（英语语言文学专业论文）多丽丝·莱辛女性意识的嬗变——解读《金色笔记》、《简·萨默斯的日记》和《裂痕》.pdfVIP

iii 多丽丝莱辛女性意识的嬗变 解读金色笔记简 萨默斯的日记和裂痕 研究生张秀芳 年级2 0 0 6 学科专业英语语言文学 指导老师王美萍 副教授 研究方向英美文学 中 文 摘 要 多丽丝 莱辛1 9 1 9 - 是我们这个时代最不同反响的作家在她五十多年的创作生 涯中有相当数量的作品是关于女性命运的但这些作品并非为女性主义运动摇旗呐喊 而只是试图描绘女性的现实处境并为女性发展探索出路在这漫长的探索过程中女性 的生活境遇和社会现状不断变化这也促使莱辛的女性意识逐渐嬗变本文通过莱辛早 中晚期的三部作品金色笔记1 9 6 2简 萨默斯的日记1 9 8 4 和 裂痕2 0 0 7 试图理清莱辛女性意识的发展脉络 论文首先简单介绍了多丽丝 莱辛以及对其作品的一些相关研究并指出本论文研究 的主要方向和内容 接着通过对文本内容的阐释探讨了莱辛对于女性经济独立观点的嬗变对于女性的 经济独立莱辛经历了从失望质疑到领悟的过程金色笔记中的安娜和摩莉积极争 取经济独立但现实迫使她们不得不妥协莱辛为此感到失望在这之后的二十多年里 大批的女强人应运而生简 萨默斯的日记中的简就是其中的一员这些女性体验 了前所未有的经济独立但莱辛却对此提出了质疑通过深入探究她发现这些女性的幸 福感并没有比以前增加多少她们的生活中除了工作一无所有在莱辛看来女性只有在 事业和家庭中保持平衡才是可行之路随着社会的逐步发展以及后现代女性主义理论的提 出莱辛领悟到女性不仅要争取与男性的经济地位平等更重要的是男女的共同合作裂 痕中体现了莱辛的这一观点 论文然后探讨了莱辛对于女性精神独立观点的嬗变女性在争取经济独立的过程中获 得了一定的自信和尊重但这并不能满足她们的精神需要一些进步的女性例如安娜 希望摆脱对男人的依赖而成为自由女性但结果并不令人满意尽管如此莱辛仍执着的 相信女性应为她们的自由不懈的努力就像西西弗一样不断的将巨石推向顶峰在第二 次女性主义运动的推动之下一些女性为了追求精神独立和自由拒绝与任何人有思想上 的交流将自我完全束缚起来正如莱辛笔下的简莱辛对此深入思索发现女性只有将 自我从束缚中解脱出来才能获得真正的精神独立二十多年之后莱辛逐渐意识到男女两 性各有特点又紧密相连因此双方的互相理解和宽容将是女性精神独立的发展之路莱 辛通过裂痕中最原始人群的发展表达了这一观点 iv 再接下来论文探讨了莱辛对于女性存在方式观点的嬗变在不断的争取经济独立和精 神独立的过程中女性的处境也随之发生改变对于女性在社会中的存在方式莱辛经历 了从觉醒探索到突破的过程通过金色笔记莱辛初步探讨了女性的他者性并 尝试寻找女性的自我经过二十多年的努力一些知识女性从男性统治的社会中得到了一 些利益她们开始相信自己能够像男性一样平等地成为主体然而莱辛却从这些表面现 象中发现这些女强人为了与男性保持一致从而失去了真正的自己因此莱辛指出 如果女性想摆脱第二性她们必须保持自身的特点有自我的意识和想法长期以来男 性统治女性的意识非常强烈他们通过将女性定义为客体来确保自身的主体地位但男女 两性是平等的个体而并非主体与客体因此女性真正摆脱他者的地位需要男女两 性的共同努力这一观点在莱辛的新作裂痕中有所体现 最后是论文的结论部分在五十多年的创作生涯中莱辛对于女性的经济独立精神 独立和存在方式的观点已经发生嬗变总的来说在创作的早期莱辛的女性意识刚刚觉 醒有时还不够深入和全面但随着不断的探索和思考莱辛的女性意识愈来愈成熟因 此对于女性的处境也有了不同的观点通过最新作品裂痕莱辛指出女性无论是争 取经济独立精神独立还是摆脱他者的地位都需要男性的参与男女两性共同努力才 是一条可行的发展道路 关键词女性意识经济独立精神独立存在方式 v the evolution of doris lessings feminine consciousness: an interpretation of the golden notebook, the diaries of jane somers and the cleft postgraduate: zhang xiufang grade: 2006 supervisor: prof. wang meiping major field of study: english language economic independence; spiritual independence; existence vii abbreviations gn the golden notebook djs the diaries of jane somers c the cleft 41 论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行的研究工 作及取得的成果除文中已经注明引用的内容外本论文不含其他个人或其 他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果对本文的研究作出重要贡献的个人和 集体均已在文中以明确方式标明本人承担本声明的法律责任 研究生签名 日期 论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留使用学位论文的规定广西师范 大学中国科学技术信息研究所清华大学论文合作部有权保留本人所送 交学位论文的复印件和电子文档可以采用影印缩印或其他复制手段保存 论文本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容相一致除在保密期内的保密 论文外允许论文被查阅和借阅可以公布包括刊登论文的全部或部分 内容论文的公布包括刊登授权广西师范大学学位办办理 研究生签名 日期 导 师签名 日期 ii acknowledgements firstly, i wish to express my thanks to my supervisor, wang meiping, for h er consistent help in revising the draft of this thesis, and for her valuable advice and personal support. i would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to her for her enlightening and remarkable lectures, which greatly enrich my knowledge, broaden my view and enhance my understanding of literature and life. secondly, my sincere thanks also go to all the course teachers during the first two years of my study in guangxi normal university, prof. zhang shuning, prof. liu yuhong, and prof. lu xiaohong, for all the instruction and suggestions i have got from them. they have helped me to develop an interest in english language my husband wu huaiheng always gives me valuable advice on my studies. without their efforts, the present thesis would not have been possible. finally, thanks also should go to my classmates and friends chang hongbo, yu zhaohui, zheng huanhuan, and xin yingyang. they all give me some good advice on my thesis. 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1 literature reviews doris lessing is acclaimed as “the most extraordinary woman writer of our time” (greene, 1994:1). for one thing, lessing is a prolific writer. during her more than fifty writing years, lessing has written about sixty novels, essays and other works; and for another, she deals with diverse subject matters: racial discrimination, war, sexual relationship and some others. “lessing is always restless, moving, probing, testing the limits of the possible and seeking new possibilities” (1994: 13-14). this thesis tries to focus on lessings viewpoints on “sexual relationship”, which is embodied in her three works the golden notebook (1962), the diaries of jane somers (1984) and the cleft (2007). the criticism on the three works is rich in variety, which can be categorized as follows. as rubenstein roberta saw it, “the seminal position of the golden