（英语语言文学专业论文）论布朗的困惑思想在《维兰德》中的体现.pdf

vi 摘 要 查尔斯布鲁克登布朗 是美国第一位职业小说家。他的代表作维兰德 （wieland，1978）其副标题为“转变，一个美国故事”是一部描写心里恐怖的哥特 体小说。小说是基于一个在现实中的真实事件加工创作而成，与真实事件相似，小说 中的主人公由于宗教狂热杀死了家人。故事由一位女性主人公来叙述，采用书信体小 说的形式。这部小说体现了布朗对美国大革命后期社会思想的不确定性，加深了读者 对殖民地时期美国社会和文化的理解。本论文的三个章节分别论述布朗在维兰德 中对当时宗教、理性认识论和政治主张三方面的困惑并分析了其困惑的原因。 第一章：布朗在宗教上的困惑；具体论述一方面，他对加尔文教和自然神教持肯定 态度；原因有二。第一，美国是一个清教统治下的社会，清教徒宣扬加尔文教义；第 二，自然神教是启蒙思想产物，对美国知识分子有深刻影响。另一方面，他对加尔文 教和自然神教持否定态度；原因有二。第一，加尔文教的人性恶论阻碍了美国资本主 义的发展；第二，自然神教排斥上帝对人的关照与清教传统下的人们渴望上帝的关爱 思想相冲突。作者的这一困惑表现在作品女性叙述者一方面有悲观的原罪意识，另一 方面认同对一些神秘事件的科学解释上。 第二章：布朗对理性认识论的困惑；具体讨论了一方面，他对约翰洛克的经验主 义认识论和苏格兰常识派的肯定态度；原因在于两种理想认识论都是启蒙思想产物， 在十八世纪对美国的知识分子影响巨大。另一方面，他对约翰洛克的经验主义认识 论和苏格兰常识派的否定态度；原因在于两种理性认识论对人性过于乐观的态度有悖 于加尔文教的人性恶论。 作者这一困惑体现在作品女性叙述者对自己思想和行为上的 不一致表现出的自责和苦恼。 第三章：布朗对政党意识形态的怀疑态度；分别论述了他对亚历山大汉密尔顿为 首的联邦党和以托马斯 .杰斐逊为首的民主共和党的政治理念存在既肯定又否定的态 度。作者的这一态度集中反映在男主人公悲剧的成因上。原因在于，汉密尔顿的政治 理念主要来源于清教传统，杰斐逊的政治理念来源于启蒙理性思想。布朗对清教传统 vii 和启蒙理性思想的态度都是怀疑的 ， 所 以 他 对 汉 密 尔 顿 和 杰 斐 逊 的 政 治 理 念 的 态 度 也 是 怀 疑 的 。 此论文的结论部分总结了三个章节的主要思想。通过分析布朗对这三方面困惑思想 产生的原因，可以看出布朗对启蒙思想和宗教思想都持怀疑态度，他强烈反对过激的 理性或宗教的行为。布朗在维兰德中尽力地调和理性和宗教的思想但他并没有给 出任何调和二者的具体方法。布朗困惑思想在维兰德中的体现这一解读，揭示出 布朗对美国大革命后期社会各种思想的不确定态度，加深了读者对美国早期殖民地时 期社会和文化的理解。 关键词： 查尔斯布鲁克登布朗 维兰德 困惑思想 iv abstract charles brockden brown is the first professional writer of america. his masterpiece, wieland or the transformation (1798) is a gothic novel about how a religious fanatic kills his family. wieland is a psychological tale narrated by a young woman, which reveals brown s dilemma and uncertainty for the post- revolutionary thoughts of america and offers us a better understanding of the colonial american society and culture. charles brockden brown s perplexed thoughts manifested in wieland and the causes of his perplexed thoughts are analyzed in this dissertation from three aspects. the first chapter is about brown s perplexed thoughts toward religion. on the one hand, brown shows his affirmative attitude toward calvinism and deism. there are two reasons for it. firstly, america is a puritan society, puritanism advocates calvinism; secondly, deism is the product of enlightenment and deeply influences the intellectuals of america. on the other hand, brown shows his negative attitude toward calvinism and deism. there are two reasons for it. firstly, the evil human nature attitude of calvinism obstructs the development of american society; secondly, deists oppose god s interference with human affairs, it is hard for the colonial people who are under the circumstances of puritan living style to accept the cold god of deism. this kind of perplexed thoughts of brown can be seen from the attitude of the woman narrator in wieland. on the one hand, the woman narrator believes in original sin; on the other hand, she trusts the scientific explanation for these mysterious events. the second chapter is about brown s perplexed thoughts toward rational epistemology. on the one hand, brown s attitude toward john locke s empiricism and scottish common sense is affirmative. the cause of it is the two rational epistemologies are the results of enlightenment and influence american intellectual minds tremendously. on the other hand, brown s attitude toward john locke s empiricism and scottish common sense is negative. the cause of it is that the positive attitude of the two rational epistemologies is contradictory with man s evil nature of calvinism. this aspect of brown s perplexed v thoughts is mainly shown in the female narrator s self- condemning for her discrepancies between her thoughts and her actual behaviors. the third chapter is about brown s perplexed thoughts toward the political ideology. brown shows both negative and affirmative attitude toward the political ideologies of thomas jefferson and alexander hamilton. brown s ideological perplexed thoughts are revealed through analysing wieland s tragical story. it is because hamilton s political ideology is mainly based on puritan tradition while jefferson s political ideology is mainly based on enlightenment rational thoughts, brown s attitude toward both puritan tradition and enlightenment rational thoughts is skeptical, so his attitude toward the political ideologies of two leaders is skeptical. in the conclusion part of the dissertation, the main ideas of the three chapters are summarized. we can find that brown is skeptical about both enlightenment and religion, he is strongly against excessive rational or religious behavior through analyzing the causes of