奥斯汀的作品如今几乎从不绝版,但它们在当初是匿名出版的,在她在世时只收获了寥寥评论,没有使她出名。1869年,她去世52年后,她的侄子出版了《简·奥斯汀回忆录》(A Memoir of Jane Austen),更多公众和读者得以知晓她,她作为作家的名望经历了重大的转变。奥斯汀的五部主要作品都在1811年至1818年间首次出版。1811年至1816年,《理智与情感》(1811)、《傲慢与偏见》(1813)、《曼斯菲爾德莊園》(1814)和《愛瑪》(1815)使她成为了一个成功作家。她还写了两部小说,分别是《諾桑覺寺》和《勸導》,在她去世后的1818年出版。她还开始了另一部小说的创作,但没有完成就去世了,它最终被命名为《桑迪顿》。
奥斯汀于1775年12月16日在史蒂文顿堂区出生,于次年4月5日公开洗礼[18]。她在家里待了几个月后,被母亲送到住在附近的乳母伊丽莎白·利透伍德(Elizabeth Littlewood)家抚养,为期一年或18个月[19]。1783年,简和卡珊德拉按照家庭传统被送到牛津,在安·考利太太(Mrs. Ann Cawley)处接受教育,同年晚些时候跟着老师去了南安普顿。两个女孩都得了斑疹傷寒,简差点丧命[20]。奥斯汀随后在家学习,直到于1785年和姐姐一起去寄宿学校。学校课程可能包含了法语、拼写、针线活、舞蹈和音乐,可能还有戏剧。至1786年12月,简和卡珊德拉已回到家,因为奥斯汀家无法承担同时送两个女儿上学[21]。
可能早至1787年奥斯汀就开始创作诗歌、故事和剧本,作为她自己和家人的娱乐消遣[28]。她日后取了这些早期作品中的29篇汇编成了三本笔记本,它们如今被称为《少年作品》(Juvenilia),包括了1787年到1793年间的创作[29]。手稿中有证据表示奥斯汀直到1809年至1811年间还在继续修改这些作品,她的侄子侄女表示最晚修改时间可至1814年[30]。其中有一篇书信体讽刺小说题名为《爱与友情》(原文为Love and Friendship),嘲讽了流行的感伤小说(sentimental novel)[31]。还有一篇《英格兰历史》(The History of England)的手稿长34页,姐姐卡珊德拉为其添加了13幅水彩插画。
奥斯汀的《英格兰历史》戏仿了流行历史读物,尤其是奧立佛·高德史密斯的《英格兰史》(History of England,1764)[32]。学者理查德·延金斯认为她的《少年读物》时常“喧嚣狂暴”、“无拘无束”;他将其与18世纪小说家劳伦斯·斯特恩和20世纪喜剧团体蒙提·派森的作品相比较[33]。
1793年,奥斯汀开始写一个短剧,随后弃稿。该剧本是一部“六幕喜剧”,后来被题名为《查尔斯·格兰德森爵士;又,那个高兴的人》(Sir Charles Grandison; or, The Happy Man)。她后来重拾该剧,在1800年左右完成。奥斯汀的课本中收录了她最爱的当代小说《查尔斯·格兰德森爵士的历史(英语:The History of Sir Charles Grandison)》(The History of Sir Charles Grandison,塞繆爾·理查森著,1753年)的节选,该短剧是对这部小说的戏仿[40]。 传记作者赫南猜测,奥斯汀在1789年写成《爱与友情》后不久,决定“为利润写作,把写故事作为她的主要追求”,也就是成为一名职业作家[41]。大约从1793年起,她开始写更长,更复杂的作品[41]。
奥斯汀得知攝政王(即后来的喬治四世)欣赏她的作品,每个住地都有一套她的书。1815年11月,摄政王的图书管理员詹姆斯·斯坦尼尔·克拉克(James Stanier Clarke)邀请奥斯汀拜访位于伦敦的王室居所,并暗示她向摄政王献上即将出版的小说《愛瑪》。尽管奥斯汀不喜欢摄政王,她无法拒绝这个请求[103]。日后,她写了讽刺文《根据各方意见写就的小说计划》(Plan of a Novel, according to Hints from Various Quarters),是听取图书管理员为她将来作品提供的许多建议后作出的“完美小说”大纲[104][105][106]。
^All of Jane Austen's novels except Pride and Prejudice were published "on commission", that is, at the author's financial risk. When publishing on commission, publishers would advance the costs of publication, repay themselves as books were sold and then charge a commission for each book sold, paying the rest to the author. If a novel did not recover its costs through sales, the author was responsible for them.[88][89][90]
^Jane Austen's novels were published in larger editions than was normal for this period. The small size of the novel-reading public and the large costs associated with hand production (particularly the cost of handmade paper) meant that most novels were published in editions of 500 copies or less, in order to reduce the risks to the publisher and the novelist. Even some of the most successful titles during this period were issued in editions of not more than 750 or 800 copies and later reprinted if demand continued. Austen's novels were published in larger editions, ranging from about 750 copies of Sense and Sensibility to about 2,000 copies of Emma. It is not clear whether the decision to print more copies than usual of Jane Austen's novels was driven by the publishers or the author. Since all but one of Jane Austen's books were originally published "on commission", the risks of overproduction were largely hers (or Cassandra's after her death) and publishers may have been more willing to produce