古早地方話英文文學的自我意識

Authorial Ego in Early English Vernacular Literature

英國中古時代的地方話文學情況複雜，除了各種方言的英文外，也有法文的地方話文學，並且還有拉丁文文學作品，但後者卻又和羅馬古典時代的文字不一。近年來，好些有語言學背景的學者都主張中古英語的地方話文學是國族主義的表現。本文從語史材料的角度著眼，抽樣分析作品序言中透露的作者身份、呈獻對象、讀者或聽眾對象、著述目的和著述的形式等，樣本包括雷雅門的《布魯特》、華西的《布魯特傳奇》、黎蓋特的《特洛伊之書》、曼寧的《歷史年代記》、佚名詩人的《世界奔走者》和高華的《情人的告白》。這些兩百年間地方話文學作品中作者的自我其實扮演了一個非常凸顯的社會角色，而且與古典傳統關係密切，這是國族論述之外的另一重要面相。

Medieval England presents a very complex picture of its vernacular literature. Aside from the various English dialects, there were the French vernacular literature and Latin literature. The language of the latter differs somewhat from that of the Roman classical period. Recently, there were scholars promulgating the idea that Middle English vernacular literature capitalizes on a form of nationhood and identity. This article, culling from language data of the vernacular literary writings, sets up to analyze the prefaces of the collected texts. The author's status/identity, object of dedication, target reader/audience, authorial intention and forms of writing are discussed and the samples include such works as Lazamon's Brut, Wace's Roman de Brut, Lydgates' Troy Book, Mannyng's Chronicle, the anonymous Cursor Mundi and Gower's Confessio Amantis. This two hundred years' range of vernacular English literature is found to have a prominent authorial ego which played a significant social role. Its literary ties and cultural connections with the classical tradition, however, are virtually tightly knitted. The ego consciousness therefore offers a vital aspect of the writings apart from the latter's nationhood image.