notebook in lessings canon is without argument” (roberta, 1979: 71). correspondingly, it had been studied most from different angles, such as politics, racial discrimination and sexual relationship. among these, the thesis will put emphasis on the reviews of sexual relationship. “feminist critics in the 1960s and 1970s focused their attention on the novel because it appeared to them as the most self-conscious and detailed study of what was usually known as the free women question” (ghosh, 2006: 32). annis pratt and l.s. dembo published doris lessing in 1962 and stated the golden notebook “has been appropriated by many feminists as a document in the history of liberation” (pratt did a song and dance act in a revue decided it was too frivolous; took drawing lessons, gave them up when the war started when she worked as a journalist; gave up journalism became a minor actress, 9 and had reconciled herself, to the fact that she was essentially a dilettante (gn, 16). after much unhappiness, molly chooses to get married with a progressive businessman with a lot of money. in a sense, she has “given up and crawled into safety somewhere. into a safe marriage” (ibid). therefore, molly, to some extent, gives up her self-respect and chooses to marry a rich man, which is her helpless compromise. in the golden notebook, anna and molly are both educated women and they are not satisfied with their traditional housewives. anna once says to molly: “we try to have things both ways. weve always refused to live by the book and the rule” (gn, 11). to a certain extent, they are different from traditional housewives, because they try to be self-reliant women who refuse conventions and look for their i ndividual identities in a male-dominated world. through the stories of anna and molly, lessing emphasizes the importance of feminine economic independence and supports women to get their independence. she believes, like virginia woolf, women should have their own income to support themselves. she ever makes it plain in a conversation with folrence howe: “i agree with virginia woolf that everybody should have a private incomefive hundred a year would have made all the difference to my life” (howe, 1974: 9). beyond that, “lessing does deliberately invoke woolf in the golden notebook by naming her woman artist anna wulf” (scott, 1997). lessings idea is progressive, but social reality is there: it is not easy for a woman to find a satisfactory job and get her just respect and salary in a male-dominated world. therefore, anna and molly have to compromise at last. however, jean mccrindle argues that “i dont think theres a sense of womens oppression in the golden notebook. she doesnt blame men for womens frustration” (mccrindle, 1982: 50). lessing may not mean to blame men, but the truth of the matter is quite different. take the case of molly. she has no other choice but to marry a rich and high status man, because the ideology that “man is noble and woman is humble” is deeply rooted in peoples mind. therefore, we can say men certainly should take the blame for womens reluctant compromise. although lessing is frustrated by womens compromise, women have been striving to change the situation. in the golden notebook, lessing proves her ideas of feminine economic independence through the stories of anna and molly. keeping economic independence is a good protection for women to do what they want, so their fighting is necessary and important. unfortunately, they compromise at last and are both “going to be integrated with british life at its roots” (gn, 622), so lessing is frustrated by the situation. however, it is also an indispensable step during the whole process of fighting, so lessing will not stop thinking and exploring. 10 2.2 the diaries of jane somers: balance of family and career it has been more than twenty years since the golden notebook was published. during the 20 years, society changed greatly. firstly, the feminine mystique (1963) and friedans activism attracted a lot of women, including married women, educated women, under valued professional women, urban and suburban women. everyone who read the feminine mystique would appreciate how friedan dug away at “the problem that has no name”. gradually women came to realize that something was very wrong with the way they were trying to live their lives. in order to solve the problem that had no name, more and more women went to work