女人的职业译文

Professions for Women

by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Born in England, Virginia Woolf was the daughter of Leslie Stephen, a well-known scholar. She was educated primarily at home and attributed her love of reading to the early and complete access she was given to her father’s library. With her husband, Leonard Woolf, she founded the Hogarth Press and became known as member of the Bloomsbury group of intellectuals, which included economist John Maynard Keynes, biographer Lytton Strachey, novelist E. M. Forster, and art historian Clive Bell. Although she was a central figure in London literary life, Woolf often saw herself as isolated from the mains stream because she was a woman. Woolf is best known for her experimental, modernist novels, including Mrs. Dalloway(1925) and To the Lighthouse(1927) which are widely appreciated for her breakthrough into a new mode and technique--the stream of consciousness. In her diary and critical essays she has much to say about women and fiction. Her 1929 book A Room of One’s Own documents her desire for women to take their rightful place in literary history and as an essayist she has occupied a high place in 20th century literature. The common Reader (1925 first series; 1932 second series) has acquired classic status. She also wrote short stories and biographies. “Professions for Women” taken from The collected Essays Vol 2. is originally a paper Woolf read to the Women’s Service League, an organization for professional women in London.

Questions for Comprehension and Consideration

1. Woolf’s essay is titled “Professions for Women.” Which profession does she discuss in detail? What reasons does Woolf give for finding writing a comfortable profession for a woman to pursue? What do these reasons suggest about the relationship between women, their families, and the world of work? Woolf says, “Pianos and models, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a writer.” What does she mean by saying that? What actually does the author want to emphasize in the first paragraph? Do you detect some bitterness in tone in the first paragraph? If you do, can you point out where it lies? What is left unsaid here?

2. What point does the writer make through the sardonic mention of her Persian cat in paragraph 2? 3. What metaphors are used in paragraph 3? Who is the Angel in the House? What is her main qualities? Why did the Angel become symbolic of the emotional trmoil Woolf experienced when trying to work ( writing reviews of men’s writing for instance)? Who or what does the Angel represent? Why does the author take great pains to describe the Angel and the killing of the Angel? What does the author want to tell her audience in this paragrph? Write a dialogue between Woolf and the Angel. Develop the connflict that leads up to the murder of the Angel and reveals what Woolf learns during the struggle.

4. In paragraph 4, Woolf asks, “What is a woman?” Explain her response to this question and then work on your own definition. Try also to answer the question “What is a man?” How is your definition different from your definition of a woman? How do you explain the discrepancies?

5. What problem did Woolf encounter when she moved from writing reviews to writing novels? How does she use the analogy of the “fisherman lying sunk in dreams” to explain the problem she was facing? Who does the fisherman represent? The line racing through the girl’s fingers? The smash? What is the “something hard” that the imagination smashes against? 5. What conclusion does the author come to in paragraph 6?

6. Note the relationship between paragraph 6 and paragraph 7. The author might well have stopped at paragraph 6 or after the fourth sentence of paragraph 7, but she goes on and introduces something new. What is it? How is the theme broadened and deepened at the end of the essay with the series of questions the author raises on the rooms women occupy (or will occupy) “in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men.” Woolf wrote “Professions for Women” in 1931; how would you answer her questions today, from the perspective of the 1990s?

7. How does the essay impress you as a whole? How does the last paragraph impress you? Give your reasons.

女人的职业

听说你们协会是有关妇女就业的。协会秘书要我就职业问题谈谈自己的阅历。不错，我是女人，我也正在就业。可是我有些什么阅历呢？这个问题似乎很难回答。我的职业是文学，文学给予女人特有的阅历比其他职业要少，舞台表演除外。这是因为许多年前范妮?伯尼、阿普拉?贝恩、哈丽雅特?马蒂诺、简?奥斯丁、乔治?爱略特就在这条路上披荆斩棘了。无数知名的、不知名的女人在我之前扫除了障碍，调整了我的步伐。我开始写作时，这个职业已经不拒绝女性了。写作是个高尚而无害的职业，家庭的安宁不会被钢笔的嚓嚓声打破，也不需要很多的经济投资。花十六便士买的纸足够写下莎士比亚所有巨著 --------假如你也有个莎士比亚的脑袋的话。作家不需要有钢琴、模特儿，不要周游巴黎、维也纳和柏林，也不需聘请家庭教师。纸张便宜也许是女人在写作领域比其他领域成功的原因。

