The most determined1 advocates of free-love have never upheld the old, lazy indulgence towards man and his "wild oats." The ideal mistress, whom they so confidently exalt2 over the wife, is not the "kept woman" behind Victorian respectability. Modern writers have, boldly and justly, attacked that discreet3 indiscretion with the unanswerable logic4 of facts. If we allow men licence, justice demands equal liberty for women. Sin is not less, but greater, for being in secret, however flimsy the veil.
It is difficult, nevertheless, to see how mutual5 infidelity can actually remove the admitted evils of a situation it makes more complex; or to believe that publicity6 can, of itself, turn black to white. By some curious twist of reasoning, it really would seem that they maintain: "By lifting the blinds, we have created a 'new' woman, the ideal of all the ages."
For where, after all, have they turned to [65]find her, save to their knowledge and experience of the past? We cannot, positively7, reconstruct human nature.
There is a clear and concise8 exposition of the whole theory in Miss Romer Wilson's last novel, The Death of Society. It is the story of Mr. Smith and his short visit to a distinguished9 Norwegian writer. He, quite openly, worships the old man's young wife—"his girl, his woman, his desire"—and though for them "time was so short they could not afford to sleep," it is expressly stated that "she, the perfect woman in whom all women live, raised him to perfect manhood." "Now," he said, "I have confidence to do what I think right. . . . I do not care for opinion any longer."
Together, "they fell into the deep pool of love," when she "was too far gone in bliss10 to reply."
"Many men," she said, "men who came to see my husband, thought that I was part of the visit, and that no man who thought well of himself should go away without seducing11 me." But "that is how you seduced12 me, because I saw love sprang straight from your heart and not from custom."
"There was an Italian man who loved me, but not more than the books with gold covers [66]on his shelves. . . . He said I was the Muse13 of Comedy. . . . There was a Frenchman who said I was the Muse of Poetry. . . . There was a Russian who said nothing. . . . He loved me because we were both animals; but only you love me because I am part of your life and so I love you equally."
Miss Wilson, indeed, attempts to impart a unique atmosphere into this commonplace intrigue14 by a remarkable15 device. Smith "cannot speak German, nor speak Norwegian." She knows only a few words of English. "I like to pretend you hear," said Rosa, "I have always pretended"; and he "could address her in whatever words he liked," since "lovers' language is universal."
By this method they do, in fact, hold conversations by the hour, answering each other with quite miraculous16 preciseness; understanding, we are expected to believe, the intimacies17 of thought and feeling behind each phrase: "though he had no idea what she had said, word for word." The intention, obviously, is to suggest some special mysterious, if not miraculous, bond of the spirit knitting two souls in one. The comment of a plain man, who deals with facts, must be that inarticulate love can be only physical. It does [67]not elevate, but further degrades, their intimacy18. He "had gone back to the dust to learn about God."
They parted, however, because "they loved each other too much to ask for each other's lives." Meanwhile, "in patience and humility19" they must wait "until after the Death of Society"—when they can be together.
"How should I act," said Rosa, "if there were no such a thing as Society? I know how I should act. . . . I owe nothing to either man or woman. My name? My husband's name?—these belong to Society. . . . I will not leave my husband, because he is an old man, nor my daughters, because they are young; but if I give you a day of love, and again a day perhaps, whom shall I hurt? . . . My soul belongs to nobody: I—Rosa Christiansen—am my own. My body is my soul's servant and friend, and by it I can know other souls as I know my own. . . . Oh! oh! My soul is mine, and loves your soul!"
We see that the "perfect woman" still kept on husband and home.
And Smith, thus "proudly numbering himself among the angels," also found time for a secondary, but quite passionate20, intercourse21 with one of the daughters of the house, who [68]willingly gives him everything she has; because she loves him so much, he is all she wants.
He "kissed her violently on the face . . . squeezed her ribs22 as tight as ever he dared," and replied without hesitation23, "I love you as I love flowers and the trees and the sky. I love you because you are lovable as a wet or fine day is lovable. Why, yes, I must confess that I love you. . . . . I believe all men love a great many women. . . . I am a Bluebeard with a cellar full of wives. . . . You see, God hasn't created the woman yet who represents the whole of female perfection. Don't mistake me, Nathalia; I am not a beast. I don't run after women solely24 as women. . . . He began to stroke her head as he thought of all those past and bygone romances."
