Picturesque Aesthetics and the Problems of Modern British Social Changes in Rob Roy

doi:10.12002/j.bisu.146

Abstract

Abstract:

By referring to A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724—1726) written by the English author Daniel Defoe (1660—1731), as well as basing on the socio-historical contexts of Great Britain from early 18th to the first decades of 19th century, this paper analyzes in detail how the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott (1771—1832) , using picturesque aesthetics and garden planting popular in Great Britain during his lifetime, writes about the problems of modern British social changes in his Scottish historical novel Rob Roy (1817). This paper draws the following conclusions: Scott’s picturesque perspective is a necessary supplement to and a subversion of that modern British “social garden” self-complacently constructed by Defoe, which is both beautiful and commercially centered. At the same time, in Rob Roy, Scott the novelist reveals vividly and dramatically the complex and contradictory characteristics of the transitional moment in Scotland, which was part of Great Britain and transformed with great speed from agricultural to commercial society in the 18th century. Scott also indicates the dilemma, the split of individual identity and pains of those who are caught up in great social upheavals in Rob Roy, an intricate as well as interesting historical novel. However, Scott’s picturesque social ideal is just an illusion in face of the continuously and accelerating speedy social changes in modern Britain.

Keywords: Rob Roy; A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain;; picturesque aesthetics; garden planting; British social changes

摘要：

本文以英格兰作家笛福的《大不列颠全岛环游记》为参照,结合18世纪初到19世纪早期的英国社会历史背景,详细分析了苏格兰作家司各特如何在其历史小说《红酋罗伯》中利用当时流行的如画美学理论以及园林建造活动来书写现代英国社会变革问题。本文的结论是,司各特的如画视角是对笛福笔下美丽的、以商业活动为主导的现代英国“社会园林”的必要补充与颠覆。同时,在《红酋罗伯》中,小说作者形象而戏剧性地展现了18世纪作为英国一部分的苏格兰在快速从传统农业社会到现代商业社会转变时的复杂与矛盾特征、现代人的困境以及理想与现实之间的差距所导致的现代个体的分裂与痛苦。然而,面对现代英国的加速变革,司各特如画的社会理想只是不切实际的幻想。

关键词: 《红酋罗伯》, 《大不列颠全岛环游记》, 如画美学, 园林建造, 英国社会变革

CLC Number:

I106.4

Peng ZHAO. Picturesque Aesthetics and the Problems of Modern British Social Changes in Rob Roy[J]. Journal of Beijing International Studies University, 2018, 40(2): 86-99.

赵鹏. 《红酋罗伯》中的如画美学与现代英国社会变革问题[J]. 北京第二外国语学院学报, 2018, 40(2): 86-99.

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