雙語閱讀：性、婚姻和愛情年長女性的文化突圍

　　摘要：過去42年里，有兩個詞一直困擾著埃麗卡·容(Erica Jong)。第一個是“zipless”，第二個詞則不適宜刊在這張報(bào)紙上(即“zipless fxxk”——譯注)。

　　Two words have vexed Erica Jong for the last 42years. The first is “zipless,” and the word that follows is not printable in this newspaper.

　　The two-word phrase, immortalized in her 1973 best-selling novel, “Fear of Flying,” which hassold more than 27 million copies, entered the cultural lexicon as a shorthand for casual,consequence-free sex. It turned Ms. Jong into a feminist heroine of sorts and avatar offemale sexual liberation, and helped propel and define her career.

　　過去42年里，有兩個詞一直困擾著埃麗卡·容(Erica Jong)。第一個是“zipless”，第二個詞則不適宜刊在這張報(bào)紙上(即“zipless fxxk”——譯注)。

　　這兩個詞組成的短語因她1973年的暢銷小說，售出2700萬多冊的《怕飛》(Fear of Flying)而不朽，成為隨意、不顧后果的性愛的代名詞，被載入文學(xué)史冊。它令容在某種意義上成為女權(quán)主義的英雄，乃至女性性解放的化身，在促進(jìn)她事業(yè)發(fā)展的同時(shí)，也限定了她的事業(yè)生涯。

　　It was also meant to be satirical, Ms. Jong said, but was misconstrued as an endorsement ofunbridled lust.

　　容說，這個短語也帶有諷刺意味，但是卻被錯誤地理解為對不節(jié)制的性欲的一種贊許。

年長女性的文化突圍

　　“People so misinterpreted ‘zipless,’ ” Ms. Jong, 73, said during an interview at her Upper EastSide apartment. “I say in ‘Fear of Flying’ that it’s a Platonic ideal and a fantasy, and I havenever had one, but people seem to overlook that.”

　　“人們誤解了‘zipless’這個詞”，73歲的容女士在上東區(qū)公寓中接受采訪時(shí)說。“我在《怕飛》中說過，這是一種柏拉圖式的理念和幻想，我自己從來沒有過這樣的性愛，但是人們似乎忽視了這一點(diǎn)。”

　　Now, decades later, she has exhumed and rebranded the phrase in her new novel, “Fear ofDying,” which is being billed as the “spiritual” sequel to “Fear of Flying” and is being released onTuesday.

　　如今，幾十年過后，她的新小說《怕死》(Fear of Dying)將在周二出版，它被成為《怕飛》的“精神”續(xù)集，書中她重新挖掘出這個短語，并且重新塑造它的形象。

　　While “Fear of Flying” shocked readers with its frank depiction of the sexual appetite andindependence of its protagonist, Isadora Wing, “Fear of Dying” takes on an another, morepersistent taboo by depicting — in blunt, unvarnished detail — sex between older adults. Ms.Jong’s new character, a grandmother in her 60s, is lusty and vivacious and searching for carnalsatisfaction at a casual-sex site called zipless.com.

　　《怕飛》中直白地描寫性欲，以及主人公伊莎多拉·溫(Isadora Wing)獨(dú)立的性格，令讀者大為震驚;而《怕死》則以直率質(zhì)樸的細(xì)節(jié)描寫老年人的性愛，從而觸及另一個更為持久的禁忌。容筆下新的主人公是一位60歲的祖母，充滿欲望，性格活潑，在一個名叫zipless.com的約炮網(wǎng)站上尋覓肉體的滿足。

　　“I’ve always wanted to write the books for women that didn’t yet exist, so I thought, I have towrite about an older woman who is sexual, attractive and wants to reach out for life,” Ms. Jongsaid. “That’s not celebrated, sadly, and I would hope that a lot of older women who read thisbook realize that sex doesn’t disappear, it just changes forms.”

　　“我一直都想為那種尚不存在的女人寫書，所以我想，我應(yīng)該寫一個年長的女人，她性感、迷人，愿意去探索生命，”容說。“悲哀的是，這并不受到贊美，我希望會有很多年長的女人讀這本書，讓她們意識到性愛并沒有消失，只是換了種形式。”

　　The story centers on Vanessa Wonderman, a former actress terrified of aging and death. Sheseeks escape from her sexless marriage to a much older man with erectile dysfunction bysearching for lovers online. The surreal encounters that follow — an email exchange with a manwho introduces himself by sending lewd photos, another who wants her to wear a black rubbersuit, an unsatisfying hotel tryst with an old married flame — leave Vanessa reeling and worriedthat her sex life might be over. (This being an Erica Jong novel, it isn’t.)

