维多利亚时期文学

维多利亚时期⽂学
Part Ⅷ The Victorian Age(维多利亚时代)
A.The Victorian Age
1.It refers to the period of the reign of Queen Victoria, from her
accession in 1937 and her death in 1901, but the era of literature is from the Reform Bill（改⾰法案） in 1932 to the end of the Boer War（布尔战争）in 1902.
2.Three phrases :
The early Victorian Period (1832--1854), the time of troubles,
the Reform Bill & Chartism
Mid—Victorian Period (1855—1879), a time of economic
prospering, highest point of development as a world power
Last Period (1880—1902), a time characterized by decay of
Victorian values (e.g. Self-control, family loyalty, thrift,
hard work, etc).
B.The background
Amid the multitude of social and political forces of this great age, four things stand out clearly.
First, the age of democracy;
Second, the age of popular education, of religious tolerance;
Third, the age of comparative peace;
Fourth, the age of all the arts and sciences and in mechanical
inventions.
C.Chartist Movement(宪章运动)
Chartist Movement (1836-1848) was organized by the English workers in big cities and brought forth the People’s Charter, in which they demanded basic rights and better living and working conditions. They, for three times, made appeals to the government, with hundreds of thousands of people's signatures. The movement swept over most of the cities in the country. Although the movement declined to an end in 1848, it did bring some improvement to the welfare of the working class. This was the first mass movement of the English working class & the early sign of the awakening of the poor, oppressed people.
D.Literature Current(⽂学思潮)
1.Chartist literature(宪章⽂学)
The English working class created a literature of its own which
can be, in full justice, called the Chartist Literature.
The Chartist writers introduced a new theme into literature
— the struggle of the proletariat(⽆产阶级) for its rights.
Some great Chartist poets are Ernest Jones (1819-1869), Thomas
Cooper (1805-1892), and William James Linton (1812-1897).
2.Critical Realism(批判现实主义⽂学)
Critical Realism is one of the literary genres that mainly
flourished in the 40s and in the early 50s in the 19th century.
The critical realists not only gave the criticism to
bourgeoisie and all ruling classes, bur also showed their deep
sympathy for the common people. Hence humor and satire abound
in the English realistic novels of the 19th century. But the
critical realists did not find a way to eradicate(根除) social
evils. They did not realize the necessity of changing the
bourgeois society. They were unable to find a good solution
to the social contradictions. The chief tendency in their works
is not of revolution but rather of reformism. Here we see at
once the strength and the weakness of critical realism. Three
greatest representatives of Critical Realism are Charles
Dickens(狄更斯), William Makepeace Thackeray(萨克雷), and
George Eliot(艾略特). E.………………………………………………………………………………………
………. F.…………………………………………………………………………………………………G.………………………………………………………………………………………
………….
H.Some Exercises
1.The precisian may limit the Victorian period to the years between
the Queen’s accession in 1837 and her death in 1901, but a new
era really began with the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832 and
closed at the end of the Bore war in 1902.
2.Victorian literature, as a product of its age, naturally took on
its quality of magnitude and diversity. It was many-sacked and
complex, and reflected both romantically and realistically the
great changes that were going on in people’s life and thought.
3.In the 19th century English literature, a new literary trend
critical realism appeared after the romantic poetry, and
flourished in the 40s and in the early 50s.
4.Critical realism found its expression in the form of novel; most
of the critical realists were novelists.
5.Critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of
cash upon human nature. Here lies in the essentially democratic
and humanistic character if critical realism.
6.The Chartist Movement appeared in the 30s of the 19th century.
7.The most important poet of the Victorian Age was Tennyson, next
to him, were Robert Browning and his wife.
8.The Chartist writers introduced a new theme into literature: the
struggle of the proletariat for its rights.
9.The Chartist poetry played an important role in the development
of English proletariat literature; the greatest Chartist poet was Ernest Jones. I.．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
．．．．．．．．．．．
J.
Charles Dickens（狄更斯）
A.Life
Charles Dickens (1812--1870) was born in a poor family in the Portsmouth. He gave up schooling to work after his father was put into the prison because of the debt. In 1870, he died of overwork.
