（英语语言文学专业论文）《“水仙”号的黑水手》主题的伦理分析.pdf

descriptive chinese abstract i 摘 要 康拉德（1857-1924）被公认为二十世纪初最伟大的英国小说家之一。自从 f.r.利维 斯博士 1948 年在伟大的传统一书中将康拉德纳入“英国小说伟大传统”之链后， 康拉德研究便成为了国内外学术界的热点。 这位英籍波兰裔的作家经历了二十多年的航 海生涯，创作了许多有关海洋题材的作品， “水仙”号的黑水手 （以下简称水仙 ） （1897）便是其中的杰出代表。 近年来文学伦理学得到了国内学者越来越多的关注。与社会伦理学不同，它试图对 文学进行伦理和道德的客观考察并给予历史的辩证阐释。作为一种批评文学的方法，文 学伦理学要求将文学的阅读和理解结合在一起， 旨在揭示出文学所具有的社会责任和道 德义务等伦理价值。在康拉德的众多作品中， 水仙是极富道德内蕴的一部，也集中 体现了他创作理念“道德上的发现应该是每一个故事的目标” 。在这部小说中，故事人 物被置身于独特的环境下，他们不断受到来自外界恶劣环境和人内心邪恶力量的威胁。 在此背景下，作者塑造了两类不同人物形象敬业忠诚的辛格尔顿和自怜自恋的维 特，并将这两类人物进行了道德意义的对比。通过辛格尔顿等优秀水手形象，作者欲说 明的正是，在人与大海的争斗中形成了英国人性格中极其重要的一部分，即英国商船队 所象征的“传统，规训与道德理想” 。康拉德在描绘大海变幻莫测与神秘凶险之时，也 颂扬了水手们在大海的历练下生成的众多优秀品质。 小说中勇敢的英国水手经受住了重 重考验，跨越了生命的“阴影线” ，在苦难的洗礼下实现了道德和心灵的成长，从而走 向了复活之旅。 本文运用文学伦理学批评方法，探讨了作品中人物陷入的种种道德困境，以及他们 是如何获得道德上的发现，从而走上了重生之旅。全文着重分析了英国商船队传统在人 物道德成长中所起到的重要作用，并探究了其背后深层的社会和政治原因。导论部分介 绍了理论背景和课题价值。 正文部分首先阐释了水手们在孤寂的大海上受到了内外双重 “腐蚀”力量的影响，以及由此陷入的种种道德困境；然后分析了水手们在与暴风雨的 搏斗中，逐渐认识到自身所处的困境，并不断获得道德启示；最后则意在探究英国商船 队传统在水手们道德和心理层面上产生的深刻影响； 结论部分将道德在小说中所起的重 要作用和价值做了一个简要的概括，并最终得出结论：只有抛弃自恋的心理，承担起社 会责任，个人才能实现道德和心灵的平衡。 关键词：约瑟夫康拉德； “水仙”号的黑水手 ；文学伦理学批评；道德关键词：约瑟夫康拉德； “水仙”号的黑水手 ；文学伦理学批评；道德 english abstract ii abstract joseph conrad (1857-1924) is recognized as one of the greatest english novelists at the beginning of the 20th century. since dr. f. r. leavis incorporated his works into the chain of “the great tradition” of english novels in the great tradition (1948), conrad has received constant attention from academic cycles at home and abroad. the polish-born english writer has produced plenty of well-known sea novels after he spent more than twenty years in the sea, and the nigger of the “narcissus” (1897) is his first masterpiece of this genre. literary ethical criticism has attracted the domestic critics attention in recent years. different from social ethics, it attempts to conduct an objective research on literature from ethical perspective and offer a historical dialectical explanation. as a kind of literary criticism, it requires a combination of literary reading and understanding, exposing the ethical values of literature like social responsibility and moral obligation. it is conrads artistic idea that “moral discovery should be the object of every tale,” and the nigger of the “narcissus” is such a work with rich moral significance. in the novel, the heroes lives, under some specific circumstances, are constantly threatened by alienating forces from outside as well as evil factors from characters inner world. two types of figures are molded and positioned into different moral hierarchies, which are singleton who is loyal to his duty and wait who indulges in narcissism. from the image of singleton, conrad implies that a major part of british nature is formed in the long-existing combat between man and sea, and this nature is represented by the characteristics of british merchant service, that is “tradition, discipline and moral ideal.” conrad is an artist who not only portrays the greatness and caprice of the sea, but also eulogizes the virtues that the sailors acquired in fighting with the sea. those courageous sailors can always pass the tests by clinging to fidelity and duty, cross the “shadow-line” in their lives, achieve the moral perfection by confronting difficulties, and eventually lead to a resurrection journey. in light of literary ethical criticism, this thesis probes into the moral predicaments the characters confront, and how they get an epiphany in morality which leads them to a rebirth. this thesis mainly analyzes the significance of the traditions of british merchant service in english abstract iii the characters moral perfection and probes into the profound social and political reasons. after introducing the theoretical background and the significance of the research, this thesis firstly analyzes the extrinsic and intrinsic debilitating forces that the sailors suffer in the dangerous sea, and the moral predicaments they involve themselves in. secondly it focuses on how the sailors realize their plight in the cruel reality and how they get an epiphany and actualize their psychological changes. and thirdly it points out that the traditions of british merchant service have left a profound imprint on the sailors morality and psychology. finally, the present thesis makes a brief review on the values of morality in the novel, and draws a conclusion that only by getting rid of narcissism and shouldering the social responsibility can a person achieve the balance in morality and soul. key words: joseph conrad; the nigger of the “narcissus”; literary ethical criticism; morality 湘潭大学湘潭大学 学位论文原创性声明学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的 研究成果。