By Ian Hislop

The End of the Stiff Upper Lip？

Several years ago， there was a moment when I stood in the pouring rain watching the Royal Flotilla during the Diamond Jubilee when I thought I might be on to something.1

After five hours getting completely soaked， the people next to me were still happily pointing out the little boats that had been to Dunkirk or the motor boat that had taken part in the Normandy landings or leading a huge cheer for a barge containing an Indian band in kilts playing the bagpipes.2

The weather in Britain does tend to bring out a sort of mad， masochistic defiance in people.3 But on this occasion I thought that everyone， from the elderly Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh， who refused to sit down， to the massed choirs who belted out their anthems with dripping hair and running mascara， to the crowds with their umbrellas and thermos flasks of tea， was taking part in a grand pageant of stoicism.4

The fact that it resulted in the duke being hospitalised and various boat crews being treated for hypothermia5 only seemed to add to its appeal.

I enjoyed the whole thing greatly even though I was aware of the fact that it was slightly bonkers6. Over centuries， the British have come to be seen by others and to see themselves in terms of reserve， resilience and restraint.

But this has not always been the case. When the Dutch scholar Erasmus7 came to London at the turn of the 16th Century he wrote home in amazement， describing how the English spend the whole time kissing each other. “Wherever you move there is nothing but kisses，” he noted.

Italian visitors in the Elizabethan period remarked upon how emotional everyone was and how we lacked self control. And it was the French who had words like “sang-froid” and “insouciance” to describe qualities that the British did not yet appear to possess.

In the 18th Century the word “sentimental” was not pejorative8 in this country. It was a term of praise for a person of taste and refinement who displayed their emotions openly. The nation which would become known for its ability to “keep calm and carry on” had yet to appear.

The evolution of the stiff upper lip is unexpectedly complex—emerging out of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars as a reaction to what Britains rulers felt was a dangerous unleashing of unrestrained passion on the continent.

Taking the lead from the prototypical Duke of Wellington，9 this model of stoic self-control was then rolled out from top to bottom of society. It then flourished in the imperial heyday with a parade of unflappable Victorian soldiers， explorers， and administrators who were supported by an equally tough cast of long-suffering women and doughty memsahibs.10

The story turns tragic in World War I as a whole uncomplaining generation seemed to walk straight into the enemy guns before struggling on for four hellish years.

In the aftermath of the carnage it seemed as though the stiff upper lip was finished for good.11 But it was consciously revived in the Great Depression as a unifying national identity and then reinvented with a smile in the legendary cheery spirit of The Blitz12.

After WWII came austerity13 but the arrival of prosperity in the 1950s， and then the rapid social change of the 1960s， left the stiff upper lip looking old-fashioned and even more so when the “me generation” embraced therapy and “l(fā)etting it all hang out”.

The nadir came in the events surrounding the death of Diana when the entire nation seemed to decide that dated notions of reserve， decorum and restraint were to be abandoned in favour of emotional release.14

Colin Firths portrayal of King George conforms to the stereotype that Hollywood has of the British： emotionally cool and reticent， unruffled by the ordinary floods of emotions that roil lesser mortals.15

The problem is the cliche no longer matches reality. In Britains Age of Austerity， stiff upper lips are becoming flaccid16， suddenly everyone on this island is passionate. People are dripping and weeping with “passion”.

The writer and historian AN Wilson says “the greatest factors in the development of the stiff upper lip were English public schools and Scottish Presbyterianism17”. That more or less covers my education and background.

Having sat through Latin lessons studying Aeneas as a model of stoical leadership， and having a grandfather who was a member of Glasgow Boys Brigade， fought in Flanders， and was a stern lay-preacher， you could argue that I am no great expert on emotional literacy.18

But one can analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the stiff upper lip by examining sources as varied as the novel Robinson Crusoe and the Battle of Britain sketches in Beyond the Fringe.

Everything from Victorian newspaper parodies about over-emotional policemen to the reaction to the first sexually explicit British edition of Cosmopolitan magazine can provide evidence.19

So can the HG Wells film Things to Come about futuristic air raids， and the classic British Character cartoons of Pont between the wars.20

The story of the stiff upper lip is a remarkable one. It may not be over.

幾年前女王登基60周年“鉆石慶典”那天，我站在瓢潑大雨中觀望皇室船隊(duì)，有那么一瞬我似乎意識(shí)到了些什么。

在雨中待了五個(gè)小時(shí)幾近濕透，我周遭的人們?nèi)匀灰丛谂d高采烈地指認(rèn)曾駛經(jīng)敦刻爾克的小船或是參與過(guò)諾曼底登陸戰(zhàn)的摩托艇，要么向船上穿著蘇格蘭褶裥短裙演奏風(fēng)笛的印度樂(lè)隊(duì)大聲歡呼。

英國(guó)的天氣確實(shí)容易激發(fā)出人們某種瘋狂、自虐般的反抗。然而在這一場(chǎng)合我想每個(gè)人，無(wú)論是即使年邁仍不愿坐下的女王和愛(ài)丁堡公爵，或是任憑頭發(fā)濕透、眼妝暈開(kāi)仍然賣(mài)力演唱圣歌的合唱團(tuán)，還是打著雨傘、揣著裝有茶水的暖水壺的群眾，都在參與一場(chǎng)展示 “堅(jiān)忍克己”的盛大演出。

結(jié)果公爵為此住院、不少船員因體溫過(guò)低接受治療，似乎讓這場(chǎng)“演出”更富有感染力。

我很享受這一切，盡管我意識(shí)到整件事有點(diǎn)瘋狂。幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，英國(guó)人被視為且自視為“含蓄內(nèi)斂、堅(jiān)忍不拔、克己隱忍”的代名詞。