B.The three period of his literary career
1.the first period of youthful optimism
At this stage Dickens believed that all the evils of the capitalist world would be remedied if only men behaved to each other with kindliness, justice, and sympathetic understanding.
Main works in this period:
Sketches by Boz 《博兹随笔》
Pickwick Paper 《匹克威克外传》
Oliver Twist 《雾都孤⼉》
Nicholas Nickleby 《尼古拉斯尼克贝》
Old Curiosity Shop 《⽼古玩店》
Barnaby Rudge 《巴纳⽐卢杰》
2.the second period of excitement & irritation
Dickens' second period began from 1842, the year after his first visit to America.
Main works in this period:
American Notes 《美国札记》
Martin Chuzzlewit 《马丁朱杰尔维特》
A Christmas Carol 《圣诞欢歌》
The Chimes 《钟声》
The Cricket on the Hearth 《炉边蟋蟀》
Dombey and Son 《董贝⽗⼦》
David Copperfield 《⼤卫科波菲尔》
3.the third period of steadily intensifying pessimism
The last period of Dickens's literary career began with the publication of "Bleak House" in 1852-1853.
Up to this time Dickens maintained some hope of reform under capitalism but beginning from "Bleak House" there was an "underlying tone of bitterness" which showed the novelist's loss of hope for English bourgeois society.
Main works in this period:
Bleak House《荒凉⼭庄》
Hard Time《艰难时世》
Little Dorrit《⼩杜丽》
A Tale of Two Cites《双城记》
Great Expectations 《远⼤前程》
Our Mutual Friend 《我们共同的朋友》
Edwin Drood（unfinished) 《埃德温多鲁德》
C.Distinct Features of His Novels
(1) Character Sketches & Exaggeration
(2) Broad Humor & Penetrating Satire
(3) Complicated & Fascinating Plot
(4) The Power of Exposure
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ments of Dickens
Charles Dickens is one of the greatest critical realistic writers of the Victorian Age.In his works, Dickens sets a full map & a large-scale criticism of the 19th-century England, particularly London..
Characterization is the most outstanding feature of his works.Dickens also employs exaggeration in his works.Yet he is a petty bourgeois intellectual. He could not overstep the limits of his class. He failed to see the necessity of a bitter struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors.
E.Some works
1.The Pickwick Papers《匹克威克外传》
Plot
2.Oliver Twist 《雾都孤⼉》
Plot
The novel tells the story of a poor child named Oliver Twist. He is born in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions.
After experiencing an unhappy apprenticeship to an undertaker, he runs away to London, where he falls into the hands of a gang of thieves.
Then he is made to be a pickpocket. A benevolent rich old man called Mr. Brownlow rescues him and takes him home, but the thieves kidnap him and make him join them once again. A bad person named Monks, who turns out to be Oliver’s half-brother, helps the thieves in keeping Oliver in the gang, in order to ruin him and obtain the whole of his father’s property. Then Oliver is made to help one the thieves in breaking into a lady’s house. He gets wounded, and comes into the hands of her aunt. Finally the thieves in the gang are punished and Oliver’s half brother is compelled to confess his evil doing and put into prison. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow.
F.Some exercises
1. Charles Dickens was the greatest representative of English Critical Realism.
2. Of all of Dickens’s novels, David Copperfield is regarded as his masterpiece.
3. In A Tale of Two Cities, the two cities are London and Paris in the time of revolution.
4. The novel Nicholas Nickleby touches upon a burning question of Dickens’s time; the education of children in the private schools.
5. The novel Oliver Twist tells the story of a poor child named Oliver Twist who was born in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions.
6. The novel Hard Times makes a fierce attack on the bourgeois system
of education and the bourgeois philosophy Utilitarianism.
G.Others
William Makepeace Thackeray（萨克雷）
A.His works
The Books of Snobs 《势⼒⼈》
Vanity Fair《名利场》
Pendennis 《潘丹尼斯的历史》
The Newcomers《纽卡母⼀家》
The Rose and the Ring (fairy tale) 《玫瑰与戒指》（通话）
Henry Esmond《亨利·艾斯芒德》
The Virginians (historical novels) 《弗吉尼亚⼈》
B.Characteristics of Thackeray’s novels
1．William Makepeace Thackeray is one of the greatest critical realists of the 19th century.The pictures in his novels are accurate and true to life. He is good at describing the life of the upper class with which he is familiar.
