（英语语言文学专业论文）狂欢视角中的《了不起的盖茨比》.pdf

iv 摘 要 弗司各特菲茨杰拉德，二十世纪二十年代美国著名的小说家，被誉为爵士时代 的代言人和桂冠诗人。他的代表作了不起的盖茨比被认为是美国文学史上的经典之 作。ts艾略特称它为“美国小说自亨利詹姆斯以来迈出的第一步” 。1925 年问世 以来，这部小说一直是评论界的热点。评论家们从作品的主题、叙事方法、写作技巧等 方面对这部作品进行了深入的研究。 近年来也不乏读者从女性主义批评视角和文化角度 等对这部小说进行解读。本文利用巴赫金的狂欢化理论重新解读了不起的盖茨比 ， 以期对这部作品有一个全新的认识。 引言部分简要介绍作者以及他在美国文学史上的地位和贡献，列举了文学界对了 不起的盖茨比的主要评价，为本文提供了一个广阔的分析背景。并对巴赫金的狂欢化 理论进行了综述,阐述了运用狂欢化理论研究了不起的盖茨比的可行性。 第一章，指出菲茨杰拉德小说创作和狂欢化的联系，解读小说中充溢着的鲜明的狂 欢氛围和狂欢精神。梅尼普精神在小说中得到体现。 第二章讨论小说中体现的狂欢节最重要的仪式-加冕脱冕仪式。 第三章阐述了小说中的狂欢大众，这些狂欢大众由恶棍、小丑、傻子或疯子形象组 成。 通过综合分析，本文在结论中充分肯定了不起的盖茨比中渗透的狂欢成分，指 出菲茨杰拉德有意地创造了一个和当时的现实社会有着惊人的相似之处的 “狂欢广场” 。 这个广场上形形色色的人尽情表演，不同的价值观实现了平等对话。通过这种对话，通 过回荡在广场上的喧嚣声，向我们展现了一副美国二十年代众生相图。 关键词：狂欢化 梅尼普 平等对话 加冕脱冕 iii abstract f. scott fitzgerald is known as the spokesman and laureate of the “jazz age”. the great gatsby, his masterpiece, is considered an american classic. t. s. eliot gives it the warmest praise by claiming that the great gatsby is the “first step that american fiction has taken since henry james”1. ever since its publication in 1925 it has always been the hot subject of the critics. people have done intensive researches on its theme, way of narration, techniques and so on. in recent years, we can find further research on this novel in feminist and cultural aspects. this thesis attempts to interpret the novel in light of bakhtins poetics of carnivalization in order to enrich the understanding of the novel. the first part of the thesis is a brief introduction to the author and his contribution to american literature. it also gives a summary of the previous critical reviews on the great gatsby in the hope that it can equip our present carnivalistic interpretation of the novel with a rich and broad critical background. then it goes on to briefly explain bakhtins theory on carnival, probing the feasibility of applying the carnival theory to the study of the great gatsby. chapter i begins by pointing out the connection between carnivalesque and fitzgeralds fiction creating. then it goes on to discuss the carnival atmosphere overwhelming the novel and the carnivalesque spirit filled in the novel. the carnival sense of menippea works well in the novel. chapter ii is a special study on carnivalistic rituals practiced in the novel, the crowning and decrowning of gatsby and mrs. wilson as carnival king and queen. chapter iii elucidates the members of carnival collective alive in the novel, including the rogues, the carnival clowns and the carnival fools or madmen. through the comprehensive analysis the thesis comes to its conclusion affirming that the great gatsby is a carnivalized novel. the parties and gatherings are very similar to the carnival square in ancient times. with the help of dialogue, of laughter and roaring echoing on the square, a vivid picture of the 20th america is unfolded before us. key words: carnival menippean satire dialogism crown/decrown 1 donaldson, scott. critical essays on f. scott fitzgeralds the great gatsby. boston: g.k. hall and co., 1984: 268 ii 学位论文原创性声明 学位论文原创性声明 本人所提交的学位论文狂欢视角中的 ，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 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 f. scott fitzgerald was the most famous chronicler of the 1920s america, an era that he dubbed the “jazz age”. in his short life, the prolific writer leaves behind him five novels, 178 short stories, numerous essays and plays. together with william faulkner and earnest hemingway, he was ranked one of the three prominent novelists in modern american literature. as faulkner knew well the south, and hemingway was familiar with wars, fitzgerald quite understood the rich. he created the “romance of money”, opening up his own artistic field, and making an eternal contribution to american literature. in his novels and short stories, fitzgerald unfolds before us the fashion, the luxury, the deceit and the emptiness of the social life of the 1920s. the great gatsby, his masterpiece, is considered an american classic. ever since its publication in 1925 it has always been the hot subject by the critics. people have done intensive researches on the novel from different perspectives. it is universally accepted that fitzgerald writes out of his own experiences. so critical response to fitzgeralds work including the great gatsby is tied to his biography. biographical research fueled the growing critical reputation of fitzgerald and of the great gatsby. the first full-length biography of fitzgerald is arthur mizeners the far side of paradise: a biography of f. scott fitzgerald which gives detailed information and new ways to the studies on the life and works of fitzgerald as well as his thoughts and artistic styles. it is regarded as one of the most authoritative and vivid biographies. from then on, other biographies from different aspects appeared in both america and europe. among them two should be mentioned. the newest one is scott fitzgerald: a biography by jeffrey meyers; the other one is matthew j. bruccolis some sort of epic grandeur: the life of f. scott fitzgerald, which has been considered the best biography till now. naturally the earliest essays on the great gatsby were general introductions. once the significance of it had been firmly established and the book had moved more readers, a variety of critical perspectives were applied to the analyses of it. the most common one is to discuss the novel in terms of its themes-the american dream and its unattainability. “the great gatsby is an exploration of the american dream as it exists in a corrupt period”, “critics from 2 several different generations have noted how fitzgerald used his conflicts to explore the origins and fate of the american dream and the related idea of the nation”.1 the many-sided depiction of these themes in the novel