除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或 集体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均 已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 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学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同意学校保 留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借 阅。本人授权湘潭大学可以将本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、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 涉密论文按学校规定处理。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 导师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 introduction 0.1 1 introduction 0.1 literature review on the nigger of the “narcissus” being an enthusiastic seaman since the age of 17, joseph conrad (1857-1924), turned to be a writer and was immediately noticed by the critics for his first book almayers folly (1895) at his middle age. conrad received much attention when he was alive. jean-aubury was the first who associated conrads life with letters study. the work joseph conrad: life and letters (1927), is still the first hand material to study conrads literary communication (wang songlin 王松林 30-46). following his death, conrads reputation suffered a decline. f.r.leavis, in his famous the great tradition, initiated a new post-war enthusiasm with conrad. in 1974, at the fiftieth anniversary of conrads death, an international conference on conrad was held in canterbury in britain, and the representatives on the conference probed into conrad from diverse aspects and angles. today, both in china and in the west, books on conrad come out almost every year. among conrads sea novels, the nigger of the “narcissus” is regarded as the first and the most excellent one (hou weirui 候维瑞 138). critic edward garnett also noted that the nigger of the “narcissus” received “a general blast of eulogy from a dozen impressive sources” (qtd. in watts 31); and in the review columns garnett himself seized every opportunity to proclaim conrads brilliance. and henry james was to call it “the very finest and strongest picture of the sea and sea life that our language possesses the masterpiece in a whole great class.” repeatedly applauded conrads art, scott fitzgerald, claimed that the preface to the nigger of the “narcissus” provided the greatest “credo” in his life (ibid.); and his intensive study of conrads themes and techniques bore fruit in the great gatsby. the nigger of the “narcissus” received its praise as well as denouncement. even favorable reviewers tended to object that this novel had no story and no love interest “no plot and no petticoats” (watt, conrad 127), as israel zangwill put it. to such a book, conrad wrote in 1914 that “it is the book by which, not as a novelist perhaps, but as an artist striving for the utmost sincerity of expression, i am willing to stand or introduction 0.1 2 fall” (115). from the statement, we can notice the decisive significance of the book in conrads career as a writer. fortunately, the result of this books publication didnt disappoint him. it received much popularity. therefore in his note “to my readers in america,” for the 1914 edition of the nigger of the “narcissus”, conrad wrote that “after writing the last words of that book . . . almost without laying down the pen i wrote a preface, trying to express the spirit in which i was entering on the task of my new life” (120). for such a masterpiece, critics abroad analyzed it from diverse perspectives. in “the artists conscience and the nigger of the narcissus,” mudrick granted conrads mastery of “sustained passages of description unsurpassed in english fiction” (watt, essays 64). he had the gall to tell us “what to think about life, death, and the rest;” and there resulted “gross violation of the point of view” and “unctuous thrilling rhetoric . . . about mans work and the indifferent universe and of course the ubiquitous sea” (65). he argued that through more than half of the novel, conrad had made us almost nervously sensitive to the point of view as product and evidence of the stereoscopic accuracy of the account. a brief historical reflection forced us to recognize that it was not really conrad who had made us “almost