阿諾德接受泰納觀點研究：以拜倫為「試金石」

Matthew Arnold’s Reception of Hippolyte Taine: Lord Byron as “Touchstone”

法國史學家泰納《英國文學史》之出版，可視為英國維多利亞時代跨文化文學互動的重要事件，此書改變了大眾對浪漫主義詩人的刻板印象，以及英美文學批評家討論此學派的態度與方式。明確來說，泰納於其書中所呈現的拜倫，曾催化阿諾德修改其典範概念，以利納入拜倫作品為英國文學的正典。本論文旨在揭示，阿諾德經歷了一段試金評比、概念轉換的過程，終究正視拜倫為英國文學的正典。論文開端鋪陳英國讀者如何批評泰納及其作品，接著整理阿諾德如何自一八六○至一八八○年代，反覆推敲浪漫詩人的地位以及泰納筆下的拜倫。有別於其他英國批評家藐視泰納作品的態度，阿諾德結合其試金石閱讀策略以及泰納的觀點，進而修正其文學批評與典範等概念。其修正的觀點不僅提陳泰納作品的價值，亦彰顯拜倫為英國典範詩人的地位。

The reception of Hippolyte Taine in Victorian England features as one of the crucial incidents in the context of its rich and diversified cross-cultural literary historiography—Taine’s book on History of English Literature changed the way of talking about the Romantic School in the anglophone world. In particular, the Frenchman’s representation of Byron catalyzed Matthew Arnold’s canonization of the Romantic poet. It is argued that there was a touchstone effect that mediates as well as displaces Arnold’s critical position of Byron. This essay begins by giving a survey of English readers’ immediate reception of Taine, and then it focuses on the interchange between Arnold and Taine with regard to the image of Byron. Unlike other English critics who dismiss Taine’s work, Arnold on the one hand draws on the Frenchman’s perception, and on the other consolidates his touchstone theory as a strategy of reading, resulting in a revision of the concepts of literary criticism and canon. His efforts not only justify the value of Taine’s work but also the position of Byron in the canon of English literature.