larger editions than was normal practice when their own funds were at risk. Editions of popular works of non-fiction were often much larger. For more information and a discussion of the economics of book publishing during this period, see Fergus, "The Professional Woman Writer", in Copeland & McMaster 1997,第18頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFCopelandMcMaster1997 (幫助), and Raven, "Book Production", in Todd 2005,第196–203頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFTodd2005 (幫助).
^This list of the juvenilia is taken from The Works of Jane Austen. Vol VI. 1954. Ed. R. W. Chapman and B. C. Southam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, as supplemented by additional research reflected in Margaret Anne Doody and Douglas Murray, eds. Catharine and Other Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
参考文献
^ 1.01.1Fergus, "Biography", Jane Austen in Context, 3–4.
^Keith G. Thomas, "Jane Austen and the Romantic Lyric: Persuasion and Coleridge's Conversation Poems," ELH, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Winter, 1987), pp. 893–924, The Johns Hopkins Press. [1] (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)
^Lauro Dabundo, 'Jane Austen's Opacities,", in her book Jane Austen and Mary Shelley and Their Sisters, 2000, University Press of America.
^Honan, 11–14; Tucker, "Jane Austen's Family", The Jane Austen Companion, 143.
^Tomalin, 6, 13–16, 147–151, 170–171; Greene, "Jane Austen and the Peerage", Jane Austen: A Collection of Critical Essays, 156–157; Fergus, "Biography", Jane Austen in Context, 5–6; Collins, 10–11.
^Irene Collins estimates that when George Austen took up his duties as rector in 1764, Steventon comprised no more than about thirty families. Collins, 86.
^Tomalin, 7–9; Honan, 21–22; Collins, 86; Le Faye, Family Record, 19. Le Faye and Collins add that the Austens followed this custom for all of their children.
^Tomalin, 9–10, 26, 33–38, 42–43; Le Faye, Family Record, 52; Collins, 133–134.
^Le Faye, "Chronology", 2–3; Grundy, "Jane Austen and Literary Traditions", 190–191; Tomalin, 28–29, 33–43, 66–67; Honan, 31–34; Lascelles, 7–8. Irene Collins believes that Austen "used some of the same school books as the boys" her father tutored. Collins, 42.
^Sutherland, "Chronology of Composition and Publication", in Todd 2005,第15, 20–22頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFTodd2005 (幫助).
^Fergus, "Biography", in Todd 2005,第8頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFTodd2005 (幫助).
^Doody, Margaret Anne, "Jane Austen, that disconcerting child", in Alexander & McMaster 2005,第105頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFAlexanderMcMaster2005 (幫助)
^Sutherland, "Chronology of Composition and Publication", in Todd 2005,第18–19頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFTodd2005 (幫助).
^Fergus, "The Professional Woman Writer", in Copeland & McMaster 1997,第22–24頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFCopelandMcMaster1997 (幫助).
^Austen letter to James Stannier Clarke, 15 November 1815; Clarke letter to Austen, 16 November 1815; Austen letter to John Murray, 23 November 1815, Le Faye, Jane Austen's Letters, 296–298.