his perplexed thoughts. in wieland, brown tries to compromise rational and religious ideas, yet, gives us little suggestion for how to compromise them. we can learn brown s dilemma and uncertainty for the post- revolutionary thoughts of america and have a better understanding for the colonial american society and culture through analyzing brown wieland. key words: charles brockden brown wieland perplexed thoughts iii 学位论文原创性声明 本人所提交的学位论文论布朗的困惑思想在 中的体现 ，是在导师的 指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的原创性成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本 论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出重 要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中标明。 本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师确认（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解河北师范大学有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交 学位论文的复印件和磁盘，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权河北师范大学可以将学 位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或其它复制 手段保存、汇编学位论文。 （保密的学位论文在 年解密后适用本授权书） 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 1 introduction charles brockden brown was born on 17 january 1771 in a quaker family. his father and mother are elijah and mary armitt brown. he is a very frail, bookish young man. he studies at the friends latin school from eleven to sixteen. instead of going to college he becomes an apprentice of alexander wilcocks to study law at the age of sixteen. however, brown is more interested in literature, he composes poetry and essays and cofounded the belles letters club in 1787. in 1789 he published a series of essays in the columbian magazine under the pseudonym “ the rhapsodist” , in which h e questioned the politics and moral standards of the new american republic. in 1792 he stopped his law career and confounded the friendly club in 1793 with his friends dr. elihu h .smith and william dunlap. the former smith is a deist and medicine student who influences brown toward radicalism, the latter dunlap is the biographer of brown. with smith s and dunlap s encouragement brown launches his literary career. he completes and publishes in four years all of the work for which he is remembered today : wieland in 1798, ormond, the first part of arthur mervyn, and edgar huntly in 1799 and 1800, the second part of arthur mervyn in 1800 and clara howard and jane talbot in 1801. this is the most important period in his literary career before the period is just a prelude after this period is an anticlimax of his literature career. brown married elizabeth linn in 1804 and spends his remaining years on magazine material, political pamphlets and volumes of annals almost till his death. he died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty- nine in 1810. among all of his writings only the novels have any real value from the point of view of american literary history and command the attention of people interested in american literature. he is regarded as a novelist, essayist, short- story writer, magazine editor, political pamphleteer and has been called america s first professional writer. his whole works reveal much about american early culture and pave the way for american national literature. his masterpiece wieland or, the transformation was published on september 14, 1798. it is a gothic novel, reveals brown s dilemma and uncertainty for the post- revolutionary thoughts of america. 2 the sequel of wieland is, “ memoirs of carwin the biloquist ” was published serially between 1803 and 1805. wieland or , the transformation is the true beginning of brown s literary career. “ the story was based upon an event recorded in the new york weekly magazine for july 20, 1796, in a news report dealing with a farmer living near tomhannock, new y ork , who killed his wife and four children, the result of religious mania.” .1 the historical background of wieland is between the french and indian war and the american revolutionary war. wieland details some mysterious events that befall wieland family. elder wieland is the father of theodore and clara wieland. he is satisfied by a camisard tract which contains calvinistic thoughts during his apprenticeship for a london merchant. he regards that it is his duty to spread his doctrine among the heathens. he emigrates to america and performs his missionary work for the indigenous indians. however, his efforts are thwarted by the indians. he builds a temple to perform his religious task each