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Alienation of Emilia's Image Interpretation of >The Ballade of the Sad Café< Based on Fromm's Theory of Alienation [艾米莉亚形象的异化研究 – 基于弗洛姆异化理论视角解读《伤心咖啡馆之歌》], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, Henan, China 2018 [application of Fromm's theories to art].

  • 卡森•麦卡勒斯是二十世纪美国最有名的作家之一,二十三岁即享誉纽约文坛。凭着婉转的风格和细腻入微的人物心理描写,她被誉为>南方文艺复兴第二代作家的杰出代表之一<。其作品中流露出真切悲怆之情,在美国文坛上也别具风格。她擅长描写孤独、孤立和疏离等主题,被众多评论家称为>孤独的猎手<。《伤心咖啡馆之歌》不仅是她的名作之一,也是美国南方文学发展过程中一部具有划时代意义的作品。该部小说以一个传统的南方小镇为背景,围绕一段畸形的三角恋情和冲突而展开,讲述一个凄美诡异的爱情故事。小说勾勒诸多生动鲜明,惟妙惟肖的人物形象,在主人公艾米莉亚的形象刻画和内心描写方面独树一帜。该书一经出版,受到众多国外学者和评论家的密切关注,研究主要从精神结构、叙事策略和性别越界等视角展开。相对于国外,国内对卡森•麦卡勒斯和她的作品研究起步较晚,按时间顺序分为引入阶段、翻译阶段、先期解读阶段和深入研究阶段。但迄今为止,主人公艾米莉亚形象的异化尚未得到系统和深入研究。本文运用文本细读与社会历史研究相结合的方法,尝试借助埃里希•弗洛姆的人本主义异化观,解读艾米莉亚形象异化的表现,然后探求其形象异化的外在和内在原因,最后指出其悲剧的根源在于其性格的缺陷,这一内在因素起决定性作用。全文由五章构成。引言概述了卡森•麦卡勒斯的生平和主要作品,回顾国内外对《伤心咖啡馆之歌》的研究状况,并提出本论文的研究视角与意义。第二章从词源上介绍异化的定义和发展,回顾埃里希•弗洛姆的理论成就,并重点阐述其人本主义异化观的主要内容。弗洛姆认识到现代人的生存危机和异化现象,提出不同类型的人格、生存方式和话语,并指出异化会导致大众和社会情感的消失,呼吁人类通过增强自我认同感,奉献自我成熟的爱,积极参与创造性活动,来改变生存处境。其人本主义异化观点具体涵盖了人的自我异化、与他人的异化和与自然的异化。第三章结合弗洛姆人本主义异化观,集中探讨艾米莉亚形象异化的表现。首先是自我异化。在人格方面,她从创造型指向转化为接受型指向,从开朗走向封闭;在生存方式方面,她从存在型转移到占有型,从安然自得演变为万念俱灭;在言语方面,她进入了无名权威的运行机制,从侃侃而谈蜕变为沉默不语。接着解读她与社会的异化:作为一个异化家庭的局外人,她与表哥保持着疏远、强势对待仆人且精于算计邻居。论文进一步分析她与自然的异化:在自然突变对生存造成严重威胁时,她将个人的利益凌驾于自然之上,对自然进行恶性破坏,引发众人盲从,使自己不仅成为荒芜小镇的孤独幸存者,还沦落为凋零咖啡馆的被遗弃者。第四章剖析艾米利亚形象异化的原因。畸形文明社会下的物欲横流、人际关系的冷漠、传统道德的沦丧是促使其走向异化的外在原因;而她的冷漠、崇尚暴力和懦弱的性格缺陷加剧了她自身的情感异化,是其必然走向失败和孤独的内在原因。第五章结论表明:通过运用弗洛姆人本主义异化观来解读《伤心咖啡馆之歌》,不仅揭示出卡森•麦卡勒斯对普通个人命运的思考和精神世界的关注,更彰显了对人与自然和谐相生关系的无比向往。虽然弗洛姆认为异化是资本主义社会发展过程中不可避免的,但是艾米莉亚与他人疏离,自我个性的丧失,在一定程度上加剧了其形象异化的进程。人们需要在增加自我认同感、构建良好人际关系、实现人与自然和谐共存的基础之上,来远离异化,摆脱现代文明对人性的压抑和束缚,回归自然的本真,追寻生命应有的意义。
  • Carson McCullers is one of the most prestigious American writers in the 20th century, who wins a great reputation in the literary world of New York merely at the age of twenty-three. With many melodious styles and exquisite psychological description of characters, she is known as one representative of the second generation writers whose works reveal a genuine pathos, different from other writers during Southern Renaissance. Honored as a lonely hunter by many critics, she is talented in describing those themes such as loneliness, isolation and alienation. >The Ballade of the Sad Café< is one of her masterpieces, which is also one of immortal works in the history of Southern American Literature. By developing a deformed triangle of love, the author tells a sad story in a traditional southern town and outlines a great number of vivid characters with an original technique, in particular Amelia. As soon as the novel is published, it has caused a sensation in the United States and Western Europe. So far, many critics abroad have studied this novel from various perspectives, for instance, spiritual structure, narrative strategy, gender crossing, etc. Compared with studies abroad, the study of Carson McCullers as well as her works at home starts relatively late. The study at home can be roughly divided into the following four stages, namely, the introduction stage, the translation phase, the preliminary and in-depth interpretation stage. Yet up to now, there has been no systematic study on the alienation of Amelia’s image and only a few related statements are found. Based on close reading of the novel and the method of combining social history research, this thesis attempts to analyze the reflection of the alienation of Amelia’s image in the novel from the perspective of Fromm’s view of alienation of Humanism, namely, she is alienated from herself, from society and from nature. In this way, readers can expound the external and internal causes for the alienation of Amelia’s image, in which her flawed character is the root of her tragedy. This thesis consists of five chapters. The introduction summarizes Carson McCullers and >The Ballad of the Sad Café<, as well as the literature review on this novel. By reviewing the present condition, it expounds the perspective and significance of the study.