经济学人87:逆世唯心的巾帼

 　　Books and Arts; Book Review;20th-century women; Dandy dames¹;

　　文艺；书评；20世纪的女性；逆世唯心的巾帼；

　　Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson were remarkable²—by any standards;

　　无论何时，Rebecca West和Dorothy Thompson都吸引着世俗的目光；

　　Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson, New Women in Search of Love and Power. By Susan Hertog.

　　代偿巨大的野望：Rebecca West和Dorothy Thompson，新时代女性追寻的爱与权力。作者：Susan Hertog。

　　Dorothy Thompson and Rebecca West were career women long before the term had been invented. In the 1930s, when Thompson and West were making their mark as established professionals, a Gallup poll recorded that 82% of the American population believed women “should not have paying jobs outside the home” if their husbands were employed. Yet both women worked consistently from their early 20s in occupations that were almost entirely³ male-dominated—Thompson as a foreign correspondent and then a political commentator⁴; West (pictured) as a literary critic, lauded⁵ novelist, historian and travel writer.

　　DOROTHY THOMPSON和Rebecca West是名符其实的”职业女性”----远在这个专有名词发明之前。在20世纪30年代，Thompson 和West凭其过硬的专业本领广为人知。一项盖洛普民意显示82%的美国国民坚信只要丈夫保有一份工作，妻子就“不应该在抛头露面赚钱养家”。然而就是在那样一个男性主导的工作环境中，两位女性从20几岁开始变贯己之念长驻岗位：thompson先是作为一个外国通讯记者，随后转职为政治评论员；West（如上图）则集文学评论家、广集赞誉的小说家、历史学者以及游记著撰者多职于一身。

　　Susan Hertog's biography, an accomplished⁶ synthesis of these two lives and the remarkable parallels between them, is also a history of the 20th century, a study of female emancipation⁷ and literary culture, and an acute analysis of dysfunctional family life.

　　这部由Susan Hertog所著的传记将两位女性的生涯与两人间惊人的相似之处完美地结合起来。它也是一部20世纪的史著，更是一份女性解放运动的研究报告和文学作品，同时亦敏锐地剖析了那个年代的人们真实的家庭生活。

　　The most striking similarity between Thompson and West is their seemingly innate⁸ self-belief and fearlessness. On her 27th birthday in 1920 the American-born Thompson sailed for England. With no contacts but with portfolio⁹ in hand, her goal was to gain credentials¹⁰ as a freelance reporter and make her way across Europe to witness the aftermath of the revolution in Russia. By 1927 she was living in Berlin as the first female head of a news bureau in Europe. West, the daughter of an Anglo-Irish journalist who abandoned the family when she was eight, was a reviewer and essayist by the time she was 19, when “regardless of reputation” she published cutting critiques of established writers such as Arnold Bennett and George Bernard Shaw. West wrote consistently until her death at 90 in 1983, and was in the enviable position of having Harold Ross, the editor of the New Yorker, write to her, pleading: “Please write any story you want for us, fact or fiction.” In 1941 West published her best-known book, “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon”, a history of the Balkans and a meditation¹¹ on the rise of Nazism¹².

　　两位女性让人最印象深刻的相似性在于她们看似天性使然的坚定自我和无所畏惧。在Thompson1920年27岁生日的那一天，这位美国年轻女子仅持一文件夹，心携能够取得自由时事记者的工作资格并穿越欧洲去见证俄国沙皇革命余波的目标，孤身一人远赴没有亲朋所在的英国。到1927年，她已定居柏林，成为首位欧洲新闻署的女性负责人。West的父亲----爱尔兰记者，抛弃妻子之时，她才8岁。幸而至19岁时已经是一位评论家和散文家，并“弃名声于不顾”地以初生牛犊之势发表了前辈级作家Arnold Bennett和George Bernard Shaw删减过的批判性评论。West女士直到1983年90岁与世长辞之前从未间断过写作，并曾得到让人梦寐以求的《纽约客》编辑Harold Ross的暗藏丰盛赞誉的来信：“请以我们写个故事吧，真实的虚构的都可以！”1941年，West出版了举世闻名的书：《黑色的小羊羔和灰色的猎鹰》---叙述了巴尔干半岛的历史以及对纳粹主义兴起的沉思。

　　Ms Hertog's style is frequently novelistic, which is less irritating than might be anticipated. In her description of Thompson's life in Berlin, for example, Ms Hertog assumes the voice of an omniscient¹³ narrator: “As Dorothy walked to the small office she kept on Motzstrasse, she remembered the first time she had met Rebecca…” Her writing style can be fanciful, as when Ms Hertog imagines the colour of Thompson's dress and how her hair might have been styled for her un-photographed first wedding. But it works well in the passages where the author attempts to draw out the romantic and family dramas which so defined the lives of both women.