has provided the basis for many critical discussions. perhaps the most influent early study was marius bewleys scott fitzgeralds criticism of america, which is “probably the first and certainly one of the best analyses of gatsby as a critique of the american experience and the american dream.”2 it discusses the great gatsby as the withering of the american dream. many other articles focused on the same theme through the years. such as the collection of critical essays scott fitzgerald: the promise of life edited by a. robert lee contains roger lewiss money, love and aspiration in the great gatsby and susan resneck parrs the idea of order at west egg, focusing on the theme through close reading of the text. another common way of studying the novel is to examine fitzgeralds use of symbols. these include the eyes of dr. t. j. eckleburg on his advertisement; the use of green, white, silver and yellow as significant colors in the novel; the allusive names - gatsby, east egg, west egg and the valley of ashes; and some of the actions and objects - the green light on daisys dock and automobiles, etc. the great gatsby has also been studied for signs of literary influences on fitzgerald. the literary style of joseph conrad is often cited as having affected the perspective and outlook of the book. john keats is also directly echoed in the great gatsby. james e. miller jr.s fitzgerald gatsby: the world as ash heap traces the influence of eliots poem the waste land, which probably impelled fitzgerald to present the dump between new york city and the long island homes of the characters in symbolic terms. the unique narrative techniques also receive much attention. the writer makes the character in this novel the narrator to develop the story skillfully. this unique technique creates aesthetic distance between the writer, the narrator, the characters and the readers, producing original artistic effect. toming points out, “with this narrative point of view in place, the novel achieves a balance between involvement and distance, romantic passion and critical irony.” 3 “the great gatsby marked a turning point in fitzgeralds career by his discovery of the use of a dramatized narrator, a lesson learnt from conrad”, “nick carraway thus performed a crucial role in conveying a sense of something mysterious and inexplicable 3 about gatsby.”4 david seed noticed. in recent years, we can find further research on this novel in feminist and cultural aspects. the novels representation of women, race and sexual identity were interrogated. some critics argued that daisy was considered a person in her own right and not just an object of gatsbys desire. some noted a homosexual dimension in nicks relationship to the men in the novel, and most recently the conclusion that gatsby is black has been made. from the authors aspect, some critics point out great similarities between fitzgerald and gatsby. like fitzgerald, what gatsby schemes for, and ultimately does, is not for money itself but for the fact that it will take him near to his beloved. “in the great gatsby, fitzgerald exactly and beautifully canalized the various stands of his own temperament-his essential westernness, his sensibility beyond the sensibility of the class he clung to.”5 a comparison between fitzgerald and conrad also aroused critics great interests. in china, it was dong hengxun who first studied fitzgerald in 1979. his comments and research exerted great impact on fitzgerald studies in our country. the great gatsby was first translated into chinese by wu ningkun in 1983. wu ningkuns introduction to the book remains a source of sound critical perspective on fitzgerald and the great gatsby. in 1986,a survey of american literature by dong hengxun, zhu hong, etc.gave a full description of fitzgeralds life, thoughts, literary style and artistic peculiarity, truly represented his status in american literature. since then many other scholars have done a lot of research from different perspectives. wu jianguos fitzgerald studies gives a thorough survey of the studies on fitzgerald and his works both at home and abroad. the articles relating to fitzgeralds the great gatsby published in the last two decades in the academic journals in china can be grouped into two perspectives: one is devoted to the theme, the significance in depicting the society and history; the other deals with fitzgeralds literary stylethe ironic and poetically imaginative language of the novel, the abundant use of metaphors and symbols, the dramatic narration and so on. up till now, however, of all the studies on the great gatsby, few have ever proposed theoretical connections between the novel and the carnivalesque poetics, and critical analysis in this line are rather limited. the present paper attempts to interpret the novel in light of bakhtins poetics of carnivalization in 4 order to broaden the horizon of the readers and to enrich the understanding of the novel, and through it, to probe into 20th century america. “etymologically, carnival is the old latin ecclesiastical word for the several-day festival of meat-dating before lent.”6 but the meaning of the word has nowadays been broadened far beyond its origin with the historical development in the middle ages and the following centuries. in bakhtins view, carnival is “the sum total of all diverse festivities, rituals and forms of a carnival type”.7 these festivities, rituals and forms that constitute carnival are “very complex and varied, giving rise, on a general carnivalistic base, to diverse variants and nuances depending on the epoch, the people, the individual festivitycarnival is a pageant without footlights and without a division into performers and spectators.”8 in carnival everyone is an active participant, everyone