Let’s get a few things straight before we begin. First, I really, really, dislike the word `passion’. If any one says it of me, or my writing, I cringe. (I use it of myself, self-mockingly, sometimes, but only when the satiric mode is dialled up so high that nobody could not hear.) It is so … schoolgirlish, so naively keen; so very … unironic. And lurking somewhere in my dislike is a considered distaste for the Christian story, the Passion of Our Lord, Redemption; the whole caboodle. In History Workshop Journal ‘Historic Passion(s)’ used to be called ‘Enthusiasms’ (very Raphael!), and that’s better, but only marginally so. Enthusiasm is so … uncool (and also drags in its train the Christian Story, in its evangelical mode). The second thing is that when Marybeth suggested writing something for ‘Historic Passions’, my first reaction was: I’m asked to do this all the time! (actually, half-a-dozen times): asked to write about the work of history that Made Me a Historian. I’ve always said: there isn’t one; there is no one book that did the job (and anyway, wouldn’t you already be one – a historian – to recognize such an influence?) Then I slept on it without knowing that’s what I was doing, and woke up thinking about What Katy Did. Overnight, I’d twigged: I wasn’t being asked to write about a work of history, a historical film or docudrama, but about anything that started it all off.

中文翻译：

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她做到了

在开始之前，让我们先弄清楚一些事情。首先，我真的，真的，不喜欢“激情”这个词。如果有人说我或我的作品，我会畏缩。（我自己有时会自嘲地使用它，但只有当讽刺模式调得如此之高以至于没有人听不到时。）它是如此......女学生，如此天真；非常......具有讽刺意味。潜伏在我不喜欢的地方是对基督教故事的厌恶，我们主的受难，救赎；整个堆。在历史工作坊期刊中， “历史激情”曾经被称为“热情”（非常拉斐尔！），这更好，但只是勉强如此。热情是如此......不酷（并且还以福音派模式拖入了基督教故事）。第二件事是，当 Marybeth 建议为“历史激情”写一些东西时，我的第一反应是：我一直被要求这样做！（实际上，六次）：被要求写下让我成为历史学家的历史作品。我一直说：没有；没有一本书能做到这一点（无论如何，你不是已经成为历史学家了吗？）然后我睡在它上面，不知道我在做什么，醒来时想着什么凯蒂做了. 一夜之间，我突然说：我没有被要求写一部历史作品、一部历史电影或纪录片，而是写任何让这一切开始的东西。