outside the home. secondly, “a resurgence of the womens movement came into being in the following years, which brought enormous changes in the ways in which women, especially educated ones, had the opportunity to live their lives” (hu, 2003). as promoted by friedans activism and the second wave feminism, many women decided to work outside the home. in contrast with the women in the 1950s, they had gained more economic independence. according to professor noreen burrows, in 1970, womens earnings as a percentage of mens (full-time) was 63% and rose to 72% in 1980. although most of them still could not enjoy equal pay for equal work, they did not need to endure so much pressure of economy. some women, especially the educated “superwomen”, began to earn as much money as men did, so they believed they could be equal to men. against this background, “superwomen” became the focus of lessings concern in the 1980s. she not only noticed the superficial phenomenon of these women but also made deep consideration, which was seen in the diaries of jane somers. in the diaries of jane somers, lessing challenges the traditional female stereotype in patriarchal society: women not only work outside the home but also become the major source of family income. jane, the heroine, is a stylistic editor of a womans magazine called lilith. at first, jane and her female colleague joyce run the magazine, but their boss boris is only a decoration. it was obvious to us that we jane and joyce ran it, but boris didnt notice. joyce used to say that in her last job she did all the work for her boss, who had to be allowed to think he was doing it. so nothing had changed for her. i used to brief boris before meetings about what he should say (djs, 76). after joyce leaves the job, jane, phyllis and jill run the magazine instead of their new boss charlie. it is true that lilith is run by women not by boris or charlie, but they are the bosses in formal structure. no matter how hard women work, they are still under the control of their bosses. even so, women have almost sacrificed everything for their career. take the case of jane. 11 in order to be a successful career woman, she puts too much emphasis on her job and it is her only goal in life. janes life is entirely in the office, but home is “the place i jean prepared myself for the office, or rested after work” (djs, 10). for the sake of her job, jane misses the child-bearing age, but she does not feel regret for that. when her husband begins to be very ill, jean does not take care of him under the pretext that she needs to work. she is even proud of herself because she “went on working through it all, kept the money coming in” (djs, 5). therefore, for her work, “jane chose to have neither children nor an emotionally close relationship with her husband, freddie” (sprague, 1987: 119). jane, just like other working women, seems to lead a meaningful and happy life because of her position and income, but she only “lets freddie down and lets my mother down and that was what i was like” (djs, 11). jane is very alone after the deaths of her husband and her mother, because she estranges herself from them and she almost has nothing to recall. therefore, jane believes that “if i lost my job, there wouldnt be much left of me” (djs, 10). through the story of jane, it is natural for us to find that she is different from anna and molly, let alone the traditional housewives, because she has almost abandoned her roles as a daughter, wife and even mother. fortunately, due to the influence of maudie, jane reexamines her own life and realizes that she gives too much importance to career. so she tries to balance her career and family. she decides not to work too hard but to work part-time, so it is possible for her to enjoy her life. “i would sit on a wall along a garden and watch birds busy in a shrub id sit in a caf and with all the afternoon in front of me, listen and look while two girls giggled about their boyfriends” (djs, 165). and it is also possible for her to enjoy true love between her and richard. she completely throws herself into the affection, so they often stand “facing each other, quite ablaze with love” (djs, 267). in the diaries of jane somers, most of women belong to successful career women and some of them even are the breadwinner in the family, but lessing questions the superficial situation: whether the career women are happier than