（英语语言文学专业论文）无法逃脱的创伤——对《他们》中莫林的创伤性解读.pdf

v 摘 要 摘 要 乔伊斯卡罗尔欧茨是美国当代极富盛名的女作家、戏剧家、评论家和诗人， 曾多次获得诺贝尔文学奖提名。她的小说主要描写当代美国悲剧性社会中的创伤性人 物，从而展现美国世界中的黑暗面与复杂人性。作为一部以三十年代到六十年代美国社 会变迁为主要内容的社会小说， 他们是欧茨早期文学创作的巅峰之作，为作者赢得 了 1970 年的“美国国家图书奖” 。小说以资本主义为社会背景，以父权制为性别领域， 讲述了温德尔一家的经历，而其中对女儿莫琳悲剧人生的描写尤其发人深省。莫琳是温 德尔一家的代表人物， 也是一个典型的创伤性人物， 生活对于她像一场永无休止的噩梦。 她对自由和自我极度渴望，然而不论她如何奋斗，如何挣扎，幸福仍是渴望不可及。她 最终只能被时代的车轮淹没，成为不幸的牺牲者。 评论界中不乏对莫琳的关注，但大多着重于从暴力或女性主义的角度进行分析。 本文试图以创伤理论为依据对莫琳进行重新解读，探求造成其创伤的深层次原因，从而 揭示其创伤的不可抗拒性和历史代表性。创伤理论起源于心理学，后逐渐应用于文学领 域中，旨在阐述创伤的文化和道德内涵。该理论的兴起将人们的注意力从单纯探询创伤 事件的内容转移到这些创伤是如何发生并为何发生的意识形态层面。 本文将创伤理论与 文学文本分析相结合，为国内学术界对欧茨的作品研究提供了崭新的视角。 本文由引言、正文和结论组成，正文共分为四章。 引言部分对作者欧茨及小说他们的研究现状作了简要综述，并说明了本文的 研究方向和结构安排。 第一章明确了创伤的概念，介绍了创伤理论的形成与发展，并阐述了其同文学作 品以及文学批评的关系，为后面各章的分析奠定基础。 第二章主要从社会层面剖析莫琳的创伤性。动荡的底特律，社会和经济的双重压 迫，以及周边人群的孤立与排斥给年少的莫琳刻上了创伤的烙印。 第三章从家庭层面对莫琳的创伤进行解读。饱经创伤的母亲，麻木冷漠的兄长， 以及两位代表男性权威的父亲使得莫琳非但无法从家庭成员身上感受到温暖和支持， 反 而在身体上和精神上备受摧残。在这一章中，本文作者强调了莫琳的抗争性。她不愿复 vi 制母亲的生活， 渴望寻求独立的自我， 最终却沦为妓女， 后又因遭受毒打陷入长期昏迷， 成为家人的牺牲品。 第四章通过莫琳的经历得出，从创伤中痊愈的唯一方式是获取精神及经济的独立， 从而建构独立的自我。然而综合社会，历史和莫琳自身的因素，无论她如何挣扎，莫琳 注定无法逃脱其创伤性命运。 最后结论部分指出莫琳的创伤不仅是个人创伤，更是美国社会和历史的共同创伤， 每个人都是该创伤的受害者。欧茨对莫琳创伤的描写旨在唤起全社会民众的同情和关 注，呼吁大家共同铲除构成创伤的毒瘤。 关键词：欧茨， 他们 ，莫琳，创伤 i abstract joyce carole oates is a prominent female writer, playwright, critic and poet in contemporary america. she has been nominated for nobel prize in literature two times. mainly depicting the traumatic characters in the tragic american modern society, her works effectively expose the darkness and the complex human nature in the world of america. as a social fiction centering on the social changes in america from 1930s to 1960s, them is an example of oates at her best, winning the author the national book award in 1970. presented in dual contexts of both capitalism and patriarchy, the novel chronicles the life and struggle of the wendalls, among which the story of maureen is more impressive. to be the representative figure of the wendalls as well as a typical example of the traumatized, maureen lives with endless nightmares. although she is desperate for freedom and independence, happiness is always unapproachable to her no matter how hard she has struggled. she is destined to be destroyed by the society, becoming an ill-fated victim. critics have taken great interests in maureen, but most of them study her from the perspectives of violent elements and feminism. the present thesis attempts a new interpretation of maureen in terms of trauma theory in order to verify that her trauma is inescapable and representative of american history by probing into the deep causes leading to her trauma. initially originating from a theory that studies a kind of psychological symptom and its treatment methodology, trauma theory offers a more explicit analytical method of literary works, seeking to illuminate the cultural and ethical implications of trauma. the rise of it provides writers with new ways of conceptualizing trauma and shifts attention away from the question of what traumatic events have happened to how and why they happen. the present thesis combines trauma theory with the literary text analysis in the hope of providing ii a new angle for the study of the works of oates in domestic academia. this thesis consists of an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion. the opening part mainly gives a brief introduction to oates and a general literature review on them, and meanwhile states the research direction as well as layout of the present thesis. chapter one conducts a concise survey of trauma theory, including definitions of trauma and trauma theory, formation and historical development of trauma theory, and relation between trauma and literary activity, the combination of which offers the theoretical framework for the following chapters. chapter two makes an anatomy of the trauma of maureen in terms of individual-society relationship. turbulent detroit, social and economic oppressions, together with the isolation suffered in community trigger maureen to bear the stamp of trauma at her childhood. chapter three analyzes maureens trauma from the aspect of individual-family relationship. living in the family consisting of traumatized mother, apathetic brother as well as two violent fathers symbolizing patriarchal authority, maureen is severely tortured, physically and psychologically. maureens spirit of revolt is exposed in this chapter. she tries hard to avoid her fate of replicating the