– Chapter two introduces the definition and development of alienation from the etymology at the beginning. Then it looks back on Erich Fromm’s theoretical achievements and elaborates main content of his humanistic alienation. Fromm realizes the issue of alienation of human and points out different types of character, lifestyle and utterance. Based on this view, he insists that the alienation results in the loss of those general and social bonds and he calls for that human beings ought to change the situation of survival by increasing their sense of self-identity, dedicating themselves to mature love and participating in creative activities. His theory covers self-alienation, the alienation between oneself and society, and the alienation between oneself and nature.– Chapter three applies Fromm’s theory to make analyze the alienation of Amelia’s image. First, it mainly discusses Amelia’s self-alienation. From the perspective of character, Amelia’s character varies from >the exploitative orientation< to the >the receptive orientation<, and it makes her turn into insane from previous optimism and openness. In the terms of lifestyle, Amelia’s lifestyle varies from >having mode< to >being mode<, and she comes to be despaired from antecedent self-sufficiency; in terms of utterance, Amelia’s utterance operates into a mechanism named anonymous authority, which makes her transform into a special silent from a conversationalist earlier. Second, it is about Amelia’s alienation from society. As an outsider of a deformed family, she keeps distant with Lymon, treats her servant and neighbor cruelly and shrewdly. Third, it analyzes the alienation between Amelia and nature. When the natural catastrophes poses a serious threat to Amelia’s survival, she puts her personal interests above nature and attempts to make malignant destructiveness toward nature in a crazy way, which leads to the fact that other people around her follow her blindly all the time. As a result, Amelia has become a lonely survivor in the small town as well as a tragic outcast in a desolate café.– Chapter four probes reasons for the alienation of Amelia’s image. The materialism, the coldness of human relationship and the social moral degradation caused by the distortion of modern civilization are the external causes for Amelia’s alienation. Besides, Amelia’s flawed character, such as her indifference, pursuit of violence, as well as vacillation and limpness is the internal causes for Amelia’s alienation. Chapter is the conclusion, which points out that it is very valuable to carry out the research of interpreting >The Ballad of the Sad Café<, as it not only reflects Carson McCullers’ deliberated thoughts on the fate of ordinary individual and the attention of the spiritual world, but it also manifests her persistent yearning for the harmonious relationship between man and nature. The alienation is inevitable in the course of the development of capitalist society according to Fromm, while Amelia’s personal character and the loss of her own personality, which to a certain degree, can pick up the process of the alienation of her image. People are able to keep away from alienation and get rid of the restraint of modern civilization on the basis of increasing self-identity, building up good relationship and actualize harmony between man and nature. Only in this way can human return to the true state of human nature and search for the real meaning of life. [Author’s translation]

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Metadaten
Author:Jiulong Hu
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2018
Release Date:2019/03/04
Format:no download and copy possible
IdNo:Hu_Jiulong_2018
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
Licence (German):
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