（英語語言文學專業(yè)論文）論弗蘭克·諾里斯作品中的女性形象.pdf

descriptive chinese abstract i 摘 要 弗蘭克諾里斯（1870-1902）被譽為美國 19 世紀自然主義文學運動的先驅(qū)和跨世 紀美國藝術(shù)與思想轉(zhuǎn)型的試金石。作為一名堅持創(chuàng)作源于現(xiàn)實生活的作家，諾里斯關注 女性社會角色、女性覺醒等世紀之交的熱點問題，并將之作為其作品的重大主題，貫穿 于其創(chuàng)作生涯。 本論文以諾里斯的三部長篇小說為文本，參考諾里斯評論文章、傳記、書信集和評 論集，從女性主義批評的視角對諾里斯小說塑造的女性予以重新審視，從而指出諾里斯 作品中的女性形象復雜多樣，但總體上可分為三種類型：家中天使、新女性和擁有雙性 氣質(zhì)的女性。這三種類型突顯出諾里斯女性觀的形成和發(fā)展。諾里斯厭惡那些在行為上 依賴、屈從，在思想上無知、封閉和性格軟弱的家中天使女性形象，憤其不爭。與此同 時，諾里斯又指出這些家中天使的人生充滿著悲劇色彩，而男權(quán)社會的多重壓迫則是造 成女性悲劇人生的主要因素。對于被視為欲望客體的女性，諾里斯給予了極大的同情。 與家中天使女性形象完全不同， 諾里斯筆下的新女性形象是具有女性自我意識和個人行 為能力的女性主體。她們在一定程度上表現(xiàn)出堅定信念、勇氣、力量、理性、獨立性、 競爭性和智慧等特質(zhì)。然而，諾里斯也指出：他所處的社會中，一方面，整個社會的女 性觀并未隨著社會變革而發(fā)生改變，男性仍堅持傳統(tǒng)性別觀念。另一方面，新女性丟棄 傳統(tǒng)女性氣質(zhì)，走向男性化，這意味著她們不再是男性的伴侶，因此，諾里斯對新女性 的性意識覺醒以及欲望膨脹持反對意見，認為“新女性”的涌現(xiàn)在一定程度上使得兩性 矛盾日益突現(xiàn)。根據(jù)諾里斯的觀點，這種新女性的塑造并不是其解決兩性矛盾的終極形 式。為緩解當時日益激烈的兩性矛盾，諾里斯塑造了“雙性氣質(zhì)女性” ，即同時擁有男 性氣質(zhì)和女性氣質(zhì)的女性主體， 提出了兩性平等互補的主張。 其筆下的 “雙性氣質(zhì)女性” 體現(xiàn)了男女兩性共同人性的元層面，從而模糊了傳統(tǒng)的性別界限，女性成為了與男性平 等的個體，由此顛覆了父權(quán)社會對女性作為客體、 “他者”和“第二性”的規(guī)范，突破 了男權(quán)中心文學塑造女性的逆來順受的“家庭天使”形象以及一些女性主義者倡導的獨 立自強的“新女性”形象。通過塑造雙性氣質(zhì)女性形象和提出兩性平等的互補觀，諾里 斯試圖在觀念上緩解美國 19 世紀晚期兩性關系緊張和社會性別混亂的狀況。故而，其 雙性氣質(zhì)女性的塑造具有了超越時代的意義。 作為關注人類命運特別是女性命運的作家， 諾里斯一方面站在女性立場關注女性社 會地位，描寫和批判父權(quán)制下女性倍受壓迫的生存狀態(tài)，同情女性的不幸遭遇，希望女 性能通過抗爭贏得與男性相同的權(quán)利；另一方面，他卻無法擺脫父權(quán)制對其道德觀的影 響和束縛，提倡壓抑女性的性意識擴張，反對任何形式的女性欲望膨脹。除此之外，諾 里斯在展現(xiàn)女性人物的內(nèi)心世界、 心理活動以及刻畫父權(quán)社會中女性所受到的精神迫害 和思維禁錮等方面遠不如其同時代的女性作家。因此，諾里斯并不是女權(quán)主義者，其女 性觀也不是現(xiàn)代意義上的女權(quán)思想，仍然存在一定的時代上和認知上的局限性。 關鍵詞：弗蘭克諾里斯；女性形象；家中天使；新女性；雙性氣質(zhì)女性 關鍵詞：弗蘭克諾里斯；女性形象；家中天使；新女性；雙性氣質(zhì)女性 english abstract ii abstract frank norris is regarded as the forerunner of american naturalism and has long stood as a touchstone figure that provides immediate access to what transpires in american thought and literary expression at the close of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. his vital accomplishments still as a readable literary artist and an insightful observer of american life account for his present status in american literary and cultural history. being a writer who insists on the writers inspiration right from the reality, norris shows his great concern on the hotspots of the turn of the centurywomens social role and their awakening. taking woman as an important theme, norris portrays different types of women throughout his lifelong creation. interpreting from a feminist perspective, this thesis takes frank norriss three novels as the analyzing texts to reexamine his female characters and excavate his vision of women. after a close reading of his novels, this thesis indicates that norriss female characters, who are complex and diversiform, can be classified into three types: “angel in the house”, “new woman” and “bisexual woman”. then, by exploring detailedly these three types one by one, this thesis reveals norriss ambivalent attitudes towards “angel in the house” and “new woman”. for one thing, norris shows great sympathy for the angel-like woman who is restricted and repressed by the conventions of the patriarchal society. for another, he disgusts the dependent woman who is not made for the harshness of the world. as for new woman, norris, on the one hand, expresses his appreciation of her characteristics of being active, intelligent, independent and strong-minded. and, on the other hand, he presents his anxiety over her quest for sexual freedom. in his novels, he indicates that sexual liberation is a kind of degradation caused by a repressed side effect and it virtually aggravates womans slavery. therefore, norris implies that a new woman is not the kind of woman to solve the intensive conflict between sexes of that period. moreover, norris states that the loss or betrayal of feminine traits predicates bachelorhood to new woman, for this type is not made for man with conventional sexual attitude. by creating the bisexual woman who possesses both masculinity and femininity, norris demonstrates the complementary relationship between the two sexes on the basis of mutual understanding, mutual trust, mutual love and mutual tolerance. there is no denying that norriss characterization of the bisexual woman, his ideal woman, is ahead of his time. although norris attempts to protest against the inequality of womens position in patriarchy and particularly for his attempt to portray new woman and create his ideal woman, english abstract iii it must be acknowledged at the same