Loyalty, Venality and Equality as Bases of Friendship in Tobias Smollett's Roderick Random and Ferdinand Count Fathom

司摩利特的十八世紀黑社會文學所呈現的義與利兩種友誼基礎

白思明(Simon White)

Tobias Smollett ； friendship ； loyalty ； venality ； equality ； criminal ； 司摩利特 ； 友誼 ； 忠 ； 利 ； 平等 ； 犯罪

高雄師大學報：人文與藝術類

48期（2020 / 06 / 01）

1 - 18

英文

This paper examines depictions of friendships and allegiances and their motivations in Tobias Smollett's peripatetic trilogy of early novels between 1749 and 1753, paying special attention to two, and to the bonds forged between the eponymous heroes of Roderick Random and Ferdinand Count Fathom and their two closest associates, ＂Hugh Strap＂ and ＂Ratchkali,＂ respectively. The paper compares the two friendships, their bases, and changes in both through the narrative progress. In Smollett's novels, an important, modern emphasis on equality emerges from that century's complex, multi-faceted and at times quite alien conceptualization when set against modern definitions of friendship. The paper also looks at why the criminal underworld and criminality generally should be particularly appealing to Smollett as the setting for those friendships. Of particular interest from the perspective of literary development are the real criminal figures of Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild, who were widely used directly and indirectly by Smollett among others, and as a result these two executed felons transcended their actual, intertwined historical identities to become literary symbols.

本文探索司摩利特於一七四九年至一七五三年間撰寫的三本小說中，所描繪的友誼與其動機，尤其側重其中兩本：《藍登傳》與《費迪南德．法頓伯爵的歷險記》，分析小說主角（或稱反英雄）如何結交，又如何產生最深刻的情誼。本文透過敘事進程，比較兩種友誼，及其基礎與改變。本文也探討司摩利特為何特別喜歡用黑社會作背景來描寫友誼，特別是傑克．雪柏德和強納生．威德這兩個真實犯罪人物的文學發展角度。司摩利特和其他作者廣泛利用此二人，在作品中多有直接或間接指涉。結果這兩名被處絞刑的重犯，竟超越其糾纏不清的真正歷史定位，成為真、假友誼的文學象徵。

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