『分別と多感』 / -二項対立の人間造型-

Jane AUSTEN(1775-1817)は,英国の大作家の1人である。彼女の作品には,彼女が生きた狭い世界,つまり当時の英国の田舎に住む紳士階級の日常生活が,リアリズムの表現形式で描かれている。このジェントリーと呼ばれる階層は,地主として,また,社会に奉仕する者として尊敬を集め,英国の安定を支えた。その`noblesse oblige'(身分あるものには責任がある)の精神は,イギリス的ヒューマーやアイロニーと共にAUSTENの作品の根幹を成す。二項対立的人間造型に基づく「分別」(理性)と「多感」(感情)という言葉は,18世紀,AUSTENが信奉するDr. JOHNSONに代表される「理性の時代」に流布していた。その2つの対立する概念をタイトルにしたSense and Sensibility(『分別と多感』)はAUSTENの小説の中で初めて,人はいかに生きるべきかに焦点を当てた作品である。この論文では,世間と向かい合い幸せを求めて生きる上で,`sense'(理性)と`sensibility'(感情)のどちらを駆使しているかとの視点から,2人のヒロインと彼女らを取り巻く3人の男性を2つのグループに分類する。すると,HARDYやLAWRENCE, CONRAD等の男性作家にしばしば見られる「作者の世界観・価値観に沿わない人物の排除」とは異なり,どのような人にも温かい眼差しを向けているAUSTENの姿に気づく。人は誰でも幸せな人生を送る資格があると仄めかす,その寛大な人間観が,単に英国だけでなく世界中の人々を彼女の作品が魅了する理由の一つであろう。

Jane AUSTEN(1775-1817) is one of the greatest English novelists. Her works are rich with the depiction of the narrow world in which she lived, that is, the contemporary everyday life of the upper middle class in the countryside of England, by 'realism'-to see things as they really are. The class called gentry maintained the stability of England, as those who served their community. Their spirit of 'noblesse oblige,' together with typical English humour and irony, enriches AUSTEN's six mature novels. The terms 'sense' (reason) and 'sensibility' (emotion), based upon a bilateral viewpoint on human nature, were popular in the 18th century, or "the Age of Reason" represented by Dr. JOHNSON, who influenced AUSTEN very much. Sense and Sensibility is AUSTEN's first work in which she focused on the way humans live. In this paper I will classify two heroines and three men around them into two categories-the group of 'sense' and that of 'sensibility.' The criterion for making the two groups depends upon how each of them deals with the issues of his or her life. In the process of analysis, we can find that AUSTEN does not deny a way of life different from her own sense of values, unlike some later male authors, such as T. HARDY, D.H. LAWRENCE and J. CONRAD, who deny a way of life different from their values in their writing. She always watches each character warmly as if she believed that everyone has his or her qualification to live a happy life. This is why not only the English but people throughout the world feel attracted to AUSTEN's literary works.

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