　　Hertog女士的写作风格极富新意，因此料想不大会像某些传记那样枯燥乏味。比如说，在她对Thompson女士的柏林生旅中，hertog女士以像如临现场那样通晓各事的口吻记叙道：当Dorothy漫行于专设于Motzstrasse的小工作室的途中，回忆起了初次与rebecca相见的场景。她的写作风格布满想象的泡泡，或者细细描绘Thompson的衣着之色，又或者刻画她初次婚礼所打理的发型，尽管现实里Thompson并未留下一张她初婚的照片。然而这虚构的情节却一反世人为她们所定性的刻板的职业女性形象，恰到好处地丰富了一个女人所拥有浪漫温馨的家庭生活的一面。

　　When she was 21 West had an illegitimate son with H.G. Wells, 26 years her senior and then on his second wife, before marrying Henry Andrews, a banker, who was frequently unfaithful and suffered early from a form of dementia. Thompson was married three times and also had a son, with Sinclair Lewis, her second husband and winner of the Nobel prize in literature. Resentful of their mothers after lonely childhoods, both sons married young before abandoning their first wives, pursued unrealistic ambitions, and, when they proved unsuccessful, demanded lifelong financial assistance.

　　West在21岁时与年长她26岁的H.G.Wells生下了一个非婚子之后便成为了他的第二任妻子。第二任丈夫Henry Andrews是早年罹患痴呆症并在婚姻生活中频繁出轨的银行家。Thompson历经三次婚姻，同样育有一子，是与第二任丈夫，荣获诺贝尔文学奖的Sinclair Lewis所生。两位儿子不满他们的母亲专注工作而导致自己孤寂残缺的童年，在首次婚姻中，妻室尚在却与年轻女子重婚，并追寻着不切实际的梦想，当最终幻灭之时，又央求母亲终身的经济援助。

　　The danger of the book's title refers to the effects of their ambitions to be, as Thompson put it, “something no other woman has been yet”. Both women turned out to be poor parents, even if they came up to roughly the standard expected of working fathers of the time; both chose work and travel over their child, sent them away to school and placated¹⁴ them with lavish¹⁵ gifts. Ms Hertog poignantly¹⁶ renders the conflict between maternal¹⁷ instinct and the desire for realisation of ambition, backed by a fear of diminished “intellectual lustre” and of becoming lost in a “cocoon of domesticity”. Thompson and West undoubtedly¹⁸ chose work over family, but in doing so helped to break down barriers, not only for women journalists but for all working women.

　　剑走偏锋的书名披露了她们的事业野心，正如Thompson所说，这是“其他女性未曾经历的一切”。两位女士在养育子女方面是失败的典范，虽然可以说她们大致符合那个时代在外打拼的爸爸的标准：在子女年纪尚小时便投身事业周游列国，并且将儿子打发到学校，又用奢华的礼物慰藉他们缺乏母爱的童年。在担心以家庭为重会埋没聪颖天资与害怕投身事业会为家庭所茧缚而带来失落感的进退维谷的情境下，Hertog女士入木三分地刻画了母爱的天性与实现事业宏愿的冲突所带来的苦痛。两位女性毫不迟疑地选择了后者，但正因为这个选择，才帮助了千万女性记者乃至所有的在职女性跨越了世间予以她们的枷锁。

1 dames   

n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人

参考例句：

• Dames would not comment any further. Dames将不再更多的评论。 来自互联网
• Flowers, candy, jewelry, seemed the principal things in which the elegant dames were interested. 鲜花、糖果和珠宝看来是那些贵妇人的主要兴趣所在。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

5 lauded   

v.称赞，赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They lauded the former president as a hero. 他们颂扬前总统为英雄。 来自辞典例句
• The nervy feats of the mountaineers were lauded. 登山者有勇气的壮举受到赞美。 来自辞典例句

6 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

7 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。

9 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

10 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

11 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

12 Nazism   

n. 纳粹主义

参考例句：

• His philosophical eyes were obviously shortsighted by the evil influence of Nazism. 显然，他那双哲学家般的深邃的眼睛也被纳粹的妖氛所眩惑。 来自中国文学部分
• Nazism suppressed all three movements as degenerate. 纳粹把所有三个运动都作为颓废艺术而加以镇压。

13 omniscient   

adj.无所不知的；博识的

参考例句：

• He's nervous when trying to potray himself as omniscient.当他试图把自己描绘得无所不知时，内心其实很紧张。
• Christians believe that God is omniscient.基督教徒相信上帝是无所不知的。

14 placated   

v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She hardly knew how to answer this, and yet her wrath was not placated. 她几乎不知道该如何来回答他，然而她的怒气并没有气息。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

15 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

16 poignantly   

参考例句：

• His story is told poignantly in the film, A Beautiful Mind, now showing here. 以他的故事拍成的电影《美丽境界》，正在本地上映。

17 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

18 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。