經(jīng)典名著《傲慢與偏見》自兩個世紀之前出版以來累計銷量已超過兩千萬本,而其中的主人公達西先生更是俘獲了萬千少女的芳心。
But the great unspoken background of Jane Austen's world is that both Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley in Pride and Prejudice got rich from the slave trade, says author Joanna Trollope.
但是最近英國作家喬安娜·特羅洛普卻稱,在這部小說中,作者簡·奧斯汀沒有點明的一個背景信息其實是,主人公達西和賓利的財富都是靠販賣奴隸獲得的。
The novelist, speaking at the Festival of Literature in Dubai, dispelled the myth about Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley being the perfect men and described the 'very dark underbelly' to Austen's books.
特羅洛普在迪拜文學節(jié)上打破了好男人達西和賓利的“神話”,并講述了奧斯汀小說中包含的一些“黑暗面”。
She said: 'Why does Mr Bingley in Pride and Prejudice have all this leisure to sort of driftbetween Netherfield and London?
她說:“《傲慢與偏見》中的賓利為什么能有空閑時間在內瑟菲爾德和倫敦兩地之間穿梭?”
'He is a young man with means because of the slave trade. The slave trade is lightly touched upon in several of the novels but not very heavily.
“他是一個靠販賣奴隸賺錢的年輕人。一些小說中提到了販賣奴隸,但著墨不多。”
'What built Pemberley? Pemberley was built, one imagines, on proceeds of the coal mines in Derbyshire. What was the life of an 18th century miner like? Not much fun.'
“彭伯利莊園是靠什么建造起來的?有人認為是德貝郡的煤礦??墒鞘耸兰o礦工的生活可并不怎么有趣。”
Trollope, 71, decided to shatter the illusion surrounding Austen's heroes after being approached by publishers Harper Collins to write an updated version of Sense and Sensibility for the Austen Project in 2013.
71歲的特羅洛普在2013年啟動了更新奧斯汀計劃,重寫了《理智與情感》并由哈勃·柯林斯出版社出版,那時她就決定打破大家對奧斯汀小說主人公的美好幻想。
The series marked the 200-year anniversary of the author's most popular work, Pride and Prejudice.
這個更新奧斯汀計劃是為了紀念奧斯汀最暢銷小說《傲慢與偏見》出版200周年而進行的。
Pride and Prejudice describes how Mr Darcy earned £10,000 a year - more than £200,000 in modern money - while Mr Bingley inherited £100,000, the equivalent of £2 million today, and raked in another £5,000 a year, or £100,000 in modern money.
據(jù)《傲慢與偏見》中的描述,達西一年賺1萬英鎊—相當于現(xiàn)在的20多萬英鎊,賓利繼承了10萬英鎊—相當于現(xiàn)在的200萬英鎊,每年賺5000英鎊—相當于現(xiàn)在的10萬英鎊。
But in her adaptation, Ms Trollope had to make one crucial change - she gave her protagonists jobs.
但是喬安娜·特羅洛普在其改編版本中做了一項關鍵性的變動—她讓小說主人公有了工作。
Despite her reservations about how Austen's heroes made their money, Ms Trollope said she ended the project thinking the author was 'an absolute genius'.
雖然對奧斯汀筆下的主人公的賺錢方式有所保留,但是特羅洛普稱贊奧斯汀是個“絕對的天才”。
She also blamed Andrew Davies' BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for sparking an obsession with Mr Darcy with the infamous scene by the lake, which did not exist in the book. The real Mr Darcy was 'stiff-necked and painfully shy' with 'not much humour', said Ms Trollope.
特羅洛普還表達了對安德魯·戴維斯改編的BBC版《傲慢與偏見》的不滿,她認為這部劇中用湖邊的那場戲來增加觀眾對于達西的迷戀并不合適,這段在原著中并沒有。真正的達西應該是“頑固的、害羞的、不太有幽默感的”,特羅洛普說。