读与朝暮第十一期：《一小时的故事》

选择作品：The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin

    “美国‘20世纪女性解放运动先驱作家’凯特·肖邦（Kate Chopin）代表作品！”

    “一小时的故事，一个人的房间，一小时的自由”

    “生命与自由：时代背景下女性意识的禁锢、追求与毁灭”

    《一小时的故事》讲述了患有心脏病的露易丝·玛尔拉德夫人在得知丈夫丧生而又幸存这段时间里，行为举止与心路历程的变化，并以小见大，展示了女性意识的发展和女权主义运动的走向。

 

内容干货

1. 作者简介，本文概要

    作者简介：Kate Chopin, an American novelist and short story writer who mainly writes realistic fictions. She is regarded as a forerunner of American 20th century feminist authors. The Story of An Hour is written in 1894 and is regarded as her most famous short story.

    Notable Works: The Story of An Hour, The Awakening, Désirée’s Baby, Bayou Folk, A Night in Acadie

     作品梗概：The story focuses on the exact hour after Mrs. Mallard, who suffered from serious heart disease, heard about her husband’s death, during which time her feelings changed significantly. However, there is a huge turning in the end, leaving the sense of irony and deep thoughts in reader’s mind.

 

2. 单词词组，地道表达

    “当那噩耗传来，veiled hints that revealed in half concealing会让罹患心脏病的玛尔拉德夫人作何反应？

    这年轻貌美的女子与其他女性不同，她没有拒绝接受现实的paralyzed inability，而是wept又扑入姐姐的怀中with sudden, wild abandonment。然而，当她进入房间，看到trees aquiver, 闻到雨的delicious breath，听到peddler cries his ware和note of a distant song，蓝天白云之下她完成了全新的蜕变。

    自由是什么？它是subtle and elusive的感觉，是她bosom rising and falling tumultuously，是vacant stare，是鼓动的pulses和coursing的血液。自由是清晰的，exalted perception，也是an elixir of life，她会用opened and spread out arms来欢迎。

3. 散文佳句，沉浸赏析

    窗外岁月静好，窗内思绪汹涌。当一生顺从的夫人骤然失去依靠，随之而来的除了心碎之悲，是否还有更深更远处的觉醒？

·    There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.

    噩耗重击之下，玛尔拉德夫人只身回到房间里。这位年轻貌美的姑娘，会如何面对身体和心理的双重折磨？

 

    There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.

    苍穹无际，云卷云舒。凭栏远眺，从未有过的战栗击中了她的身躯。

 

    When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free, free!"

一声情不自禁的轻喃，道尽了多少受压迫女性的呼号。

 

4. 主旨哲思，流连赏玩

    性别若枷锁，负重亦前行

    “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. (…) It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.”

    纵受尽束缚抑制，与生俱来的力量与优雅不会褪色。

 

    冲破桎梏，独立自由

    “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”

    “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.”

    在那个夫唱妇随的时代，为自己而活，为自己的心意而活从来都是女性的一种奢侈。失去丈夫，何尝又不是失去枷锁，失去镣铐……

    20世纪，在那个女性沉默无声的时代里，有这样一位姑娘，她身娇体弱，却意志顽强，思想深远，在短短一个小时时间内，她在收获自由的狂喜中涅槃重生，又在梦境破碎的绝望中猝然长逝。这何尝不是近代女权运动的缩影？我们负重前行，理想不熄，然前路坎坷，道阻且长。