阿诺德·贝内特深受左拉、莫泊桑等法国自然主义作家的影响,把英国题材和法国自然主义的写作技巧完美结合起来。贝内特的代表作《老妇谭》利用自然主义手法,以照相机式的笔触详尽地记录了“五镇”几十年间的风雨变迁,刻画了由许多普通事件组成的全景画面,反映了19世纪末20世纪初英国经济和社会结构的发展变化。文中探讨了欲望本能和环境对个人命运的影响。作者并没有用老套的说教来教育读者,而是用客观的口吻叙述人物 Arnold Bennett was deeply influenced by French naturalist writers such as Zola and Maupassant, perfectly combining English writing with French naturalistic writing skills. Bennett’s masterpiece, “The Old Woman Tan,” made use of the naturalist approach with camera-like strokes to record in detail the vicissitudes of decades of “Five Towns” and portrayed the panorama of many ordinary events, reflecting the The Development and Changes of British Economic and Social Structures from the Late 19th Century to the Early 20th Century. The paper explores the impact of desire instinct and the environment on the fate of individuals. Instead of educating readers with prescriptive precepts, the author describes the characters objectively