论曼斯菲尔德短篇小说的象征手法.doc

论曼斯菲尔德短篇小说的象征手法摘要凯瑟琳曼斯菲尔德(1888-1923)在短篇小说中创新并成功地应用了现代主义技巧，为文学史上现代主义的发展作出了贡献。本论文即旨在研究曼斯菲尔德代表作品中象征手法的运用。这些作品分别是:序曲，苍蝇金丝雀等。论文的主体部分，是对曼斯菲尔德作品象征手法的讨论。首先是对曼斯菲尔德的生平介绍，以及她的代表作。其次是对象征手法的讨论。象征在作品中的研究被分为两大类:具象性象征和意识性象征。其中具象性象征在曼斯菲尔德的作品中体现为四类:自然背景，植物，动物，人物。总之曼斯菲尔德正是通过她女独有的细致微妙及精确的叙述方式，运用了现代使她蜚声文坛。关键词：曼斯菲尔德；写作技巧；具象性象征；意识性象征The Discussion of Symbolism in Katherine Mansfields Short StoryAbstractIn the early 20th century, when many a writer devoted themselves Katherine Mansfield set her affections on the short story, which in the become a great short story writer in the world. She applied the modern to the novel writing, later days made her writing techniques to her short stories creatively and successfully, by which Mansfield made great contributions to the promotion of modernism in literary history and to the enrichment of narrative techniques. Thus more and more attention has been paid to the modern writing techniques used in her works. This paper is intended to study symbolism in some of Katherine Mansfields representative works-Prelude, Revelations and the Fly. The use of symbolism is divided into two types the imagery symbol including the following five categories: natural setting as symbol, animal as symbol, character as symbol, and the consciousness symbol. To sum up, it is her feminine, delicate, subtle, and exquisite way of using the modern writing techniques that has brought Mansfield her great reputation in literary world.Key words: Mansfield; writing techniques; imagery symbol; consciousness symbolContentsIntroduction1. A brief introduction to Katherine Mansfield1.1 Katherine Mansfield life1.2 Katherine Mansfields literary achievements2. Use of symbolism2.1 Definition of symbolism2.2 Classifications of symbol2.3 Imagery symbol2.4 Consciousness symbolConclusionBibliographyAcknowledgementsIntroductionKatherine Mansfield is regarded as the master of English short story in the 20th century. In her short life span, she incorporated Modernism into short stories creatively and successfully and established an everlasting reputation entirely upon the ingenious and marvelous creation of short story. Ian Gordon once said that:” She had the same kind of directive influence on the art of the short story as Joyce had on the novel. After Joyce and Katherine Mansfield neither the novel nor the short story can ever be quite the same again. They beat a track to a higher point from which others can scan a wider horizon.” (Gordon, 1971:8) If the great geniuses in the annals of literature focused on lashing out at the social ailment to bring the human beings of the whole world the change of mind, Katherine Mansfield was like a little lamp to give a light shining through the perplexed and lonely heart of people lost in the boundless and turbulent sea. She entered into the interior world of characters to explore the inner thoughts deep in their hearts, and to unfold the delicateness and subtlety of the feelings, as well as to expose the cruelty and coldness of human nature, the desperation and loneliness of the characters, the powerlessness of human beings towards the controlling life and destiny, and each theme she loved and hated, by means of her unique artistic style and creative writing techniques of Modernism as well as her delicate feminist way of expression. Her stores are like the stream flowing through the soul of reader bringing clearness, cleanness and awakening to readers.1 A brief introduction to Katherine Mansfield1.1 Katherine Mansfield lifeKatherine Mansfield (14 October 1888 9 January 1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain when she was 19 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf with whom she became close friends. Her stories often focus on moments of disruption and frequently open rather abruptly. During the First World War Mansfield contracted extra pulmonary tuberculosis, which rendered any return or visit to New Zealand impossible and led to her death at the age of 34.1.2 Katherine Mansfields literary achievementsKatherine Mansfields life was eventful, and shorttragically short, but productive. Approximately she wrote 88 short stories that were collected in the three collections In a German Pension (in 1911), Bliss and Other Stories (1920) and The Garden Party and Other Stories (1922). Her letters and the Journal of Katherine Mansfield were published posthumously. Mansfields best and most characteristic works are generally considered to be contained in Bliss and Other Stories and The Garden Party and Other Stories. The success of these volumes established Mansfield as a major talent, comparable to such contemporaries as Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. These