life of her mother and is desperate for independent self, but falls into a prostitute and later lapses into a coma after a savage beating, ultimately becoming the victim of her family. chapter four draws the conclusion from maureens experience that the only way to recover from trauma is to acquire spiritual and economic independence so as to realize self construction. however, in the light of the reality of society, history and maureens own characteristic, its impossible for maureen to escape from her traumatic fate no matter how hard she struggles. these chapters are followed by a conclusion which points out that maureens trauma is iii not only a personal one but more significantly signifies the whole americans in microcosm. by means of the depiction of maureens trauma, oates intends to arouse public concern and sympathy and to call on everyone to make concerted efforts to eradicate the cancers triggering trauma. key words: oates, them, maureen, trauma 关于学位论文独创声明和学术诚信承诺 本人向河南大学提出硕士学位申请。本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文是本人在导 师的指导下独立完成的， 对所研究的课题有新的见解。 据我所知， 除文中特别加以说明、 标注和致谢的地方外，论文中不包括其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究成果，也不包括其 他人为获得任何教育、科研机构的学位或证书而使用过的材料。与我一同工作的同事对 本研究所做的任何贡献均已在论文中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。 在此本人郑重承诺：所呈交的学位论文不存在舞弊作伪行为，文责自负。 学位申请人（学位论文作者）签名： 201 年 月 日 关于学位论文著作权使用授权书 本人经河南大学审核批准授予硕士学位。作为学位论文的作者，本人完全了解并同 意河南大学有关保留、使用学位论文的要求，即河南大学有权向国家图书馆、科研信息 机构、数据收集机构和本校图书馆等提供学位论文（纸质文本和电子文本）以供公众检 索、查阅。本人授权河南大学出于宣扬、展览学校学术发展和进行学术交流等目的，可 以采取影印、 缩印、 扫描和拷贝等复制手段保存、 汇编学位论文 （纸质文本和电子文本） 。 （涉及保密内容的学位论文在解密后适用本授权书） 学位获得者（学位论文作者）签名： 201 年 月 日 学位论文指导教师签名： 201 年 月 日 chapter one trauma theory 1 introduction joyce carol oates (1938 ), professor of humanities and arts at princeton, has been widely acclaimed as one of the most significant and enduring writers of the twentieth century for over three decades. she is regarded as “faulkner in skirts” for the versatility and complexity in her works resulting form her excellent ability in decently transforming among various literary trends, principles and schools of thought. she gets the nickname “the training mate for nobel prize” because she has been rumored to be a favorite to win the nobel prize in literature for more than twenty-five years but always fails although she has earned the nomination for it twice together with the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the national book award, the pulitzer prize, o. henry award and so on. she enjoys the fame “balzacian genius” due to the extensive themes in her works which successfully reveal social problems as well as the development of humanity in contemporary america. up to now, this slender female writer has spread her reputation out of the united states to the world: her works are extensively translated and command a good market both at home and abroad. in 1963, as a young woman in twenty-five, oates published her first collection of short stories by the north gate. since then, producing ambitious books ranging from the realism of a garden of earthly delights (1967) ant them (1969) to the experimentation of expensive people (1968), from the grotesque of wonderland (1971) to the mythical analogue of angel of light (1981), oates writes at an astounding rate and quickly develops the reputation as a “writers writer” (johnson, 1987:3). well-known for her prolificacy, oates has been keeping her creative output on average a book or two each year and has published fifty-six novels in addition to over 30 collections of short stories, ten volumes of poetry, eight editions of plays, innumerable essays and book reviews, as well as scores of nonfiction works on literary 2 subjects during her over forty-year writing career. with great enthusiasm in writing, oates usually works from eight till one every day, then again for two or three hours in the evening. the new york times wrote in 1989 that oatess “name is synonymous with productivity” , and john updike mentions in his review on you must remember this that “if the phrase woman of letters existed, she would be, foremost in this country, entitled to it” (baym 436). however, some well-known critics as alfred kazin and walter sullivan have charged against oatess excessive productivity in the 1970s and criticized oates as “a careless, haphazard writer, working in a trancelike state and continually pouring forth novels and stories without adequate concern for their