Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" - Tanya Boucicaut

翻译人员: ranning tang 校对人员: Helen Chang

Baritone thunder. Snarling winds. Consuming downpours.

电闪雷鸣，狂风大作，暴雨倾泻。

Okeechobee, the disastrous hurricane of 1928,

1928年，一场灾难性的 飓风——奥基乔比

tore through the North Atlantic basin, laying waste to entire communities.

肆虐美国北部盆地，到处废墟遍地。

In Eatonville, Florida, the storm forced many to flee.

在佛罗里达的伊顿维尔， 许多人因为飓风而背井离乡。

But for Janie Crawford, it inspired an unexpected homecoming.

但是对于Janie Crowford来说，

这却让她意外地踏上了返乡的旅程。

Janie’s return begins “Their Eyes Were Watching God,”

佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿的著名小说 《他们眼望上苍》

Zora Neale Hurston’s acclaimed novel

就从Janie的这次返乡开始讲起，

about a Black woman’s quest for love and agency

讲述一位黑人女性在被压抑的时期 仍然追寻爱与权利的故事。

in a time that sought to deprive her of both.

When Janie arrives back in Eatonville, her arrival is shrouded in mystery.

当Janie重新抵达伊顿维尔时， 她的回归笼罩了一团神秘的色彩。

Her neighbors and friends are quick to gossip about her reappearance,

她的邻居和朋友很快地长舌闲话

她的回归、经济状况，

her finances, and most importantly, the whereabouts of her missing husband.

但最议论纷纷的 则是她失踪的丈夫的下落。

But only Janie’s friend Pheoby gets to hear the whole story.

不过只有Janie的朋友Phoeby 有机会听到事情完整的经过。

Over the course of a conversation that spans most of the novel,

在持续了几乎整本小说的对话过程中，

Hurston untangles Janie’s life story;

Hurston整理了Janie的一生，

from her complicated childhood and her life in Eatonville,

从她的复杂的童年生活 和她在伊顿维尔的生活，

to her scandalous departure and the shocking events that followed.

一直到那次可耻的离开 和随之而来的骇人听闻的事件。

The specifics of Janie’s story are often larger than life,

当然，Janie的故事经过艺术加工，

but many of the book’s details reflect the incredible experiences of its author.

但是书中的许多细节却真实地反映着 作者不可思议的人生经历。

Zora Neale Hurston was raised in Eatonville,

Hurston同样在伊顿维尔长大，

one of the first planned and incorporated all-Black communities in America.

伊顿维尔也是美国第一个 全黑人的社区。

Like Janie, she also left Eatonville abruptly,

和书中的Janie一样， 她也突然离开了伊顿维尔，

traveling first to Jacksonville and DC, before eventually moving further north.

路途中经过了Jacksonville 和华盛顿特区，

最终向更远的北方走去。

In New York City, Hurston studied anthropology

在纽约，Hurston学习了人类学

and became a renowned author in the Harlem Renaissance,

并且成为了美国黑人 哈林区文艺复兴时期的著名作家。

a cultural, literary and artistic movement that’s still considered a golden era

这个时期对于黑人的艺术创作来说

可以称得上是文艺运动的黄金年代。

of Black artistry and creativity.

Here, her work garnered enough support to fund research trips through the South,

也正是在这个时期 她的作品获得了足够的支持，

让她有财力完成在南部的研究之旅。

where she collected stories and folktales from Black Americans.

在那里，她沿途收集了 美国黑人更多的故事和民间传说。

By 1937, her fieldwork had taken her all the way to Haiti,

直到1937年，她的实地 研究之旅来到了海地，

where she wrote most of “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

也就是她完成《他们眼望上苍》 这本书的地方。

Hurston drew on all these experiences for the novel,

赫斯顿在小说中 利用这次实地考察的经验，

incorporating folkloric elements alongside her own family and romantic history

并且很好地融合了民间元素 与她自己家庭的故事，

还有浪漫的历史，

to bring readers into the intimate spaces of Black southern life.