volumes collect many of Mansfields highly regarded New Zealand stories as well as the widely reprinted and often discussed “Bliss”, “The Daughters of the Late Colonel”, “Je Ne Parle Pas Trancais”, and “Miss Brill”, which are considered among the finest short stories in the English language. Mansfield, whose short-story theory is often mentioned even now, has become one of the few authors to attain prominence exclusively for short stories, and her works remain among the most widely read in world literature.2Modernity in Mansfields short stories2.1Use of symbolism2.1.1Definition of symbolism Generally speaking, symbolism can be defined as “the practice of representing things by means of symbols or attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events or relationship.” That is to say, symbolism can be taken as a device to represent or convey the characters private thought and emotion through the use of concrete images-the symbols. These concrete images can be everything-any object with life or lifeless, a person, even a scene or a place, an action can be given a special meaning that is larger than that of itself. While the meaning these images carrying can be the abstract ideas, an emotion, a belief, a value, a feeling or an attitude. The meaning that a symbol is carrying on is decided by writers themselves. This kind of symbol is frequently used in the works of Mansfield. In this part, the symbolism used in the short stories Revelations, Prelude, Bliss, The Garden-Party, The Fly and The Canary of Mansfield will be focused on and discussed about by means text-analysis in order to have a comprehensive understanding of this technique in her works. The expressive way of symbolism in these stories will be divided into six types: natural setting as symbol, animal as symbol, consciousness symbol, and object as symbol and character as symbol.2.1.2Classifications of symbolIn the short stories of Mansfield, she has made use of lots of concrete images as well as the consciousness such as the fantasy, dream or imagination to carry her various symbolic meanings in order to present the themes. Symbolic object, such as the cross symbolizing the Christianity or other symbols given to the definite meaning in the specific context.2.1.3Imagery symbolIn the short stories of Katherine Mansfield, the imagery symbols present as the following four types: natural setting as symbol, animal as symbol, and character as symbol.2.1.3.1 Natural setting as symbol In most of short stories, Mansfield often uses natural setting as the symbol to convey her specific emotions and themes, such as the weather in Revelations, The Garden-Party and Miss Brill.2.1.3.1.1 Weather in Revelations In Mansfields stories, the weather often appears to take two kinds of roles. One is to set the mood and highlight the atmosphere; another is to convey different symbolic meanings. In Revelations, the wind on one hand conveys the protagonists feeling of anger, restlessness, and impatience because of her husbands carelessness; on the other hand, the wind symbolizes the control of the husband to the wife as well as the control of the life to people, to highlight the powerlessness of women in the family and the weakness of people in the society. Monica is angry at her husbands carelessness, so she goes out to find her assurance and comfort. But even she is out of the house, the wild wind caught her and floated her across the pavement, her direction is controlled by the wind. She wants to get rid of the control of her husband, but actually wherever she has gone, the wind is everywhere一“the wind rattled the window-frame; we whirl along like leaves, and nobody knows一nobody cares where we fall, in what black river we float away. The modernity of symbolism Mansfield has used in her stories is just lying in the dynamic nature of the symbol as well as the symbolic meaning she has endowed to the weather. Mansfield exposes the theme about the power of males and the life through revealing the characteristics of the symbols vividly.2.1.3.2 Animal as symbol Besides the natural setting, Mansfield also takes animals as the symbols in her short stories. The animals are endowed with specific meanings by Mansfield, such as the fly in The Fly. In this work, the fly just symbolizes the weak people living under the cruel war and struggling for a life. The fly is endowed with a persons life to finish the immense task of cleaning the ink from its wings. The boss is the master of it. He drops the bolts of ink again and again upon the body of the fly to see it struggle for a life. While the fly is too weak to get out of the difficulties upon the huge master, what is waiting