time that norris cannot break away from the patriarchal ideology that constitutes his greatest limitation in his vision of women. as he feels suspicious of some radical statements and actions in feminist movement, especially women quest for sexual freedom, norris can not be considered as a feminist. moreover, norris is not keen enough to explore female characters inner thought compared with his contemporary women writers. he approaches most of his heroines externally rather than internally, which results from his unconscious reinforcement of patriarchal modes of perception. key words: frank norris; images of women; angel in the house; new woman; bisexual woman 湘湘 潭潭 大大 學學 學位論文原創(chuàng)性聲明學位論文原創(chuàng)性聲明 本人鄭重聲明：所呈交的論文是本人在導師的指導下獨立進行研究所取得的研 究成果。除了文中特別加以標注引用的內(nèi)容外，本論文不包含任何其它個人或集 體已經(jīng)發(fā)表或撰寫的成果作品。對本文的研究做出重要貢獻的個人和集體，均已 在文中以明確方式標明。本人完全意識到本聲明的法律后果由本人承擔。 作者簽名： 日期： 年 月 日 學位論文版權(quán)使用授權(quán)書學位論文版權(quán)使用授權(quán)書 本學位論文作者完全了解學校有關保留、使用學位論文的規(guī)定，同意學校保留 并向國家有關部門或機構(gòu)送交論文的復印件和電子版，允許論文被查閱和借閱。 本人授權(quán)湘潭大學可以將本學位論文的全部或部分內(nèi)容編入有關數(shù)據(jù)庫進行檢 索，可以采用影印、縮印或掃描等復制手段保存和匯編本學位論文。 涉密論文按學校規(guī)定處理。 作者簽名： 日期： 年 月 日 導師簽名： 日期： 年 月 日 introduction 1 introduction benjamin franklin norris(1870-1902) is an outstanding american writer in the 19th century. his contribution to american literature is profound, extensive, and permanent. although he lived only to thirty-two years old, he was a prolific writer, composing 1 poem, 3 collections of short stories, 8 novels and 55 critical essays. he put forward his theory on novel writing in his essays. and his practice of the theory is considered as “high emprise” by w. d. howells, the most influential american literary critic during the late 19th century (howells 769). moreover, his reputation is established through his “introduction of french naturalism into american fiction”1 (frohock 5) and his influence on the “l(fā)egislation designed to cure the railroad monopolies” along with the publication of the octopus (ibid.). the criticism on frank norris started shortly after the publication of his first novel, moran of the lady letty (1899). the early critics observed norriss works mainly from his life experiences, including the experiences in his childhood when he was just a mamas boy, his college years in paris, his love affairs and marriage and his interview in battlefield. from 1930s to 1950s, some critics focused on the features of the zolaesque in f. norriss works. donald pizer, an expert of american nineteenth century literature, summarized those critics viewpoints and held that “critics of norris works correctly emphasized his heavy debt to zola for specific plots, scenes, and characters, as well as for larger qualities of scope and method” (552). other critics paid great attention to norriss unfinished trilogythe octopus and the pit. george wilbur meyer revealed that these critics “observingobserved this epic from the marxist viewpoint”, criticized the brutal struggle between the wheat farmers and the railroad owners, the fall of the speculators in the grain market in chicago and accused the crimes that the capitalism and the bourgeoisie had done on those virtuous proletariats (351). however, in the following years, the criticism on norris laid fallow. it was not until the publication of warren frenchs lively, provocative studyfrank norris (1962) that changed the situation. in warren frenchs view, norriss scholarship became a particularly vital area of both literary research and cultural study, with frank norris as the touchstone for turn-of-the-century changes in art and thought. in his work, warren french not only placed norris in the popular culture of the late 19th century but also argued that norris was a scion of the american transcendentalists (129). consequently, norriss stock immediately increased in value. more and more critics started to do researches on frank norris. for instance, donald pizer published a monograph, the novels of frank norris, in 1966; william b. dillinghams frank introduction 2 norris: instinct and art appeared in 1969. from 1960 to 1979, an increasing number of monographs and essays appeared, such as william b. dillinghams frank norris: instinct and art (1969), the merrill studies in the octopus (1969) edited by richard allan davison, jesse s. crisler and joseph r. mcelrath, jrs frank norris: a reference guide (1974) and don grahams monograph, the fiction of frank norris: the aesthetic context (1978). it