Abstract

Although naturalism had not developed into a school or a group in Britain，the influence of Naturalism on British literature couldn’t be ignored. Moreover，British Naturalism differs from French Naturalism in the aspects of textual formality and aesthetic tendency. Therefore，based on the previous sporadic research，this book adopts such methods as Influence Study，Parallel Study，Reception Aestheticism，etc. to conduct multi-dimensional and systematic study on Naturalism in British novels at the end of 19th Century and the beginning of 20th Century，specifically including the literary phenomena，writers and works related to Naturalism. By doing so，this book aims to reveal the unique connotations，aesthetic characteristics and artistic values in British Naturalist works.

This book is divided into eight chapters.

Chapter one mainly examines and interprets the definition of Naturalism from three aspects of connotation，discourse formality and notion logic. In order to use the term “Naturalism” reasonably in literary criticism，we should clarify the different connotations of Naturalism，avoid taking simplified and general standards and analyze it carefully in particular linguistic form and critical context. The synchronic introduction of empirical discourse and scientific discourse helps transform the literary discourse，which embodies the order and form between naturalist poetics and the reality. The intricate connection and formational logic between “Nature-objectivity”，“reality-sense of reality”，“experiment-experimental novel” embody the unique poetic connotation and aesthetic pursuit of Naturalist notion.

Chapter two mainly elaborates on the historical circumstances of Naturalism in Britain from the perspectives of response to introduction，literary argument and critical acceptance，etc. Due to the influences of factors such as social values，political situation，moral notions，literary traditions and censorship policy，etc.，the Naturalist works of Zola had a wide readership in Britain，but they were not accepted by the mainstream British culture. The arguments about the description and innovation of Naturalist novels in British critical circles reflect different receptors’ divergences in the fields of literary notions and aesthetic tendency，etc. These divergences call for innovation of novels. The context of the society and era，the readers’ acceptance screen，the national cultural mentality，etc.，culturally filter the acceptance of Naturalism. The moral values embodied in Naturalist works contradict with the religious moral values in the late Victorian Age in Britain，mainly in value orientations.

Chapter three mainly discusses the name and nature of Naturalism in British novels. Analyzing the name and nature of Naturalism in British novels concerns with not only the attribution and positioning of British Naturalism but also the literary history writing on British Naturalism. It is not enough to identify the influence relationship and aesthetic differences merely from the perspectives of the heritage，heterogenous and homo-organicity between Naturalism and Realism. If we begin from the definition of Naturalist novels，combine empirical analysis with aesthetic criticism of literary influence and take the literary historical facts into account，it is concluded that the main writers with a tendency of Naturalism in Britain include George Gissing，George Moor，Arnold Bennett，William Somerset Maugham，etc. In terms of aesthetics，the main writers with Naturalist style include Thomas Hardy and D. H. Lawrence，etc.

Chapter four elaborates on Naturalism in British novels from the dimension of social cognition. In the process of enlarging the scope of representation，Naturalism treats empiricism as the core of objective writing. Although Hardy’sWessex novels，to some extent，are in accordance with Naturalism，the formational trail of Hardy’s writing notion totally differs from Naturalism. George Gissing’s New Grub Street deeply shows the influence of money and market on literati’s living conditions under the background of literary commercialization. In such a case，artistic pursuit and literary value depart from each other unavoidably. In depicting the real and the ideal，British writers with Naturalist tendency conceal the utopian ideology in their objective narrations.

Chapter five analyzes Naturalism in British novels from the dimension of humanity. The writings and enlargement of the human biological traits and its literary paradigm indicate the historical transformational of values of human and Humanity spirit in European literature. Moor’sEsther Waters unveils the awakening of Esther’s self-consciousness and the transformation process of dilemma and sublimation，exhibiting life experience with multi-tension. The intersubjectivity between “Tellwright-Anna” and “Anna-Mynors or Willie” shown in Anna of the Five Towns aims to criticize patriarchy and to discuss females’ freedom. The depiction of the relation between character and environment in British Naturalism displays a flavor of fatalism and marginalization，which is closely related to the social development and cultural traits in the latter period of the 19th Century in Britain.

Chapter six mainly analyzes the aesthetic pursuit of Naturalism in British novels. The objective depictions of the “ugliness” of settings，characters，things and plots，have actually established an anti-traditional，rand-new literary discourse and aesthetic paradigm by using the artistic skill ofdefamiliarization. Laurence’s sexual depictions，on the one hand，relate to，but on the other，differ from those of Naturalism，for not all sexual depictions could be classified into the domain of Naturalism. The extent and number of “ugliness” representation and sexual depictions are inferior to that of Naturalism，which displays different imitation notions and aims between Naturalist literature and traditional literature. The attitude of British readers toward Naturalism shows their challenge faced by expectation horizon and a process of gradual shortening of aesthetic distance.

Chapter seven mainly discusses the rhetoric skills of Naturalism in British novels. Based on the general notion of Naturalist novels，those British writers with a Naturalist tendency have adopted different rhetoric skills to represent their own life experience and notions of novel creation. The timeliness of ostensible dialogue and the spatiality of deep dialogue in Maugham’sLisa of Lambeth have transformed the plot narration and setting from linearity to spatiality，demonstrating a kind of Naturalist aesthetic effect. Gissing’s New Grub Street makes use of the skill of “Implied Author”，to construct the image of intellectuals，which conjuncts with Naturalism. It displays Gissing’s expectation of reestablishing Humanity spirit and demonstrates his profound reflection on human nature and cultural connotations. By borrowing ideas from Zola’s non-personal narration skill，Moore’s use of impressionist description skill and free indirection quotation skill in Esther Waters takes on a unique artistic style.

Chapter eight takes a bird’s-eye view on the formality change of Naturalism in British novels. If we set the development of modern science as the assessment standard，the formality change of British Naturalism can be generally classified into four kinds：“Naturalism” as ontology，“Naturalism” as epistemology，“Naturalism” as methodology and “Naturalism” as value outlook. On the whole，the core of Naturalism lies in “nature”. The different forms of British Naturalism originate from people’s different recognitions of “nature” or the corresponding relations concerning “nature”. Its transformations reflect the inner demand，different choices in different eras and artistic turn of British literature.

Key Words：British Novel；Naturalism；Zola；Nature；Literary concept