before. through the stories of jane and her colleagues, we can find the answer is not positive. social reality is one of the causes. in the 1980s, we are still living in a patriarchal society, so the “superwomen” with high social status and income are only minority, which is not enough for them to challenge the whole male domination. the women in lilith work very hard, but they are still controlled by their useless male boss. jane and joyce even have to pretend that they can not do a good job without their bosses. debra renee kaufman sharply points out that “women fail to meet one of the most important professional criteria: they are not men” (kaufman, 1984: 154). improvements have been made in that women are sometimes able to obtain middle-management positions, but beyond that there seems to be a glass ceiling that blocks further movement. even so, women have paid too much price. they work tirelessly to transform the role of women in business, but 12 they do overlook the heavy price. over the past several decades, work is always jeans life center, and she indeed derives confidence and self-esteem from her work, but unfortunately she lacks personal feelings that a normal person should have. jane excessively concerns with her career, so she has no time, no energy and no interest to find out other happy things in her life, for example, spending time with mother, communicating with husband and taking care of a baby. the improvement of womens economic status has led to the improvement of their status in the family as well as in the society. however, the aim of being equal to men in economy has deprived women of the happiness of being daughters, wives and mothers. in view of this situation, lessing makes deep consideration and points out that “superwomen” will regret renouncing marriage and motherhood for their full-time career in the near future. according to lessings view, women will not feel better than before unless they can balance their career and family, which can be proved by changed jane. in the golden notebook, lessing realizes the importance of womens economic independence, so she approves of womens fighting for their career. however, the male-dominated society places various obstacles for women, which forces women to constantly compromise with the social reality. womens reluctance compromise gives an impetus for lessing to keep exploring the road of womens development. over the past 20 years, a lot of women choose to work outside the home, and their status and salary also have been raised. it is unfortunate that women do not feel much better than before. in the diaries of jane somers, lessing shows us women still face gender bias at workplace even when they sacrifice so much, which is definitely different from what the radical feminists lobby for. according to wang lili, lessing “in the peak of feminist movement, when almost everyone is excited about the fact that women should go out to work, to voice their own feelings and thoughts, throws cold water over this frenzy fervor” (wang, 2006: 89). through the cold water, lessing proposes that women should not renounce family in favor of work but keep the balance of family and career, only by which women can develop herself as a normal human person. 2.3 the cleft: equality and cooperation the cleft, publishing in 2007, was one of the latest novels of lessing. it had been more than 20 years since the diaries of jane somers came off the press. during the time, the third wave feminism switched their focus to the differences between men and women. elizabeth groze believed that “women do not want the right to be the same as men. rather, women want the right to be as free as mento construct themselves apart from, not in opposition to, men; to be opposite of men yet to be themselves” (groze, 1994: 91). with the development of feminist 13 movement, womens economic situation was improved correspondingly. according to rosemary crompton, “up until after the second world w ar (1951) only about a third of all women of working age or more were economically active. since 1951, however, womens employment has been growing steadily. and by 1991 half of all women of working age or more were economically active” (crompton, 1997: 25). from the numbers we can know, many women were engaged in various kind of job, and they had been advancing in society. however, men often held most of the leading positions in politics and had the best j