ABSTRACT

Jane West’s novel, The Infidel Father (1802), carefully undercuts traditional norms, including the usual focus of the didactic novel – making a woman a fit companion for a man of sense. Traditionally considered an anti-Jacobin novelist, Jane West's contributions to the social and political debates of the Revolutionary era are being reevaluated. Known primarily for her fiction, she also wrote conduct books – including one for young men -- which, as a writer of fiction, gives additional clues to the stakes of her writing on men. Letters Addressed to a Young Man on his First Entering Society (1801) and The Infidel Father (1802) are a productive pairing for exploring West'srecalibration of contemporary British masculinity. These texts are in dialogue with earlier manuals of advice, especially Chesterfield’s Letters in their rejection of duplicitous courtliness and a preference for honesty in both public and private matters. The novel presents everything that is wrong with masculinity in the figure of the Infidel Father and invests the hero with a masculinity that is less performative and more informed by genuine feeling and goodness. Read together, they show West’s blueprint for a different kind of Englishman and, by extension, English family and English nation.

摘要

简·韦斯特（Jane West）的小说《异教徒父亲（The Infidel Father）（1802）》小心翼翼地削弱了传统规范，包括这门教actic小说的通常焦点-使女人成为有理智的男人的合适伴侣。传统上被认为是反雅各宾小说家的简·韦斯特（Jane West）对革命时期社会和政治辩论的贡献正在重新评估。她主要以小说着称，她还写了行为书籍，其中包括一本针对年轻人的书籍，作为小说作家，这为她关于男性写作的成败提供了更多线索。致年轻人的信（1801年）和《异教徒父亲》（1802）是探索西对当代英国男子气概的重新校准的一种富有成效的配对。这些文本与较早的建议手册进行了对话，尤其是切斯特菲尔德的来信，他们拒绝公然的礼貌，在公共和私人事务中都偏爱诚实。小说以异教父的形象呈现出阳刚之气的所有缺点，并以一种阳刚之气为英雄投资，而阳刚之气的表现力较弱，而真正的感觉和善良却使他们更加了解情况。一起阅读，他们展示了韦斯特针对另一种英国人的蓝图，并由此扩展了英国家庭和英国民族。