（英语语言文学专业论文）从《嘉丽妹妹》到《美国的悲剧》——德莱塞社会观影响下的小说世界.pdf

iii 摘要 摘要 西奥多德莱塞 （1871-1945）是美国自然主义的代言者，评论界对他的 作品大多是从自然主义角度进行解读。 然而德莱塞的自然主义倾向并非持续于他 整个文学创作生涯， 在他文学创作后期， 德莱塞的经历和思想发生了很大的变化。 他越来越关注政治并逐渐显示出社会主义倾向，在去世前加入了美国共产党。本 论文立足于德来塞的前期代表作嘉丽妹妹和他的后期代表作美国的悲剧 ， 用发展的眼光对这两部作品做系统的考察， 从而从整体上把握德莱塞社会观的变 化在他前后期的小说世界中的反映， 对读者更系统全面的认识德莱塞及其作品有 所启示。 本论文比较了德莱塞在两部作品中对社会、人物及他们的价值观、决定人物 命运的因素，及道德评判所持的不同观点，从而指出嘉丽妹妹的自然主义特 征和美国的悲剧的社会批判特征。 嘉丽妹妹展现了人在社会丛林法则 中的无助，人的命运是机遇、环境和人的生物属性综合作用的结果。而在其后期 的代表作美国的悲剧中，作者阐述了社会制度对人物命运的决定作用，强调 人的社会属性，并对美国社会的政治、经济、法律等各方面进行了揭露和批判。 德莱塞的思想从单纯的真实反映人物的无助、对命运的不可操控性，发展到后期 更加成熟、全面的认识人与社会的关系；从前期道德批判的缺失到后期对于社会 各个方面的批判，他已经超越了一个单纯的自然主义者。 通过文本分析及对德莱塞生平的考察，本论文得到了以下结论：德莱塞早期 有着强烈的自然主义倾向，然而随着自身阅历的增长和对社会认识的不断深化， 德莱塞逐渐超越了自然主义而成为一位严肃的有社会主义倾向的社会批判家。 关键字关键字：自然主义，生物属性, 社会属性，社会批判, 社会主义倾向 ii abstract theodore dreiser (1871-1945) is one of the representatives of american naturalism. his literary works have been either acclaimed or criticized from the perspective of naturalism. however, dreisers naturalistic dedication does not last lifelong. he involves deeper and deeper in politics in the latter half of his literary career and gradually shows strong tendencies toward socialism. this thesis examines dreisers first novel sister carrie and his masterpiece an american tragedy, for a critical study of the influences dreisers changing ideological thoughts and his social critical standpoint have on his fictional world, so as to prove that dreiser begins his literary career as a naturalist and gradually outgrows naturalism to become a vigorous social critic with socialist tendencies. this thesis probes into dreisers different views on social setting, on characters and their values, on forces that determine characters fate and on moral judgment in the two novels respectively. by doing so, the author compares the naturalistic features of sister carrie and the social critical nature of an american tragedy, and reveals in the latter novel the deeper social criticism, larger social canvas and more tragic portrayal of characters destiny, all of which indicates dreisers evolving social views. sister carrie concerns about how men, like animals, struggle for existence in the social jungle and are played about by the natural forces. an american tragedy, on the other hand, probes into the social, economic, political and legal systems to find the root sources of characters tragedy and proves that it is a tragedy caused by the capitalist social system and that it can be avoided only if the social systems are changed. thus, dreiser has showed strong socialist tendencies in an american tragedy. therefore, the thesis reaches the conclusion that to pigeonhole dreiser in the narrow slot of naturalism does him no credit and that dreiser has showed socialist tendencies in an american tragedy by strongly attacking the evils of the capitalist system. keywords: naturalism, biological properties, social properties, social critic, socialist tendencies 上海交通大学上海交通大学 学位论文原创性声明学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下，独 立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外， 本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成 果。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结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名：容荣容荣 日期： 年 月 日 上海交通大学上海交通大学 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。本人授权上海交通大学可以将本学 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。 保密保密，在 年解密后适用本授权书。 本学位论文属于 不保密 不保密。 （请在以上方框内打“” ） 学位论文作者签名：容荣容荣 指导教师签名：左晓岚左晓岚 日期： 年 月 日 日期： 年 月 日 iv acknowledgements i would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor professor zuo xiaolan for her continuous guidance during my graduate study and for the encouragement and insightful advices she has given me during my thesis writing. professor zuo sacrifices large amount of her precious private time to my thesis, her scrupulous advices ranging from structure defects to language problems. without her valuable suggestions and patient instructions, this thesis would not be possible. my sincere gratitude also goes to all the other professors in our department for the wonderful lectures they have given and the interests in literature they have provoked in me. i would like to extend my gratitude to my best friend pan rui for the cares and concerns she showers on me; to zhan hongjun for constantly urging me to have enthusiasm and passion for life; to my roommate liao li for the endless mornings calls; to weng ling for the resource links she shares with me and to xiong fangli simply for her belief that i can! i am especially indebted to my beloved mother and my family of which i am so proud of being a part. my mother loves me as who i am and can always see the best of me. her support and trust are not only valuable in the composing of my thesis but also priceless during my navigation through the ocean of life. 1 introduction theodore dreiser (1871-1945), who was active on the american literary scene from the 1900s to the 1930s, is regarded as one of the greatest american authors. in the american literary history, the name theodore dreiser is never mentioned without the mentioning of american naturalism. he is infallibly regarded, together with frank norris, stephen crane, jack london, as one of the spokesmen of american naturalism. his major works have received comments, critiques and reviews as naturalist works. critics controversial views as regards theodore dreiser lie either in his artistic style, his language or in his contribution to american literature. no matter whether it is those who consider dreiser as a lousy novelist and his novels a piling up of unkempt details, or those who regard his novels as a delicate piece of deliberately organized art, nearly all of them, with the exception of only a few (charles child walcutt, gordon r. moyles, and olga volkova1), believe in his lifelong