她说：读者，我嫁给了他.docVIP

她说：读者，我嫁给了他 　　It is a truth universally acknowledged that the only line from an English novel more lavishly overused and adapted than the opening sentence to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice1） must be Charlotte Bront?’s triumphant climax to Jane Eyre： “Reader， I married him.” 　　Well， “universally acknowledged” might be a bit strong2）， but I think we can all agree that it’s more likely to show up not only in modern adaptations of the original classic， but in less traditionally literary places： Facebook engagement announcements！ Adorable stationery！ Endless wedding blogs！ 　　This spring， in time for Bront?’s 200th birthday， there’s even a new collection of short stories， edited by Tracy Chevalier3）， entitled： Reader， I Married Him. The stories， penned by celebrated women writers， all claim Jane Eyre as inspiration. “Reader， I married him” doesn’t appear in every story， but some variant appears in many. 　　A few other Jane Eyre do-overs from the past year： The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell， a swoony4） modernization about Bront?’s supposed last living relative coping with a bookish mystery and a romance with her aloof tutor； and Re Jane by Patricia Park， a retelling set in contemporary New York， where race and gender politics get a much-needed update. Each of the books has its own， sometimes overused or tooth-achingly sentimental， deployments of That Sentence， respectively： “Reader， I married him”； “Reader， I left him.” 　　In her introduction to Reader， I Married Him， Chevalier digs into why this simple sentence has had such lasting power， out of all of the simple and baroque5） sentences in Charlotte’s oeuvre6）： 　　“Reader， I married him” is Jane’s defiant conclusion to her rollercoaster story. It is not， “Reader， he married me”―as you would expect in a Victorian society where women were supposed to be passive； or even， “Reader， we married.” Instead Jane asserts herself； she is the driving force of her narrative. 　　But we’ve come a long， long way since V