ABSTRACT

The two-volume novel Sinister Street by Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972), a Scottish writer more famous now for his later comic novels, tends to be overlooked in the list of novels depicting English public school life. The first volume of Mackenzie’s novel traces the protagonist’s public school career at the nineteenth century’s close. Despite the sensitivity required when dealing with fiction as a source for historical understanding, Sinister Street can shed useful light on public school life at a time of transition. Mackenzie’s account is fictional but the experience of public school life within Sinister Street often chimes with reality, even though the chime may distort or mask much of what we know from historical record. In alluding to the march of an expanding middle class into the schools, the persistence of the gentlemanly ethos, the role of sports, and the tensions within the curriculum, the novel offers insight into the public school experience. It also illuminates the close of the nineteenth century, as events in the wider world impinge on the school and those who are part of it. Sinister Street is a useful source for historians of education in understanding the historical continuity and change that public schools underwent during this time.

摘要

康普顿·麦肯齐（Compton Mackenzie，1883-1972 年）的两卷本小说《险恶街》（ Sinister Street）是一位苏格兰作家，现在因其后来的漫画小说而闻名，在描写英国公立学校生活的小说列表中往往被忽视。麦肯齐小说的第一卷追溯了主人公在十九世纪末的公立学校生涯。尽管在处理小说作为历史理解的来源时需要敏感性，但险恶街可以为过渡时期的公立学校生活提供有用的启示。Mackenzie 的叙述是虚构的，但却是在邪恶街的公立学校生活经历经常与现实相呼应，即使这种钟声可能会扭曲或掩盖我们从历史记录中了解到的大部分信息。小说暗指不断扩大的中产阶级进入学校，绅士风度的坚持，体育的作用以及课程中的紧张局势，小说提供了对公立学校体验的洞察。它还照亮了 19 世纪末，因为更广阔的世界发生的事件影响着学校和学校的成员。险恶街是教育历史学家了解公立学校在此期间所经历的历史连续性和变化的有用资源。