经由维多利亚文学的文化观念流变

Changes in the Idea of Culture in the Midst of the Victorian Literature

欲知晓英国文化观念,须从维多利亚文学入手,否则就无以探寻其成熟轨迹,无以把握其成熟标志,更无以领略其千姿百态。就文化观念的成熟而言,维多利亚时期的文学话语,比其他领域里的话语更举足轻重。可以说,在维多利亚时期,"文化"与"文明"的决裂已经完成,而它就是文化观念成熟的标志。

An adequate understanding of the idea of culture in Britain presupposes the use of the Victorian literature as a point of entry. The failure to do so means the failure to keep track of the way it matured,the inability to pinpoint the hallmarks of its maturity,and the oblivion to the density of its intensions. In terms of the impetus to the maturity of the notion of culture,the literary discourse in the Victorian era plays a more decisive role than discourses in other areas. It seems legitimate to say that the Victorian era witnessed,between ＂culture＂and ＂civilization＂,a complete rupture that marks the maturity of the idea of culture.