nervously sensitive to the point of view” (66), or, at least, not directly; it was a generation of critics who had developed, partly from conrads technique, partly from the theory and practice of henry james, and even more from its formulation in percy lubbocks the craft of fiction, a theory of point of view in the critic and novelist with an until-then largely unsuspected key to the technique of fiction. many critics have found a clue to the nigger of the “narcissus” in a unifying symbolic structure is certainly true. conrad stated that “all the great creations of literature have been symbolic” (75). james e. miller, for example, in his “the nigger of the narcissus: a reexamination,” saw “james wait and the sea as symbols of death and life; singleton and donkin as symbols of opposed attitudes toward death and life” (72); the other members of the crew hesitated whether to follow the true knowledge of singleton or the deceptions offered by donkin; and the conflict was only concluded when they unanimously rejected donkins offer of a drink after being paid-off “the crew has passed from a diversity based on ignorance through a false unity based on a lie perpetrated by donkin, to the truth knot of solidarity based on genuine insight into the meaning of life and death” (ibid.). vernon youngs “trial by water: joseph conrads the nigger of the narcissus” introduction 0.1 3 revealed a very galahad of the symbol. in the 1914 note “to my readers in america” conrad wrote the very explicit denial: “but in the book wait is nothing; he is merely the centre of the ships collective psychology and the pivot of the action” (74). if we set aside this disclaimer, as young specifically did, it should surely only for the most imperative reasons; and those offered seem to be based upon the loosest kind of metaphorical extension. both vernon young and albert guerard made waits blackness their starting point, and this led them to parallels in benito cereno and heart of darkness. when guerard made the parallel of the journey of the narcissus and the age-old theme of the pilgrimage, his interpretation, if allowed, and at some level of generality it surely must be, would be homophobic because ships and pilgrimages, to those who know anything of them, must suggest small human communities united for the purpose of a single journey. mudricks discussion of the moral and social dimensions of the nigger of the “narcissus” was informed with the equivalent premise, expressed as ethical and political nonconformity, and it operated with the same rude vigor. conrads “metaphysical and moral scheme” was based on the exaltation of the “grim-jawed, nerveless, reticent men in charge;” they inhabited “a hand-me-down aristocratic universe in which everybody in charge deserves to be and everybody else had better jump” (81). thomas moser eulogized conrads early works in his book achievement and decline. by pointing out where conrads late works is declining from, moser highlighted the greatness in the early works through exalting the moral merits of a fellow in the sea. he attached much importance to the loyalty and unity in the service of british merchant navy. thus, mosers approach helped us further understand the moral theme and characters in the nigger of the “narcissus”. another landmark in interpreting the nigger of the “narcissus” is a dialogue seminar which was held in ostersund, sweden, in 1997. this was a two-day event, hosted by mid-swede university college in collaboration with dialoger of stockholm and comprising discussions and dramatizations of the novella in swedish, as well as a series of paired papers in english. these papers, published for the first time, attempted to show the relationship between the complex narrative techniques found in the nigger of the “narcissus” and its ideological commitment, particularly as regards issues of power and the subversion of power. the intention of the academics from sweden, britain, norway, and finland who have introduction 0.3 4 collaborated in this volume is not so much to cast doubt on existing critical perspectives as to reexamine some of the problems raised by the nigger of the “narcissus” in light of such contemporary literary theories as postmodernism, postcolonialism, and genre analysis. so this seminar broadened our view on this novel in contemporary context. however, in china the studies on conrad mainly focused on lord jim and heart of darkness, critics paid little attention to conrads first masterpiece the nigger of the “narcissus”. from 1991 to 2007, there are only four papers analyzing this novel according to the database in cnki. therefore this novel calls for our further attention in china. 