诺曼征服后英格兰民族性之发展——评阿舍新著《虚构与历史:1066—1200年之英格兰》

A Review of Ashe's Fiction and History in England,1066—1200

劳娜·阿舍的专著《虚构与历史》是一部值得一读的好书。作者在书中通过深入分析从诺曼征服到12世纪后期出现的一些盎格鲁-诺曼语以及拉丁语文本,探寻诺曼征服后英格兰民族性的发展与形成,提出了一些新思路和颇富创建性的观点,反映出作者的探索精神和学术功底。但她认为英格兰民族形成于12世纪70年代的观点仍然值得商榷。

Ashe's Fiction and History in England,1066—1200 is a book with high academic values.She carefully examines some Anglo-Norman texts and a few Latin works which appeared between the Norman Conquest and the end of the twelfth century to trace the development of English identity.Her enlightening insights concerning the development of Englishness reveal her admirable inquiring spirit and scholarly seriousness.However,her view that the identifying process of the ruling elite as English was completed in the 1170s is still debatable.