（英语语言文学专业论文）《纽约的探险家》的成长主题与叙事技巧研究.pdf

ma thesis of ningbo university - i - 作者:作者: 鲍小燕 申请级别:硕士 题目: 鲍小燕 申请级别:硕士 题目: 纽约的探险家的成长主题与叙事技巧研究 导师:导师: 学校:宁波大学 学校:宁波大学 纽约的探险家的成长主题与叙事技巧研究 摘 要 本文从成长主题这一角度切入，关注加拿大小说纽约的探险家中主人 公的成长经历及其成长要素，重点探讨小说的叙事技巧和特点以及小说是如何 通过叙事来凸显成长主题的。 成长小说是以叙述人物成长过程为主题的小说，它通过对一个人或几个人 成长经历的叙述，表现他们社会化过程中一次或几次成长的经历和感悟，反映 人物的思想和心理从幼稚走向成熟的变化过程。加拿大当代作家韦恩约翰斯 顿（1958-）创作的小说纽约的探险家（2002）正是一部以个人的成长为主 题的小说。作品以第一人称的叙事角度讲述主人公德夫林从纽芬兰偏远海岛的 一座小镇到繁华都市纽约，再到皑皑冰原的北极这一人生旅程。为了向读者充 分展示他的成长经历，如何逐渐接受成人世界的潜规则，最后融入成人世界， 作者在人物设置、情节安排和叙述方式上都独具匠心，凸显了小说的成长主 题。作者运用第一人称叙事，充分利用“叙事自我”和“经验自我”两种不同 的主体意识的结合和分离，构成小说叙事的张力和特效，并且结合自由间接引 语等叙事手法向读者展示主人公从幼稚到成熟的心路历程。同时，作者还采用 信件以及人物对话等叙事技巧揭示人物的思想，向读者展示了社会的荒诞和成 人世界的虚伪。韦恩约翰斯顿采用这种最朴实的叙述方式，展现了主人公寻 找自我的历程和艰辛的成长之旅，揭露了人性的善与恶，深化了小说的主题， 从而使作品更具魅力和艺术感染力。 本文的目的是对纽约的探险家的成长主题和小说中的叙述技巧进行详细 的分析，以探索其叙事手法是如何巧妙凸显成长主题的。 关键词：关键词：成长主题， 第一人称叙事， 叙事自我， 经验自我 ma thesis of ningbo university - ii - on the initiation theme and narrating techniques in the navigator of new york abstract the navigator of new york (2002) is an award-winning masterpiece by the canadian novelist wayne johnston (1958- ). from the perspective of initiation, this thesis attempts to explore the initiation theme, the narrating techniques used in the navigator of new york and their relation to the realization of the novels theme. initiation story is one about a childs initiation into adulthood or his/her struggling for identity, maturation, and a place in society. wayne johnstons the navigator of new york is an initiation story in terms of its theme, characters and narration. the novel shows originality in characterization, plot arrangement and narrating techniques. by adopting the first person narrative point of view, wayne johnston gradually unfolds the protagonists growing-up story to readers. devlin, the hero of the novel, comes from a small town in the far-flung newfoundland and goes to new york and north pole. he experiences the pains of an early orphanhood, growing up to accept the convention of an adult world, finishing the process of socialization, entering the adult circle and coming to terms with the weal and woe around him eventually. in the novel, two contrasting consciousnesses, accompanied by the interchange of “narrating self” and “experiencing self,” provoke a narrative tension between the disparity of what is told by an inexperienced child and what is intended by a mature and humorous adult, and show the readers the course along which the protagonist gets spiritual maturation. in respect of narration, one-way letters and dialogues are used to reveal the characters inner mind, unfurling the absurdness and hypocrisy of the adult world into which devlin is initiated, thus deepening the initiation theme and making the narration more thought-provoking. the purpose of this thesis is to explore the initiation theme and the functions of the first person point of view in the navigator of new york. key words：the initiation theme，first person narration，narrating self， experiencing self ma thesis of ningbo university - 1 - 1 introduction 1.1 significance of the topic the navigator of new york (2002) is one of the award-winning works by wayne johnston (1958- ), a contemporary canadian writer of international fame. it depicts the growth of a young child named devlin stead who is caught in the rivalry between robert peary and frederick cook in their struggle to be the first american to reach the north pole. steeped in the bitter struggle between his parents, his aunt and uncle, his true father and foster father, devlin experienced a lonely childhood, endured many hardships, gets matured and initiated into an adult world of fame, feud and falsity. this initiation theme, together with the narrating techniques used in the novel and their relation to the realization of the novels theme, will become the focus of this thesis. the starting point for this thesis is my perception that so great a number of canadian novels deal with the growth of individuals, their initiation into society and their realization of what the world is really like. though many critics have claimed that the dominating theme of canadian literature is not “who am i”, but “where is here”, the struggles of those young protagonists in locating their positions in families, communities and society do show a combination of the two themes: who am i in a where-is-here place? of course, it may seem hard to define what a canadian bildungsroman or initiation story is, but canadian writers consciously or unconsciously concern themselves with the growth of people, especially the young. one of the phenomena of the growing maturity of canadian literature is the sudden outburst of the bildungsroman, the initiation novels that chart personal growth and maturity often with autobiographical overtones (david staines1981:5), like alice munros lives of girls and women (1971), mordecai richlers saint urbains horseman (1971), margaret laurences the diviners (1974), margaret atwoods lady oracle (1976), jack hodginss the barclay family theatre (1981), wayne johnstons the story of bobby omalley (1985) and the colony of unrequited dreams (2002).the list can go on for more pages. in the process of collecting materials for the study of the navigator of new york, however, i found that few people have dealt with the canadian bildungsroman in academic journals, and much fewer published monographs, especially less in china. of the publications, most discuss the bildungsroman of germany, and a lot of them touch their english counterparts, but few, if any, specifically explore the canadian bildungsroman in academic depth, with only a few book reviews lacking in scope and insight. the scarcity in the study of canadian bildungsroman and the popularity of the genre in canada seem to be contradictory, which partially accounts for the necessity of the research in the field, and the significance of this thesis. of course, the study is to be done out of other practical