英国文学简史第十一章 Victorian period re

1、Chapter 11 Victorian period (1837/1832-1901),The Victorian Age,Victorian Age,（1832, 1st Reform Bill new prose and poetry which instructed and entertained,(bi)monthly instalment became the fashion in novel publication: - Dickens, Thackeray, Gaskell, Collins, Trollope and George Eliot organized their

2、works in enticing, coherent morsels that kept characters and plots running from month to month. - authors had to keep to the schedule, no final idea how to end, making adjustments based on sales and reviews.,II. Literary background,- readers had time to follow, digest, and also to influence the outc

3、ome; they affected authors who had to change their original plan to meet readers requirements, thus usu. the planning /structure bad or loose.,II. Literary background,Queen Victoria,英国历史上统治时间最长的君主 Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years, the longest reign in the history of England. Those years, from 183

4、7 to 1901, became known as the Victorian era marked by a deeply conservative morality and the rise of the middle class.,At the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victorias rule, Mark Twain observed, “British history is two thousand years old, and yet in a good many ways the world has moved

5、 farther ahead since the Queen was born than it moved in all the rest of the two thousand put together”,After Victoria became Queen=the exploitation of steam power in transportation, industry and agriculture, the introduction of the telegraph, the international cable, and the telephone and universal

6、 compulsory education=a world power The increase of the urban population=two million=six million The Empire on which the sun never set=Jane Eyre=男主人公的财富是他在牙买加娶的妻子的嫁妆；女主人公继承的遗产是她叔叔在海外剥削当地人发的财；表哥到印度做传教士（给想离开英国的人提供出路）,Victorianism,A time of prosperity and relative stability prosperity, respectability a

7、nd material progress (middle-class life) a national spirit= earnestness, respectability, modesty and domesticity (People as a whole ) Common sense + moral propriety,（1） the growth of the middle class（chiefly the capitalists）（the Reform Bill of 1832）=middle class values and tastes= cultural philistin

8、ism fIlIstInIzEm 庸俗, 没有文化修养 (Matthew Arnold)=middle class, urbane literature,（2）conservative morality: people became prudish prU:dIF 装正经的, 过分规矩的and squeamish 5skwi:miF过于拘谨的about life in general and about sex and love in particular. （3） The predominance of the moral aesthetic,（4） The wide currency of

9、 utilitarianism 9jU:tIlIteErIEnIzLm功利主义, 实利主义,（5） The advent of the theory of evolution,（6）Faith in progress and a sense of earnestness=optimism that human nature and society were both perfectible+a high feeling of responsibility among the thinking people to help solve the worlds problems.,Darwins t

10、heory of evolution,Darwin (1809-1882) 英国自然学家，以自然选择为基础的进化论学说彻底改革了生物学的研究。他最著名的著作包括物种起源 （1859年）和 人类的遗传 （1871年） 1859 =On the Origin of Species=shook the old Christian belief in divine creation,The Descent of Man人类的遗传 （1871年）=further reduced man to nothingness, almost identified with the animals=A loss o

11、f faith in region The theory of natural selection and the survival of the fittest=Social Darwinism=free competition + the superiority of the rich +Englands colonial expansion all over the world,1. three major phases of growth,1832-1848: a time of social unrest；推行改革的年代；文学以现实手法为主，多反映劳动人民的困苦和斗争 1848-18

12、70: a period of economic prosperity and religious controversy 描写中、小资产阶级主人公为个人奋斗的过程遇到的种种困难，揭露官僚制度和社会黑暗，描写海外扩张等；女性的婚恋小说 1870-1901: a period of decay of Victorian values.,（1） Charles Dickens (1812-1870)= 1830s to middle of the century=the impact of change+old values intact（Industrialization and capital

13、ism）+ -basically optimistic+aware of modern ills which they lost no time to castigate, but still wrote with the notion that the world was basically good and could become better.（happy ending/poetic justice）=a time of troubles,three major phases of growth,（2） a period of George Eliot= the mid or High

14、 Victorian phase the 1870s= from an agricultural to an industrial nation +Life improved +problems appeared with the progress of civilization+minds became confused as a result of Darwinism+crises of different dimensions were right down the road,In her world people felt the manipulation the forces out