seemed that the study on frank norris is enjoying a renaissance. in the 1980s, the establishment of “frank norris society” in 1986 and the origination of frank norris studies in 1989 pushed the study to an upper stage. until now, there are about 200 essays, 50 books (biography, letters, criticism) titled or related to his works. the recent researches on norris and his works can be classified as feminism, cultural study, comparative study and interdisciplinary study. the representative books are deconstructing frank norriss fiction: the male-female dialectic (1998)2, reading the symptom, frank norris, theodore dreiser, and the dynamics of capitalism (1999)3, and the representative essay is “frank norris, market panic, and the mesmeric sublime” (2003)4. in this aspect, the research on frank norris and his works has just begun and has been far from inclusive, even farther from comprehensive. in china, there is no authoritative monograph on norriss life or his writing career but an overall introduction to his major novels. only 4 novels of his have been translated into chinese. even though some famous chinese critics, like wang changrong, zhu gang, have affirmed norriss contribution to american naturalism or even the whole history of american literature, they viewed and studied frank norris and his works only from a macroscopic angle. wang jinghai wrote an essay on the naturalistic feature in frank norriss novels in 1999. in 2004, wang liya published her essay “frank norris on novel theory and the idea of american novel”, in which the studies of the american novel theory raised up by frank norris and the practice of his novel-writing theory has been analyzed and interpreted. in other words, the domestic research on norris is nascent and immature. with the rise of feminist criticism in 1960s, norris and his female characters became a burning topic debated among these critics. jennifer l. fleissner, an american critic, straightforwardly pointed out that “women characters are central to naturalism” (x). w. m. frohock, one of norriss biographers, concluded that: “what the critics commonly report about norriss women is undeniable” (41). as norris portrayed many vivid and lively female characters in his novels and short stories, critics tended to explore norriss vision of women by analyzing those female characters. generally speaking, critical receptions of norriss female characters fall into two categories. some critics, especially traditional feminist critics, take negative attitudes towards introduction 3 his female characters as well as norriss view of womanhood. they think that f. norris has created the images of “angel in the house” one after another and accuse norriss constant portrayal as restatement of the standard of “the ideal woman”. donald pizer even concludes that “those female figures are (the) self-sacrificing helpmates to men” (178). joseph r. mcelrath, jr., another expert on f. norris, summarizes their criticism and points out that those female characters are “victorian ladies” or the “mens women” (revisted 41, 81). moreover, some feminists assert that f. norris has never really intended to create the strong-willed women that appear and flourish in the late 19th century (west 59). other critics discover that the female characters depicted by norris are puzzled, confused and lead tragic and miserable lives. warren french points out that norris “is sympathetic with the female” in his novels (87). in addition, some of them analyze the characteristics of norriss female figures and summarize them as strong-minded, capable and fortitudinous. another american critic concludes that “frank norris even celebrates masculine women over more feminine types” (lehan 199). after a close reading of biographies and works of frank norris, the author of this thesis has a different viewpoint and holds that those remarks are lopsided views on norris. all the attacks from feminist critics and others are channeled through particular focalizations primarily based on the superficial appearances of norriss myth. the simplistic interpretation of norriss women is an unfair judgment of norris, as well as an unbalanced version of norriss works as a whole. as a matter of fact, norriss attitudes towards women are complex or rather ambivalent. based on the previous critical receptions, this thesis attempts to make a detailed analysis of norriss vision of women, from a feminist perspective. defined in a