demands and considerations. first, examining this canadian novel from the perspective of the bildungsroman or initiation story ma thesis of ningbo university - 2 - will shed fresh light upon the interpretation of it, which opens a new window for readers to approach canadian bildungsroman literature. second, if we accept the axiom that literature is rooted in society and reflects the psychological and cultural milieu of a nation, we can acquire a better understanding of the canadian society and its unique culture by reading its literature from the perspective of the bildungsroman, for this genre closely relates man to his growth and his world. this study, hopefully, will uncover the implied meanings of the novel and by extension, reveal something about the cultural and psychological properties of the nation. thirdly, the study of bildungsroman and its social function have its broader implication. with a better understanding of the pattern of growth, we may gain access to the psychology of children, which is conducive to our efforts to learn more about children and make us rethink more profoundly of the process of our own growth. such significance of the study makes such work worthwhile. bildungsroman is considered the story of a childs initiation into adulthood or youths struggling for identity, maturation, and a place in society. in light of this definition, the navigator of new york is just the story of a young mans maturation. it is told through the mouth of the protagonist, devlin stead. johnston selects limited internal focalization (the first person narration) as the main narrative point of view which is critical in helping readers to know and understand the main character. he skillfully integrates “narrating self” and “experiencing self” and jumps back and forth through tenses and time periods in order to give us a panorama of devlins life in different periods. devlin gradually comes to terms with the world around him, understands others and himself more deeply, accepts the order of the adult circle, finishes the process of socialization, and enters the adult world eventually. 1.2 organization of the thesis the thesis is composed of six chapters that run as follows: chapter one is a brief introduction to the significance and organization of the thesis. chapter two mainly deals with the origin and characteristics of initiation story and introduces the novel the navigator of new york, aiming at making theoretical preparations for a further study of the novel. an analysis of the initiation theme of the novel follows in chapter three. the growth of the protagonist and the father figure in this novel will be analyzed in detail in this chapter. chapter four is a detailed analysis of the first person narration and free indirect speech in this novel, and their relation to the realization of the novels initiation theme will be analyzed as well. what the one-way letters and dialogues effect in the protagonists maturation will be analyzed in chapter five. chapter six is a summary of the entire thesis, in which my arguments will be reinforced. ma thesis of ningbo university - 3 - 2 initiation story 2.1 origin of initiation story the passage from innocence to experience has always been a major theme in literature, especially in fiction, manifesting itself most conspicuously in a large number of adolescent characters, whose introduction into the adult world is usually labeled “initiation.” (gabriele wittke1991:1) the term is originally derived from ethnology and anthropology; in those disciplines it is used to denote “the ceremonies and ordeals with which a youth is formally invested with adult status in a primitive society”(webster1971). initiation story is an english equivalent for german bildungsroman. the term is a coinage of the german critic and philosopher wilhelm dilthey, who first used it in 1870 in a biography of friedrich schleiermacher. bildungsroman in german is made up of two parts: “bildung” and “roman”. according to american heritage dictionary of the english language, “bildung” is of german origin and has a variety of connotations: “portrait”, “picture”, “shaping” and “formation”, all of which give the sense of growth or development. “roman” is of french origin and means “novel”. “bildung” also means education. but the word “education” is not in the sense of formal education; more often than not, it refers to the lessons one gets from life. so bildungsroman has many synonyms such as “novel of education”, “novel of formation”, “initiation story”, “novel of development”, even “youth story”. although themes about childrens development and the process of maturity can be found in literary works of all countries and in different periods, it can still be safely argued that the bildungsroman as a genre originated in germany. goethes novel wilhelm meisters lehrjahr is often considered the prototype of bildungsroman published between 1794 and 1796. through thomas carlyles translation of wilhelm meisters lehrjahre in 1824, the novel became highly acclaimed in england and america. however, the british and american literatures have their own history of initiation works containing both novels and short stories, such as henry fieldings tom jones (1729), charles dickenss david copperfield (1849) and great expectations (1861), charlotte brontes jane eyre (1847), mark twains the adventures of huckleberry finn (1884), somerset maughams of human bondage (1915), james joyces portrait of the artist as a young man (1914), d. h. lawrences sons and lovers (1912), stephen cranes the red badge of courage (1895), j. d. salingers the catcher in the rye (1951), s. e. hintons the outsiders (1967), robert newton pecks a day no pigs would die (1972) and so on. those novels are all commonly accepted works about the growth of youngsters. in addition to novels, there are also many classic short stories with regard to the maturation of youth, such as nathaniel hawthornes “young goodman brown”, james joyces “araby”, catherine mansfields “the garden party”, richard wrights “the man who was almost a man”, and john updikes “a when interest is in the social aspect of the narrative, one uses phrases such as education, the apprenticeship novel, or the cultivation novel” (kester, gunilla theander, 1995:8). however, no matter which term people use, they all refer to the same denotation, i.e., a work of how a child is initiated into his adulthood. therefore, for the sake of convenience, the term “initiation story” is adopted in this thesis and we just take it as a synonym to bildungsroman. 