day after his failure. he feels gradually that his doom is approaching owning to his failure of converting the native indians, which is regarded by him as the command of god for him. one night, as he worships in his temple, he seems to spontaneously combust, after which he is rescued by his relative and dies several hours later. his children inherit elder wieland s temple and change it into their resort for discussion and amusement. the orphaned children s education is accordant with enlightenment principles without any religious requirement. though the wielands pay no attention to the study of religion that couldn t mean that they haven t their own religion. to clara and catharine, wieland s wife their religion is merely their lively feelings. however, clara tells us the different disposition of his brother from them. her brother is melancholy and inherits his father s propensity for religion. wieland and pleyel, catharine s brother like discussing, from these discussions clara distinguishes their different characters. in the eyes of clara pleyel is a believer of his own reason. at the same time, clara summaries his brother s disposition “ moral necessity, and calvinistic inspiration, were the props on which my brother thought proper to repose.” 2 suddenly, their tranquil life is disturbed by mysterious incidents happen one after 3 another. a man named carwin uses his ventrilocution, playing trickes on the innocent wielands. wieland becomes insanity because of carwin s voices, he kills his wife and all children even continues to threaten the lives of clara and pleyel. on another occasion carwin designs a flirtatious dialogue between him and judith, clara s maid servant, then misleads pleyel to believe the dialogue is between carwin and clara for carwin mimics what judith says in clara s voice, so clara s chastity is suspected by pleyel who deserts clara for it. at last carwin s evil behaviors are detected by clara, he has to confesse his misdeeds to clara in order to retrieve clara s good opinion for him again. he tells her that he cheats everyone by ventrilocution, this device enables him to mimic exactly the voice of another and to modify the sound so that it shall appear to come from any place and any distance. he intentionally rouses pleyel s jealousy by designing the dialogue between him and clara but, he denies that his voices urge wieland to kill others. after carwin s confession, wieland comes to murder clara, at this critical moment, cawin produces a voice of god, telling wieland that god never asks him to kill anyone, he has cheated by his own senses. in an instance of sobriety, wieland realizes his atrocious deeds and commits suicide painfully. three years later pleyel marries clara in europe and carwin returns to the countryside and becomes a farmer. in china, the bibliographies about brown s wieland are neither plentiful nor complete because chinese readers are not familiar with the novel. there is merely introductory material about wieland in china. for example, wang xiaoshu s charles brockden brown s wieland, an inheritance and development of british and germany gothic novels.3the author introduces the gothic novels of german and britain and the american characteristics of charles brockden brown s wieland. zhang quanshuan s contradictory ideologies in wieland and brown contributions to the american novel.4 the author introduces the conflicting ideologies, the social, political environment of the novel and brown s literary contribution for american novel. in liu lili s on brown s wieland,5 a master degree dissertation. the author introduces brown s life, works, his skeptical thoughts for religion and reason, his achievement and limitation in literature and his influence for later generations. 4 at abroad researches on wieland are far more advanced and detailed. some of them can deepen my understanding about the plot and content of wieland, some of them make contribution to the arrangement and organization of my dissertation. weldon, roberta f s charles brockden brown s wieland : a family tragedy.6 the author argues the tragedy in wieland is due to the character s flaw. harvey l. gable s wieland, othello, genesis, and the floating city: the sources of charles brockden brown s wieland.7 the author analyses the similar literary arrangement of wieland with shakespeare s othello. the two articles help me to understand the content and plot of wieland better. some of these