The Alienation and Restoration of Human Nature. A Study on Saul Bellow's >Herzog< Topic [人性的异化与回归 - 索尔•贝娄作品《赫索格》的主题研究], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin, China 2008 [Application of Fromm's theories to art]
- 索尔•贝娄是美国文学历史上最杰出的作家之一。在其四十余年的创作生涯中,贝娄创作了八部长篇小说,出版了许多中短篇小说集,并且荣获了多种文学奖项。在创作思想上,贝娄主张文学作品应该反映历史的真实。他的作品深刻地揭示了当代西方世界存在的精神危机,提出了资本主义文明面临的问题。在表现方法上,他善于把内心活动和外在世界糅合在一起,把现实描写与历史回忆交织起来。《赫索格》是贝娄的代表作之一,其内容主要反映了现代社会中资产阶级的人道主义危机。在该部作品中,作者将主人公的内心世界与外在处境相结合,使读者清楚地认识到赫索格本人的精神危机实质上是一种时代病。自问世以来,该作品即受到了评论界的广泛关注。由于作品的丰富内涵,学者们得以从不同角度对该作品予以分析。分析的内容主要集中在:主人公的精神历程,主人公的异化,现代人的生存困境,作品中的犹太元素,作品的自传性质,作品的叙事技巧等方面。这些评论从不同层面分析了作品的主题,及作品主题的体现形式。同时,这些研究为从更广泛的角度探讨作品主题提供了可能。因而,本文作者综合考虑了以上各要素,运用弗洛姆的后现代生存主义心理分析理论,从人性异化与回归的角度分析了作品主题。本文首先对《赫索格》这部作品本身,作品的创作背景,以及弗洛姆的理论进行了分析与介绍,旨在为分析作品的主题提供基础,然后从真爱的遗失,人格的异化以及混乱的社会精神状况三方面分析了人性异化的现象,说明了当代西方文明的危机是造成西方社会病,导致人与人关系异化及人格异化的根本原因。之后,本文从真爱的追寻与复得,健全人格的重建,以及人与自然和谐关系的角度分析了主人公及作品中其他人物人性的追寻与回归过程。同时,为进一步深化主题,本文在>人性回归<这一部分,分析了主人公对理想社会状态的想往。从而得出结论,真爱是对人类生存问题的回答。只有在健全的社会文化环境下,真正健全的人格才能得以保障,人性的本真才能得以永久的闪光。
- Saul Bellow is one of the most outstanding writers in American literature history. In his more than four decades of creative career, Bellow has written eight novels, published many collections of short stories, and won a number of literary awards. In the creative thinking, Bellow insists that literary works should reflect the truth of history. His works profoundly reveal the spiritual crises in the contemporary western world, and put forward the problems faced by the capitalist civilization. In the writing methods, he is good at blending the innermost feelings with the external activities, and interweaving the realistic description with the historical recollection. >Herzog< is one of Saul Bellow’s representative works. And its main content reflects the humanitarian crisis of the bourgeoisie in the modern society. In this work, the author combines the protagonist’s inner world with his external circumstances, which makes the readers clearly realize that Herzog’s own spiritual crisis is essentially one kind of the malady of the age. Since its publication, the work has received widespread critical attention. As the work is pregnant with meaning, the scholars are able to analyze the work from different angles. And the contents of the analyses mainly focus on: the spiritual course of the protagonist, the alienation of the main character, the plight of the modern people, the Jewish elements in the work, the autobiographical nature of the work, the narrative techniques of the work, and so on. These reviews have analyzed the themes of the work and the forms of the manifestation of the themes from different levels and aspects. At the same time, these studies have provided the possibility to research the themes of the novel from broader view. As a result, bearing all the above factors in mind, the author of this thesis analyzes the themes of the novel from the angle of >the alienation and restoration of human nature<, by using the postmodern existentialist psychoanalysis of Erich Fromm.– In order to provide the foundation for the analysis of the themes of the novel, the article first introduces and analyzes Herzog the work itself, the background of the creation, and Fromm’s theory.– And then, it analyzes the phenomena of the alienation of the human nature from the aspects of >the loss of true love<, >the alienated personalities<, as well as >the chaotic spiritual state of the society<. In this way, it reveals that the crisis of the contemporary western civilization is the fundamental cause of the social diseases of the western world, the alienated relationship between human beings, and the alienated personalities.– Afterwards, the article analyzes the protagonist’s and other characters’ pursuit of human nature, and their restoration processes from the angles of >the pursuit and regaining of true love<, >the reconstruction of healthy personalities<, and >the harmonious relationship between man and nature<.– Meanwhile, in order to further deepen the themes, the essay analyzes the ideal social conditions of the protagonist in part three of the article >The Restoration of Human Nature<.– And then, it concludes that the true love of mankind is the answer to the survival problems of human beings. Moreover, only a sane socio-cultural environment can provide a guarantee of a truly sound personality, and make the essence of human nature shine forever.