杨岂深《英国文学选读Book 2》笔记和考研真题详解
第1章 复习笔记
第1单元 乔治•梅瑞狄斯
George Meredith (1828-1909) （乔治·梅瑞狄斯）
1. Life（生平）
George Meredith, novelist and poet in the Victorian era, was born in a tailor family. He wrote more than 20 novels and many poems. Different from other English novelists in the second half of the 19th century, he laid little emphasis on structure and technique. He was famous for his excellent conversation, witty and poetic scenes and mental description. He was far beyond his age for his treating women as totally independent persons as men.
乔治·梅瑞狄斯是英国维多利亚时代的小说家、诗人。出生于一个裁缝家庭，一生写有20多部小说和许多诗歌。与19世纪后半叶其他英国小说家不同，他不注重结构和技巧，而以精彩的对话，充满机智和诗意的宏伟场面，以及对人物心理的刻画著称。他远远超越其时代，把妇女看成和男子平等的完全独立的个人。
2. Major Works（主要作品）
Modern Love (1862) 《现代爱情》
Poems and Lyrics of the joy of Earth (1883) 《大地欢歌》
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) 《理查德·法弗尔的考验》
The Egoist (1879) 《利己主义者》
Diana of the Crossways (1885) 《傍徨中的戴安娜》
The Idea of Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit (1897) 《喜剧的概念和喜剧精神的作用》
3. Selected Work（选读作品）
◆The Egoist《利己主义者》
Willoughby Patterne is the heir of the established family Patterne. Since his childhood, he has been a prominent figure in his county. His soul has been soaked with extreme egoism. He asks his fiancé to fix her mind and emotion on him. He does not want to marry Laetitia Dale who likes him, but he keeps her from leaving. He asks his cousin to completely depend on him and does not allow the cousin to leave their plantation. He proposes to Constantia Durham and she agreed. However, as she gradually sees his egoism, she elopes with a Calvary officer. Willoughby also forces his two unmarried aunts to do as what he tells. In a word, he wants everybody to listen to his order. In the end, everyone gets disgusted with his egoism and abandon him.
This novel describes the emotional experience of an English nobleman Willoughby Patterne, an extreme egoist. It bitterly satirizes the hollowness and decadence of English Bourgeoisie in terms of comedy and reveals the harm of egoism and the author’s critical attitude through the egoist’s end of his self-destruction.
威洛比·柏登是望族柏登氏的继承人，自小就是郡里众目所瞩的人物，但他的灵魂浸透了极端自私自利的思想。他要求他未婚妻无论思想还是感情以他为转移。他并不想与喜欢他的丽蒂西娅结婚，却也不让她离开他。他要求表弟完全依赖他，不允许他离开庄园。他向康斯坦西娅·德拉姆求婚，对方表示同意。但当她逐渐认识到威洛比的自私自利后，她和一名骑士军官私奔了。威洛比还要求他两个姑姑听命于他。总之，他希望所有人能听从他的意志。最后，众人厌恶他的自我中心主义而离开了他。
这部作品着重描绘了英国贵族青年威洛比·柏登这个极端利己主义者的情感经历，以喜剧的形式嘲弄英国资产阶级的空虚与堕落，并通过利己主义者自我毁灭的结局揭示了利己主义的危害性和作家的批判态度。
第2单元 威廉•莫里斯
William Morris (1834-1896) （威廉·莫里斯）
1. Life（生平）
William Morris, English poet, artist and social activist, was born in a rich family. In the late 1870th, he turned to the then prosperous socialist movement in England. Later he and Marx’s daughter Everling Marx jointly founded Socialist League. In the 1880th, Morris participated in workers’ strikes and demonstrations many times. He was against aestheticism and was in favor of the unity of politics and art. His works plainly reflect his political tendency.
威廉·莫里斯，英国诗人、艺术家和社会活动家。他出生在一个富有家庭。七十年代末，莫里斯转向当时英国蓬勃发展着的社会主义运动,后来和马克思的女儿埃佛林·马克思共同创立了社会主义同盟。在八十年代，莫里斯多次参加工人的罢工、游行。莫里斯反对唯美主义，主张政治和艺术应该统一。他的作品具有明显的政治倾向。
2. Major Works（主要作品）
The Earthly Paradise (1868-1870) 《地上乐园》
Chants for Socialism (1884-1885) 《社会主义歌集》
Pilgrims of Hope (1886) 《希望的探求者》
Dream of John Ball (l888) 《梦见约翰·保尔》
News From Nowhere (1891) 《乌有乡消息》
3. Selected Work（选读作品）
◆News From Nowhere《乌有乡消息》
The hero of the novel William Guest in his dream sees the established socialist Britain. Here, people have got rid of the thought of pursuing profits and becoming rich and they are working happily. Under the guidance of Dick, Guest meets the old man Hammond and has a long talk with him. Their conversation is related with education, politics, social morality, marriage, etc. in the socialist community.
As for the future socialist society, the novel displays a beautiful scene in which there is no class, poverty but equality and liberty. The author criticizes the British capitalist society in the 19th century. He is opposed to big industry and his ideal socialism is based on small production.
小说的主人公威廉．格斯特在梦中见到已经建成共产主义社会的英国。这里，人们已消灭了追求利润和发财致富的观念，在愉快地工作着。在向导狄克的带领下，格斯特会见了老人哈蒙德，与他作了长时间谈话，话题涉及共产主义社会的教育、政治，社会道德，婚姻等问题。
对未来的共产主义社会，小说展示了一幅没有阶级、没有贫困，自由平等的美丽图画。在小说中，作者对十九世纪英国资本主义社会进行了深刻的批判。对于大工业，作者持否定态度。作者所理想的共产主义是以小生产为基础的。
