蘭姆書寫中的老年與退休

Ageing and Retirement in Charles Lamb’s Writings

浪漫主義時期散文作家蘭姆，無論是在隨筆集《以籟雅隨筆》（Essays of Elia, 1823）與《以籟雅最後的隨筆》（Last Essays of Elia, 1833）中，抑或是私人書信或詩作當中，對於老化的過程與退休的描繪都有所著墨，翔實記載了作家在生命進程中直視老年與死亡的數度轉向。本文欲先以當前長十八世紀之老年研究作為理論框架，進一步檢視蘭姆書寫中、對於不同生命階段之心態移轉。身為倫敦的隨筆作家，以及東印度公司的簿記員，蘭姆的書寫提供現代讀者在十八、十九世紀之交，英國大都會區對於老年與退休生活的想像與經驗。本文希冀能夠進一步回應並補充當前長十八世紀老年研究與蘭姆研究不足之處。

This article explores several turns in Romantic essayist Charles Lamb’s depiction of ageing and retirement in his life course by delving into Essays of Elia (1823) and The Last Essays of Elia (1833), along with Lamb’s poems and personal correspondences with friends. It first teases out the current theoretical framework for ageing studies in the long eighteenth century, and subsequently investigates the shifts in Lamb’s attitude towards different stages of life. It is this article’s central argument that Lamb’s unique status as both an essay writer and a bookkeeper at the East India Company in the emerging metropolitan London allows him to offer a peek into how old age and retirement may have been imagined and experienced in Britain at the turn of the nineteenth century. This article also hopes to serve as a critical response and complement to the current long eighteen-century ageing studies and the research on Charles Lamb.