硕士学位论文-从后殖民视角解读库切的《迈克尔的生活与时代》.doc

学校代码：10254密 级：论文编号：091005020116上海海事大学SHANGHAI MARITIME UNIVERSITY硕士学位论文MASTER DISSERTATION论文题目：从后殖民视角解读库切的 迈克尔的生活与时代 学科专业： 英语语言文学（文学） 作者姓名： 杨阿波 指导教师： 吴建国 教授 完成日期： 二九年六月 论文独创性声明本人声明所呈交的论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。论文中除了特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，不包含其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。其他同志对本研究的启发和所做的贡献均已在论文中作了明确说明并表示了谢意。作者签名：_ 日期：_论文使用授权声明本人同意上海海事大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权保留送交论文的复印件，允许论文被查阅和借阅；学校可以上网公布论文的全部或部分内容，可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文。保密的论文在解密后遵守本规定。An Interpretation of Coetzees Life and Times of Michael K from a Postcolonial Perspective 从后殖民视角解读库切的迈克尔的生活与时代ByYang Abo A DissertationSubmitted to the Graduate Schooland Foreign Languages School in Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for the Degree of Master of English Language and LiteratureUnderThe Supervision ofProfessor Wu JianguoShanghai Maritime UniversityJune 2009AcknowledgementsThis thesis can not come into being without the guidance of my supervisor, Professor Wu Jianguo. From the day I entered this university, his support and instructions have never stopped. Professor Wu is noted for his rigorous scholarship and wide learning; he dose not only set this as his own life principle, but he also demanded his students to follow it when they were writing their theses. Professor Wu did not allow the slightest mistakes to go unchecked, and his help ranged from the smallest details like the spelling of each word to the whole idea of the thesis. His criticism was severe, yet he meant well for his students, because he believes learning is not just about books, perhaps how to be a decent person through our learning counts much more for the future of us. I own him a lot than I could possibly express here.My thanks also go to Professor Zheng Li Xing and Professor Zhao Guang Xiu, whose enlightening lectures and whose patience to answer all our questions threw light on my academic study. Last but not least, my thanks go to Shanghai Maritime University where I have spent those wonderful days. 摘 要“后殖民” 这一术语已在文学批评领域得到广泛的应用。从最初的殖民话语到今天系统的后殖民写作，各种相关的后殖民理论飞速发展。这就是为什么大多数理论家认为后殖民理论没有单一的定论，可以从不同角度对其进行解释。在此基础上本文作者从后殖民与历史的角度来分析库切的迈克尔的生活与时代这一作品，希望通过这种双重视角的分析方法，能进一步地阐明后殖民与历史的之间的关系。本文作者认为历史与后殖民之间是因与果的关系。没有殖民的历史，后殖民也就无从说起。因为后殖民理论正是对殖民历史的反思。后殖民理论家萨义德认为所谓历史只不过是人为的文字游戏。历史不仅满足人对过去事情的好奇感，历史也影响着其现在的世界观，决定着他对未来的看法。在西方的历史书里，殖民地国家被描写成一片原始，落后与未开化的蛮荒之地，对立的西方国家则被描绘成现代，先进与文明的代表，以此烘托出西方文明的至上性，而西方列强对他国进行的殖民统治也被美化成“启蒙教育”。南非的历史是权力争夺的历史，是殖民的历史。南非作家库切的小说迈克尔的生活与时代正是对这段历史的真实记载。库切因迈克尔的生活与时代获得了一九八三年的英国布克文学奖，奠定了他在世界文坛上的地位，并最终于二零零三年获得了诺贝尔文学奖。历史是库切小说永恒的主题，在他的小说里历史犹如狂风暴雨，摧毁一切，所到之处无一不是一片废墟，任何与之的对抗都微不足道，徒劳无益。在这种历史的大背景下，种族隔离的生活犹如噩梦一般。而写作就是要唤醒人们内心深处的另一种声音，这种声音提醒我们去反思我们的文明，反思我们的历史。作为一个对西方文明的怀疑论者，库切的怀疑是犀利和严厉的。他无情地批判了理性主义的残酷性和西方道德的浅簿性，但另一方面，对那些生活在殖民统治下，背负着沉重历史负担的人们，库切则对他们报以关心和同情。迈克尔的生活与时代正是这样一本关于历史与殖民的书。本论文共分为五个章节。第一章是绪论，简要地对本文研究的作品和作家进行介绍的。第一章的重点是放在文献综述上。第二章首先是对后殖民理论的发展脉络做一个介绍，接着是对后殖民理论观点进行阐述，相关理论观点将会出现在文本分析中。在这一章中还将对历史在后殖民写作的重要意义和后殖民所采用的历史写作策略进行阐述，阐明历史和小说创作的关系。第三和第四章是文本分析。第三章是关于权力和历史的关系，人类的历史无一不是权力斗争的历史。历史就是权力的历史。第四章是殖民与历史的关系，这一章实际上是第三章的延续，是从殖民的观点来谈论历史，因为南非的历史也是殖民的历史，权力的斗争是为了巩固殖民统治。因此后殖民写作的任务就是要逆写殖民历史，书写真相，再现种族隔离下人们的真实生活，解构帝国主义关于殖民历史的书写。最后一章是本文的结论。这一章是对殖民主义给第三世界国家的人民所带来的灾难进行的反思。实际上是对西方现代性的反思。另外在本章的末尾将对本论文分析的可取和不足之处作出结语，并对这方面学术研究的可行性空间说出自己的见解。 关键词：后殖民；历史；殖民；权力 AbstractThe term “postcolonialism” has been widely applied in the literary field. From the early colonial discourse to todays coherent postcolonial writing, related theories from different perspectives have been developed considerably, that is why nearly every critic agrees that there is no one singular postcolonialism, and postcolonialism can be expressed in different ways. It is based on this common ground that the proper author attempts to analyze this thesis from both a postcolonial and a historical perspective. It is expected that this double perspectives could throw some light on the relationship between postcolonialism and history. Because the proper author believes there is a cause and effect between the two. Without a colonial history, postcolonialism would not come into being. Postcolonialism is a reflection on that part of history. According to the Said, history is a human effort and a play of language. History not only satisfies the readers curiosity about