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An Analysis of the Philosophy of >Them< in View of Freedom [《他们》的自由观之哲学解析], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China 2007. [Application of Fromm's theories to art]

  • 乔伊斯•卡罗•欧茨是蜚声当代美国文坛的一位多产女作家。欧茨小说大都透过作者的眼睛使读者们身临其境地感受到当代美国人的精神困惑和生存状态。小说《他们》(1969)就是这样一部反映当代美国人对>自由<具有相同渴望,却通过不同方式追寻它的优秀代表作。小说描写了上个世纪30年代至60年代间的美国社会变迁,并通过主人公温德尔一家中的母亲洛雷塔,女儿莫琳,儿子朱尔斯及其他几位人物在这30年间的动荡经历,表现了所有同时代的美国白人,尤其是处于社会底层的穷人普遍的精神困惑、自我定位与自由追寻。小说中几位人物对>自由<的相异的理解及不同的追求方式所形成的大相径庭的>自由观<更是给小说平添了丰富的内涵,并成为了具有时代意义的主题。>自由<主要分为<积极自由<和>消极自由<。《他们》中的三位主要人物:母亲洛雷塔、女儿莫琳、情人娜旦都在追求自由的过程中受到了挫败,致使她们对自由的渴望走向了消极追寻的道路。洛雷塔任凭命运摆布的>纯重力<的自由观,莫琳把自己依附于他人的>颠倒自由<的自由观,还有娜旦通过死亡解脱的>终极<的自由观都可 被视为消极自由—也就是通过摆脱自由的方式来追寻>自由<即逃避自由。朱尔斯所体现出的>自由与责任并重<的自由观则可被纳入积极自由之列。小说《他们》中主要人物对自由的认识与追寻并由此所表现出的自由观在弗洛姆,海德格尔和萨特等人>自由<理论的关照下体现了自由的真理:只有勇敢地面对现实世界,在选择自由的同时,也承担起自由的责任,才是真正意义上的自由,是值得肯定的自由。
  • Joyce Carol Oates is a well-known American woman writer famous for her prolificacy and her wide coverage of genres in literary creation. The larger proportions of Oates' works present the readers the earthly existence and the spiritual crisis of the contemporary Americans. Of many of her excellent novels, >Them< is the most typical and representative. In >Them<, the vicissitude of the American society between 1930s and 1960s is fictionalized and showed through the experiences of the Wendalls during these 30 years, including the mother Loretta, the daughter Maureen, the son Jules and his lover Nadine. The novel records the spiritual bewilderment and identity confirmation of the contemporary American people, especially those from the lower strata of the society through the ups and downs of the Wendalls.– Freedom can be classified into two types: passive freedom and active freedom. The different understandings of >freedom< held by the different characters in them as well as their distinct ways of pursuing >freedom< constitute the striking feature of this novel, which adds a great deal to the thematic depth. Loretta's resigning herself to fate, Maureen's attaching herself to >authority< and Nadine's searching freedom through death can be classified into >negative freedom<. And Jules' shouldering responsibility while pursuing freedom can be regarded as >positive freedom<. Freedom has always been a popular theme since Plato and Aristotle. Philosophers in history hold their own opinions toward >freedom<, such as Paul Sartre's theory of >freedom and responsibility<, Martin Heidegger's >freedom and death< and Erich Fromm's >freedom and escape<. All of them are endowed with great importance in the history of western philosophy. Also the theories mentioned above are instructive in understanding the different ways of pursuing freedom adopted by different characters in the novel >Them<.– Through the different understandings of freedom held by the characters, the essence of freedom is disclosed: only the freedom which teaches people to face the objective world courageously and to shoulder the responsibility toward other people when searching one's own ideal freedom, is the true, positive and correct understanding of freedom.

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Metadaten
Author:Hao Zhang
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2007
Release Date:2014/01/28
Format:no copy existent / keine Kopie vorhanden
IdNo:Zhang_Hao_2007
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
Licence (German):
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