for it will be the fate of death finally? The people at that time are also confronting with a huge monster 一the war. They are powerless and have no choice but linger on in a steadily worsening condition. If the boss, as a person, may sometime feel pitiful to the fly, the war is cruel to people to the utmost, since it has no feeling and is unreasonable. What the war has brought to human beings is endless hurt and torture even death. The fly under the pen of Mansfield is just the embodiment of these pitiful people. When confronted with difficulties, it is like a person beginning to rebel against and making efforts to escape from the dilemma. But after all, this fly is too small, too tiny to fight against the control of the boss. Katherine Mansfield takes the fly as the symbol to convey her opinion on the war and personal life, as well as to expose the permanent hurt the war has brought to ordinary people.2.1.3.4 Character as symbol In most of Mansfields stories, she depicts different types of characters such as husband, wife, children, grandmother, and the boss and so on and makes them carry different symbolic meanings to highlight her different themes. This kind of symbol can be seen in Prelude, and the symbols would be analyzed according to the dividing of men, women, and children.2.1.3.4.1 Linda in PreludeLinda is hurt by her husband and can not bear the pregnancy any more. She is weak in front of her husband and can not resist against the hurt. She pursues the spiritual freedom and the true love.She is like the moon which symbolizes the female power, gentle, beautiful and natural. Linda here, contrast to her husband, is symbolizing the nature invaded by the industrialized urban. Though unsatisfactory to the hurt, she has no power to resist against. Mansfield is just using the weakness of women to convey her dissatisfaction to this worldly and metallic world. The theme of the contrast between urban and invaded nature is successfully symbolized by Mansfields characters in her stories, which also gives human beings in the past, the present and the future an awakening suggestion and reflection.2.1.4 Consciousness symbol Consciousness symbol is to show the consciousness of both the characters in the works and the authors by using the consciousness symbol. It can go deeper into the inner world of characters to explore the themes of short stories than imagery symbol. The consciousness symbol will be analyzed in the story Prelude一the bird in the dream2.1.4.1 The bird in the dream The bird in the dream of Linda symbolizes her feeling towards her pregnancy. Her father shows the tiny bird to her, which symbolizes that in the conventional family; females are used to give birth to new lives and to carry on the family line. At the very beginning, Linda feels happy to see the little life, but with her stroking the little bird, it begins to swell and becomes so big and heavy that she can not carry it any more. This reflects the inner thought of Linda on the pregnancy, she hates to be pregnant and the children have become the burden to her. The bird in the dream has symbolized that Linda hates her wife and mother role in a traditional family as well as hates the pregnancy which has brought her the pains consciously, even subconsciously. ConclusionAlthough Mansfield had a short life span, “her contributions to the development of modern fiction have been largely taken for granted. Her contribution lies on mainly the development of modern English short story. Its Mansfield who planted Modernism into the short stories.Symbolism, in the history of literature, can be defined as the literature movement reacting against realism in France in the mid-to-late 19th century, or as a school of French symbolist in the late 19th century, or being a rhetorical writing technique.Many modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf have been influenced by symbolism, so was Katherine Mansfield. And its just the successful use and innovated developing of symbolism by these modernist writers in their master pieces that symbolism became one of the important features of Modernism. Mansfield had adopted modern writing techniques into the short stories. In her stories, there were lots of symbols, metaphors. It seems that every character, every image, every scene even every flower and tree have been loaded with symbols, suggestions and feelings, which can be obtained off-handedly but in the meantime were splendidly presented.Bibliography1 Li Chunlan. Discovering the Mystery一Symbolism in Katherine Mansfields Short Stories. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 2007. 2 Mansfield, Katherine. The Collected Stories of Katherine Ma