A Study Of Nationalism And National Identity In Charlotte Smith' Literary Works

With the rise of the Western researchers' enthusiasm for Romantic women poets in recent years,Romantic woman poets' literary works have been read more and more widely and the values of them have been re-evaluated higher than before.Charlotte Smith is one of them.Among all the Romantic poets,Smith is appraised by Judith Stanton and Stuart Curran as the first Romantic poet who initiated the Romanticism School in British literature.Some other researchers also show great interest in Smith's opinions on politics in her literary works.Amy Garnai argues that Smith joined the discussion of such great historic event as the French Revolution through her literary works,as a way to state her opinions on political issues.Concerning Smith's political stance,previous researchers hold diverse opinions: some researchers argue that judging from Smith's criticism against the government's persecution and restriction on citizens' rights and freedom,it can be seen that Smith holds a liberal stance on some political issues;whereas other researchers find that it is arbitrary to say that Charlotte Smith is completely of liberalism position.Smith makes many comments and suggestions on the construction of a better system in British society and expresses the pride of being British.Given that,it is better to say Smith also approves ideas of nationalism on some public issues.Therefore,this thesis considers it worthwhile to conduct a deep survey on Charlotte Smith's stance on politics,especially her stance on nationalism and national identity.This thesis targets on Charlotte Smith's participation in British nationalism movement and construction of British identity through her literary works including poems and novels.This thesis employs Liberal Nationalism by Yael Tamir,a nationalism theorist as a research perspective.This theory holds the basic values of nationalism and liberalism,the two different ideologies,can amend each other to get a balance.The two ideologies of this theory match with the two value orientations of Smith,so this theory is a better choice to explore the development of Smith's nationalism and the shaping process of her British identity.Also,this thesis assesses the values of Smith's liberal nationalism for the modern society.This thesis is divided into the following parts:The Introduction provides the background information: the origin of the research;the literature review of the study of Charlotte Smith home and abroad which leads to this thesis' s concern for her national identity and her opinions on nationalism;an interpretation of the definitions of this thesis' s terminologies like nation,national state,nationalism and national identity based on Anthony Smith's theories and the definition of Liberal Nationalism by Yael Tamir;an introduction to the central argument,research approaches and significance of this thesis.Chapter One: Charlotte Smith and the Nationalism of the Romantic Age.It first deals with the connection between Nationalism as a political ideology and Romanticism as a literature school at that time.Give this background,it summarizes the influences of such historical events as the merge of kingdoms of Britain,the French Revolution and the war between the UK and France.It is these influences that initiate some Romantic Poets' interest on nationalism,such as Wordsworth and Smith.It also analyzes the impact from Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine on Smith's stance on nationalism.Finally,it analyzes the reasons why Smith endorses the British Identity and why she approves nationalism.Chapter Two: The Awakening of National Identity and the Initiation of Nationalism.It focuses on two novels produced in the early days of Smith's literary career,Desmond and The Old Manor House.Both of the two novels present the discussions of the ideas of “British Identity” and “British Nation—State”.Based on the discussion of the opinions on politics in these two novels,Smith' British national identity's awakening is analyzed as well as its influence on her approval of nationalism.It was the French Revolution that inspired Smith to advocate a “British Nation—State”.Chapter Three: The Enhancement of National Identity and the Amendment of Nationalism.It focuses on Smith's literary works Emigrants and The Banished Man.Both were produced after her disillusion on the French Revolution,and both concentrate on reflections on the French Revolution's disastrous results,and both sympathize with political refugees' exile from France to other European countries.Based on the analysis of the thoughts and emotions in these two literary works,Smith's reflections on nationalism is seen: Smith turned to be aware of the negative side of nationalism such as discriminations against dissidents and ignorance of individual rights.In order to amend the negative side of nationalism,Smith emphasizes some liberal values to make up the narrowness in nationalism.Meanwhile,Smith advocates British identity in these two literary works because it was a time when France and the UK were at war,British identity encourages unity in the UK.These reflections,together with the danger of the war enhanced her British national identity.The changing situations urged her to amend nationalism,which promoted the growth of her nationalism.Chapter Four: The Expansion of National Identity and the Maturity of Nationalism.It focuses on Smith's literary works in her last days--The Young Philosopher,a novel,and Beachy Head,a long poem.The former depicts the overseas life of British people and the latter presents one of the landmark views of the UK—Beachy Head from historic perspective with reference to British History.Based on the analysis of these two literary works,it summarizes Smith's nationalism in these two literary works: Smith admits liberalism values and emphasizes individual's willingness to accept and identify with one's national culture.Compared with state machines,national history,culture and other spiritual resources form one's national identity more effectively.National identity knows no boundaries of states.Despite living in different countries,people still share the same national identity as long as have access to same national history,culture,and language.Through long-time continuous thinking,Smith's nationalism harvested its maturity.Smith's nationalism can be categorized as Liberal Nationalism.Chapter Five: The Modern Values of Charlotte Smith's Liberal Nationalism.It deals with the values of Smith's liberal nationalism for the modern society.Three of them are mainly introduced:the amendment to the negative effect of nationalism;the complement to liberalism's under valuation for community's importance to individual;the unification of individual's and nation's development.Conclusion: Smith endorses British Identity,and in order to advocate her British Identity,Smith had discussed and explored nationalism throughout her literary career.Smith's final stance on nationalism is categorized as Liberal Nationalism.Smith's liberal nationalism is of certain value for modern society in sharing weal and woe among all nations and in constructing a community for all mankind's common destiny.