Occasionally, I like to read English aloud, and I always keep some English books in my bookshelf, most of them are Jane Austen’s novels. One day, I would like to read one or two paragraphs, and I picked up “Pride and Prejudice”, and just at that moment, I realized that I don’t own an English book of “Jane Eyre”, which is unacceptable to myself, as I love it so much.
I have never thought about this matter. Maybe unconsciously, owning an English version of “Jane Eyre” is unnecessary since I have read the Japanese one which I love from the bottom of my heart. An ardent love. The love is quite sufficient and I don’t need to read the original version anymore. However, driven by an eager to know what it is like, I urgently bought an English version of “Jane Eyre” , which came as an astonishment to me, that the book is quite thick including appendix. I put it together with the Japanese version, and I found the scene interesting. The Japanese book seems a petit one and it is adorable. They are at the same level of thickness(up to 600 pages), but I know reading the English version will be a tough task to me and I don’t know if I want to or can accomplish.
The profound discovery on the other day was that in the past years, I haven’t really read through an English novel, which causes me shameful to admit it. However true as it is. I thought about it deeply. I would say from the day I am fond of reading Japanese books, I have given up reading English, considering all the time I have spent on built up the vocabulary and better understanding. Reading English, it means a total fresh start, which takes enormous time as far as I conjectured.
However, on the spur of the moment, I decided to read through “Pride and Prejudice”, and in the past days, I seized every spare moment to read it and read it. Though I am frustrated by how many new words I came across on pages, I composed myself and referred them to a dictionary. As time went by, I found reading become more any more easier, and I don’t feel any kind of urgency or agitation. Finally, I completed reading it, which appears absolutely cheerful to myself.
As I compared to what I read in the book and what I have seen in a movie, I realized they are quite different. Undoubtedly, movie gives oneself with its visual impact, and I could easily remember the scenes, the words, the expressions, even the tears, however, at this moment I would say, watching movie is more like an admiration. I admire it and remember it with its endless and beautiful impression drew on me. I need to admit, inevitably that a movie is not completed enough to understand the novel, as it simplifies the story, and somehow even the time sequence has been changed. There are so many beautifully written letters in the novel which the movie cannot show them perfectly, and I would have missed all of them if I didn’t read through the book. While reading the book, it is more like an experience, through which I could indulge myself into the language, at some point, I am not reading the novel for I already knew it, but only admiring the words and sentences which composed the story. I enjoyed the flow of language.
The reading experience unexpectedly reminds me of the livingness of English, along with its elegance. It is quite different from reading Japanese as they are distinct in such an obvious and striking way. They don’t look the same and they pronounce differently. Seems like they come from two language worlds.
I am not sure if I could read through “Jane Eyre”, but when I turned to the first page, and went through the first paragraph, I found something familiar, sensible and graceful came to my mind. I know it and believe my unchangeable feeling towards this story will encourage me along the way. If I might have the chance, I would think about the English and Japanese version together, hoping they might become good friends, and enjoy the moment staying together.
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The temperature dropped down quite a lot due to typhoon, and it suits me perfectly. Though it rains all day and the sky is as gloomy as it might be, I feel something delightful burst to my mind, and I love it.
Somehow, under uncertainty, it is the charming tranquility hidden in words or in a book brings happiness to me, and it lasts as long as I could remember.
