“格拉布街文人”:近代早期伦敦下层报人群体探究

“Grubstreet Literati”——A Perspective of a Subculture Group in Early Modern London

"格拉布街文人"是17、18世纪英国伦敦的一个下层文人群体,包括受雇记者、报刊的撰稿人以及文学苦力,亦包括一些出身低微的出版印刷商以及某些成名之前的作家等。社会转型时期的格拉布街文人被看成雇佣文人的象征,生活困顿、煮字疗饥、声誉极低,为世人所嘲讽。但是,格拉布街文人的生存境遇、社会地位以及精神状态等带有鲜明的时代印记,他们为英国新闻出版行业的发展做出了重要的贡献。同时,他们与政府之间的斗争以及对于社会的批判,亦有力地推动了英国社会转型。

“Grubstreet literati” was a low-level literati group in London during the 17th and 18th centuries. The group included employed journalists, newspaper and magazine writers, literary coolies, some publishers of humble origins, and some not-yet-famous writers. The literati of Grub Street in the period of social transformation were regarded as a symbol of the employed literati. They lived on their writing with hard life, and they had low reputation and were also ridiculed by the world. The living conditions, social status and mental state of Grubstreet literati are distinctively marked with the vestiges of their age, and they made an important contribution to the development of the British press and publishing industry. At the same time, both the constant struggles between the literati and the government and the literati’s social critics also promoted the British social transformation.