TY - GEN A1 - Zhang, Yujiao T1 - A Comparative Study of >The Summer before the Dark< and >The Edible Woman< from the Perspective of Humanistic Psychoanalysis, Master thesis, World Literature, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China 2021 [application of Fromm’s theories to art]. N2 - This thesis conducts a comparative study between >The Summer before the Dark< by the British writer Doris Lessing and >The Edible Woman< by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood from the perspective of Fromm’s humanistic psychoanalysis. >The Summer before the Dark< and >The Edible Woman< share a significant common theme, that is, the dilemma of contemporary women. Alienation is a prevalent phenomenon in modern society and as members of that society, females cannot escape from this problem. >The Summer before the Dark< describes the story of a middle-aged housewife, Kate, who pursues her true self after temporarily escaping from her family, and >The Edible Woman< depicts working class Marian’s process of searching for mental independence and escaping from an alienating spiritual predicament. By examining the view of human nature, alienation and road to sanity proposed Erich Fromm, this thesis thoroughly analyzes and compares the similarities between the two protagonists’ behavior when confronted with alienation, their process of awakening self-awareness and differences in their routes to mental sanity. Through systematic comparison and analysis, it can be concluded that Kate’s maternal love for children and Marian’s erotic love for Peter provide the respective sources of their alienation. Obsession with others gives them a false sense of identity which enables them to cast off their deeply-rooted feelings of separation. In such symbiotic relationships with others, both Kate and Marian lose their self-awareness as an individual being and they cannot realize their spiritual dilemma. Mental independence and self-awareness are the key to getting rid of plight and the way to mental health for them. Through intensive study, the thesis suggests a solution for those trapped in a spiritual dilemma: productive love. Productive love can meet man’s need for union with others and provide a sense of identity with the prerequisite of the development of integrity. It is the final answer to conditions of individual living plight and the only way to achieve personal equilibrium. [English: www.cnki.net, 4/2022] Y1 - 2021 ER -