the past, but shapes his view of the present and determines his forecast of the future. Thus the representation of the colonized world in the western historical narrative is always primitive, backward and uncivilized; it is in this way it confirms the supremacy of the modern, advanced, civilized West and legalizes its colonization as the mission of Enlightenment. South Africans history is a history of power and history of colonization. South African writer Coetzees Life and Times of Michael K is a truthful record of that part of history. Life and Times of Michael K won him the Booker Price in 1983 and fully established his name in the world literature, which, with his other books, eventually led to his winning of Nobel Price in 2003. History is a forever theme in his fictions, and within his literary fictional world, the historical forces sweeps everything away along its way, leaving behind only ruins and disaster, any resistance against it is minimal and futile. In such a historical background, the colonial life under apartheid is a nightmare. To write is to awaken a counter-voice within oneself to reflect on our civilization and our history. As a scrupulous doubter of the western civilization, Coetzee ruthlessly criticizes the cruelty of rationalism and shallowness of western morality, on the other hand, he shows his concerns and sympathy for those who live in a colonial life, bearing the heavy burden of history. Life and times of Michael K offers a perfect example of how power and colonization are related to history. This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the general introduction to the author and his works, the whole structure of the thesis, but the emphasis is put on the part of literary review. The second starts from the development of related theories to build the theoretical background for postcolonialism. It then moves to introduce what is postcolonialism and its propositions which will be applied to the textual analysis in the third and fourth chapter. As this thesis centers on the subject of history from a postcolonial perspective, it will then discuss the importance of history in postcolonial writing and in which way it has been carried out, as will as the relationship between history and fiction. The third and the fourth chapter are devoted to the textual analysis. In the third section, it focuses on the relation between power and history, because there is no history that does not involve the struggle and conflict for power. The fourth chapter is about colonization and history. Indeed; this section is the continuation of the earlier, but from a perspective of colonization to talk about history, because history in South Africa is a history of colonization and the power struggle only strengthens this colonization. Thus, the responsibility for postcolonial writing is to write back to truth, to represent the reality of apartheid life, to deconstruct the imperial discourse about history. The last chapter is a reflection on the destruction that colonialism caused on the third world people, a rethinking about the western modernity. The conclusion is the summary of the text analysis, the shortcomings that it needs to improve as well as the possibilities for further research. Key Words: Postcolonialism; history; colonization; power ContentsAcknowledgementsi摘 要iiAbstractivChapter One General Introduction11.1 The author and the works11.2 An overview on criticism of Life and Times of Michael K21.3 Purpose and significance of the thesis61.4 Methodology and organization of the thesis7Chapter Two Related Theoretical Background92.1 The emergence of postcolonialism and its development92.1.1 Colonialism and decolonization92.1.2 Commonwealth literature132.1.3 Colonial discourses142.2 Postcolonial theories and their propositions172.3 The features of postcolonial writing182.3.1 The interaction with postcolonialism182.3.2 The interaction with postmodernism192.4 Significance of history for Coetzees postcolonial writing20Chapter Three Power and History in Life and Times of Michael K263.1 Power and history reflected in allegory263.2 Power in history293.2.1 War and power303.2.2 Prison and power343.2.3 The resistance to power373.3 The counter-discourse of power and history39Chapter Four Colonization and History in Life and Times of Michael K424.1 Colonization and history424.2 The features of colonization in history464.2.1 The double otherness464.2.2 Place and displacement484.2.3 Language and silence504.2.4 Freedom and enslavement52Chapter Five Conclusion54Bibliography5862Chapter One General IntroductionThe purpose of this chapter is, first of all, to give an account of Coetzees life experience and his literary career. It is followed by an introduction of the reception of his works both at home and abroad. The organization and methodology for the thesis are also included in this chapter. 