【美国人物志】伊迪丝·华顿 (1/9)

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伊迪丝·华顿（Edith Wharton, 1862年1月24日－1937年8月11日），美国女作家。作品有《高尚的嗜好》、《纯真年代》、《四月里的阵雨》、《马恩河》、《战地英雄》等书。
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Edith Wharton
New York City

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A critic once described American writer Edith Wharton as a "self-made man." She liked the comment and repeated it. Others said she was a product of New York City. But the New York she wrote about was different from the New York of those who came after her. Edith Wharton was born in New York City in 1862. New York then was several different cities. One New York was made up of people who worked for a living. The other was much smaller. It was made up of families who were so rich they did not need to work. Edith was born into the wealthy New York. But there was a "right" wealthy New York and a "wrong" wealthy New York. Among the rich there were those who had been given money by parents or grandparents. Then there were those who earned their own money, the newly rich. Edith's family was from the "right" New Yorkers, people who had 'old' money. It was a group that did not want its way of living changed. It also was a group without many ideas of its own. It was from this group that Edith Wharton created herself.一位评论家曾这样描述美国作家伊迪丝华顿，一个创造自我的人。伊迪斯很喜欢这个评论，并记住了它。一些人说，伊迪斯是纽约城的产物。但是她所描绘的纽约和后来的却相差甚远。伊迪斯华顿于1862出生在纽约，那时的纽约还是处于内战的几个分裂部分。一部分纽约以工作谋生的人为主体，另一相对较少的部分是那些无需工作的富裕家庭。伊迪斯出生在纽约富有的家庭。那时的纽约存在着反面的富裕和正面的富裕，那些因为继承父母或祖父母财产而富裕的人，还有那些自己挣钱达到富裕的新富人。伊迪斯的家庭便是拥有着“老”财富直 接富裕的那一个群体。他们并不想改变自己的生活方式，同时也没有自己的想法，而伊迪斯华顿便是在这样一个群体中创造了独特的自我。       
——译文来自: 一久t