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Rachel Joyce, a senior British BBC playwright and columnist of the Sunday Times, has played a major role in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Royal National Theater. Joyce turned to writing after 20 years of career in stage drama and television. In 2012, Joyce published the novel >The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry<, which is Joyce’s maiden work. It tells us the story of a retired old man on a pilgrimage across England on foot to save his old friend suffering from cancer. Harold, the protagonist, successfully realized his own salvation in this seemingly impossible journey. While waiting for him to return home, his wife, Maureen, began to reflect herself, gradually established the contact with the outside world and got rid of the self-isolation. The relationship between the couple also got back together after the pilgrimage. This novel is regarded as a novel that can heal the soul. Joyce, the author, has successfully touched the hearts of many readers with her unique narrative skills, and also successfully demonstrated the unique attention of female writers to the inner world of the characters.– On the basis of the researches at home and abroad, this thesis uses Fromm’s alienation theory to analyze the alienation of the characters in >The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry< from the three aspects: the alienation between man and self, the alienation between interpersonal relationships and the alienation between human and society, and further explores the various attempts made by the characters in the novel to eliminate alienation.– First of all, there is alienation between man and self. People become numb and isolated because of the lack of love in childhood and the traumatic experience in adulthood. However, by taking the initiative to assume responsibility and establish the contact with the outside world, they can realize the reconstruction of their own identity, and get rid of the self-isolation and successfully eliminate self-alienation.– Secondly, alienation has also occurred between interpersonal relationships. In the novel, the seemingly harmonious marital relationship between the husband and wife hides an insurmountable gap. The relationships between friends are full of use and friendship is no longer pure. Through the pilgrimage, Harold has a new understanding of his identity as a husband, and his wife has also begun to self-reflect and break away from the state of constant criticism to her husband. All kinds of people who met on the way also gave Harold warmth and care, making people realize that pure friendship still exists and that alienation of interpersonal relationships can be eliminated.– Finally, the relationship between people and society has produced alienation, which is mainly manifested in two aspects, namely, the alienation of material desire and the stereotyped life-style. In the highly developed modern society, people pursue fame and wealth too much and their life style is too simple, which squeezes people’s vitality and makes life too monotonous. Through establishing a sound society, human beings can get rid of the drive of material desire, regain vitality and uniqueness. Alienation is the universal theme of modern literature, which can reveal the living conditions and inner world of people in modern society.– The purpose of this thesis is to call on people to pay attention to their inner world and improve their sense of self-identity. When they are in a state of alienation, they should take positive measures to get out of it and take creative ways to learn to build a harmonious and healthy relationship with themselves, others and society. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 8/2023]
As a master of American literature and a representative writer of academic school in the 20th century, Saul Bellow revealed the spiritual crisis encountered by intellectuals and reflected the spiritual emptiness of people in the social background of moral decline and materialistic desire. >More Die of Heartbreak< is a novel written by Bellow during his latter period of creation. The novel shows the complicated contemporary love, marriage, family condition and the alienated society that is trapped by money, consumerism, and sex. In this thesis, Erich Fromm’s humanism is used to deeply interpret the embodiments, causes, and salvation of alienation in >More Die of Heartbreak<.– The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, which mainly introduces Saul Bellow, >More Die of Heartbreak<, research status at home and abroad, alienation and humanistic theory.– Chapter two interprets the embodiments of alienation in >More Die of Heartbreak<, including self-alienation, interpersonal alienation, and alienation between people and society.– Chapter three explores the causes of alienation. Firstly, self-alienation is mainly caused by receptive character, irrational need for relatedness, and alienated way to satisfy relatedness. Secondly, causes of interpersonal alienation mainly include morbidity and liberation of sex, nonproductive character orientation, the impact of pragmatism and the contradiction of different cultures. Thirdly, consumers’ morbid desire for sign value and the media with negative guidance also lead to alienation between human and society.– Chapter four explores how to overcome alienation. Firstly, it expounds that Benn and Kenneth overcome self-alienation through self-improvement. Secondly, individuals can overcome loneliness and rebuild harmonious interpersonal relationships under the salvation of love. Finally, the being mode of existence advocated by Fromm is helpful for individuals to overcome the influence of social alienation and reshape harmony between man and society.– The last chapter is the conclusion, which points out that although contemporary westerners are troubled by alienation, people can still resist alienation through self-improvement, love, and choosing the being mode of existence. It is significant to overcome alienation in a materialistic society from the perspective of humanism. While exploring the embodiments, causes, and solutions of alienation in >More Die of Heartbreak<, this thesis hopes to raise people’s concern about the elimination of alienation and provide enlightenment on how to overcome alienation. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 7/2023]
Historians, including intellectual historians such as myself, rely more on primary source research than philosophers. During the period 1992–2001, I conducted extensive research on both the Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer Archives in Frankfurt, Germany. This essay describes my experiences working in these archives. I highlight, in particular, some of the most important discoveries I made in the archives and how the primary source documents shaped my understanding of Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer’s crucial contributions to the development of Critical Theory. The essay also emphasizes the value of primary source research, especially for those working in the materialist tradition of the early Frankfurt School, which emphasizes the >Zeitkern der Wahrheit<, that is, the impossibility of separating ideas from a historically specific social context.
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