dedication to naturalism. critics like henry louis mencken, stuart p. sherman, vernon louis parrington, david brion davis, richard lehan, john chamberlain, invariably put dreiser in the spotlight of naturalism. stuart p. sherman calls dreiser a “barbaric naturalist” and vernon louis parrington regards him as the “chief of american naturalists”2. true, no one dares or is able to deny dreiser the naturalist intentions and beliefs in his earlier works, yet, the naturalist characteristics in dreisers novels did not last lifelong. many critics fail to see dreiser in the light of development and ignore his evolving changing attitude toward socialism. with his ruthless exposing of the gap between the rich and the poor, with his fierce attacks of many aspects of american society, dreiser has long outgrown his pure naturalism and gone beyond it. pigeonholing him in the narrow slot of naturalism obviously gives him no credit. critical analysis on dreisers works has been focusing too much on either sister carrie, or an american tragedy, or his other novels. even comparative studies of two or three of his novels, such as sister carrie and an american tragedy, mainly 1 their views will be discussed in detail in “1.2. literature review”. 2 龙文佩， 德莱赛评论集 ，上海：上海译文出版社，1984，第 234 页。 2 concentrate on their similar naturalistic traits or on similar fate of characters. there are not many essays that probe into the overall development of dreisers ideology which in turn influences his works, the endeavor to find out the changing tendency reflected in his novels are even less. therefore, the significance of this thesis is to demonstrate dreisers gradual change from a naturalist to a vigorous social critic by examining his first novel sister carrie and his masterpiece an american tragedy in the light of development. if we take a comprehensive survey of dreisers life, we would realize that his life changes greatly between the writing of sister carrie (1900) and that of an american tragedy (1925). his ideology and social perspectives, as this thesis is going to demonstrate, undergo a no small change in the latter half of his literary career. dreiser visited russia in 1927 and wrote dreiser looks at russia (1928) afterwards. dreiser joined in the american communist party shortly before he died in 19453. could it happen all of a sudden? of course, no! his growing beyond naturalism and his increasing tendency to embrace a socialist ideology could by no means be subtle or abrupt. why would dreiser become a communist? motivated by this question, the author of this thesis sets out to examine dreisers life, his works and his literary career and tries to figure out the changes that are reflected in his works. this thesis intends to focus on dreisers first novel sister carrie and his later work an american tragedy, for a critical study of the influences dreisers changing ideological thoughts and his social critical standpoint have on his fictional world, which, in turn, enrich the social criticism of dreisers later works, and an american tragedy, in particular. by doing so, the author of this thesis hopes to rid of the stereotyped image of dreiser as a pure naturalist and of the too general attitude of understanding his novels as pure naturalistic works, and hopefully to inspire more profound insight in the study of dreiser. sister carrie and an american tragedy share something in common. both novels are distinguished for dreisers patient piling up of details. both novels depict the helplessness of an individual, carrie in the first case and clyde in the second, who 3 蒋道超， 德莱赛研究 ，上海：上海外语教育出版社, 2003 年，第 60 页。 3 strive to survive in the cold world and to climb up the social ladder. both carrie and clyde are forced to make choices that shape their destiny. however, on close examination of these two novels, we may realize that sister carrie is a naturalistic novel while an american tragedy is a severe attack on the capitalist social systems. the naturalistic features of sister carrie lie in its faithful depicting of the world as the sea where men and women, like animals or plant, are blown here and there by a larger, unknown and mysterious force; in the characters having no control over their fate which is determined by the joint forces of instincts, chance and environment. each twist and turn of characters fate is characterized by their instinct to survive, and by chances and circumstances. in the social darwinism world of sister carrie, only those who are strong and the “fittest” can survive, those who fail are destined to be weak. the relationship between men and society is either that between a drifting wood and the wild sea, or that between a hungry wolf and a wild jungle. the relationship between human beings is either that between a wolf and a sheep, or that between two wolves in front of a sheep. there is no use to complain since everything is determined and there is no need to judge mans actions and behavior since they are all beyond the human control. in contrast with sister carrie in which dreiser depicts the society as a jungle and emphasizes more on characters biological attributes, in an american tragedy, dreiser has become a more mature novelist and has outgrown the pure naturalism. he puts his characters in the commercial capitalist social setting rather than in the jungle and is more conscious of the relationship between man and society, between men of different social classes. by faithfully presenting the misery of the poor and by sharply criticizing the evils of capitalist system, dreiser presents to the reader a commercialized world in which, manipulated by the capitalist social system and the materialist social values, the poor become poorer, the rich richer, and in which tragedies occur anywhere and at anytime because peoples ultimate goals