1.1 The author and the works On the 9th February, 1940, John Maxwell Coetzee was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the elder son of the family. His father was an attorney, but practiced very little. It was his mother, a primary school teacher, who exerted great influence on him. Coetzees parents were not British descents, but the language used in family was English. From 1941-1945 he served in the South African Forces in North Africa and Italy. In 1960 and 1961, Coetzee graduated successively with honor degrees in English and Mathematics. For the next three years, he moved to England and worked as a computer programmer while at the same time writing his thesis on the English novelist Ford Madox Ford. In 1965 Coetzee entered the graduate school of the University of Texas at Austin, and in 1968 graduated with a PhD in English, linguistics, and Germanic languages. His doctoral dissertation was on the early fiction of Samuel Beckett. But when his application for permanent residence in the United States was turned down, Coetzee went back to South Africa and held a series teaching position in University of Cape Town, the last of them as Distinguished Professor of Literature. For those following years, he taught in various universities in the United States, including the State University of New York, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago, where for six years he was a member of the Committee on Social Thought. In 2002 Coetzee immigrated to Australia. He lives with his partner Dorothy Driver in Adelaide, South Australia, where he holds an honorary position at the University of Adelaide. Coetzee was awarded Noble Prize for literature in 2003.Coetzees literary achievements can be divided into two parts, the fictional writing and literary essays. The former includes his first book, Dusklands, (1969), In the heart of Country (1977), which won South Africas principal literary award and the CNA Prize, and Waiting for the Barbarians (1980). His reputation was confirmed by Life and Times of Michael K (1983), which won Britains Booker Prize. It was followed by Foe (1986), Age of Iron (1990), The Master of Petersburg (1994), and Disgrace (1999), which again won the Booker Prize. His literary essays are Elizabeth Costello (2003), White Writing (1988), Doubling the Point (1992), Giving Offense (1996), and Stranger Shores (2001).1.2 An overview on criticism of Life and Times of Michael K Coetzee is a prolific writer from South Africa; he is the author of books like Life and Times of Michael K and Disgrace, both of which won him the Booker Price respectively in 1983 and 1999. His other books include Waiting for Barbarians, Dusklands and In the Heart of Country. In 2003, Coetzee won the highest literary award, the Nobel Price for his exemplary contribution to the literary world. Coetzee writes with a socio-politico-economic backdrop of South Africa in most of his works. His characters seek refuse beyond the realms of power; they seek life where there exists none. As the Swedish Academy says that with intellectual honesty and density of feeling, in a prose of icy precision, Coetzee have unveiled the masks of our civilization and uncovered the topography of evil and he is certainly one of the most powerful voices in contemporary English literature. Although Coetzee has enjoyed a high prestige in world literature, few readers in China ever read his books and the critic reception of his works was not promising either. The truth was that before Coetzee got Nobel Price there had only been a limited number of academic researches carried on his creations. One was Wang Li Lis A poignant Song of Postcolonialism and another is The Cost of Transgression written by Zhang Cong and Guo Zeng feng. Some other articles include An interpretation of Coetzees novels written by Zhou Cang Cai, Allegory of the