“谁来继承英格兰?”: 《霍华德庄园》中的记忆冲突与传承

Who Shall Inherit England？：Memory Collision and Inheritance in E. M. Foster’s Howards End

摘要:

福斯特的小说《霍华德庄园》延续了维多利亚时代_“英格兰现状_”小说对英国现实问题的揭露和思考。小说通过施莱格尔姐妹、威尔科克斯父子和露丝所代表的三种文化记忆之间的矛盾冲突，伦敦城市文化和霍华德庄园乡村文化的对立，探索了英国经济发展和帝国扩张的背后，社会道德沦丧、宗教信仰式微以及工人阶级低工资、失业等社会问题，反映了作家对英国未来走向和发展的焦虑，而且引发了19世纪末20世纪初_“谁来继承英格兰_”这一著名的英国记忆问题。关于谁来继承霍华德庄园的问题，不仅关乎家族记忆传承，也意味着各阶层记忆的重组。小说最终完成了霍华德庄园主人露丝到玛格丽特的记忆传承，喻示着霍华德庄园被建构为英国传统记忆的_“记忆之场_”,具备实在性、象征性和功能性，其中对立冲突的各阶层重新联结为一个象征性的记忆整体，以重建情感认同、归属感和凝聚力。福斯特给出的_“唯有联结_”,回答了英国记忆传承的问题。

Abstract:

E. M. Foster_’s work, Howards End,continues the tradition of _“condition-of-England_” novels in the Victorian era to explore and think about social realities of England. Foster describes the collision among the Schlegel sisters，the Wilcoxes and Luce，who respectively represent three different cultural memories. Through comparisons of symbolic meanings between London city culture and the country culture of Howards End，Foster also explores social questions，including the decline of moral and religion ，and unemployment of the working class，despite the economic development and imperial expansion. Foster demonstrates his anxiety towards the future and the orientation of England，and initiates the famous memory question of crisis and inheritance，namely，_“Who shall inherit England？_”in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The anxiety of the Schlegel sisters_’wandering life in London，inner sins of the Wilconxes_’suffering，and the uncontrollable fall of Leonard_’s collision of his world，these symptoms show deep internal divisions of social classes and collapse of the structures of feeling underneath the apparent Victorian grace，peace，prosperity and progress. All these social phenomena， whether they are the conflicted family relations or the obvious discomposure of social members_’behavior and mental status， show a rupture of people from all classes with the stable and peaceful tradition. Accordingly，these conflicted and opposed elements in Howards End are essentially oppositions and collisions between different cultural memories. The development， historical changes and class interests will influence us on how to define the past and how to inherit its value. Cultural memory is a course of being chosen and being interpreted. Luce in Howards End refers the reader to the image of Demeter who is in charge of the earth and crops in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Representing a steadier and organic country life memory，this image aims to construct the more stable cultural symbolic structure and the more firm bonds among different classes. The connection between Luce and the earth resists the philistine middle class value of the Wilconxes，and her choice of Margret as her inheritor of Howards End forecasts that the latter will connect the English traditional ideals of culture and also lead the direction of the industrial class. This inheritance of Howards End indeed is the result of British cultural memory choice，in which the country life memory is put on top of other images. Connecting different interests and memories ，the image of Howards End becomes the ultimate choice recognized by the public in the particular community. In this way ，Foster tries to build Howards End in the novel as the realm of memory which owns emotional identification，belonging and cohesion.