英国文学史及选读--Part VI The 18th century 1

I. Historical background --- political
writings
The literature of the age was at times dominated by the interests of the contending factions. Both parties were looking for writers who could best give voice to their policies. Most of the great writers were, on occasion, the willing servants of the Whigs or the Tories, or hack writers (受人雇用 的穷文人) 的穷文人), or “Grub Street writers” for many of them lived on Grub Street.
Part VI The 18th century
The Age of Enlightenment in England
I. Historical background --- political parties
1. Political parties, political writings and newspapers The Glorious Revolution of 1688 firmly established a Protestant monarchy together with effective rule by Parliament. With a weak ruler and the belief that true power rested in the hands of the leading ministers, the two factions of politics stepped up their opposition to each other, and Whig（辉格党） （辉格党） and Tory （托利党）were at each others' throats. 托利党）
1. Historical background --- writers frequented the coffeehouses
Nearly all writers frequented the coffeehouses, and matters discussed there became subjects of literature; hence the enormous amount of 18th writing devoted to transient affairs, to politics, fashions, gossip.
1. Historical background --- a world power
An Act of Union in 1707 joined Scotland to England and Wales. Britain became a world power, an empire on which the sun never set. But it also changed internally. The world seemed different in 1785. A sense of new, expanding possibilities — as well as modern problems — transformed the daily life of the British people, and offered them fresh ways of thinking about their relations to nature and to each other. Hence literature had to adapt to circumstances for which there was no precedent.
1. Historical background ---the EnlightenmFra Baidu biblioteknt →definition
It emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and traditions and brought about many humanitarian reforms. The watch- word of the movement was: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
1. Historical background --- shift in population & new standards of taste
2. Development of social life and its influence on literature One lasting change was a shift in population from the country to the town. Formerly the tastes of the court had dominated the arts. The 18th century witnessed a turn from palaces to pleasure gardens that were open to anyone with the price of admission. New standards of taste were set by what the people of London wanted.
1. Historical background--coffeehouses and clubs
The century was the age of town life with its coffeehouses and clubs. In the first half of the 18th century some 3,000 public coffeehouses and a large number of private clubs appeared in London alone, and the sociability of which these clubs were an expression was typical of all English cities. Meanwhile country life was in sore need of refinement.
1. Historical background ---the Enlightenment →definition
3. The Enlightenment A philosophical movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked by a celebration of the powers of human reason, a keen interest in science, the promotion of religious toleration, and a desire to construct governments free of tyranny.
I. Historical background --- political parties
The liberal Whigs were determined to safeguard popular liberty while the conservative Tories would leave as much authority as possible in the royal hands. On the extreme of Toryism was a third part of zealots, called Jacobites（英王詹姆斯二世James （英王詹姆斯二世James II的拥护者 的拥护者） II的拥护者）, who aimed to bring the Stuarts back to the throne, and who for 50 years filled Britain with plots and rebellion.
1. Historical background --- newspapers →essays
So in the 18th century newspapers and journals flourished and with them prose became for a time the predominant genre of the writing. Many great writers of the century were great essayists, as essays were also a means to enlighten or educate the youth.
1. Historical background--- the Scriblerus Club
One of the most famous of the private clubs was the Scriblerus Club, whose members included Pope（蒲柏 （蒲柏）, Swift（斯威夫特）, and John Gay （斯威夫特） (盖伊 盖伊，author of The Beggar's Opera). Its purpose 盖伊 was to defend and uphold high literary standards against the rising tide of middle-class values and tastes. Letters were a popular form of polite literature (风雅文学 风雅文学).
1. Historical background ---the Enlightenment → major figures
Some of the major figures of the Enlightenment were David Hume（休姆）, Immanuel Kant（康 （休姆） （ 德）, John Locke（洛克）, the Baron de （洛克） Montesquieu（孟德斯鸠）, Jean-Jacques （孟德斯鸠） Rousseau（卢梭）, and Voltaire（伏尔泰）. The （卢梭） （伏尔泰） Encyclopédie（百科全书）of Denis Diderot（狄德 （百科全书） （ 集中体现;成为...缩影) ...缩影 罗） epitomized (集中体现;成为...缩影) the spirit of the age.
Historical background --- newspapers
With the coming of the 18th century a new mass media came into being. Both parties printed newspapers as a means to express their views. Besides, the rise of the middle class also helped the growth of the newspapers. For the middle class demanded entertainment and education. They also demanded a means by which they could express their opinions on political and moral problems.