For every great author, there's another great author eager to knock him or her down a few pegs. Although the writers here are typically deemed canonical by literary tastemakers, there wasn't much mutual admiration amongst them.

每个伟大的作家，都会受到另一个伟大作家的毒舌抨击。尽管图中的作家是公认的大文学家，然而他们之间似乎彼此并不欣赏。

Mark Twain on Jane Austen

马克·吐温评简·奥斯汀

 

“I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”

“我经常想批评简·奥斯汀，但是她的书太让我抓狂，让我很难对读者隐瞒我的愤怒之情；所以每次我开始读她的书时都不得不中途停止。每当我读《傲慢与偏见》的时候，都恨不得把她从坟墓里挖出来、抓起她的膝骨敲打她的头颅。”

马克·吐温作品：《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》《汤姆·索亚历险记》

简·奥斯汀作品：《傲慢与偏见》《理智与情感》《诺桑觉寺》《曼斯菲尔德庄园》《爱玛》《劝导》

Charlotte Brontë on Jane Austen

夏洛蒂·勃朗特评简·奥斯汀

 

“Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? … I had not seen Pride and Prejudice till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck.”——Letter to a friend

“你为什么那么喜欢简·奥斯汀呢？我始终都没看《傲慢与偏见》，直到看到你的那些话我才拿起这本书。我发现了什么呢？不过是对普通人照本宣科的描述罢了；只有围墙精美、植物葱郁、边界整饬、鲜花烂漫的花园，却没有明亮生动的画面、空旷的原野、新鲜的空气、苍翠的青山、秀丽的小河。”——节选自夏洛蒂·勃朗特写给朋友的信

夏洛蒂·勃朗特作品：《简·爱》《雪莉》《维莱特》《教师》