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喬治時期英國行為指南在家庭管理與節約議題上給女性的教導
Conduct Books' Advice to Women on Economy in Georgian England
摘要
喬治時期英國「行爲指南」(conduct books)對女性的教導在當時的女性教育上佔有極重要的地位。當代「行爲指南」涵蓋的主要議題，除了葛瑞哥利(John Gregory, 1724-73)在他廣爲時人閱讀讚揚的《父親給女兒們的最終叮嚀》(A Father's Legacy to His Daughters, 1774)中所討論的宗教、行爲舉止、娛樂、友誼、愛情與婚姻之外，蕭邦女士(Hester Mulso Chapone, 1727-1801)在寫給姪女之《增進知識書扎》(Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, 1773)裡所推崇，兼具藝術與美德特質的「家庭管理與節約」(economy)課題，在當時大量出版的行爲指南中亦佔有不容小覷的地位。 本論文以喬治時期英國行爲指南爲其主要文本，並以現代學者對該時期行爲文學與性別研究之理論評述爲輔。論文除了說明十八世紀英國行爲文學以當時中產階級女性爲其主要讀者群外，主要目的乃欲指出藴涵於行爲指南中，特別是「家庭管理與節約」議題之教條裡，內在矛盾衝突的一面。本論文闡述，喬治時期針對女性所書寫之行爲指南，無論作者性別爲何，其「家庭管理與節約」論述之主要目的在系統性地限制女性的花費，並將女性的注意力，自當時社會到處充斥的休閒享樂活動轉移至家庭管理及慈善行爲上。當時的行爲指南，藉由建構「家庭管理與節約」此一學問，企圖說服喬治時期女性，除了家庭支出之外，唯有慈善救助得以被視爲女性之合理開銷。本文主張當十八世紀英國行爲指南在「家庭管理與節約」議題上給女性的教導，意圖策略性地把她們待在「私領域」的必要性與必然性合理化，這些行爲指南除了對女性慈善工作的強調，還提供一個出口使女性得以進入「公領域」，更使得女性投身公眾活動得到正統性。最後，本文將指出「家庭管理與節約」此一新興學問的形成，雖多少意味著些許性別歧視，對女性而言，卻非全然毫無正面意義。因爲，這些行爲指南著眼於女性的一般教育與和獲利相關的活動與工作，實際上，教授了當時女性不少身爲現代英國公民所必需具備的基本知識。
並列摘要
The instruction of conduct books constituted an essential part of women's education in Georgian England. Apart from the subjects-religion, conduct and behavior, amusements, as well as friendship, love and marriage-covered in the widely read and highly applauded Father's Legacy to His Daughters (1774) by John Gregory (1724-73), economy, extolled as ”an art as well as a virtue” (147) by Hester Mulso Chapone (1727-1801) in Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773), assumed no less importance in contemporary conduct manuals. This paper aims to examine the contradiction underlying the discourse of economy in Georgian conduct manuals. It will explore how the discourse in eighteenth-century English conduct books addressing to women contrived systematically to limit women's spending by turning their attention from the many and diversified pleasures to household management and to charity practices. This paper will further point out that by constructing a science of household management, these conduct manuals intended to convince Georgian women that besides household spending, alms giving was the only justifiable expenditure for them. The basic argument of this paper is that while conduct-book teachings on economy imposed on women a notion that the private domain is their destined place in life and strategically confined them at home, charity practices of women somehow provided an opening for women to enter the public sphere and legitimized their participation in public activities. Ultimately this newly invented branch of knowledge, though gender-biased, is not entirely without sense. For, the focus on women's general education and lucrative employments, in effect, bestowed on them some prerequisite knowledge of citizenship of modern England.