literary integrity or coherence”(johnson, 1987:21). sullivan even suggested that oates ought “to stop writing for a while and seriously to consider what she has been doing” (138). confronted with the charges, oates responded in 1982: “i have acquired the reputation over the years of being prolific when in fact i am measured against people who simply dont work as hard or as long” (johnson, 1987:22). and in 1986: “perhaps critics (mainly male) who charge me with writing too much are secretly afraid that someone will accuse them of having done too little with their lives” (ibid.). anyhow, with the dual role as a scholar and a writer, oates has performed miracle with her vigorously creative and explosive power in contemporary world of letters. versatility is another distinctive mark of oates. aside from her accomplishments in fictions and teaching, oates is a prolific poet, a notable critic, and an insightful book reviewer. besides, several of her plays are popular in america. she also serves as the coeditor of the ontario review, a literary magazine that she and her husband inaugurated in 1974. yet her greatest achievement lies in novels. at the beginning of oatess literary career, traditional literary styles as realism and naturalism are mainly applied in her novels, in which the changes of american society from 1930s to 1960s are comprehensively depicted with chapter one trauma theory 3 authors hometown and her experience during her early life as the background. her best known trilogy a garden of earthly delights (1967), expensive people (1967) and them (1969) which explore three different districts in america serve as a good example. in 1970s, influenced by the trend to break the restrictions of literary tradition, oates begins to explore modern and postmodern techniques such as stream-of-consciousness and interior monologue, especially becoming passionate in portraying the psychological turmoil of her characters. therefore, she is regarded as a representative writer of “psychological realism”. as greg johnson puts it, oatess “particular genius is her ability to convey psychological states with unerring fidelity, and to relate the intense private experiences of her characters to the larger realities of american life” (1987:8). from 1980s, besides detective stories and gothics, she even adopts much more innovative literary techniques and boldly conducts experiments in her novels. surprisingly, her works not only expose the real life of all walks of life, especially the lower class in america; but also cover various areas in american public life including academy, law, religion, politics, and even sports, making up a piece of panoramic scene of contemporary american society. just as john barth notes, “joyce carol oates writes all over the aesthetical map” (johnson, 1987:13). meanwhile, her resourcefulness enables her to realize her “laughably balzacian ambition to get the whole world into a book” (ibid.). oates is also distinctive for the unique features in her works. on one hand, her protean imagination has always sought to reflect the outside world through portraying spiritual and psychological activities of human life, which distinguishes her from traditional naturalistic writers. “oates differs from the naturalists on philosophic grounds” friedman once commented, “perhaps the most radical departure of her fiction from that of the naturalists is in her depiction of the willwhile in oatess fiction the destructive power of the will becomes one of the authors primary targets” (57). her novels display how individual is deprived of enthusiasm and emotion and becomes spiritless and is finally destroyed to be a dead-alive 4 person under the impoverished and turbulent environment. on the other hand, the world of violence depicted in oatess novels makes her to be “gothic”: 16-year-old loretta in them wakes up to find her lover dead beside her, shot by her brother, with a stream of blood moving and soaking into the pillow; the opening section of wonderland ends with a boys escape from his father who has killed off the other members of his family. the repeated use of violence has triggered negative comments among critics inevitably. mary kathryn grant, professor of mt. st. marys college, says: “joyce carole oatess fictive world is violent, replete with nightmare, destruction, and futility, with a catalogue of horrors as incredibly real as the front pages of a metropolitan