Abstract:

This article examines the wells found in 1.7, 1.11, and 2.1–2 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and reads them alongside the long and syncretic history of holy well ritual practices in England. The essay borrows Jonathan Gil Harris's notion of "polychronic objects" to argue that holy wells, which were used by pagans, Catholics, and Protestants on the British Isles, are multivalent symbols that collate various moments in England's history. In the three episodes explored here, Spenser exploits this feature of holy wells in order to stage a conflict between the nation's Catholic and pagan past and its Protestant future. The episodes thus reveal the power of the polychronic landscape to recall the nation's past and complicate narratives about its future.

摘要：

本文研究了埃德蒙·史宾瑟（Edmund Spenser）的《仙境女王》（The Faerie Queene）1.7、1.11和2.1–2中发现的水井，并将它们与英格兰神圣的水井仪式习俗的悠久而融合的历史一起阅读。这篇文章借用了乔纳森·吉尔·哈里斯（Jonathan Gil Harris）的“多时时代对象”的概念来论证异教徒，天主教徒和新教徒在不列颠群岛使用的圣井是整理英格兰历史上各个时刻的多价符号。在这里探讨的三个情节中，斯宾塞（Spenser）利用了圣井的这一特征，以便在美国的天主教徒和异教徒的过去与新教徒的未来之间发生冲突。因此，这些事件揭示了多元文化格局的力量，可以回忆起该国的过去并使有关其未来的叙述变得复杂。