让小说读者和南方黑人的生活 进行了一次亲密接触。

She uses regional phrases and sayings

她在小说中运用了方言和俚语

to capture the dialect of her Floridian characters.

来展现她佛罗里达人的一面。

And the novel’s omniscient third-person narration

小说以全知的第三人称视角展开叙述，

allows Hurston to unleash her poetic prose on everything

这也让赫斯顿可以 尽情使用她诗情画意般的语言，

from birdsong, architecture, and fashion,

来描绘从鸟鸣、建筑、时尚，

to her characters’ deepest feelings and motivations.

一直到她角色内心中 最深处的感受和需求。

Perhaps more than any specific details,

但或许与这些细节相比，

Hurston’s experiences of being a Black woman in America at this time

赫斯顿在当时的美国 作为黑人女性的经历

are more evident in the novel’s themes.

在小说的主题中更是体现得淋漓尽致。

Over the course of one long evening,

在那个持续了整整一个傍晚的对话中，

Janie and Pheoby discuss the nature of family, marriage, spirituality and more.

Janie和Pheoby聊起了 家庭、婚姻、精神等等。

But their conversation always comes back to Janie’s truest desire:

但种种话题最后都回归到 Janie内心中最真实的诉求：

to live honestly and be truly loved in return.

真实地活着， 同时也被真实地爱着。

As a teenager, Janie resents an arranged marriage,

年轻的时候，Janie一直 对包办婚姻感到愤恨，

despite the safety it offers her and the wishes of her loving grandmother.

尽管它让人很有安全感， 同时也是深爱她的外婆的愿望。

When her family becomes well-respected in Eatonville,

而当她的家庭在伊顿维尔 变得受人尊敬时，

she struggles with the judgmental eyes of strangers

她也曾在陌生人和丈夫的 评头论足中彷徨过，

and a husband who wants her to be something she’s not.

因为他们都希望她成为 完全不像她自己的另一个人。

Throughout her life, Janie frequently feels she’s at the whim

在Janie的一生中，她时常感觉到

大脑被一些来自自然的 精神世界的力量所控制，

of natural and spiritual forces

that can shift the course of her existence without warning.

而这些力量能毫无预兆 改变她的人生进程。

And when she finally does find true love,

所以当她最终找到真爱的时候，

these unknowable powers continue to act on her,

这些未知的力量完全占据了上风，

threatening to destroy the life she's so painstakingly built.

威胁着要破坏她煞费苦心 建立起来的现在生活。

The story takes place during a time where women had little to no agency,

这一切都发生在一个 女性得不到任何机构帮助的年代，

and Janie’s life is full of complicated characters

而Janie的生活中 却又充满错综复杂的人物，

who demand different kinds of love and submission.

以至于她需要来自不同人的 不同的爱和建议。

But despite the loneliness of her situation,

但是尽管她一直孤身一人，

Janie navigates these trials with defiance and curiosity.

她仍然用她的反叛精神和好奇心 来应对一切。

Her questions and commentary push back in subtle, clever ways.

她提出的问题和评论 总能用最巧妙的方式回击。

And as the reader follows Janie’s journey from childhood to middle age,

所以当读者跟随着Janie 重温了她从童年到中年的成长经历，

her confidence becomes infectious.

Janie的自信心 也能感染到每一个读者。

Just like Hurston, Janie defies the restrictive expectations

就像赫斯顿一样，Janie同样藐视

对于当时每一个女人的设限的期待。

for a woman in her time.

Early in the novel, Hurston writes that

在小说的开头，Hurston写到

“there are years that ask questions and years that answer,”

“总有疑惑的岁月 但也一定有明朗的时候”，

suggesting that life can only truly be understood by living it.

这也表明，只有坚强地活下去 才能更好理解生活。

But through her empathetic storytelling,

但是通过她富有共鸣的讲述，

Hurston invites us into Janie’s life, her life,

Hurston带领我们走入了 Janie的一生，她自己的一生，

and the lives of so many other women.

同时又是千千万万的女人的一生。