ABSTRACT

Digital technologies offer a quick and convenient method of communicating across distance, but there are unique benefits to engaging in forms of delayed communication. Long-distance letter writing in the early nineteenth century was often a slow business, and one that Romantic poet, John Keats, capitalised on. In particular, the letter provided Keats with a means of managing the reality of his circumstances when he was faced with inexorable loss and tragedy. In the period of time leading up to the death of his brother, Tom, in 1818, Keats exploited the specific cultures and forms of letter writing to generate a unique consolation for himself and his family members; as he confronted the reality of his own death two years later, the letter played a similarly crucial role in managing his feelings of loss and grief. Letter writing, during these difficult periods, presented Keats with a unique dichotomy: the letter kept him grounded in the cruel reality of his situation while often functioning as a singularly effective means of managing it. How the specific cultures of letter writing and disease intersect, and how Keats’s imaginative epistolary narratives coalesce with the increasingly urgent facts of consumption and death, will be examined here.

摘要

数字技术提供了一种快速便捷的远距离通信方法，但采用延迟通信形式具有独特的好处。十九世纪初，长途写信往往是一件缓慢的事情，浪漫主义诗人约翰·济慈(John Keats)充分利用了这一点。特别是，这封信为济慈在面临不可避免的损失和悲剧时提供了一种应对现实处境的方法。1818 年，在他的兄弟汤姆去世之前的一段时间里，济慈利用特定的文化和写信形式为自己和家人带来了独特的安慰；两年后，当他面对自己死亡的现实时，这封信在控制他的失落和悲伤情绪方面发挥了同样重要的作用。写信，在这些困难时期，济慈面临着一种独特的二分法：这封信让他立足于残酷的现实，同时又常常成为一种极其有效的管理手段。这里将探讨写信和疾病的特定文化如何交叉，以及济慈富有想象力的书信叙述如何与日益紧迫的消费和死亡事实结合起来。