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]

  • 缪丽尔•斯帕克善于创造文学神话,小说《布罗迪小姐的青春》即为一例。在小说中,主人公布罗迪小姐也试图创造自己的神话。本文力图以埃里希•弗罗姆关于人道主义社会的理论解析布罗迪神话的兴衰沉浮,同时指出史诗《失乐园》的>预定性<影响在本小说中的体现。由此,缪丽尔•斯帕克对人类生存困境的洞察力及其作品中折射出的人道主义光芒得以表达。论文第一、二章分别定位于小说中两个主要人物:布罗迪小姐和桑迪。前者是神话的制造者,而后者促成了神话的覆灭。这两章内在机制相同,展现的是人在追求自由与自我实现的过程中极力摆脱生存困境与不可抗因素的努力。情节在怀有相同意念却又是两相制约的行为人中展开,布罗迪的神话也历经了辉煌后的衰落。第一章以人类的生存状况为背景,着眼于人的生存二分律>此岸<与>彼岸<的距离和命运中的不可抗因素,运用弗罗姆关于人的需要及性格倾向的理论分析了布罗迪神话生成的缘由。为摆脱因被自然孤立所造成的离间状态,人在与他人的联系中寻求归属感,权威与附属关系由此而生。布罗迪小姐属剥削型倾向,以玛丽为典型的多数布罗迪帮成员则属接受型,这使得布罗迪小姐的弄权更加恣意妄为,魔幻般的影响延伸到布帮之外的两位男教员。同时,她乖戾的对传统教学的反叛也生发出撒旦般的双重性格特征。第二章以弗罗姆关于合理信仰与不合理信仰,权威主义良心与人道主义良心的理论为基础,剖析了桑迪在寻求自我实现的过程中通过信仰与良心的转变对布罗迪小姐成功的反向制约。这一反作用与布罗迪小姐本身固有的致命弱点的合力促成了布罗迪神话的幻灭。与此同时,桑迪对善与良知的渴望又使得亚当与夏娃的形象浮现读者眼前。第三章是顿悟,揭示桑迪由来已久,并一直持续到她皈依天主教之后的迷惘的根由,也印证了第二章中引用的弗罗姆关于权威内在化的理论。这其中有缪丽尔•斯帕克自身经历的影子,同样值得关注的是弥漫于小说中的天主教氛围,桑迪的皈依可视为是因恶而向善的例证。以弗罗姆人道主义的立场,人有充分潜能,在理智的引导下可以打破权威枷锁,赋予自身存在之意义。这又一次体现出《失乐园》结尾所传达的讯息:乐园既失,一个新的世界有待创造。
  • 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.

Export metadata

Additional Services

Share in Twitter Search Google Scholar
Metadaten
Author:Tianjuan Zhou
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2005
Release Date:2014/01/28
Format:no copy existent / keine Kopie vorhanden
IdNo:Zhou_Tianjuan_2005
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
Licence (German):
Einverstanden ✔
Diese Webseite verwendet technisch erforderliche Session-Cookies. Durch die weitere Nutzung der Webseite stimmen Sie diesem zu. Unsere Datenschutzerklärung finden Sie hier.