20年前，《傲慢与偏见》在美成为一个现象

20 Years Ago: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Was Reborn on TV
20年前，《傲慢与偏见》在美成为一个现象

The biggest surprise in the opening episode of the final season of “Downton Abbey” wasn’t about “Downton” at all; it was ― ohmygod, there’s Wickham! Wickham, you old scoundrel, is that really you? And has it really been 20 years?

《唐顿庄园》(Downton Abbey)最后一季第一集最大的惊喜完全与唐顿庄园无关，而是――天哪，那是威克姆(Wickham)！威克姆，你个老流氓，真的是你吗？真的已经过了20年？

It was 20 years ago this month, as it happens, that the television costume drama genre hit its high-water mark (muddy hems and all) with the broadcast of “Pride and Prejudice,” a co-production of the BBC and A&E starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet. Adrian Lukis played the cad Wickham, and he showed up in last Sunday’s episode of “Downton Abbey” as a neighbor of the Crawleys forced to sell the ancestral pile.

正好就是20年前的这个月，随着《傲慢与偏见》(Pride and Prejudice)播出，电视剧里的古装戏类型达到了新高度（沾满泥巴的裙摆等等）。这部电视剧由BBC和A&E联合制作，由科林・费斯(Colin Firth)饰演达西先生(Darcy)，詹妮弗・埃尔(Jennifer Ehle)饰演伊丽莎白・班内特(Elizabeth Bennet)。阿德里安・卢基斯(Adrian Lukis)饰演无赖威克姆。上周日（1月3日），他在《唐顿庄园》中亮相，饰演克劳利一家的一位被迫卖掉祖产的邻居。

Enough about Downton. Let’s talk about Pemberley (Darcy’s Downton-like home). There are few universally acknowledged truths, but on this anniversary, Friday File revisits the show that gave birth to a Jane Austen cottage industry big enough to include faithful adaptations of the Austen oeuvre, sculptures of Mr. Firth and zombie Janes. The mystery novel “Death Comes to Pemberley,” a sequel by P. D. James, featured Matthew Goode as Wickham in the television adaptation. Mr. Goode, it is noted, will also feature in this “Downton” season. We know this because, like “Pride and Prejudice,” “Downton” went before British eyes first.

不说唐顿庄园了。咱们说说彭伯利庄园吧（Pemberley，达西的宅邸，与唐顿庄园相仿）。关于彭伯利庄园，几乎没有什么公认的事实，但是在此周年纪念之际，Friday File栏目组重温了那部电视剧。它衍生出一个庞大的简・奥斯汀产业，包括对奥斯汀全部作品的忠诚改变，费思和僵尸简的雕像。P・D・詹姆斯(P. D. James)续写的悬疑小说《彭伯利谋杀案》(Death Comes to Pemberley)后来也改编成电视剧，剧中的威克姆由马修・古德(Matthew Goode)饰演。据说，古德也将出现在这一季《唐顿庄园》中。我们知道他也会亮相是因为，和《傲慢与偏见》一样，《唐顿庄园》也是先在英国播出。

Writing in The New York Times on Jan. 13, 1996, the television critic John J. O’Connor, noting that “P&P” had set ratings records in England, called it “a splendid adaptation, with a remarkably faithful and sensitively nuanced script by Andrew Davies.”

1996年1月13日，电视评论家约翰・J・奥康纳(John J. O’Connor)在《纽约时报》上指出，《傲慢与偏见》在英国创下收视率新高，称它为“精彩的改编”，说“安德鲁・戴维斯(Andrew Davies)的剧本非常忠于原著，细腻而微妙”。

In the United States, it was broadcast over three nights on A&E, and Mr. O’Connor quibbled only about the pacing:

这部电视剧在美国的A&E频道分三个晚上播出。奥康纳对它的唯一不满是节奏有点慢。

“Scattered portions of this handsome production might seem a bit slow for American viewers (British imports are often snipped and speeded up for consumption here),” he wrote. “There are perhaps too many languorous walks across the meadows, and one or two ornately choreographed dances seem to go on forever.”

他写道：“对美国观众来说，这部制作精良的电视剧有点散乱，节奏有点慢（从英国引进的电视剧通常会进行剪辑，加快节奏，以适应美国观众的习惯）。在草地上悠闲漫步的画面太多了，有一两出编排华丽的舞蹈场景似乎没完没了。”

It turns out that American viewers not only didn’t mind the languor, but the old VCR also got a workout. “P&P” became a phenomenon. Peter M. Nichols, writing in The Times in 1997, said that the A&E mini-series “had viewers vying for quickly depleted supplies of videos after it played on television early last year.”

谁料想，美国观众完全不介意悠闲漫步，原版录影带都卖脱销了。《傲慢与偏见》成为一个现象。1997年，彼得・M・尼科尔斯(Peter M. Nichols)在《纽约时报》上写道，“去年年初”，A&E的这部迷你剧“在电视上播出之后”，“观众们抢购录影带，很快脱销”。

He concluded, “So powerful is the hold of the two-cassette ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ which has sold some 200,000 copies, that it is only half-jokingly reputed to have jeopardized jobs and strained personal relationships.”

最后他说：“两盒装的《傲慢与偏见》录影带非常抢手，共卖出约20万套。半开玩笑地说，有些人因为录影带丢了工作，搞僵了私人关系。”

Writing in The Times earlier that year, the book critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt nearly placed the mini-series above the novel.

那年年初，书评家克里斯托弗・莱曼-豪普特(Christopher Lehmann-Haupt)在《纽约时报》上对这部迷你剧的评价几乎高于这部小说。

“Plenty of bad movies have been made of good books, and a fair number of good movies have come from bad books. But a great movie of a great book?”

“有很多根据好书改编的烂电影，也有不少根据烂书改编的好电影。但是你见过根据一本很棒的书改编的很棒的电影吗？”

He had missed the production on TV, “but when a friend lent me the tapes,” he wrote, “I did not get free until I had watched the entire five-hour production three or four times.”

他写道，这部迷你剧在电视上播出时，他错过了，“但是一位朋友把录影带借给我后，我把五小时长的电视剧全部看了三四遍才罢休”。

Then he experimented. “Best of all was the way the film spurred me to read the book again after 40 years and to re-experience as literature the wayward romances.”

然后他开始进行试验，想看看书和电视剧哪个更棒。“最棒的是，那部电影激励我在40年后重读那本书，重新体验文学的肆意浪漫。”

He was surprised to find that “the book proved somewhat disappointing at first. As the friend who lent me the tapes rightly put it when I asked him how the book compared with the film, ‘It makes you fear for literature.’

他意外地发现，“一开始，那本书有点令人失望。我的感觉跟借给我录影带的那位朋友一样。借录影带时我问他小说和电影哪个更好，他回答说，‘它让你开始担心文学的前途。’”

“ ‘Oh! Shocking!’ as Miss Bingley would say. To admit that the literalness of film might surpass the stimulus to the imagination of Austen’s language. ’Abominable!’ ”

“如果承认电影的生动具体可能超越奥斯汀语言的想象力所带来的兴奋，那么人们的反应可能会像宾利小姐(Miss Bingley)那样：‘哦，太可怕了！真讨厌！’”

But there was love for both. “By the end, I’m relieved to report the book’s richness overtakes the film’s,” he wrote.

不过，书和小说都有人爱。他写道：“最后，我欣慰地发现，书的丰富性超越了电影。”

Still, “this reader will never again be able to open the pages of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ without picturing the actors in this unforgettable television production.”

不过，“作为读者，我一翻开《傲慢与偏见》，脑海中就会浮现出这部令人难忘的电视剧中的演员形象。”