And so on——! Strangely enough, "his heart was filled with deep and tender respect for her."
More frequently, however, the novelists of this school seem to have gone back to the casual lusts25 of Tom Jones, with the r?le of hero and heroine reversed. There are many tales, almost romantic, of Sir Galahad waiting and tilting26 for Cleopatra or Mary Queen of Scots. Too often, marriage is merely evidence that "the man has held out."
[69]Still we maintain that the modernists are really looking to the old-world "kept" woman for their ideal of more or less open and, as it were, established free love. We find clear, specific complaints against the new system: "They had lapsed27 into a relation which slowly from irregular grew regular. It was not marriage, but it was in the nature of marriage." Now, "after two and a half years . . . she had done wifely things for him. . . . Love and domestic economy; it was very like marriage after all."
What then, frankly28 speaking, is the real charm of the new mistress-love? Most obviously it comes, ultimately, from the holiday spirit; its freedom from sordid29 or petty cares, the prose of our daily life, business or home worries, the responsibilities that dull the eye and wear down body and soul: which means the incarnation of selfishness.
Outspoken30 and simply coarse writers of the past centuries expose this fact by their frank hints on "the honeymoon"; of which we acknowledge the underlying31 truth.
It has been cynically32 maintained, nor dare one quite deny, that our romance-lady, the sheltered and innocent pure girl, would have been broken long ago but for the "outlet," to [70]mere males, of her under-sister. I would suggest that the new "ideal" mistress is certainly no less, probably more, dependent upon the housewife—the tame, tied woman who bears her lover's name.
We can none of us escape "the day's work." Under the conventional "wild oats" scheme of life, we can place the whole burden upon the wife: and so find elsewhere "The Woman"—passionately and emotionally our ideal.
But no theory of free love was ever based upon two establishments. The whole weight of the new thought cries out for open, frank leaving one woman and going to the other; where possible by mutual consent. The secrecy33, the misunderstanding, the divided allegiance, of the old world, is the very evil they are clamouring to wipe out. Yet can we leave our bills, our servants, and our children behind with the fixtures34 of the old "home to let"? Can we spend our life, or for that matter, more than a few days or weeks, in one perpetual holiday among the "beach-flappers" of Miss Amber35 Reeves' unstable36 Helen in Love and the boys they so gaily37 and easily annex38?
The truth, of course, cannot be denied. These new, glorified39 sex-contracts (whether [71]entirely free, or on a "short lease" subject to "things going well") will, and must, involve all the trials of domesticity, without the compensations of a shared responsibility: a real bond to halve40 our sorrows and double our joys. There will, moreover, be a thousand times more occasion for incompatibility41, the jar of nerves; where there is no steady, devoted42 endeavour towards mutual forbearance and understanding, no spur to forgive—in courageous43 hope. Life in hotels may, superficially, expose less friction44; but it quickly destroys any reality in comradeship. Only daily service can build up Love.
The mistress, in fact, remains45 an enervating46 luxury, a habit of living beyond our emotional means, a sparkling drug.
We have not found the Ideal, because it does not exist.
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1
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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7
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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8
concise
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| adj.简洁的，简明的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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seducing
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| 诱奸( seduce的现在分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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13
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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intimacies
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| 亲密( intimacy的名词复数 )； 密切； 亲昵的言行； 性行为 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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lusts
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| 贪求（lust的第三人称单数形式） | |
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tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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33
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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34
fixtures
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| （房屋等的）固定装置( fixture的名词复数 )； 如（浴盆、抽水马桶）； 固定在某位置的人或物； （定期定点举行的）体育活动 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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annex
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| vt.兼并，吞并；n.附属建筑物 | |
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glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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halve
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| vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半 | |
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incompatibility
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| n.不兼容 | |
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42
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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43
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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44
friction
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| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
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45
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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enervating
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| v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的现在分词 ) | |
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