　　故事的主線是退休女演員凡妮莎·范德曼(Vanessa Wonderman)對衰老與死亡的恐懼。她想逃離與比自己老得多，有勃起障礙的丈夫的無性婚姻，于是在網(wǎng)上尋覓情人。接下來是一串超現(xiàn)實(shí)的邂逅――一個男人寫來電子郵件，以猥褻的照片作為自我介紹，還有一個男人希望她穿黑色橡膠緊身衣。和一個已婚老年情人在酒店的幽會不能令人滿足，凡妮莎心煩意亂，擔(dān)心自己的性生活就此告終了(不過這畢竟是埃麗卡·容的小說，她的性生活還完不了)。

　　Some of Ms. Jong’s fans and peers are calling the novel a long overdue corrective in a culturallandscape that deifies youth and often ignores older women, or relegates them to the role ofspinsters or crones.

　　有些容的書迷和同齡人覺得，當(dāng)前的文化將青春神圣化，無視年老女人，或者一味把她們貶低為老處女或者丑陋老太婆，容的小說是對這種現(xiàn)象的矯正，早就應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)了。

　　“There is this giant void in the culture about women in that age group as heroines, asromantic beings, as sexual beings and as creative beings, and there’s not that void for men,”said Naomi Wolf, author of “The Beauty Myth.” “Women don’t stop being all those things astheir lives continue into those decades.”

　　“文化中有一個巨大的空白，沒有人把年老的女人塑造為女主角，塑造成浪漫的人，性感的人，富于創(chuàng)造性的人，男性就沒有這樣的空白，”《美麗迷思》(The Beauty Myth)一書的作者娜奧米·伍爾夫(Naomi Wolf)說。“女人就算步入老年，也仍然會成為這樣的人。”

　　“Fear of Dying” is landing in the middle of a long-festering debate about the social and culturalobstacles older women face. The comedian Amy Schumer has skewered the frequent sideliningof older actresses in a widely viewed skit built around the farcical — though just barely —premise that an aging actress’s desirability could dissipate in a single day. Sex therapists andgurus have published dozens of manuals and self-help books with titles like “Sex for Seniors”and “Sex Over 50.” There is also the gag book “Sex After 60,” which is blank inside.

　　關(guān)于年老女性所面臨的社會與文化困境的討論還在持續(xù)加劇，《怕死》的出現(xiàn)恰逢其時(shí)。喜劇演員艾米·舒默(Amy Schumer)在一則被廣泛收看的小品里諷刺年長女演員經(jīng)常被邊緣化的現(xiàn)象，它建立在一個滑稽的前提之下(其實(shí)幾乎已經(jīng)不滑稽了)——一個年老女演員的魅力一夜間就消失了。性愛治療師和上師們出版了幾十本 《老年人性愛》、《50歲后的性愛》之類的指導(dǎo)手冊和勵志書。還有一本惡作劇的書名叫《60歲后的性愛》(Sex After 60)，里面全是空白。

　　But the subject hasn’t been widely explored in popular fiction. “Women were not allowed tohave passion at 60,” Ms. Jong writes in “Fear of Dying.” “We were supposed to becomegrandmothers and retreat into serene sexlessness.”

　　但是通俗小說從未廣泛探索過這個題材。“女人一旦年過60，就不再被允許擁有激情，”容在《怕死》中寫道。“人們覺得我們應(yīng)該成為祖母，回到寧靜的無性狀態(tài)中去。”

　　Ms. Jong started out as a poet, and published two volumes of verse before selling “Fear ofFlying” to Aaron Asher, an editor whose roster of writers included Saul Bellow, Philip Roth andArthur Miller. Mr. Asher told Ms. Jong to expect sales of 3,000 copies, she recalled.

　　容早年曾是詩人，在《怕飛》之前出版過兩本詩集，后來她把《怕飛》賣給亞倫·阿舍(Aaron Asher)，此人曾為索爾·貝婁(Saul Bellow)、菲利普·羅斯(Philip Roth)和阿瑟·米勒(Arthur Miller)擔(dān)任編輯。容記得當(dāng)時(shí)阿舍告訴她，這本書大概能賣出3000冊。

　　Instead, the novel, about a young poet who travels to Vienna with her husband and attemptsto live out her fantasies by having an affair, became a blockbuster and cultural touchstone. JohnUpdike compared it to “The Catcher in the Rye,” and Henry Miller praised it as a groundbreakingliterary achievement. The book was translated into 40 languages and was credited by second-wave feminists with paving the way for women’s self-expression.