2．Thackeray is a satirist.
3．He is a moralist. His aim is to produce a moral impression in all his novels.
C.Vanity Fair《名利场》
1．The Origin of the Title
This title was borrowed by Thackeray from The Pilgrim’s
Progress (天路历程) by Bunyan. It means “a fair, wherein are
sold all sorts of vanity.”
2．The Implication of the Subtitle----Novel Without a Hero
No exactly positive character
About women instead of men
Not about some particular person but about the society
3．Theme of the novel
In this novel Thackeray describes the life of the upper class of England in the early decade of the 19th century, and attacks the social relationship of the bourgeois world by satirizing the individual in the different strata of the upper society. It is a world where money grubbing is the main motive for all
members of the upper class.
4． Characters: A brief comment on Amelia and Becky in Vanity Fair In Vanity Fair Thackeray successfully characterizes two heroines who stand in contrast in their characters and attitudes towards life.
Amelia is a character of milk-and-water type, good in nature, tame and moral, sentimental and sympathetic, but unable to master her own fate. Becky, who is more impressively character and can be said to be the real heroine of the novel in a way, is different from Amelia;
she is crafty, unscrupulous, and resourceful and she is never
obedient to her destiny and always rebels in order to have a change in her life, regardless of morality and the social judgment of her.
The two heroines are, to Thackeray, the victims of the social environment that is inhuman in its nature.
5．
D.Some exercise
1.In 1847, Thackeray published his masterpiece Vanity Fair, which
marks the peak of his literary career.
2.The sub-title of Vanity Fair is Novel without a Hero. The writer’s
intention was not to portray individuals, but bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole.
3.The main plot of Vanity Fair renders on the story of two women:
Amelia Sedlley and Rebecca Sharp, whose characters are sharp contrast.
E.others
George Eliot（爱略特）
----Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans.
A.Her Works
Scenes of Clerical Life 《教区⽣活场景》
Adam Bede《亚当贝德》
Mill on the Floss《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》
Silas Marner《织⼯马南》
Middlemarch《⽶德尔马奇》
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B.Some exercises
1.George Eliot was the Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans.
2.The author of The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot.
3.George Eliot produced three remarkable novels including Adam Bede,
The Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner.
4.In the novel Adam Bede, Adam falls in love with a village girl called
Hetty Sorrel who is seduced and deserted by a squire.
C.Others
Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte（夏洛特和爱⽶丽）
A.Works of Bronte Sisters
Charlotte Bronte Professor《教授》
Jane Eyre《简·爱》
Shirley《雪丽》
Villette.《维莱特》
Emily Bronte Wuthering House《呼啸⼭庄》
Ann Bronte Agnes Grey 《安格尼斯·格雷》
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall《维尔德·霍的佃户》B.Jane Eyre
1．The theme of the novel
The criticism of the bourgeois system of education
The position of the women in society ---- the women should the
equal rights with men
2．The limitation of the novel
Charlotte believes that education is the key to all social problems, and that by the improvements of the school system, most of the social evils could be removed.
3．Why the novel is greatly admired?
1) Jane’s characteristics.
2) Jane’s treatment of her love and marriage.Jane, different
from many other women in the mammon worship society, considers
marriage not as a bargain but as a union of kindred souls.
3) Jane sticks to her principles, successfully resists the
oppression and other social evils in the inhuman world and
acquires her own happiness.
4) It contains the author’s criticism of bourgeois attitude
toward marriage and love, and her ruthless expose of inhuman
misery in charity schools of her days which were established
and run in the name of philanthropy. She attacks the terrible
educational system in her day and points out the miserable fate
of poor girls as charity school pupils and as governess.
4．
C.Wuthering House
D.Some exercises
1.The Bronte sisters are Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Ann
Bronte.
2.Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece is Jane Eyre.
3.Emily Bronte’s masterpiece is Wuthering House.
E.
D. E.。