Комментарии и словарь Е. Г. Тигонен

© КАРО, 2012

Об авторе

Английская писательница Шарлотта Бронте родилась 22 июня 1816 года в семье сельского священника в Йоркшире. Ее мать умерла, оставив своему бедному мужу семью из пяти дочерей и сына. Шарлотте в ту пору было всего пять лет. Две ее старшие сестры в 1824 году поступили в школу в Ковэн-Бридже, но год спустя вернулись больными и умерли одна за другой. Девятилетняя Шарлотта вынуждена была взять на себя обязанности хозяйки дома и заботу о младших сестрах и брате и продолжала образование дома, отдаваясь своей склонности к писательству.

Весной 1846 года Шарлотта и ее младшие сестры Эмилия и Энн решились выступить с первыми плодами своей литературной деятельности. Вышел в свет небольшой томик их стихов под мужскими псевдонимами Коррер (Шарлотта), Эллис (Эмилия) и Актон (Энн) Бель. К сожалению, книга осталась незамеченной публикой.

В 1849 году появился роман «Джен Эйр», завоевавший огромный успех и переведенный на многие европейские языки. Не много найдется книг с неизвестным именем автора на обложке, которые были бы встречены с таким бесспорным одобрением. К автору возник всеобщий интерес, но скромная писательница не открывала своего настоящего имени.

На фоне трагических обстоятельств жизни писательницы (в сентябре 1848 года умер ее младший брат, в декабре того же года – Эмилия, в мае следующего – Энн) вышел в свет второй роман Шарлотты Бронте «Шерли» (1849), вызвавший к себе огромный интерес мастерски нарисованной картиной жизни рабочих в провинции. Перед Шарлоттой открылись двери лучших литературных кружков Лондона, но привыкшая к уединению писательница тяготилась общественным вниманием и почти все время проводила в своем старом доме. В 1853 году вышел в свет ее последний роман «Городок».

В следующем году Шарлотта вышла замуж за Артура Николлса Бейлля, священника в приходе своего отца, но уже 31 марта 1855 года она умерла, сильно простудившись во время одной из прогулок по своим любимым вересковым лугам. Простуда вызвала обострение туберкулеза, от которого умерли все ее сестры и мать.

Шарлотта Бронте считается одной из талантливейших представительниц школы Теккерея, ее любимого писателя. Обладая нервным и впечатлительным темпераментом, она владела тем, что Гёте называл секретом гения, – способностью проникнуться индивидуальностью и субъективным настроением постороннего лица. Она с поразительной яркостью изображала все, что ей приходилось видеть и чувствовать. Если иногда чрезмерная яркость образов переходит в некоторую грубость красок, а излишний мелодраматизм в положениях и сентиментальный финал ослабляют художественное впечатление, то реализм, с которым изображены события, разворачивающиеся в ее романах, делает эти недостатки незаметными.

* * *

Несколько месяцев в 1842 году Шарлотта и Эмилия Бронте провели в Брюсселе, где совершенствовались во французском языке. Тетка, заботившаяся о девушках после смерти их матери, согласилась оплачивать их пребывание в одном из пансионов, чтобы в дальнейшем, вернувшись в Англию, Шарлотта и Эмилия могли основать школу. Впечатления от этого периода легли в основу первого романа Шарлотты Бронте «Учитель», вышедшего в свет посмертно в 1857 году.

Chapter I
Introductory

The other day, in looking over my papers, I found in my desk the following copy of a letter, sent by me a year since to an old school acquaintance:

“DEAR CHARLES, “I think when you and I were at Eton together, we were neither of us what could be called popular characters: you were a sarcastic, observant, shrewd, cold-blooded creature; my own portrait I will not attempt to draw, but I cannot recollect that it was a strikingly attractive one – can you? What animal magnetism drew thee and me together I know not; certainly I never experienced anything of the Pylades and Orestes^[1] sentiment for you, and I have reason to believe that you, on your part, were equally free from all romantic regard to me. Still, out of school hours we walked and talked continually together; when the theme of conversation was our companions or our masters we understood each other, and when I recurred to some sentiment of affection, some vague love of an excellent or beautiful object, whether in animate or inanimate nature, your sardonic coldness did not move me. I felt myself superior to that check THEN as I do NOW.

“It is a long time since I wrote to you, and a still longer time since I saw you. Chancing to take up a newspaper of your county the other day, my eye fell upon your name. I began to think of old times; to run over the events which have transpired since we separated; and I sat down and commenced this letter. What you have been doing I know not; but you shall hear, if you choose to listen, how the world has wagged with me^[2].

“First, after leaving Eton, I had an interview with my maternal uncles, Lord Tynedale and the Hon.^[3] John Seacombe. They asked me if I would enter the Church, and my uncle the nobleman offered me the living of Seacombe, which is in his gift, if I would^[4]; then my other uncle, Mr. Seacombe, hinted that when I became rector of Seacombe-cum-Scaife, I might perhaps be allowed to take, as mistress of my house and head of my parish, one of my six cousins, his daughters, all of whom I greatly dislike.