　　結(jié)果這本描寫一個年輕女詩人和丈夫一起去維也納旅行，試圖靠外遇實(shí)現(xiàn)幻想的小說成了暢銷書和文化里程碑。約翰·厄普迪克(John Updike)將它同《麥田守望者》(The Catcher in the Rye)相提并論，亨利·米勒(Henry Miller)說它是開創(chuàng)性的文學(xué)成就。這本書被譯為40種語言，為女性的自我表達(dá)開辟了道路，經(jīng)常被第二代女權(quán)主義者引用。

　　“What was really distinctive about it at the time was the notion that a woman could break outof the conventions of how a woman writer should write, and write with candor and humorabout topics that were taboo for women,” said Shelley Fisher Fishkin, an English professor atStanford University.

　　“在當(dāng)時(shí)，這本書的特別之處就在于它帶來一種觀念，一個女人可以突破女性作家寫作的傳統(tǒng)，帶著熱情與幽默書寫那些女性的禁忌題材，”斯坦福大學(xué)英語系教授雪莉·費(fèi)舍·費(fèi)什金(Shelley Fisher Fishkin)說。

　　Ms. Jong has since published three memoirs, five more volumes of poetry and eight othernovels, including historical fiction and a work about Sappho, but nothing has matched thepopularity of “Fear of Flying.” At times, she says, she has felt oppressed by being so closelyassociated with her brash fictional alter ego Isadora.

　　后來容出版過三本回憶錄，五本詩集和八部小說，包括關(guān)于薩福(Sappho)的歷史小說與研究，但它們都無法與《怕飛》的流行程度相比。她說，人們常常把她和小說中她那個大膽的虛構(gòu)人格伊莎多拉密切聯(lián)系在一起，這有時(shí)讓她覺得受到壓抑。

　　“Fear of Flying’ follows me everywhere,” she said.

　　“《怕飛》如影隨形地跟著我，”她說。

　　She has been struggling to write “Fear of Dying” for a decade. At first she tried to make anolder, wiser Isadora the heroine. But bringing back that character felt forced. “There was somuch baggage around ‘Fear of Flying,’ ” she said. “The weight of those expectations was veryfrightening.”

　　她努力想寫《怕死》已經(jīng)有十年了。起先，她想讓上了年紀(jì)，變得更聰明一點(diǎn)的伊莎多拉做女主角。但是重新帶回這個角色讓她感覺不自然。“《怕飛》有太多包袱，”她說。“期待的重量非?？膳隆?rdquo;

　　Ms. Jong eventually sidelined Isadora to a cameo role as a worldly friend, and createdVanessa, who shares some obvious traits with the author. She used the book to explore thewrenching process of watching her parents’ slow demise, her fear of losing her looks andvitality, the joys of being a grandmother and her relationship with her daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, who, like Vanessa, struggled with drug addiction.

　　最后，容讓伊莎多拉成了客串出場的配角，一個老成世故的朋友，而凡妮莎則與作者本人有著明顯的相似之處。她用這本書來探索目睹父母緩慢逝去的痛苦過程、對失去自身美貌和活力的恐懼、當(dāng)上外祖母的喜悅之情，乃至和自己女兒莫莉·容-法斯特(Molly Jong-Fast)之間的關(guān)系――她的女兒和凡妮莎一樣，也要和毒癮作斗爭。

　　Ms. Jong’s warm, chatty persona and her tendency to blur the boundaries between her lifeand fiction often results in juicy reading. She once wrote about a one-night stand she had withMartha Stewart’s then-husband, Andy Stewart, at the Frankfurt Book Fair. But theautobiographical tropes can be trying for friends, family members, ex-husbands and formerlovers. (Her fourth marriage, to Ken Burrows, a divorce lawyer, has lasted 26 years.) Her sister,Suzanna Daou, confronted her publicly at a 2008 conference about “Fear of Flying,” and hassaid that the book embarrassed her and her husband by modeling characters after them.

　　容有著溫暖、饒舌的性格，喜歡打亂生活與小說之間的界限，這常常會勾起讀者的八卦之心。她寫過自己和瑪莎·斯圖爾特(Martha Stewart)當(dāng)時(shí)的丈夫安迪·斯圖爾特(Andy Stewart)在法蘭克福書展上搞一夜情。但是自傳式的影射也可以用到朋友、家人、前夫和前情人們身上(她的第四次婚姻是與離婚律師肯·巴羅斯[KenBurrows]，持續(xù)了26年)。2008年，她的姊妹蘇珊娜·達(dá)奧烏(Suzanna Daou)在一次關(guān)于《怕飛》的研討會上公開質(zhì)問她，說這本書從她和她丈夫身上取材，讓他們覺得尷尬。

　　Ms. Jong-Fast, who is also a writer, said she had not read “Fear of Dying” and did not plan to,noting that her having her time in treatment rehashed in fiction “would not have been my firstchoice.” The scenes from a mother-daughter trip to a rehabilitation clinic appear to be barelyfictionalized, and several paragraphs match an account of the episode in Ms. Jong’s mostrecent memoir nearly verbatim, with identical dialogue and descriptions.

