出的傲慢与不屑,使他在初次亮相时便得罪了整个乡绅阶层。他对当地人的轻蔑态度,尤其是在拒绝与二女儿伊丽莎白·贝内特共舞时所说的“她还不够漂亮,不值得我跳舞”的刻薄话语,被伊丽莎白无意中听到。 伊丽莎白,故事的灵魂人物,拥有着非凡的机智、敏锐的洞察力和一股不服输的独立精神。她深受父亲的影响,蔑视虚伪的社交礼仪,对达西先生的傲慢嗤之以鼻。这句伤人的话,在她心中播下了深刻的“偏见”的种子。 情感的萌芽与误解的加深 在接下来的数月里,简与宾利先生的关系迅速升温,他们之间的纯真与和谐,构成了小说中最令人愉悦的部分。然而,达西先生对伊丽莎白的关注,却在不知不觉中增长。他被她的活力、智慧和与众不同的态度所吸引,尽管他极力否认这种“有失身份”的情感。 与此同时,浪漫的迷雾中穿插着阴影。达西先生的傲慢,不仅体现在他对社交场合的态度上,更体现在他对宾利先生与简的恋情中的干预。他认为贝内特夫人及其家族的地位和行为举止,配不上他高贵的友人,于是,在未征求任何人同意的情况下,他秘密劝说宾利先生离开该地区,切断了与简的联系。 这件事被伊丽莎白得知后,她对达西先生的“罪行”深信不疑,认为他是一个无情、专横且自私的贵族。她的偏见在此时达到了顶峰。 威克姆的介入:表象与真相的较量 雪上加霜的是,一位名叫乔治·威克姆的年轻军官的出现,为伊丽莎白的憎恶提供了“证据”。威克姆向伊丽莎白讲述了他悲惨的遭遇:他曾是达西先生父亲的教子,深受信任,但达西先生却无情地剥夺了他应得的教士职位与遗产,使他陷入贫困。 伊丽莎白完全被威克姆的魅力和悲惨故事所迷惑,认定达西先生是一个恶毒的压迫者。威克姆顺势接近伊丽莎白,并暗示了对她的爱意,这使得伊丽莎白更加确信,达西先生的冷漠只是因为嫉妒。 惊人的求婚与坦白 就在所有人都以为简与宾利的关系已无望之际,达西先生却出人意料地向伊丽莎白提出了求婚。他的求婚充满了矛盾——他承认自己爱上了她,但又不得不强调她家庭的卑微和社会地位的低下,这几乎是一种侮辱。 伊丽莎白的回绝是激烈的、充满愤怒的。她指责达西先生破坏了简的幸福,并残忍地对待了威克姆。 达西先生被她的指控激怒,但同时也意识到了自己言语的粗鲁。第二天,他递给了伊丽莎白一封长信,这封信是小说的转折点。在信中,他解释了所有事情的真相: 他承认干预了简与宾利的关系,但声称这是因为他观察到简对宾利的感情似乎并不热烈,而贝内特一家的行为举止让他担忧朋友的幸福。更重要的是,他揭露了威克姆的真面目——威克姆是一个品行不端、好赌且轻浮的骗子,他不仅挥霍了达西家给予的遗产,还曾试图诱骗达西先生年仅十五岁的妹妹乔治亚娜·达西私奔,以谋夺她的巨额嫁妆。 偏见的瓦解与理解的建立 这封信如同一道闪电,击碎了伊丽莎白长久以来的“偏见”。她开始反思自己判断的草率:她爱听符合自己心意的话(威克姆的故事),却拒绝相信任何可能挑战自己情绪的真相(达西的解释)。她意识到,她对达西先生的“偏见”是何等盲目和固执。 她对达西先生的看法开始软化,转而对自己的轻率感到羞愧。 利迪娅的丑闻与达西的秘密行动 正当伊丽莎白努力修正自己的观点时,贝内特家迎来了毁灭性的灾难——最小的妹妹丽迪娅,在没有婚姻承诺的情况下,与威克姆私奔了。这桩丑闻足以毁掉所有贝内特姐妹的声誉。 在全家陷入绝望时,是达西先生秘密地介入了。他动用了自己所有的关系和财富,找到了威克姆,付清了他所有的债务,并强迫他与丽迪娅完婚,挽救了贝内特家族的名誉。他所做的一切,都是为了保护伊丽莎白的家族,维护她可能会受到的伤害——他没有告诉任何人,尤其是伊丽莎白,因为他不希望她因此感到亏欠。 最终的和解:骄傲与偏见的消融 当伊丽莎白通过贝内特夫人的妹妹范妮·加德纳女士(达西先生的姑妈)侧面了解到达西先生的英勇行为后,她对他的敬佩与爱意彻底觉醒。她意识到,达西先生的“骄傲”源于他对自身地位的维护,而她的“偏见”则源于她对自身的过度自信。 最终,宾利先生在达西的鼓励下,回到了尼日斐庄园,并向简再次求婚,两人幸福地结合。 不久之后,达西先生再次向伊丽莎白求婚。这一次,没有傲慢的姿态,也没有被误解的指控。达西先生已经放下了他阶级带来的骄傲,伊丽莎白也完全消除了她对他的偏见。两人坦诚相待,承认了各自的错误与成长。 小说以伊丽莎白和达西的结合告终,他们不仅获得了爱情,更重要的是,他们通过相互的考验和深刻的自我认知,实现了心智的成熟。这是一个关于如何超越社会阶层偏见,如何从自身的盲点中解脱出来,最终找到真正理解与尊重的伴侣的故事。 《高傲与偏见》不仅是一部关于婚姻的小说,更是一部关于自我发现和认知成长的伟大寓言。