【经济学人】让人兴奋的书丨2017.03.30丨总第869期

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. By Balli Kaur Jaswal. HarperCollins; 309 pages; £14.99. To be published in America by William Morrow in June.

《给旁遮普寡妇的情色故事》，作者：Balli Kaur Jaswal，哈珀柯林斯出版社；309页；14.99英镑。将于六月份由莫罗出版社在美国出版。

EROTICA is a hot topic for publishers. Americans bought 28.5m romantic novels in print form in 2015. Romance Writers of America, a trade association, says the genre accounts for a third of all novels sold. Random House and Amazon have recently launched imprints to try to sate readers’ lust for steamy stories. HarperCollins paid a six-figure sum for one such titillating book at the London Book Fair in 2016.

对出版商而言，情色是一个热门话题，在2015年美国读者一共购买了2850万本纸质言情小说。一个名为美国浪漫小说家协会（RWA）的贸易协会称该类小说占据了所有已售小说的三分之一。兰登书屋和亚马逊最近成立了出版社试图满足读者对情色小说的购买欲求。哈珀柯林斯在2016年伦敦书展上花费了六位数在这样一本令人浮想联翩的情色小说上。

London suburb with a sizeable Indian population. Unable to read or write in English, the widows turn to telling stories, reliving their most passionate moments or picturing what they “were never given in the first place”. Though they lack the necessary vocabulary—the stories are filled with references to “aubergines”, “cucumbers”, “sticks” and “lady pockets”—it quickly becomes clear that these supposedly conservative women do not lack imagination.

这本书就是Balli Kaur Jaswal的《给旁遮普寡妇的情色故事》，它不是你通常认为的欲说还休式的、受困扰的亿万富翁的故事。它追随着女主人公尼基，一位大学辍学的“女性战士”，她给位于伦敦索撒尔郊区的锡克教老妇讲授创造性写作课程，那里居住着一大批印度裔人口。这些寡妇们不能用英语阅读写作，所以她们转而讲述故事，重温她们最激情的时刻或构想出她们“不曾得到的东西”。虽然她们缺乏必要的词汇储备——这些故事到处提及着“茄子”、“黄瓜”、“棍子”以及“女性的口袋”——但人们很快就能明白，这些本应该保守的妇女并不缺乏想象力。

Yet these stories, where lascivious ladies demand what they want from husbands and lovers of both sexes, chafe against the sensibilities of a community that still upholds a strict honour code. The Brothers, a group of bullish young men, “consider themselves Southall’s morality police”, even offering bounty-hunting services to families with wayward daughters. The unresolved deaths of Karina, Gulshan and Maya, three defiant young women, are the subject of knowing whispers and salacious rumours. While the widows delight in finding their voices, it becomes increasingly clear that some women have paid a heavy price for trying to be heard.

在这些故事里，散发情欲的女士们能向她们的丈夫或者同性和异性情人索取想要的东西，但又体现了对一个仍然坚持严格的荣誉准则的社会环境的愤怒。（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）卡琳娜、高尔杉和玛雅是三位叛逆的女性，也是流传的淫荡的谣言中的主角，她们三人之死至今未破案。当寡妇们为能够发声而高兴时，人们却越来越清楚地发现，为了能找到倾听自己的人，有些女性已经付出沉重的代价。

• Lascivious：adj.好色的，淫荡的     

• Uphold：v.支撑，鼓励

• Bullish：adj.上扬的，看涨的；乐观的，充满希望的；牛脾气的，固执的，顽愚的

• Wayward：adj.任性的，不规则的

• Defiant：adj.挑战的，目中无人的    

• Rumours：n.传闻，谣言

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows” balances darkness and light, social commentary and ecstatic escapism: it is a well-gauged equilibrium that keeps the sex writing from feeling monotonous, and reinvigorates the subplots of honour killings and arranged marriages. Ms Jaswal has written a funny and moving tale of desire and its discontents. It serves as a reminder that even the most traditional societies often come in 50 shades of grey.

《给旁遮普寡妇的情色故事》平衡了光明和黑暗、社会评论和狂喜的逃跑主义。作者通过用心均衡，使性爱描写避免了单调，使荣誉谋杀和包办婚姻这样的次要情节拥有了新的活力。Jaswal女士写了一个关于欲望和欲求不满的有趣又感人的故事，它提醒着人们即使是最传统的社会也往往有50度灰暗面 。

• Erotic：adj.色情的，情欲的  

• Ecstatic：adj.狂喜的，入迷的

• Escapism：n.逃避现实，空想  

• Equilibrium：n.均衡，平静，保持均衡的能力

• Monotonous：adj.单调的，无变化的 

• Reinvigorate：v.使振兴，复兴

• Subplot：n.次要情节

翻译 ▍Bibobibo,下罗小柜员,陌上

审核 ▍白夜叉

编辑 ▍太止