@misc{Zhou, author = {Zhou, Tianjuan}, title = {The Rise and Fall of the Brodie Myth - Assessment of the Muriel Spark's Novel >The Young Miss Brodie< [布罗迪神话的兴衰 - 评缪丽尔•斯帕克的小说《布罗迪小姐的青春》], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China 2005 [Application of Fromm's theories to art]}, abstract = {For the >mythmaker< novelist Muriel Spark, >The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie< is a myth of her creation, and Miss Jean Brodie in the novel also makes endeavor of her own in the mythmaking. This thesis is, by pointing out the predestining influence on it of the epic Paradise Lost, provides an analysis of the rise and fall of the Brodie myth in the novel as a dramatization of Muriel Spark's concern with the existential dichotomy intrinsic to the machinery of human fate and the glimmering of humanism shown through the novel, which conforms to Erich Fromm's theories of humanistic social analysis brought herein as a tentative approach facilitating literary interpretation. The first two chapters, though centering respectively on the two main characters, Miss Jean Brodie and Stranger Sandy, actually have the same gist within: both are the embodiment of human endeavor to unshackle the limitations intrinsic to destiny and instrumental to the existential dichotomy. However, difference in the agent of the endeavoring act, that is, in chapter one, Miss Jean Brodie's, and in the second chapter, Sandy's, defines the rise and the fall of the Brodie myth, main plot of the whole story. In Brodie's exercise of free will and power to achieve her identity and self-realization, the myth is formed, and when it is ripe for Sandy to wield her own freedom of choice, the myth is disenchanted. Therefore, these two processes intertwine with each other, unfolding the mechanism of the whole plot.- Chapter one proposes that the Brodie myth is for both Muriel Spark and simultaneously, for Miss Jean Brodie, and then there is a discussion of man's living conditions where there is a gap between an ideal life and a lived life. Erich Fromm's theory of human needs is employed, which offers further insight into man's existential dichotomy and the contingency he is bound to meet. Besides, his definition of character orientations is used to ease interpretation of the complex relationship of the characters in the novel, crucial to the basis of the rise of the Brodie myth. One with an exploitive orientation, Miss Brodie assumes satanic image, holding sway over both the Brodie set and her two lovers in the Macia Blaine School. On the part of the controlled, Mary is a paradigmatic one, representation of the receptive character orientation submissive to the authoritarianism of Miss Brodie, which reinforces Miss Brodie's unchecked power-wielding for her self -realization.- The second chapter focuses on Sandy Stranger's pursuit of identity and self-realization. She is the only one in the Brodie set who is not overwhelmed by Miss Brodie's domination. What is more, a perceptive mind enables her to >research< the reality and Miss Brodie in a new light, science, imagination and personal experiences being the instrument with which she cultivates a reasonable faith from an erroneous faith, a humanistic conscience from an authoritarian conscience. However, there are occasions of bewilderment for Sandy, reminiscent of Adam and Eve who aspire after knowledge about the formation of the Universe. Fromm's theory of faith and conscience forms the grounding for delineating Sandy's change, which is a simultaneous process to her position of antagonism to Miss Brodie, whose retire for fascist propaganda heralds the fall of a myth.- The third and last chapter is about the epiphany of the rise and fall of the Brodie myth for both the readers and for Sandy herself. With Miss Brodie's downfall and her conversion to the Catholicism, Sandy is still not free from an ambiguous situation. This ambiguity is examined with corroboration of Muriel Spark's experience in conversion, and Sandy's case is characteristic of one of the Sparkian morals - to know good from evil, same to Adam and Eve. Fromm's humanistic stance for man's freedom and potentiality is emphasized here, which conforms to Muriel Spark's intention with literary creation. For all the dichotomy Sandy is stuck in, there is glimmering of humanism shined with her potential for development, suggestive of the humanistic streak in Muriel Spark. The predestining influence of Paradise Lost finds voice in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie<, with many prototypes in the paradise myth revisioned to take on enriched implications. The message revealed can be theoretically interpreted through Erich Fromm's humanistic social analysis, which provides insights on aspects such as human needs, character orientations, man's possibility and potentiality, and the like. The core of this theoretical system is to highlight humanism and a meaningful existence for individuals, which coincides with Muriel Spark's moral in this novel. This initiative to employ the humanistic social analysis for interpretation of a post-modernist novel does not prove to be fruitless. Much leaves to be done in terms of researches on either Muriel Spark's literary creation or Erich Fromm's theoretical system, the combination of which may turn out more fruitfully. Further study will merit the effort exerted up to now, and all the same, it might be hoped that a cross-disciplinary tentativeness, as has been explored by many forerunners, will ever shed light on a puzzled mind when facing literary works so compelling to the sensory yet, no less challenging to the intelligence.}, language = {zh} }