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6.1.Prose Writers in the Romantic Period
Charles Lamb(1775~1834) Walter Scott(1771~1832) Jane Austen(1775~1817)
Prose Writers in the Romantic Period
The Evolution of the Essay
Modern essay originated from Montaigne’s Essais (1580), which were translated into English by Florio in 1580-1588 and had an extensive influence upon English literature. Bacon borrowed the title for his collection of brief prose writings (1597). Montaigne’s essays are distinguished by their conventional tone and their intimate approach while Bacon’s are almost purely expositive.
The periodical essay in English began with Defoe (1704) and was developed by Addison and Steele in The Tatler (1709-1711) and the Spectator (1711-1714). In the Spectator, Addison employed whimsy离奇古怪情节, humour, light satire and easy elegance, which have since become the features of the informal essay which reveals the author’s judgement, taste and personality.
In the 19th century, periodicals increased and modern magazines sprang up. They were instrumental to the rapid
development of essays, both formal and informal. Lamb, Hazlitt, Hunt and De Quincy were among the greatest essayists in this period. These writers did not writeaccording to the old rules and models of classicism but made the informal essay a pliable vehicle for expressing the writer’s own personality.
Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb查尔斯·兰姆 Tales from Shakespeare
《莎士比亚戏剧故事集》
The Essays of Elia
《伊利亚随笔》
The Tales from Shakespeare was Lamb’s first literary success. They were written by Charles and Mary Lamb, the former reproducing the tragedies and the latter the comedies. This version of Shakespeare’s stories has become very popular. It has, in fact, made Shakespeare a familiar author to the general readers.
Features of Lamb’s essays
Charles Lamb is a well-known essayist in the English Romantic Period. In these essays Lamb chats with the reader on various topics and reveals his charming personality.
The most striking feature of Lamb’s essays is his humour. He is universally acknowledged to be unique as an English humorist. Like other humorists, he could tell a ridiculous story in the most solemn tone. He is a master of puns and jokes.
Lamb’s style is touched with archaism, interspersed with quotations from his favourite authors.
In short, Lamb’s essays are familiar essays in the best sense of the term. His “Essays of Elia” is Lamb’s greatest
contribution to the treasury of English literature. Lamb is, therefore, regarded as the Shakespeare of the English essay.
Sir Walter Scott(1771~1832)沃尔特·司各特爵士
Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771. His father was a barrister and his mother a woman of education and a good story-teller, both descended from old families on the Scottish border.
Scott early developed an intense love of the Scottish history and folk literature. In 1785, he entered his father’s office to study law and later became a lawyer. In 1802-1803, he published his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 《苏格兰边境歌谣集》a collection of Scottish ballads, historical, traditional and romantic, in three volumes.
In 1804, he gave up law entirely for literature. From 1796-1812, he was known as a poet, but he felt he had not yet “found himself”. Later he turned to novel-writing and kept on writing novels in the ensuing years at the rate of nearly two novels per year.
The Lady of the Lake: a long poem
The Historical Novel
Scott has been universally regarded as the founder and great master of the historical novel. He lived in a period of rapid social changes after the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, when the people desired keenly an accurate knowledge of history. Besides, Scotland of this time was a country that contained within its borders the different modes of life of three
historical periods (the tribal mode of life prevailing in the mountains or the Highlands, the preservation of feudal customs in the estates of the large landowners and the early development of capitalism in the big cities.), which provided Scott with rich materials for novel-writing.
Scott’s historical novels cover a long period of time, ranging from the Middle Ages up to the 18th century.They may be conveniently divided into three groups according to the subject matter: I. The group on the history of Scotland
Waverley《威弗利》：his first novel(published anonymously) Guy Mannering《盖曼纳令》 Rob Roy《罗伯·罗伊》: describing the 1715 uprising of the Scottish Highlanders against the English yoke.
These novels dealing with Scottish history were highly successful for their vivid depictions of typically Scottish characters and their powerful representation of the past events in Scotland.
II. The group on English society Ivanhoe《艾凡赫》
Kenilworth《肯纳尔沃斯堡》
III. The group on the history of European countries Quentin Durward《昆廷·达沃德》 St. Ronan’s Wells《圣罗南之泉》
Features of Scott’s Historical Novels
Scott has an outstanding gift of vivifying the past. His novels, which combine historical fact with romantic imagination, give a picturesque representation of various historical personages and events.
In his novels, historical events are closely interwoven with the fates of individuals.
When Scott describes historical events, he is concerned not only with the lives and deeds of kings, statesmen and other historical figures, but is always mindful of the fates of the ordinary people such as peasants, shepherds and villagers. Scott is a romantic. He said, "a romancer wants but a hair to make a tether of it." But besides romantic imagination, he also relies upon careful studies and investigations into the details of historical life.
Scott is a conservative in politics. His conservatism shows itself in his opposition to “extremes” in the people’s struggles, and compromise is regarded by him as the best means in solving social contradictions.
His novels paved the way for the development of the realistic novel of the 19th century and marked the transition for romanticism to realism in English literature of the 19th century.