15、 of their control, but they still had room for free choice+ seldom if ever the portrait of a total villain+still had faith in human nature and the goodness of a moral society.= a time of economic prosperity and religious controversy,（3）later phase of the period (from the late 1880s onward), dramatic

16、 changes had occurred. What had appeared in Dickens and George Eliot as a silhouette of the impending crisis became dazzlingly sharp in the vision of later novelists such as Thomas Hardy (1840-1828).,Man became insignificant in a world cold and indifferent and probably Godless. He was impotent in fa

17、ce of the overwhelming odds of fate and struggled in vain for survival. What was in store for him was nothing but frustration and despair if not always exactly death,. The age of naturalism had arrived. Although Hardy was not a naturalist per se, he stood very close to being one, while George Gissin

18、g (1857-1903) wrote essentially in the Zolanesque spirit.=a time characterized by decay of Victorian values,As the Elizabethan Age extended ten years or so after the Queens death, the Victorian Age actually ended ten years before Queen Victoria died.,（1） They all try to teach as well as to entertain

19、=Moral purpose （2） They are essentially urban, reflecting the values of the middle class.,salient features of Victorian literature in common,salient features of Victorian literature in common （3） they have the pattern of spiritual conversion built into their textual fabric, exhibit a strong sense of

20、 history, and see home and marriage as sacred. （4） All great Victorian novels follow the moral standard: Good triumphs over evil, good is praised, and bad castigated,（5） social realism remains the Victorian novelists predominant mode of representation of life=a realism striving to tell the whole tru

21、th showing moral and physical diseases as they are=critical realism=to be true to life=an instrument of human progress,(6) The main point of view employed in Victorian novels is the third-person omniscient, the unlimited vision of which helps to paint the broad canvas of life.,(7) how women were reg

22、arded and regarded themselves as members of society became one of the chief concerns of Victorian writers,(8) optimism vs pessimism A large charity and a deep faith in the human humanity The Victorians and their writers suffer from a series of something lost: a sense of being replaced by machines+a

23、feeling of nothingness in evolution=an age of doubt and pessimism=the loss of optimistic vision toward the end of the century (Hardys novels and Arnolds poetry),Victorian prose Thomas Carlyle John Stuart Mill 约翰斯图亚特穆勒 Cardinal John Henry Newmanthe Oxford Movement (1833-1845) P.226（Conformists-国教派；查理

24、二世复辟Non-Conformists 不从国教派或Dissenters不顺从派由此产生）,Victorian prose Thomas Carlyle 托马斯卡莱尔 An angry man=not happy with his countrymen for being so simply complacent A man with a sense of mission 十九世纪英国文坛舵手作用=切尔西的贤哲=卡莱尔式文风（Carlylese 9kB:laIli:z,.(苏格兰散文作家和历史学家)卡莱尔(式)的文风(常指模仿卡莱尔风格的文风)-气势磅礴，用词造句别具一格，大胆借用德国词法，说

25、理论证环环相扣，节节进逼，令人应接不暇,Sarter Resartus: The life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh Past and Present（1843）=influenced Dickens (Bleak House &Hard Times)&Disraeli (Sylbil西尔比）Ruskin (The Stones of Venice威尼斯的石头)&Charles Kinsley (Alton Locke) The French Revolution（1837）=一举成名。稳稳坐上文坛领袖的宝座=切尔西的贤哲（Chelsea） On H

26、ero and Hero-worship（1841）,这一代几乎没有一颗高贵而活跃的心灵不曾受过卡莱尔的陶冶；而最近十年或二十年里所写就的英国书籍，如果没有卡莱尔的存在，几乎都要换一副模样 - 乔治艾略特,Sarter Resartus: The life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh （tailor retailoredan imaginary German professor图非斯德娄克-“魔鬼之粪”&德国魏斯尼赫图-“不知何处”大学教授）（1833-34）旧衣新裁浓重自转色彩的哲理小说=衣裳哲学,the first part i= a discussion of clothes = all visible things