|
" Social class and the tragic vision in Hardy's novels : "
Webb, I.
| Document Type
|
:
|
Latin Dissertation
|
| Record Number
|
:
|
1093609
|
| Doc. No
|
:
|
TLets291422
|
| Main Entry
|
:
|
Webb, I.
|
| Title & Author
|
:
|
Social class and the tragic vision in Hardy's novels :\ Webb, I.
|
| College
|
:
|
University of Lancaster
|
| Date
|
:
|
1981
|
| student score
|
:
|
1981
|
| Degree
|
:
|
Ph.D.
|
| Abstract
|
:
|
There has been very little substantive empiricalwork in the field of the sociology of literature, and,with a few notable exceptions# much of the published workcentres around theoretical issues. Lucien Goldmann wasa theorist who rigorously attempted to apply his own theoriesabout literary explanation to actual texts. The thesisI am presenting contains an evaluation of Goldmann'stheoretical work and an assessment of his empirical research,particularly that relating to seventeenth century Frenchliterature.The fundamental hypothesis underlying this researchis the idea that literary works are the expressions of aparticular view of the world, or a world vision# belongingto the author# which can only be explained by referenceto the social class of that author and the position ofthat class in the economic and social structure. In hiswork on the playwright Racine and the philosopher Pascal,Goldmann is specifically interested in the type of visionhe refers to as the tragic vision, the genesis of which,he maintain~ is to be found in the ideological structureof a religious movement known as Jansenism, which itselfis explicable·only by reference to the social class ofmembers of the Jansenist group - i.e. the 'noblesse de robe',which during this period underwent a decline in economic1political and social status.The thesis concentrates on the notion of the tragicvision being the expression of the world view of membersof'a declining social classl and if Goldmann's theory isvalid at alll it should be applicable to literary formsother than that of the classical drama. The novels ofThomas Hardy were selected to provide an empirical testof Goldman's genetic-structuralist method. FollowingGoldman's work on Racine an immanent analysis of thenovels in chronological order is undertaken usingGoldman's own criteria of tragedy but also referring toother traditional literary critical definitions and formsof tragedy.Having established the presence of a tragic visionin Hardy's novels and elicited the components of thatvision the argument then proceeds to a consideration ofHardy's social class, of origin - i.e. the rural lowermiddle-class - and to the ideology of the members of thatclass and finally to its situation during the nineteenthcentury. Other factors such as Hardy's personal biographyand his social mobility, and the conditions of literaryproduction, are also examined to assess their significanceas mediations between the social class of the author andthe literary work itself
|
| Subject
|
:
|
Literature
|
| Added Entry
|
:
|
University of Lancaster
|
| |