Night and Day
夜與日
Virginia Woolf
弗吉尼亞·伍爾夫
The attempts of a group of upper-middle-class young people to find their rightful marriage partners within the stilted conventions of courtship in Edwardian England form the substance of Night and Day. The plot, which covers a nine-month period from October to the following June, has many of the elements of dramatic farce. There are chance meetings, overheard conversations, misinterpretations, and comic figures, but all difficulties are happily resolved in the traditional comic ending.
The novel opens with Katharine Hilbery pouring tea at an afternoon party at her parents’ house. (Many of the key events and conversations in the novel take place over that peculiarly English convention, afternoon tea.) A late guest at the tea party is Ralph Denham, a young solicitor who has recently contributed an article to the review edited by Katharine’s father. At first meeting, Katharine and Denham take a slight dislike to each other: He is unimpressed by her aristocratic heritage (she belongs to one of the most distinguished families in England), and she finds him dull.
At this point in the proceedings, Katharine is being courted by William Rodney, a cultured but somewhat vain man, who works in a government office during the day but indulges his chief love, literature, in the evenings. Denham’s closest friendship is with twenty-five-year-old Mary Datchet, who is involved in the women’s suffrage movement. She and Denham have known each other for two years, but she is an independent spirit and does not want to marry him, or anyone else. (Enotes)
《夜與日》主要描述了大詩人的後裔凱瑟琳小姐與頗有文才、風流倜傥的青年詩人羅德尼門當戶對，似乎很快就能名正言順地成為伴侶。她（他）們的長輩，她（他）們的朋友都欣喜地關注着他們，為他們祝福。但是真正的愛情并不是假借人手安排的，就是這對熱戀中的年輕人也感覺到沒有愛情的婚姻将是折磨人的桎梏。凱瑟琳、拉爾夫、瑪麗一群年輕人都在苦苦地思索，滿懷希冀地探求着愛情的真谛。經過一番掙紮，凱瑟琳與羅德尼沖破各種觀念上的藩籬，終于各自找尋到了自己的意中人，最終在長輩的諒解下，解除了婚約。
伍爾芙把藝術看得高于一切。不過，她每完成一部作品常會出現病兆。 她一生也确實因患精神病瘋癫多次。但她的讀書心得卻是理性的，坦率的，自由的，敏銳的，生猛的，毫不客氣的。在《伍爾芙讀書心得》裡，她颠覆了正常思維。她說，作為一個讀者，獨立性是最重要的品質。如果把那些衣冠楚楚的權威學者請進圖書館，讓他們告訴我們該讀什麼書，那就等于在摧毀自由精神。她解釋說，滑鐵盧戰役是在哪一天打起來的，這種事當然會有肯定的回答，但是要說《哈姆雷特》是不是比《李爾王》更好，那就誰也說不準了。她說，為了得到自由精神，當然也得對自己有所限制。我們不能愚昧而徒勞地浪費精力——為了給一盆玫瑰澆水，結果把半個院子全澆濕。我們必須培養把控對象的能力。她的意思翻譯成糙話就是：一個人在書裡，就像一個人在床上，是不需要别人教的，比照權威真是太滑稽了。她這樣評價傳記：“一個傍晚，整幢屋子的每個房間都亮着燈，紳士在用餐，姑娘準備參加晚會，老太婆在打毛線。這裡正上演人生戲劇的某一個片段——傳記和回憶為我們照亮許多屋子。”
音頻
It was a Sunday evening in October, and in common with many other young ladies of her class, Katharine Hilbery was pouring out tea. Perhaps a fifth part of her mind was thus occupied, and the remaining parts leapt over the little barrier of day which interposed between Monday morning and this rather subdued moment, and played with the things one does voluntarily and normally in the daylight. But although she was silent, she was evidently mistress of a situation which was familiar enough to her, and inclined to let it take its way for the six hundredth time, perhaps, without bringing into play any of her unoccupied faculties. A single glance was enough to show that Mrs. Hilbery was so rich in the gifts which make tea-parties of elderly distinguished people successful, that she scarcely needed any help from her daughter, provided that the tiresome business of teacups and bread and butter was discharged for her.
Considering that the little party had been seated round the tea-table for less than twenty minutes, the animation observable on their faces, and the amount of sound they were producing collectively, were very creditable to the hostess. It suddenly came into Katharine’s mind that if some one opened the door at this moment he would think that they were enjoying themselves; he would think, “What an extremely nice house to come into!” and instinctively she laughed, and said something to increase the noise, for the credit of the house presumably, since she herself had not been feeling exhilarated. At the very same moment, rather to her amusement, the door was flung open, and a young man entered the room. Katharine, as she shook hands with him, asked him, in her own mind, “Now, do you think we’re enjoying ourselves enormously?”... “Mr. Denham, mother,” she said aloud, for she saw that her mother had forgotten his name.