　　她的女兒容-法斯特也是作家，說自己還沒讀過《怕死》，也不想讀，她說，書里重現(xiàn)了她當(dāng)時(shí)接受戒毒治療的過程，“這并不是我的首選”。書中母女一起參加康復(fù)野餐的情形幾乎不像是虛構(gòu)，還有幾段，和容最新回憶錄中描寫她發(fā)病經(jīng)歷的內(nèi)容幾乎一字不差，有同樣的對話和描寫。

　　“I don’t read her books,” Ms. Jong-Fast said. “For my mental health, it’s probably better notto.”

　　“我不看她的書，”容-法斯特說。“為了我的精神健康，我最好別看。”

　　A few literary critics have taken aim at Ms. Jong’s self-referential style and habit of recyclingmaterial. A caustic review of her 2006 memoir in The Atlantic posited that Ms. Jong wasdoomed to “eternal self-imitation” after the success of “Fear of Flying,” and skewered her“stunning self-absorption.”

　　幾位文學(xué)評論家已經(jīng)批評容這種指向自我的風(fēng)格和習(xí)慣是炒冷飯。2006年，《大西洋月刊》(The Atlantic)對她當(dāng)年出版的回憶錄發(fā)表了尖刻的評論，認(rèn)為容在《怕飛》大獲成功之后，注定要陷入“永遠(yuǎn)的自我模仿”，還批評她那種“驚人的自我陶醉”。

　　In an advance review of “Fear of Dying,” a critic for Kirkus Reviews said that “spending almost300 pages with Vanessa is like enduring a trans-Atlantic flight with a seat mate who neverstops talking but doesn’t have a whole lot to say.”

　　《科克斯評論》(Kirkus Reviews)發(fā)表了對《怕死》的預(yù)先評論，寫道，“連看300頁凡妮莎的故事就像在飛越大西洋的航班上，身邊坐著一個不停說話的人，其實(shí)他根本沒多少值得一說的東西。”

　　Ms. Jong said she had a thicker skin than she did earlier in her career and is more philosophicalabout negative reviews. “We can’t really control our image in the world,” she said. “But it stillhurts if you spend a decade on a book and people don’t like it.”

　　容說，和事業(yè)生涯早期，她的臉皮厚了一些，對待差評也有了更加哲學(xué)的態(tài)度。“我們不能控制自己在這個世界上的形象，”她說。“但是如果你花了十年時(shí)間寫一本書，人們卻不愛看，這仍然會讓你覺得傷心。”

　　She has many vocal supporters, among them Susan Cheever; the historical novelist KenFollett, who said the new novel represented “Erica at her best”; and the novelist JenniferWeiner, who counts “Fear of Flying” as one of her literary influences.

　　她也擁有不少聲援者，其中包括蘇珊·契弗(Susan Cheever);歷史小說家肯·福萊特(Ken Follett)說，《怕死》展現(xiàn)了“埃麗卡最好的一面”;小說家詹妮弗·韋納(Jennifer Weiner)曾說《怕飛》影響了她的文學(xué)創(chuàng)作。

　　“ ‘Fear of Flying’ opened a lot of doors and eyes and made people look differently at that nicewoman sitting next to them on the train, and I think ‘Fear of Dying’ is going to have the sameeffect,” Ms. Weiner said.

　　“《怕飛》為很多人打開了大門，讓他們大開眼界，讓人們以不同的視角去看待火車上坐在他們身邊的體面女人，我覺得《怕死》也會有同樣效果，”韋納說。

　　Ms. Jong also found a fan in one of her comic heroes, Woody Allen, who loved “Fear of Dying”and unexpectedly gave it a blurb.

　　容熱愛的喜劇明星里也有她的擁躉，伍迪·艾倫(Woody Allen)喜歡《怕死》，并且出人意料地為它做了腰封推薦。

　　“I was thinking of his famous quote, I’m not afraid of dying; I just don’t want to be there whenit happens, so I thought he should read this,” Ms. Jong said. “The first thing he said when wesent it was, ‘I never blurb anything.’ Then he relented.”

　　“我記得他的名言：‘我不怕死;我只是希望到時(shí)候自己別在場才好’，所以我覺得他應(yīng)該看看這本書，”容說。“送書的時(shí)候，他的第一句話就是，‘我從不寫腰封推薦’。后來他反悔了。”