are money and social status for which they go all out and can sacrifice everything in their way. characters in an american tragedy are no longer driven by instincts and animal drives, they are more motivated by their social values and class consciousness. under 4 the capitalist system, people are manipulated by the social economic, political and legal system. an american tragedy shows dreisers humanistic concerns and his struggle against the existing social system. dreiser exposes many evil aspects of american society and points out that only through reform of the social system can people have a better life.4 by comparing sister carrie and an american tragedy, we may find in the latter the deeper social criticism, larger social canvas, more tragic portrayal of characters destiny, all of which point to the greater profundity of dreisers views and standpoint regarding american society as a whole. all these distinguishing features of the an american tragedy, through comparison with sister carrie, have much to do with the influences he got from his close relations with the liberal thinkers, the leading political radicals, such as max eastman, daniel deleon, and floyd dell5, and his contact with russian society. this thesis contains three major parts. the first part, introduction, gives a general account of the significance of this thesis, that is, to give a comprehensive survey of dreisers literary career and his two most important novels, sister carrie and an american tragedy, and try to find his changing worldviews that are reflected in these two novels. the main body comprises five chapters. the first chapter introduces the social and cultural background of dreisers literary career and surveys his different ideology in the early and latter part of his literary career, which changes from his dedication to naturalism to a more liberal attitude toward socialism. the second chapter studies how dreiser emphasizes the biological aspects of society and changes gradually to focus on the social aspects. the third chapter focuses on the characters and their values and on how characters are driven by instinct and by material values respectively. chapter four discusses the different forces in the two novels that determine characters fate. chapter five probes into dreisers changing moral judgment which is absent in sister carrie and becomes strongly condemnation of the capitalist social system in an american tragedy. the third part is conclusion 4 蒋道超， 德莱赛研究 ，上海：上海外语教育出版社, 2003 年，第 60 页。 5 thomas riggio,biography of theodoredreiser,/collections/rbm/dreiser/tdbio.html. 5 which summarizes the thesis and discusses further possibilities for research on the same topic. by doing so, the author of this thesis endeavors to put dreiser in the light of development and see him from a dynamic, rather than static perspective, and to throw some light on a more comprehensive and objective critical study of theodore dreiser as man and writer and his literary works. 6 chapter one social and literary background since this thesis sets out to argue and prove that theodore dreisers changing social world views and attitude have strong effects on his works and that dreiser starts his literary career as a naturalist writer and gradually shows strong socialist tendency by the time an american tragedy is written, it is necessary to have a look at the social background against which sister carrie and an american tragedy are written. 1.1 social background around the turn of the 20th century in the latter half of the nineteenth century, america was experiencing great economic, social and cultural changes. in 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was completed and the united states possessed more rail mileage than all of europe by 1900. petroleum, steel, textile, oil and electric industry developed by leaps and bounds and financial giants like john. d. rockefeller, andrew carnegie, appeared on the scene.6 industrialization brought about an increase in population and the rapid growth of cities. many labors migrated to the city to make a living, which promoted a fast process of urbanization. in addition, the prosperous development of industry produced monopoly capitalism which in turn brought about two new polarized social classes. the factory-owners became steadily wealthy and the labors possessed nothing except for the ability to work. poor people lived in slums where they were suffering from insecurity and violence. they could do nothing but be manipulated by those possessing the means.7 the life of the poor was pushed to deterioration, which in turn caused sharp social contradictions. charles darwins origin of species was published in 1859, which claimed evolution on the basis of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. this book virtually shook every social aspect to the core. herbert spencer adapted this theory to the social settings and believed that it was competition among all individuals, groups, nations and ideas that drove the society to move forward8, and that man “was completely thrown upon himself for survival . in 6 张祝祥，杨德娟， 美国自然主义小说 ，上海：复旦大学出版社，2006 年，第 3 页。 7 chang yaoxin, a survey of american literature (2nd edition), tianjin: nankai university press, 2003, p.141. 8 donald pizer, american realism and naturalism, shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press, 2000, pp.27-32. 7 a cold, indifferent, and essentially godless world”.9 influenced by the french naturalism and social darwinism, a group of rising novelists began to write in the new light. frank norris, stephen crane, jack london and theodore dreiser are the most prominent ones. these novelists tore “the mask of gentility to pieces and wrote about the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces of environment and heredity”.10 the smiling