The Panted Veil 面纱

The Panted Veil 

《面纱》——来自英国作家  W·萨默塞特·毛姆

女性精神觉醒之作

毛姆最具争议的一部作品

作者简介

       威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆，英国小说家、剧作家。代表作有戏剧《圈子》，长篇小说《人生的枷锁》、《月亮和六便士》，短篇小说集《叶的震颤》、《阿金》等。其一生经历颇为传奇。1920年，他来到中国，写了游记《在中国的屏风上》（1922），并以中国为背景写了一部长篇小说《面纱》（1925）。

别掀开被那些活着的人称之为生活的华丽面纱。

  爱、幻灭、生死、背叛、别离……

  这场爱情直到分离才相遇。     

故事梗概

时间来到20年代。女主人公吉蒂为了步入上流社会而选择嫁给了一个并不爱的丈夫瓦尔特，随夫离开了上世纪20年代伦敦浮华而空虚的社交圈，随瓦尔特远赴神秘的东方殖民地——香港。但终究因难忍寂寞而背着丈夫与香港助理布政司查理·唐生偷情。瓦尔特发现了妻子的不贞后，毅然决定带妻子去中国的一个名叫湄潭府的地方，一方面是为了平息那里的疾病灾害，另一方面是为了报复妻子的出轨。在那里，夫妻二人面对疾病的肆虐和生活的疾苦，感受到了前所未有的情感碰撞。而女主人公也从此开始了她的精神蜕变之旅。

一段来自男主的经典原文

      "I had no illusions about you," he said. "I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed. But I loved you. I knew that your aims and ideals were vulgar and commonplace. But I loved you. I knew that you were second-rate. But I loved you. It's comic when I think how hard I tried to be amused by the things that amused you and how anxious I was to hide from you that I wasn't ignorant and vulgar and scandal-mongering and stupid. I knew how frightened you were of intelligence and I did everything I could to make you think me as big a fool as the rest of the men you knew. I knew that you'd only married me for convenience. I loved you so much, I didn't care. Most people, as far as I can see, when they're in love with someone and the love isn't returned feel that they have a grievance. They grow angry and bitter. I wasn't like that. I never expected you to love me, I didn't see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very lovable. I was thankful to be allowed to love you and I was enraptured when now and then I thought you were pleased with me or when I noticed in your eyes a gleam of good-humoured affection. I tried not to bore you with my love; I knew I couldn't afford to do that and I was always on the lookout for the first sign that you were impatient with my affection. What most husbands expect as a right I was prepared to receive as a favour."

Translation

     我对你根本没抱幻想。我知道你愚蠢、轻佻、头脑空虚，然而我爱你。我知道你的企图、你的理想，你势利，庸俗，然而我爱你。我知道你是个二流货色，然而我爱你。为了欣赏你所热衷的那些玩意我竭尽全力，为了向你展示我并非是无知、庸俗、闲言碎语、愚蠢至极，我煞费苦心。我知道智慧将会令你大惊失色，所以处处谨小慎微，务必表现得和你交往的任何男人一样像个傻瓜。我知道你仅仅为了一已之私跟我结婚。我爱你如此之深，这我毫不在意。据我所知，人们在爱上一个人却得不到回报时，往往感到伤心失望，继而变成愤怒尖刻。我不是那样。我从未奢望你来爱我，我从未设想你会有理由爱我，我也从未认为我自己惹人爱慕。对我来说能被赐予机会爱你就应心怀感激了。每当我想到你跟我在一起是愉悦的，每当我从你的眼睛里看到欢乐，我都狂喜不已。我尽力将我的爱维持在不让你厌烦的限度，否则我清楚那个后果我承受不了。我时刻关注你的神色，但凡你的厌烦显现出点蛛丝马迹，我便改变方式。一个丈夫的权利，在我看来却是一种恩惠。

推荐理由

这

本书不仅生动形象地描写了英国上流社会复杂混乱的生活，还以一个外来者的身份客观描绘了那个时代中国农村和山区的面貌。这与其他同时期的作品有很大的不同。更独特的是，这部作品以其悲天悯人的情感关照，以其对道德冲突的敏感解析，以其对人性的尖锐反讽，以其对人类欲望、恐惧和悔恨等内在世界的准确建构，而成为一部艺术的杰作。可尤其是女性意识的觉醒这一点，给作者带来了许多争议。但就像毛姆之侄罗宾说的那样：“艺术家的职责是让生活变得完美或是使生活变得扭曲，正是作家独特的见解为他赢得了读者。”