言归正传吧。我当作家的故事其实很简单，你们大可想象一个手执钢笔的姑娘坐在卧室，从左到右不停地写着，写着，从十点写到一点。然后，她把这些稿件装进信封，贴上一便士邮票投进信筒。我就是这样成为报纸撰稿人的。第二个月的第一天 ---- 那对我是辉煌的一天 --- 我竟收到编辑给我的信，还附了张一镑十六便士的支票。可我多不懂生活的艰辛呀！我没用这钱买面包和黄油，买鞋子或袜子，或者付杂货店老板的欠单，而是用它买了一只漂亮的波斯猫，一只不久便令我陷入邻里唇枪舌战的小猫。

还有什么比写文章，比用稿费买小猫更容易呢？可是，等等！文章得表明见地。记得那篇文章是评论某个著名作家小说的。写那篇文章时我就发现，评论作品时我需要与一种幻影搏斗。这个幻影就是女人。多次交锋以后，感觉开始明晰，我借一首著名诗歌里女主人公之名，称她为“屋子里的天使”。她横亘在我和稿纸之间，困绕我，折磨我，消耗我，令我最终忍无可忍，杀了她。你们年轻一代比较幸运，可能没听说过她--------因而不知道何为“屋子里的天使”。我简要地解释一下。她温柔可爱，善良无私。她擅长持家，富有牺牲精神。如果餐桌上有一只鸡，她哪的是鸡脚；如果屋里有穿堂风，她就坐在那里挡着。总之，她没有思想，没有渴望，只会附和与赞同。她最为引人注目的--------不必说--------是她的单纯。单纯是她最为动人之处--------那羞怯，那优雅，实在令人倾倒。维多利亚女王时代末期，每间屋子里都有这样的天使。我从写作伊始便面临这样的天使，每一页书稿上都碰到她的翼翅，听到她裙边相碰之声。当我握笔准备抨击某个作家作品时，她便悄悄溜到我身后低语，“亲爱的，你一个年轻女子竟要批评男人写的书？温柔贤淑些，显出虚心求教的样子，充分展示女人的妩媚和技巧，可不要表现自己的思想。单纯才是女性美。”她试图要指导我怎么写作。我可以自豪地告诉你们我是怎样采取行动的。也许这得归功于给我留下财产的我出色的先辈们，他们给我留下了一定数量的金钱--------也许每年五百镑，它让我能不靠美貌可爱过活。我转过身，扼住她的喉咙用力杀死她。假如我被押上法庭，我的借口是：我是在进行正当防卫。我不杀她，她会杀我，她要抽掉我作品的精神。没有思想，我怎么表现自己对人性、道德和性别的理解？而“屋子里的天使”们声称女人是不该公开讨论这些问题的。她们要的是可爱、迷人，想成功还得说谎--------说得粗鲁些。我一发现书桌上有她们羽翼的阴影或晕圈的光辉，就拿起墨水瓶向她们投去。上的，扼死她并不容易，她温柔可爱的外表极富欺骗性；而扼死假象中的幻影比扼死真实中的存在更困难。每每我要与其搏斗时，它便隐退了。虽然我自以为我终于杀死了她，但这场搏斗确实惊心动魄，其耗时不

亚于学希腊语法，或进行漫游世界的探险。这便是我同时代女作家无从避免的经历。杀死“屋子里的天使”是女作家的职业组成部分之一。

继续说我自己的故事。天使死了，剩下什么？你会说，当然是静坐桌前的年轻女性了。换句话说，既然她已排除了幻影，她当然成为独立的自己了。那么，“她自己”，即女人，又是什么呢？我不知道，我想你们也不知道。任何女人在没从事人类所有艺术与职业之前是没法表达清楚“女人”的定义的。这便是我出于对你们的尊敬来这里的原因。你们正在以你们的经历，以你们的失败和成功，向人们说明着女人是什么，为人们提供尤为重要的信息。