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6.1.Prose Writers in the Romantic Period
Sense and Sensibility《理智与情感》 Pride and Prejudice 《傲慢与偏见》 Mansfield Park《曼斯菲尔德庄园》 Emma《爱玛》
Northanger Abbey《诺桑觉寺》 Persuasion 《劝导》
Although Jane Austen lived in the Romantic Period, she is an early realistic novelist. She was the youngest daughter of a country clergyman. She was educated at home and began to write at an early age. She passed all her life in doing small domestic duties, living an uneventful life amid the provincial surrounding of the South. She never married throughout her life. There was a little table in the family sitting-room, on which she wrote her famous novels, in the midst of busy family life. When a visitor entered, she would throw a sheet of paper or a piece of sewing over her work, and she modestly refusing to acknowledge that she was the author of her novels, which were published anonymously owing to the prejudice prevailing at the time concerning the writing of novels by a lady.
Living a quiet life in the countryside, she kept her eyes steadily upon the people and incidents about her, and wrote about the small world she lived in. She herself compared her work to a fine engraving made upon a little piece of ivory only two inches square. The comparison is true. The ivory is small enough, but the woman who made drawings of human life on it is a real artist. Achievement:
She treated her material with such subtlety of observation, depth of psychological penetration and delicacy of touch that she is ranked among the best of English novelist. Her works shows a wealth of character studies, and abound in wit, satire, humor and charm. She knew how to sketch figures with so pure and suggestive a pen that stand out in a strong and unforgettable belief. It is not without reason that she is credited with having brought the English novel to its maturity. Limitation:
Jane Austen never touched upon the class conflicts of her time, and in her works the extremes of wealth and poverty are unknown. She restricted her subject matter to a narrow range of society and events: a quiet, prosperous, middle-class circle in provincial surroundings.
Irony: Irony is a contrast or an incongruity between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.
Generally speaking, there are three kinds of irony:
1. verbal irony言语反语, in which a writer or speaker says one thing and mean something entirely different;
2. dramatic irony戏剧性讽刺 , in which a reader or an audience perceives something that a character in the story or play does not know;
3. situational irony情况反常, in which the writer shows a discrepancy差异 between the expected results of some action or situation and its actual results.
In speech, intonation will usually give the listener a clue that the intention is ironic. It may be harder for the reader to identify irony, although the writer must, for the text to be understood as ironic, insert clues.
In Othello, the audience knows that Desdemona has been faithful to Othello, but Othello does not. The audience also knows that Iago is scheming to bring about Othello's downfall, a fact hidden from Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio. as soft as concrete
The Cop and the Anthem
“Pride and Prejudice” is perhaps Austen’s best known novel. She began writing it in 1796,when she was only 21. In its original form and entitled” First Impressions”, it was refused by a publisher in 1797. It was destined to meet with further refusals and wait for 16 years before the revised version finally appeared in print in 1813.
The plot of the novel evolves mainly around the Bennet family. The Bennets have five grown-up daughters. They lived at longbourn near London. The marriage prospects of the girls are Mrs. Bennet’s chief concern in life, since under the law of the time the family estate will, on Mr. Bennet’s death, pass on to his nearest male relation. At the opening of the novel, Mr.Charles Bingley, a rich bachelor, takes Netherfield Park, an estate near Longbourn and brings there a friend, Mr. Fitzewilliam Darcy.
Bingley falls in love with Jane, the eldest Bennet girl. Darcy is attracted to her next sister, the lively and witty Elizabeth, but offends her by his supercilious (contemptuous) behavior. He proposes to her but is rejected. Her prejudice against him increases as further misunderstandings arise. Thus Darcy’s pride is pitted against Elizabeth’s prejudice. After many twists and turns, however, things are cleared up, and the two couples are happily united.
Themes
Unreliability of first impressions. If to form good relation is our main task in life, we must first have good judgment. Our first impression, according to Austen, is usually wrong, as is shown here by those of Elizabeth’s.
In the process of judging others, Elizabeth finds out something about herself: her blindness, partiality, prejudice and absurdity. In time she discovers her own shortcomings. On the other hand, Darcy learns about other people and himself too. At last, false pride is humbled and prejudice dissolved.
Love and marriage (common to all her novels): three kinds of motivations of or attitudes toward marriage are presented. First, there is marriage merely for fortune and social rank. The second is the tendency to marry for beauty, attraction and passion regardless of economic conditions or personal merits. Last comes the ideal marriage, which is a love match with considerations of the lover’s personal merits and economic conditions.
The Writing Features of Pride and Prejudice
1. The characters are presented mainly through contrast: Mrs. Bennet Vs Lady de Bourgh Darcy Vs Bingly Darcy Vs. Collins
Irony: a. verbal irony----By saying one thing but meaning another, we see the stupidity of Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth’s derision of Darcy’s pride.
b. situational irony----the difference between action and results or between appearance and reality. With a negative start on both sides at the beginning of the story, we watch with anxiety the gradual development of love between Darcy and Elizabeth. Mutual repulsion is turned into mutual attraction, verbal quarrels turned into confessions. Collins proposed to one but married another.
Witty and delightful dialogues, which runs through a great part of the book.
The writer is really a writer of the earlier realist school. In both outlook and prose style she is closer to the 18th precedents than to his contemporaries. Her works show clearly her firm belief in the predominance of reason over passion, the value of rationality and sense over that of sentimental, Gothic and romantic tendencies.
Gothic Novel
Jane Austen简·奥斯丁（1775~1817）
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2023-02-12
