500彩票网

The image of the ‘servant’ has long attracted attention in British literature and culture. Usually members or the working classes or the lower middle class, servants live and work in upper-middle class and upper-class households, starting at the bottom of the hierarchy and working their way upwards, with the talented few ending up as upper servants, such as butlers, housekeepers, nurses, ladies’ maids and valets. Such upper servants have certain privileges, such as having their own rooms and not having to wear uniforms, and are closer to their employers than are other servants, often gaining their employers’ trust and sometimes knowing more about them than do their family members. They are also able to gain knowledge and experience which are not usually attainable for members of their class. Butlers, for instance, whose duties include the storing and serving of wine, are often represented as knowing much more about fine wines than any nouveau riche country house owners. Ladies’ maids and valets are in charge of their employers’ wardrobes and jewelry, and are able to give advice on dress, and even on matters of etiquette and appropriate behaviour. Such upper servants are thus, in a way, ‘elevated’ from their own class, becoming ‘pseudo’ gentlemen and ladies, which has made them an interesting subject for essays and works of fiction over the years. This book focuses on these upper servants (with sections on maids and footmen, who are not technically upper servants, but have been widely represented in works of fiction) and look at how they have been depicted in British literature and culture, and how such representations reflect the concept of class in British society. This book was originally published in 2011, and has been re-issued with an additional chapter. The new chapter deals with the land agent and the governess, who are not servants, but occupy a somewhat ambiguous position between that of the upper middle class or upper class employers and the working-class or lower middle class servants. Land agents and governesses are usually members of the upper middle or middle middle classes who have been forced from financial reasons to take up a position in someone else’s household, with all the discomfort and unpleasantness that entails. In the sense that they too are ‘pseudo’ gentlemen and ladies, they can be regarded as being similar to upper servants, and the precarious social position of such characters has long held a fascination in British society, culture and literature. This book traces the history and image of the servant in British literature and culture, and attempts to introduce Japanese readers to the complicated concept of ‘class’ in British society.
 

(Written by ARAI Megumi, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2024)