0.2 the feasibility and significance of the research undoubtedly, the nigger of the “narcissus” is a modern literary work with enormous psychological and moral significance. as mentioned above, some critics have noticed the important role of morality played in this novel, but there is no detailed work on it in china. based on previous researches, this thesis attempts to make a survey on the moral theme of this masterpiece in light of literary ethical criticism. in probing into the moral theme, it intends to explore an active process of moral predicament, moral discovery and moral restoration by analyzing the plots, characters and narrative techniques in the novel. as conrad once expressed that the “moral discovery should be the object of every tale” in his under western eye (35), moral intensity is the core of this novel. my thesis wants to prove that the moral pilgrimage theme has a profound practical meaning in modern society. 0.3 methodology and arrangement of content in light of literary ethical criticism, this thesis is supposed to fulfill with a close reading of the novel and an analysis of plots and characters. with the aim in mind, wed better have a brief introduction to the theory of literary ethical criticism at the first brush. literary ethical criticism is, in fact, a traditional approach. in the western theories, ethics could be visible almost everywhere. from plato to aristotle, coleridge, freud and lacan, they all pay attention to revealing the ethical connotation of literary works. dr. leavis, in his well-known book the great tradition, declared jane austen, george eliot, henry james and joseph conrad being in the chain of “the great tradition” of english novels, for their works introduction 0.3 5 have “vital capacity for experience, a kind of reverent openness before life, and a marked moral intensity” (leavis 18). the great authors always make readers be aware of the “possibilities of life” (10). a sophisticated moral interest, we recognize, is the characteristic of conrad. the practice of ethical criticism on literary works has existed for a long time (zou jianjun 邹建军 28-29). different from social ethics, it attempts to conduct an objective research on literature from ethical perspective and offer a historical dialectical explanation. as a kind of literary criticism, it requires a combination of literary reading and understanding, exposing the ethical values of literature like social responsibility and moral obligation. the twentieth century is known as an age when literary theories are prevailing. theorists focus more attention on new criticism, structuralism, marxism, feminism, postmodernism and postcolonialism. 1980s sees a profusion of work published especially in united states that seems to mark the beginnings of a significant resurgence in ethical criticism, as being mentioned recently “a marked turn toward the ethical” (qtd. in parker 32). that includes a lot of important works of martha nussbaum, cora diamond, wayne c. booth, tobin siebers, charles altieri, many of whom took part in important symposia on ethics and literature published in the journals ethics and new literary history in 1983 and 1988. the resurgence also includes richard rorty, stanley cavell, and alasdair macintyre, who have published important books and papers on ethics and literature in the recent past. in the view of rorty, literature becomes for ethics what mathematics is for physics, a sort of necessary handmaiden. martha nussbaum goes further than rorty in treating literature not merely as a sort of servant of ethics, but as itself moral philosophy. those works give us plenty of enlightenment. in china, at the beginning of the 21st century, nie zhenzhao 聂珍钊, a knowledgeable professor, advocates the ethical interpretation of literary texts. he appeals to critics to delve into the tests and finding the ethical truth in literature (17). for an author, what he tries to expose is the moral complexity in life; for a reader or a critic, the task is to recognize and make a judgment of the morals in literature. in this thesis, the author endeavors to make a tentative ethical analysis of one of her favorite no