treatises are concerned with the religious thoughts in wieland. i gradually form my opinion about brown s perplexed thoughts toward religion through summarizing them. these articles are: pastor, dave. religion and rationality in the first american gothic novel: charles brockden brown s confrontation with calvinism on the fictional plain.8the author introduces religious and rational environment of the writer and religious and rational elements in his wieland. in surratt, marshall n s “ the awe- creating presence of the deity”: some religious sources for charles brockden brown s wieland.9 the author explains the religious environment of the novel and religious elements appear in the novel. michaelt, gilmore s calvinism and gothicism the example of brown s wieland.10the author analyses the close relationship between gothic elements and calvinistic thoughts in wieland. some of these papers are related with rational epistemology. i can find brown s opinion about some rational epistemologies is uncertain through analysing these papers. for example, in igdem pala mull s wieland or, the transformation:an american gothictale.11the author uses brown s wieland as an example to compare american gothic novels with that in europe. in butler, michael d s charles brockden brown s wieland: method and meaning. 12the author argues that wieland is a revolt against sentimental novels. mark seltzer s saying makes it so: language and event in brown s wieland.13the author analyses how the language description foreshadows the events happening in wieland. there are a lot of theses are concerning about the historical background in wieland, 5 especially mention the party conflict between j efferson and hamilton during brown s writing period. i draw my conclusion that brown s attitude toward the two political leader s ideologies is perplexed by researching these theses. for example, in robert w, hobson s voices of carwin and other mysteries in charles brockden brown s wieland.14the author analyses whether carwin s ventriloquism is responsible for wieland s tragedy. in nicholas rombes, jr s “ all was lonely, darksome, and waste”: wieland and the construction of the new republic.15 the author argues that wieland is a novel which comprises the ideologies between federalists and anti federalists. in carme manuel manuel s charles brockden brown s wieland or, fiction as an instrument of salvation in post- revolutionary america.16the author argues that wieland is a warning against the dangers lurking within the beautiful dream of new america. eric a.wolfe s ventriloquizing nation:voice, identity, and radical democracy in charles brockden brown s wieland.17the author analyses the political overtone of carwin s ventriloquism. jennifer harris s at one with the land : the domestic remove charles brockden brown s wieland and matters of national belonging.18the author analyses how the tragedy of wieland reflects the social and political background in early america. charles c, bradshaw s the new england illuminati: conspiracy and causality in charles brockden brown s “ wieland” .19 the author argues that wieland shows brown criticism of federalist ideology. kreyling, michael s construing brown s wieland : ambiguity and derridean freeplay .20the author gives a derrida s freeplay interpretation of wieland. my dissertation gives a brown s perplexed thought interpretation of his wieland. the three chapters of dissertation show brown s perplexed thoughts in religion, rational epistemology and political ideologies of parties. we can perceive the affirmative and negative attitude of brown toward calvinism, deism, john locke s empiricism, scottish common sense, the political ideologies of thomas jefferson s democratic- republican party and alexander hamilton s federalist party. brown s perplexed thoughts interpretation of wieland can explore brown s own dilemma and uncertain thoughts about religion, rational theories of enlightenment, political ideologies of parties and offer us a better understanding for the post- revolutionary thoughts of america and the colonial american society and culture. 6 chapter i perplexed thoughts towards religion “ calvinism is one of the three branches of protestantism. protestantism is the result of luthers religious reformation. it distinguished itself from roman catholic church, whose forms and ceremonies were regarded as unscriptural and corrupt.” 21pilgrim fathers of america are puritans as we