J.B. Priestley: Bradford and a provincial narrative of England, 1913–1933

J.B. Priestley's writing has been used to explore aspects of landscape and Englishness. Through an analysis of Priestley's early journalism in the Bradford Pioneer and the Yorkshire Observer, we argue that his critical disengagement to most of the landscapes of England was based on a connection to the landscapes of his youth in Bradford where he first developed his fictional and documentary narrative style. In his early journalism, Priestley articulated a sense of dwelling in Bradford that was rooted in the experience of two distinct local landscapes: the spaces of the city and the nature of the surrounding upland and moorland. Priestley's geographical ideal balanced the civility of the Edwardian city embedded in a landscape that offered escape to and commune with nature. The existential balance between the two was, we argue, central to the narrative geographies developed by Priestley in his fiction which is illustrated through an analysis of his two early novels: The Good Companions (1929) and Angel Pavement (1930). We suggest that the ways in which Priestley's interwar writing expressed dwelling in local landscapes might be thought of as a critical provincialisation of London and England.     

J.B.伯里的历史偶然性观念

伯里在1903年就任剑桥大学近代史钦定教授的演讲中,提出了"历史是一门科学,不多也不少"的著名论断。另一方面,伯里也清醒地意识到,历史学应有自己的独立性。他以历史偶然性为切入点,探讨历史偶然事件与因果规律之间的关系,以揭示历史思想与自然科学思想之不同。伯里认为,神学和思辨哲学逻辑演绎的路数,无法运用于史学实践。他采用"历史综合"的路数,从历史经验中提出一个具有普遍性意义的假说1(历史思想具有独立性),然后归纳大量的史事来验证。由于体现人类自由意志的极为复杂的历史现象,存在无数的偶然事件,存在无数断裂的因果链条,所以伯里没有也不可能完成对其假说的证明。伯里的历史偶然性研究,对于思考史学理论研究的不同路数及其局限性,具有重要的参考价值。     

Evolving Ideas: J. B. d’Anville’s Maps of Southern Africa, 1725–1749

This article focuses on the changes made to the cartography of southern Africa between 1725 and 1749 by the French geographer Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville. The maps in question were produced in collaboration with the Portuguese ambassador Dom Luís da Cunha as part of d’Anville’s plan to demonstrate what lay between the Portuguese colonies of Angola in the west and Mozambique in the east and to establish a link across the continent. The maps he produced in the first two phases of his mapping of southern Africa (1725–1731) echoed the traditional horror vacui. The vast blank that appeared on his map of Afrique of 1749, however, has to be seen as d’Anville intended—the integration of empty space on a map with Enlightenment rationalization of geography.