Elizabeth Gaskellの中編小説 : 'My Lady Ludlow'論(その1)

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Elizabeth Gaskell's novella, 'My Lady Ludlow' (1858), has not been rightly appreciated. In the recent Gaskell criticism that has appeared for the last two or three years, most critics still seem agreed that this is the author's second-rate work. 'My Lady Ludlow' tells the story of an old lady, countess, who lives in the village of Hanbury that is supposed to lie in Warwickshire. The story purports to be Margaret Dawson's reminiscences of the lady at whose manor house, Hanbury Court, she was staying for a few years in her youth. That is, 'My Lady Ludlow' is a narrative of a landlady of the Midlands in the early nineteenth century, described by the narrator. This was already the subject of 'Morton Hall' (1853), and was to be dealt with in Wives and Daughters (1864-5). 'My Lady Ludlow' lies between these two works, showing similar importance. But a main reason for neglect of this story, say most critics, is that it lacks in most of the qualities that make the author's other stories so attractive. First of all they are confused at the length of this narrative. The length, however, may partly be explained by the circumstance of publication. This story was first published in serial form in Household Words, during a considerable long time and, with five other tales, subsequently republished, in two-volume form, under the title of Round the Sofa. This story required a whole volume of the two-volume collection. Besides, this narrative has been criticized for its 'shapelessness.' The following have been regarded as the causes of the failure: a) first, the looseness of structure, which the author defends by admitting that it is no story, having neither beginning, middle, nor end; secondly, the dissipation of the theme, which arises from the long episode of Clement de Crequy, set in Paris during the French Revolution, taking up one-third of the total length, while the main action concerns life in a quiet Midland village in the early nineteenth century; thirdly, the abrupt introduction of Miss Galindo into the main story; b) a good number of internal inconsistences that remain uncorrected. Gaskell stated, in her several letters, frankly that she had got her money for going abroad by selling 'My Lady Ludlow.' This has also been made a plausible excuse for undeserved neglect of this story. It may be said that this narrative has been neglected as the regrettable result of these censorious investigations. Yet 'My Lady Ludlow' is in many respects interesting story, containing an attractive theme. The controlling idea of the theme is the perception of the decline of the landed proprietor who inherits and rules the local villagers after the manner of her ancestors. It is described with many other changes in the village. Lady Ludlow becomes the last dowager of the Hanburys, an old landowning family. It has been pointed out that 'My Lady Ludlow' is in many ways akin to Cranford. Indeed, it possesses something of the atmosphere of Cranford. Especially some of innovations in Hanbury are reproductions of changes in Cranford in a magnified form. But changes in the village are broadly viewed in Cranford. The case is a little different with 'My Lady Ludlow.' In the latter is stress placed on a violent, though not outstanding at first sight, change of a landowning family till extinction. On the other hand 'My Lady Ludlow' is very similar to 'Morton Hall.' There is the theme common between the two. In each narrative the narrator who is in her old age talks to the audience about an old family which is in declining circumstances. The narrator of 'My Lady Ludlow,' Dawson, not only passes the reader the story, but plays the role that gives a kind of objectivity to the subject of the narrative, though she respects Lady Ludlow and profoundly sympathizes with her. Dawson is a distant relative of Lady Ludlow. She lives in Hanbury Court as companion from the age of about seventeen, after the death of her father who was a poor clergyman. Around a year later it turns out that she finds it impossible to walk by an unfortunate accident, and she gets closer to Lady Ludlow. And after that it is Miss Galindo that conveys information about the village to her. The declining landed class is also the theme in Gaskell's last novel, Wives and Daughters, where Squire Hamley figures as a landlord who experiences the situation similar to Lady Ludlow's. He is also the oldest landlord in his neighbourhood like Lady Ludlow. His eldest son dies in the lifetime of his father, Squire Hamley, though a child of the son is left to the bereaved Squire Hamley. As a result the theme is somewhat diluted in Wives and Daughters. On the other hand, Lady Ludlow's eight children of nine have already been dead, when the narrative opens. The only child left to her also dies unmarried. Therefore the theme is made sufficiently clear. The life of Lady Ludlow is not so much drawn through the plot as through episodes piled one on the other. After her husband's death she returns to Hanbury, which she inherited from her parents. Hanbury Court was a very old house which was once a priory. This manor house therefore bears traces of having been lived in for six hundred years by her ancestors. Lady Ludlow was once maid of honour to a queen when young. She is a firm believer in the distinctions of rank and class and the dignity of her order. As newness disturbs the existing order of things, it is a quality she especially dislikes. She objects to the new movement which ranges from the spread of education to the prevalence of a new fashion in clothes, hairdressing and furniture. According to her it necessarily results in calamities such as the French Revolution. She rules on feudal principles, scrupulously following her ancestors' way. She supervises the villagers. Moreover, she tries to obviate their troubles, whenever they arise, by hearing at first hand what they say, because she firmly believes in the exercises of responsibility as one of the essential and vital functions of her order. For example, when Job Gregson was falsely arrested, she saved him exercising her privilege. But these are the old ways that could be adopted in the eighteenth century. Since the village undergos great changes, she becomes old-fashioned and declines in power. It is symbolized by the result that she becomes the last grand and dignified landlady of Hanbury. The author sees both sides of changes in the village. They are a change in an economic structure of the village and materialization of school education. It is the matter to be considered next time. (To becontinued.)
1993-12-20

Elizabeth Gaskellの中編小説 : 'My Lady Ludlow'論(その1)

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