Complicated Identities Zang Ling, Coetzees Three Identities by Zao Bei Seng. After the Nobel Price announcement, Coeztees other fictions were translated and published in China successively. It was followed by various critic articles that appeared in journals such as Outlook，Contemporary Foreign Literature, Foreign Literature, China & the World Cultural Exchange. Such a large amount of publication of his books and related essays definitely help Chinese readers to get close to his works and the author himself. But to go deep into his literary world is not an easy thing, because a lot of Chinese readers complain that they do not understand what Coetzee wants to transmit through his books, but this complaining is not only confined to the Chinese readers, it also holds true of readers abroad. Wang An Yi, a well-know Chinese writer possessing a wide readership in China, has once remarked that Coetzees works are trapped into the snare of sexual depiction. She takes Waiting for Barbarians as an example, pointing out that Coetzees novels lack the historical background and social meanings. Actually it is not the first time that Coetzee has been labeled by this accusation, this difficulty in understanding his novels results from his allegorical setting of narration and his not-wasting-one-word way of writing style, from the unfamiliarity with the theoretical background of postmodernism and postcolonialism, and from the insufficient knowledge of South Africans history which is tinged with the blood of apartheid system. Life and Times of Michael K is the typical epitome of such vagueness and evasiveness. The book reviews about it are scarce, until now the author of the thesis only finds three pieces of essays which are devoted particularly to this novel, one is Godless Times of Job written by Qu Yi Qun and Liu Yong, published in Foreign Literature, Gardening and Salvation by Han Rui Hui, in Journal of Guang Xi University for Nationalities, and The Base Line of Spirit of Human in Deep End by Fang Xiang Zhen, in Journal of Zhongzhou University. This blank causes a problem for the author of the thesis to collect materials for his writing, but as a coin has two sides, it motivated and inspired the proper author to explore those untrodden paths leading to Coetzees allegorical world. A large scale of study on Coetzees works started in the 1980s; Waiting for the Barbarians and Life and Times of Michael K established his name in the literary world. From 1980s to 1990s, various academic books about Coetzees writing were published: A history of South Africa: J.M. Coetzees Fiction in Context by Susan V. Gallaher, Critical Essays on J.M Coetzee by Sue Kossew, Critical Perspectives on J. M. Coetzee by Huggan Graham and so on. South Africas most accomplished realist writer Nadine Godimer, another Noble Price winner in 1991, blamed Coetzees elusion of politics, because she believed life under apartheid South Africa needed a down-to-earth depiction., a clear side between the oppressed and the oppressing. On publication, Life and Times of Michael K aroused a fair amount of controversy, because at that time the prevalent mode of literature tradition in South Africa was realism, as a postmodernist writer, Coetzees works passed through from cold reception to the final dismissal, the critic reviewed that there lacked a meaningful relationship between Michael K and anybody else, from whose life readers could not draw either example nor warning because it was too far removed from the norm, unnatural and almost inhuman, readers of this book could learn little from the Life and Times of Michael K. All those accusations perhaps could explain why few people in South Africa know Coetzees name, even after he was awarded the Nobel Price in literature. The academic reviews about Life and Times of Michael K are really bits and odds, the most famous comment is from Nadine Gordmers critical position on Michael K, she put the question directly to Coetzee and asked how he could reply to the charge of “furthering the liberal fantasy of the politics of innocence and so obstructing the progressive action, and Coetzee replied: I have no wish to enter the lists as a defender of Michael K. If war is the father of all things, let the objection you voice go to war with the book, which has now had its say, and let us see who wins” (Attwell, 1993: 123). Ind