broad view, feminist literary theory focuses on analyzing and examining the oppressed status of women and the modes of representing women. this kind of criticism at first mainly focuses on gender prejudice against women from male writers; during the second stage, the feminists find out a literature belonging to women and thus turn their attention to womens literature; in the third stage, all the theoretical study, from literature, criticism, psychology, sociology to culture fall into the object of their study. feminist criticism can be understood from different angles. for instance, at the deconstructionist level, the aim is to dismantle and subvert the logocentric assumptions of male discourseits valorization of being, meaning, truth, reason, and logic, its metaphysics of presence. logocentrism is phallo-centric (hence the neologism “phallogocentrism”); it systematically privileges paternal over maternal power, the intelligible over the sensible. at the ideological level, the reader doesnt accept the hegemonic introduction 4 perspective of the male and refuses to be coopted by a gender-biased criticism. gender is largely a cultural construction, as are the stereotypes that go along with it: that the male is active, dominating, and rational, whereas the female is passive, submissive, and emotional. at the thematic level, the feminist reader should identify with female characters and their concerns. the object is to provide a critique of phallo-centric assumptions and an analysis of patriarchal visions or ideologies inscribed in a literature that is male-centered and male-dominated. feminism lays stress on the study of women writers but it is not restricted to this respect only. it is also employed to study the male or female characters in the works of male authors with the purpose of revealing the relationships between an authors gendered subject positions and his depiction of characters. therefore, this thesis attempts to follow the thematic direction, that is, to examine norriss vision of women through a feminist interpretation, focusing on the root that caused his ambivalent attitude towards women, revealing f. norriss attempt to ease the strained male-female relationship in the 19th century and to build a harmonious society. therefore, this thesis intends to analyze three types of female images chosen separately from frank norriss last three novels, concentrating for a moment within the sphere of private, the home. tracing their lives, their pursuit, agonies, merits, weaknesses and their relationships with the other creatures both within and outside the texts, the thesis points out that norris tries to articulate what they might have originally wished to articulate but failed to be recognized. and the thesis continues to propose that these three types of women represent a process that the male author himself underwent in life and in writing career: his attempt to ease the tense male-female relationship in the 19th century and his hope for a promising future of the harmonious relationship between sexes. this thesis is divided into three chapters. the first chapter is to examine the angel-like images in norriss works. analyzing annie derrick and angle in the octopus, this thesis reveals frank norriss attitude towards the “angel in the house”. examining norriss attitude from feminist point of view, the thesis indicates that norris, on the one hand, expresses his disgust with their dependence and looks down upon them; on the other, he shows sympathy for those women who are restricted and repressed by the convention of the patriarchy. the emphasis of chapter two is placed on the analysis of laura, the heroine of the pit. in this chapter, norriss ambivalent attitude towards “new woman” is studied and revealed. for one thing, norris portrays laura as a woman who is not satisfied with the arbitrary, socially constructed gender roles, which confines her creation. norris appreciates this new womans endeavor to free herself from the patriarchal forces and control and her quest for equality and introduction 5 her self-identity both in the society and at home. for another, he considers womans awakening sexual needs as immoral and expresses his anxiety of new womans pursuit for sexual emancipation. the third chapter mainly focuses on norriss ideal woman and his intention to create this type of woman. accordingly, this chapter points out that the ideal woman portrayed by norris is a mixture