Jane Austen ’airbrushed’ on new ￡10 note, claims biographer. 傳記作家聲稱，奧斯汀在10英鎊新鈔上的畫像遭「刻意美化」

Jane Austen ’airbrushed’ on new ￡10 note, claims biographer.
傳記作家聲稱，奧斯汀在10英鎊新鈔上的畫像遭「刻意美化」
2013-12-22◎俞智敏

A biographer of Jane Austen has accused the Bank of England of making the author look "dim-witted" in its choice of portrait for the new ￡10 note.

替英國知名作家珍．奧斯汀撰寫傳記的一位作家指控英格蘭銀行在替10英鎊新鈔選擇奧斯汀肖像時，讓她看起來很「愚蠢」。

"Jane Austen is the funniest writer to walk this planet, and she’s been made to look dim-witted," said Paula Byrne author of The Real Jane Austen. "I can’t believe they have gone for such a saccharine picture. Jane Austen was a supreme social satirist, and some of her writing was quite dark, but they’ve chosen a picture that makes her look a really cosy, middle-class writer."

「珍．奧斯汀是全世界最風趣的作家，而她卻被畫成一副蠢相，」「真正的珍．奧斯汀」一書作者伯恩表示。「我真不敢相信他們竟然會選出這幅遭到過度美化的畫像。珍．奧斯汀是一流的社會諷刺家，她有些作品甚至非常黑暗，但他們卻選了一張畫像，讓她看起來像是生活優渥的中產階級作家。」

Byrne said： "I think it is brilliant that she’s on the note, it’s just that it would have been better to show her as much more spiky, rather than suggest that she was a saccharine writer."

伯恩表示，「我認為把她的肖像印在鈔票上非常棒，但如果能讓她看起來更尖銳，而非暗示她是個粉飾太平的作家會更好。」

She said the Bank should have used an original sketch of the author, by her sister Cassandra. This is the only known picture done during her lifetime, and shows the author sitting arms folded and without a flicker of a smile.

她認為英格蘭銀行應當使用奧斯汀姊姊卡珊卓替她畫的肖像。這是奧斯汀生前留下唯一的一幅已知畫像，畫中奧斯汀雙臂交疊，臉上沒有一絲笑意。

The portrait used on the ￡10 was done in 1870, more than 50 years after Austen’s death, and is based on the earlier sketch. It was commissioned to illustrate a memoir by Austen’s nephew, James Edward Austen Leigh, but Byrne said even Austen’s remaining family said it was not a proper likeness.

被印製在10英鎊鈔票上的畫像則是完成於1870年，當時奧斯汀已過世逾50年，而且是以一幅較早的素描為藍本。這幅肖像是為奧斯汀外甥詹姆斯．艾德華．奧斯汀．李所撰寫的回憶錄所繪製，但伯恩說，就連奧斯汀當時仍在世的家人也認為這幅肖像並不像奧斯汀本人。

新聞辭典

airbrush：動詞，原指用噴槍來修飾照片等，亦可形容刻意粉飾或美化某事，例句︰The authorities tried to airbrush out their mistake and pretend it had never happened.（當局企圖掩飾錯誤，假裝這件事從未發生過。）

dim-witted：形容詞，非正式用語，指不聰明、愚蠢，例句︰In the comedy, he plays the part of a bumbling, dim-witted salesman.（在這齣喜劇中，他扮演的是一個老是犯錯、愚蠢的銷售員。）

saccharine：形容詞，正式用語，過甜的、濫情的、過度有禮的、讓人感到不誠懇或真實的，例句︰I don’t trust her, with her saccharine smiles.（她臉上堆滿了諂媚的笑容，我不信任她。）