言归正传。继续说说我的职业经历。第一次书评赚的一镑十六便士买了波斯猫。以后，我胃口越来越大。波斯猫虽好，可远远不够。我还想要摩托车。这样，我便做了小说家---------你给别人讲故事，别人给你 摩托车，这是很奇妙的事。更奇妙的是，世界上再没有比讲故事更令人高兴的事了。它比写书评快乐多了。遵照你们秘书的指示，我得说一说我作为小说家的职业经历。这是一种很奇特的经历，你们得充分想象小说家的思想状态才能理解。我希望我在这里没有泄露职业机密。小说家的最大愿望是尽量做到无意识，创造一个永久平静的内心世界。他希望生活平静而有规律，没有异常事情打搅和干扰。当他写作时，他要求看到同样的面孔，阅读同样的书，做同样的事，一天接一天，一个月接一个月，这样便不会破坏他沉浸其中的幻象，不会扰乱他想象力的探索、感觉、冲击和实现。这种思想状态对男性作家和女性作家都是一样的。尽管如此，我还是想说我是在恍惚中创造小说的，你们大可想象，一位手握笔杆的女孩在屋里连续坐几个小时，也不见把笔往墨水瓶里蘸一下。这情景绝象湖边神情专注的钓鱼翁。她在让想象力如奔腾的江水扫过沉寂在无意识深处每一块岩石，每一道缝隙。下面的经历我想或许对女作家比读男作家更为普遍。当她文思泉涌，想象力找到了蓄集处，寻到水底深处静眠的大鱼时，便妙笔生花，一行行文字跃然纸上。一次次碰撞，一回回爆发，溅起泡沫，翻起浪花。当想象力撞到某个硬物时，女孩从梦幻中惊醒。此刻她处于极度的痛苦与矛盾之中，无庸置疑，她强烈感受到的身心体验是不适合作她为女人表现出来的。理智告诉她男人会怎么评论一个倾吐自己真实情感的女人。这惊醒了她艺术家的无意识。她无法继续写下去。恍惚荡涤殆尽，想象力无以为继。我相信女作家都会有这样的体验--------她们被男作家创作的极端俗套阻碍了。在这方面男人们虽然明达地给予自己极大的自由，却极其严厉地责难女人身上的这种自由，而且还没有意识到自己的严厉，更不用说去控制这种严厉了。

这就是我的两个亲身经历，这就是我职业生活的两大历险。杀死“屋子里的天使”，这个问题我想我已经解决了，天使死了。但写出 自己作为人的真正感受和体验，这第二个问题还尚待解决。我想还没有任何女人已经解决了这个问题。防碍她的阻力依然很大--------然而它们又是很难以接定。表面上看，难道还有什么比写书更容易的吗？实际上，情况完全不同，她要和许多魔鬼搏斗，要克服无数偏见。女人写作不必杀死幻影、跨越障碍的时代依然遥远得很。如果文学这个所有职业中之于女人最自由的职业尚且如此，那么女人第一次进入的全新职业又将如何呢？

假如有时间，这是我要问你们的问题。我之所以强调了我的职业经历，是因为我觉得它一定也是你们的经历，也许表现形式不同而已。即便职业的大门已向妇女敞开，女人不再被拒绝做医生、律师、公务员，幻影和阻力依然在向她逼近。我以为讨论和界定这幻影和阻力很有必要。只有这样，才能分享劳动，解决难题。此外我们还要弄清我们奋斗的目的，我们超越阻力的目的是什么。我们当然不能想当然，我们必须不断质疑和探讨。在座的诸位从事各种各样的职业，起多样性是有史以来空前的，其重要性是无可比拟的。你们已在一直被男人独占的屋子里赢得了自己的房间。你们靠自己劳动和努力交了房租。你们靠自己每年赚五百英镑。这只是刚刚开始。房间是自己的了，可它依然空空的，它需要装潢修饰，需要与人共享。怎么修饰？与谁共享？基于什么样的 条件？这些，我认为都是些极其重要和有趣的问题。有史以来你们第一次可以提出这样的问题，也能够决定自己的答案了。我很愿意留下来讨论这些问题，但不是今晚。因为时间的关系，我就此打住。