“I declined both the Church and matrimony. A good clergyman is a good thing, but I should have made a very bad one. As to the wife – oh how like a night-mare is the thought of being bound for life to one of my cousins! No doubt they are accomplished and pretty; but not an accomplishment, not a charm of theirs, touches a chord in my bosom^[5]. To think of passing the winter evenings by the parlour fire-side of Seacombe Rectory alone with one of them – for instance, the large and well-modelled statue, Sarah – no; I should be a bad husband, under such circumstances, as well as a bad clergyman.

“When I had declined my uncles’ offers they asked me ‘What I intended to do?’ I said I should reflect^[6]. They reminded me that I had no fortune, and no expectation of any, and, after a considerable pause, Lord Tynedale demanded sternly, ‘Whether I had thoughts of following my father’s steps and engaging in trade?’ Now, I had had no thoughts of the sort. I do not think that my turn of mind qualifies me to make a good tradesman; my taste, my ambition does not lie in that way; but such was the scorn expressed in Lord Tynedale’s countenance as he pronounced the word TRADE – such the contemptuous sarcasm of his tone – that I was instantly decided. My father was but a name to me, yet that name I did not like to hear mentioned with a sneer to my very face. I answered then, with haste and warmth, ‘I cannot do better than follow in my father’s steps; yes, I will be a tradesman.’ My uncles did not remonstrate; they and I parted with mutual disgust. In reviewing this transaction, I find that I was quite right to shake off the burden of Tynedale’s patronage, but a fool to offer my shoulders instantly for the reception of another burden – one which might be more intolerable, and which certainly was yet untried.

“I wrote instantly to Edward – you know Edward – my only brother, ten years my senior, married to a rich mill-owner’s daughter, and now possessor of the mill and business which was my father’s before he failed. You are aware that my father – once reckoned a Croesus^[7] of wealth – became bankrupt a short time previous to his death, and that my mother lived in destitution for some six months after him, unhelped by her aristocratical brothers, whom she had mortally offended by her union with Crimsworth, the – — shire manufacturer. At the end of the six months she brought me into the world, and then herself left it without, I should think, much regret, as it contained little hope or comfort for her.

“My father’s relations took charge of Edward, as they did of me, till I was nine years old. At that period it chanced that the representation of an important borough in our county fell vacant; Mr. Seacombe stood for it. My uncle Crimsworth, an astute mercantile man, took the opportunity of writing a fierce letter to the candidate, stating that if he and Lord Tynedale did not consent to do something towards the support of their sister’s orphan children, he would expose their relentless and malignant conduct towards that sister, and do his best to turn the circumstances against Mr. Seacombe’s election. That gentleman and Lord T. knew well enough that the Crimsworths were an unscrupulous and determined race; they knew also that they had influence in the borough of X – — ; and, making a virtue of necessity, they consented to defray the expenses of my education. I was sent to Eton, where I remained ten years, during which space of time Edward and I never met. He, when he grew up, entered into trade, and pursued his calling with such diligence, ability, and success, that now, in his thirtieth year, he was fast making a fortune. Of this I was apprised by the occasional short letters I received from him, some three or four times a year; which said letters never concluded without some expression of determined enmity against the house of Seacombe, and some reproach to me for living, as he said, on the bounty of that house. At first, while still in boyhood, I could not understand why, as I had no parents, I should not be indebted to my uncles Tynedale and Seacombe for my education; but as I grew up, and heard by degrees of the persevering hostility, the hatred till death evinced by them against my father – of the sufferings of my mother – of all the wrongs, in short, of our house – then did I conceive shame of the dependence in which I lived, and form a resolution no more to take bread from hands which had refused to minister to the necessities of my dying mother^[8]. It was by these feelings I was influenced when I refused the Rectory of Seacombe, and the union with one of my patrician cousins.

“An irreparable breach thus being effected between my uncles and myself, I wrote to Edward; told him what had occurred, and informed him of my intention to follow his steps and be a tradesman. I asked, moreover, if he could give me employment. His answer expressed no approbation of my conduct, but he said I might come down to – — shire, if I liked, and he would ‘See what could be done in the way of furnishing me with work^[9].’ I repressed all – even mental comment on his note – packed my trunk and carpet-bag, and started for the North directly.

“After two days’ travelling (railroads were not then in existence) I arrived, one wet October afternoon, in the town of X – — . I had always understood that Edward lived in this town, but on inquiry I found that it was only Mr. Crimsworth’s mill and warehouse which were situated in the smoky atmosphere of Bigben Close; his residence lay four miles out, in the country.

“It was late in the evening when I alighted at the gates of the habitation designated to me as my brother’s. As I advanced up the avenue, I could see through the shades of twilight, and the dark gloomy mists which deepened those shades, that the house was large, and the grounds surrounding it sufficiently spacious. I paused a moment on the lawn in front, and leaning my back against a tall tree which rose in the centre, I gazed with interest on the exterior of Crimsworth Hall.

“‘Edward is rich,’ thought I to myself. ‘I believed him to be doing well^[10] – but I did not know he was master of a mansion like this.’ Cutting short all marvelling; speculation, conjecture, etc., I advanced to the front door and rang. A man-servant opened it – I announced myself – he relieved me of my wet cloak and carpet-bag, and ushered me into a room furnished as a library, where there was a bright fire and candles burning on the table; he informed me that his master was not yet returned from X – — market, but that he would certainly be at home in the course of half an hour.