communes in the carnival act. everyone lives a carnivalistic life as long as those carnival laws. so we can say that carnivalistic life is a life drawing out of its usual rut; it is to some extent life turned inside out, the reverse side of the world. the laws, prohibitions and restrictions that determine the structure and order of the ordinary are suspended during carnival. social hierarchical inequality among people resulting from hierarchical structure is the first thing demolished in carnival. people who in usual life are separated enter into free familiar contact on the carnival square. bakhtins most familiar notion is that of the carnivalesque. carnivalesque refers to a literary mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos. in his problems of dostoevskys poetics and rabelais and his world, bakhtin likens the carnivalesque in literature to the type of activity that often takes place in the carnivals of popular culture. in the carnival, as we have seen, social hierarchies of everyday life - their solemnities and pieties and etiquettes, as well as all ready-made truths - are profaned and overturned by normally suppressed voices and energies. thus, fools become wise, kings become beggars; opposites are mingled (fact and fantasy, heaven and hell). the anarchic holiday celebration in marketplace and square, with its many voices and disdain for the established social order, seems an almost irresistible metaphor for the parties and gatherings in the great gatsby. it is my contention that the great gatsby can be fruitfully interpreted in the bakhtinian framwork of carnival. in this light we can see newly and 5 penetratingly the particular nature of the novel. the body of this thesis is devided into three chapters. chapter one approaches the novel from its connection with carnival. then it goes to discuss the carnival atmosphere overwhelming the novel and the carnivalesque spirit filled in the novel. the carnival sense of meanippea works well in the novel. chapter two is a special study on carnivalistic rituals practiced in the novel, the crowning and decrowning of gatsby and mrs. wilson as carnival king and queen. chapter three elucidates the members of carnival collective alive in the novel, including the rogues, the carnival clowns and the carnival fools or madmen. through the detailed analysis, the thesis comes to its conclusion that fitzgerald intentionally builds a large “carnival square” on which people can act and speak freely. under the laughing and roaring and free dialogue, a vivid, authentic picture of 20th century america is unfolded before us. 6 i the carnivalization of the great gatsby carnivalization is the transposition of carnvial into the language of literature. although carnival itself is not a literary phenomenon, “it has exerted great influence upon the development of the entire novelistic genre”. “literature that was influenced - directly and without mediation, or indirectly, through a series of carnivalistic folklore (ancient or medieval) we shall call canivalized literature.”9 the carnivalized literary works in various periods have their own originality. in ancient greece and rome, some literary genres and movements underwent a particularly intense carnivalization. in rome, some comedies themselves were created for the festival, such as the saturnalia. if one wishes to understand the alternation and mutual estrangement of the official, the carnivalistic is the key point to make sense of many phenomena in medieval literature. some speeches and symbols and ridicule in literature in this day are the relics of carnival in that epoch. during the renaissance, there occurred a deep and almost total carnivalization of all artistic acts of crowing and carnival ambivalence penetrated deeply into almost all genres of artistic literature. up to this stage, carnivalization was direct and several genres in fact directly served carnival. for bakhtin, carnivalization has a long and rich historical foundation in the genre of the ancient menippean satire. a influence on fitzgeralds carnivalized writing carnivalized writing is the writing which mobilizes one form of discourse against another, especially popular against elite forms. in this usage, carnival tends to lose its historical specificity and comes to resemble a transhistorical generic principle which can be actualized in widely differing periods. a study of the jazz age, an age of satire and art, which fitzgerald lived in would be of helpful for better interpretation of his novel from the perspective of carnivalesque. world war i had left all european belligerents weary and numbed spiritually. america, however, not having been involved in the war for long, remained just as powerful as before. materialism spread rapidly throughout the country, and people became more liberal and self-obsessed. the luxurious life, and endless parties are the embodiment of personal success and the fulfillment of american dream. prosperous in economy as it was, many changes in spiritual and social 7 values were taking place in the 1920s. young people turned their backs on the values of their parents. girls enjoyed the casualty and freedom in their relationships with man. a “revolution” took place in peoples attitudes towards moral and sex, which seemed to be encouraged by the popularity of the freudian psychology by 1920. the pursuit for material fulfillment and sensual enjoyment became the dominance of young peoples life while they remained spiritually bankrupt. this kind of hedonism and “seize-the-day philosophy” is well illustrated in both this side of paradise and the great gatsby. and the depiction of the gaiety of the wild drinking party during the prohibition where gin flowed like water in the great gatsby is