2.2 definitions and characteristics of initiation story works on initiation theme are prosperous in literature, and the concept of initiation has also taken firm root in literary criticism. first employed by cleanth brooks and robert penn warren in their influential book understanding fiction (1959), it was later adopted by mordecai marcus, who attempted to classify the significance on initiation in literature in 1960 (gabriele wittke1991). mordecai marcuss working definition runs as follows: “an initiation story may be said to show its young protagonist experiencing a significant change of character about the world or himself, or a change of character, or of both, and this change must point or lead him towards an adult world. it may or may not contain some form of ritual, but it should give some evidence that the change is at least likely to have permanent effects.” (mordecai marcus 1960:32) the initiation story has also been defined as the “novel of all-around development or self-culture” with “a more or less conscious attempt on the part of the hero to integrate his powers, to cultivate himself by experience.”(susanne howe1930:6) sun shengzhong offers his ma thesis of ningbo university - 5 - definition of initiation story in his dissertation: the initiation story mainly deals with the idea of bildung, or formation, cultivation, education, shaping of a single main character, normally a young man, who either moves in a direct line from error to truth, ending up with the realization of his selfhood, and his assimilation into society, or develops in a circular path returning to the beginning of his search in the end or simply lost in uncertainty. it depends on the cultural goal or social milieu whether the novel emphasizes the adaptation or rebellion, accordingly the protagonists reconciliation with the society or his alienation from it with a result of either his confusion or his new search in the world. (sun shengzhong 2004:29) initiation story is a narration of the making of an individual and of the maturation process of a young man who searches for his identity through various schools, jobs and political or religious institutions. among the many issues, critics generally agree that there are four pervasive elements in initiation novels: the loss of innocence and the attainment of maturity brought about by disillusioning experiences that are usually referred to as “shocks of recognition”the quest for identity and, last but not the least, the individuals introduction into the adult world (gabriele wittke1991:13-14). children are often full of fantasy and, to spur the hero or heroine on to their journey, some form of loss or discontent must urge them at an early stage away from the home or family settings. thus, when a child is relatively innocent, he or she makes his or her way to an outer world because of the depressive living environment, where his or her real education and growth begin. growth, in essence, is the result of the conflict of the two worlds, namely the adult world of reality and the adolescent world of fantasy. thus, the awareness of the relation between an individual and the society is a sign of growth. a child often indulges in his or her own inner world. yet an emerging young man does or will sense the influence and pressure of society upon an individual. the disillusion and epiphany he or she experiences in life displays his growing awareness of social reality. the reality is “a necessary dimension of the heros self-realization, albeit one that by definition implies delimitation, indeed, a constriction, of the self.” (martin swales1997:93-99) of course, not every protagonist has epiphany or “shocks of recognition”, and some protagonists know about the society gradually. the process of maturity is often long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the protagonists desires and judgments enforced by an unbending social order. eventually, the spirit and values of social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society. the novel usually ends with an assessment by the protagonist of himself and his new place in that society. initiation story, or bildungsroman, is, most generally, the story of a single individuals growth and development within the context of a defined social order. the growth process, at its root a quest story, has been described as both “an apprenticeship to life” and a “search for meaningful existence within society.” young people must develop a sense of identity. before adolescents can successfully abandon the security of childhood dependence on others, they must ma thesis of ningbo university - 6 - have some idea of who they are, where they are going, and what the possibilities are of getting there. (erikson, e.1956 56-121; 1968) not every novel, of course, precisely follows those characteristics. but none that ignores more than two or three of its provinciality, the larger society, self-education, alienation, ordeal by love, the search for a vocation and a working philosophy. (jerome hamilton buckley1974:18) in a word, an initiation story is the story whose overall plot is concerned with putting the protagonist through a particular sort of experience initiation into something for which his or her previous experience had not prepared him or her. through narration in the work, the theme of growt