但事實(shí)并非總是如此：荷蘭學(xué)者伊拉斯謨16世紀(jì)初來(lái)到倫敦，他在寄回家鄉(xiāng)的信中描述了英國(guó)人如何無(wú)時(shí)無(wú)刻不在互相親吻，令他感到十分驚奇。“不論你身在何處，總有人在親吻?！彼麑?xiě)道。

伊麗莎白時(shí)期意大利來(lái)訪者評(píng)論起英國(guó)人時(shí)會(huì)說(shuō)我們都是性情中人且缺乏自制力。而當(dāng)時(shí)是法國(guó)人才用“sang-froid”（意為“沉著冷靜”）和“insouciance”（意為“無(wú)憂無(wú)慮”）之類(lèi)的詞來(lái)描述這些英國(guó)人當(dāng)時(shí)看上去似乎尚不具備的品質(zhì)。

18世紀(jì)時(shí)，“多愁善感”一詞在本國(guó)并無(wú)貶損之意，而是用來(lái)贊美品位高尚優(yōu)雅、公開(kāi)展露情緒的雅士。那個(gè)以能夠“保持冷靜，繼續(xù)前行”而著稱(chēng)的國(guó)家尚未出現(xiàn)。

“繃緊上唇”的進(jìn)化歷程令人出乎意料地復(fù)雜：法國(guó)大革命和拿破侖戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)時(shí)期，歐洲大陸民眾恣意宣泄情感，讓英國(guó)當(dāng)權(quán)者感到十分危險(xiǎn)，“繃緊上唇”應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。

威靈頓公爵作為典范一馬當(dāng)先，堅(jiān)忍克己的品質(zhì)隨后從上至下在全社會(huì)傳開(kāi)。在大英帝國(guó)鼎盛時(shí)期，這種品質(zhì)遍地開(kāi)花：維多利亞時(shí)期形形色色的士兵、探險(xiǎn)家和官員大都沉著冷靜，為他們排憂解難的是同樣堅(jiān)忍不拔卻飽受煎熬的女性和不讓須眉遠(yuǎn)赴印度的英國(guó)婦女。

一戰(zhàn)時(shí)故事轉(zhuǎn)向悲?。赫麄€(gè)毫無(wú)怨言的一代似乎就這么直挺挺地走向了敵人的槍口，在人間煉獄中抗?fàn)幜怂哪辍?/p>

那場(chǎng)屠殺后似乎“繃緊上唇”徹底完了，但卻在大蕭條期間作為團(tuán)結(jié)一致的民族特性被有意復(fù)興，在倫敦大轟炸期間則變成了微笑以展現(xiàn)那傳奇般的樂(lè)觀精神。

二戰(zhàn)后經(jīng)濟(jì)緊縮，然而20世紀(jì)50年代繁榮的到來(lái)和60年代的社會(huì)劇變讓“繃緊上唇”顯得過(guò)時(shí)，在欣然接受心理治療與“和盤(pán)托出”的“唯我獨(dú)尊的一代”面前更是如此。

戴安娜王妃去世及其相關(guān)的一連串事件使“繃緊上唇”走向低谷：整個(gè)國(guó)家似乎都認(rèn)為含蓄內(nèi)斂、端莊有禮、克己隱忍已然過(guò)時(shí)，理應(yīng)丟棄，讓情感宣泄取而代之。

科林·費(fèi)爾斯對(duì)英國(guó)喬治六世的演繹符合好萊塢對(duì)英國(guó)人的刻板印象：冷靜淡漠、沉默寡言，在足以讓其他凡人情感翻涌的境況面前仍然內(nèi)心不起一絲波瀾。

問(wèn)題是這一過(guò)時(shí)的套話不再與現(xiàn)實(shí)相符。如今，在英國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)緊縮時(shí)代，“繃緊上唇”正日益疲軟，這座島國(guó)上一時(shí)間人人都充滿(mǎn)激情。人們沉浸在“激情”中灑汗淌淚。

作家、歷史學(xué)家安德魯·諾曼·威爾遜稱(chēng)“對(duì)‘繃緊上唇的發(fā)展影響最大的因素是英國(guó)公學(xué)和蘇格蘭長(zhǎng)老會(huì)”。這或多或少包含了我所受的教育和成長(zhǎng)背景。

我曾經(jīng)在拉丁語(yǔ)課研究過(guò)埃涅阿斯這位堅(jiān)忍不拔的領(lǐng)袖人物；我的祖父曾是格拉斯哥少年軍的成員，在法蘭德斯戰(zhàn)役中打過(guò)仗，而且是位嚴(yán)厲的俗家傳教士。那么你可以說(shuō)我在坦露情感方面不善言辭。

但是人們可以通過(guò)檢視如小說(shuō)《魯濱遜漂流記》和《超越邊緣》中關(guān)于英國(guó)之戰(zhàn)的概述等多處來(lái)源來(lái)分析“繃緊上唇”的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和缺點(diǎn)。

無(wú)論是維多利亞時(shí)期報(bào)紙上針對(duì)過(guò)于情緒化的警察所撰寫(xiě)的戲仿文，還是人們對(duì)第一期過(guò)于色情的英國(guó)版《時(shí)尚Cosmopolitan》雜志的反應(yīng)，都可以提供證據(jù)。

由赫伯特·喬治·威爾斯編劇的電影《篤定發(fā)生》中關(guān)于未來(lái)空襲的描繪，以及戰(zhàn)時(shí)蓬特創(chuàng)作的經(jīng)典漫畫(huà)《英國(guó)人的性格》也都可以。

“繃緊上唇”的故事精彩非凡。這個(gè)故事或許并不會(huì)就此完結(jié)。