威廉·霍斯金斯与景观史研究

William George Hoskins and the Studies of Landscape History

威廉·霍斯金斯是在英国民间和学术界都享有很高声誉的一位历史学家,毕生写过近20本著作,影响最为深远的是《英格兰景观的形成》。该书勾勒了一条清晰的英格兰景观形成的线索,说明了人类活动对英格兰景观演进的深刻影响,被学术界称为英国景观史研究的开山之作。它在涉及人类与自然的关系时,让我们看到了景观史与环境史的不同。霍斯金斯在这部著作中还有不少观点可以促使我们对一些具有重要意义的英国史问题,譬如圈地运动和工业革命等进行新的认识与思考。该书中译本的出版,使我们在了解英国政治、经济、文化与社会历史的同时,也能够对其史学发展的新领域、新方法和新观点有更全面的把握。

British historian William George Hoskins has a high reputation both in the British civil and academic circles. He wrote nearly twenty books throughout his life,and the most influential one is The Making of the English Landscape. The book outlines a clear clue to the formation of English landscapes,and illustrates the profound influence of human activities on the evolution of landscape in England. So it has been called the pioneer work of the research on English landscape history by academic circles. It can help us to see the difference between landscape history and environmental history when it relates to the relationship between human being and nature. There are still many points in this book that can help us to have a new understanding of some important British history issues,such as the Enclosure and Industrial Revolution. The publication of its Chinese version will enable us to understand the political,economic,cultural and social history of Britain,and have a comprehensive grasp of the new historiography methods and perspective.