daily” (31). ellen friedman also remarks: “oates creates a violent, indeed apocalyptic world, one that seems at times in the final stages of disintegration, punctuated by terrible cataclysms, and bursting with malevolent passions” (159). being accused, oates insists that her violent elements exactly mirror the psychological trauma and social convulsions of reality. in an essay titled “why is your writing so violent?”, she states that “serious writers, as distinct from entertainers or propagandists, take for their natural subjects the complexity of the world, its evils as well as its goods.the serious writer, after all, bears witness” (johnson, 1987: 9). in fact, readers do encounter a great number of horrible scenes in oatess fiction, but its the result of her endeavoring to explore the root of violence instead of simply recording the violent incidents. in order to display the consequence and effect of violence on the individual and how it takes place, oates deliberately set the story in an ambience that leads to impotence and powerlessness. therefore, violence for oates is only a supplementary means but not the emphasis. in a word, outstandingly inventive and astoundingly prolific, oates is mostly spoken highly of her unflinching portraits of human nature set against turbulent and violent american society, which is the good reflection of robert h. fossums words: “oates may be the finest chapter one trauma theory 5 american novelist, man or woman, since faulkner” (297). them, published in 1969, is an example of oates at her best, and has won her the national book award in 1970. it depicts the life and fate of the lower people in contemporary america through chronicling the survival of three generations of an impoverished family, the wendalls, mainly loretta and her children jules and maureen, in the detroit slums from the 1930s to the riots of the late 1960s. experiencing their every day in the midst of portentous history, the wendalls work hard by any means to cope with “them” they cannot understand, each seeking desperately to find his own identity, to define his unique and invulnerable self. in “authors note” at the beginning of the book, oates explains that she bases one of the characters, maureen wendall, on a young woman who has been her student at the university of detroit. she is so affected by the girls story that she takes it down in detail and asserts it as “a work of history in fictional formthat is, in personal perspective, which is the only kind of history that exists” (authors note). in addition, in chapters eight and nine, two letters written by maureen to her former instructor whom she addresses “dear miss oates” strengthens the atmosphere of truthfulness and helps readers believe that all of the details rendered in graphic brutality are true to life in the poorest of urban areas. apart from the authors potent imagination and her artistic techniques, the success of them partly result from the fact that it timely caters to the interest of the american public because it is published only two years after the detroit riot. in them, oates spares no effort to record the contemporary life and people involved in it. she announced when she accepted the national book award for them that “in the novels i have written, i have tried to give a shape to certain obsessions of midcentury american- a confusion of love and money, of the categories of public and private experience, of a demonic urge i sense all around me, an urge to violence as the answer to all problems, an urge to self-annihilation, suicide, the ultimate experience and the ultimate surrender. the use of language is all we have to pit against death and silence.” meanwhile, she makes vivid 6 psychological portrayal of her characters and keeps a detailed documentary of their different degree of spiritual trauma to expose the spiritual crisis triggered by the environment as well as society. since its publication, them has gained wide publicity and attracted much critical attention that analyzes it from different perspectives. a great part of critics focus on the naturalistic feature of the novel. james r. giles in his “miss oates and the naturalistic imagination: joyce carol oates them” regards the novel as a highly reminiscent of american literary naturalism for its exhaustive description of the squalid and turbid life. harold bloom also classifies oates into the school of naturalism and conside