（英语语言文学专业论文）父权制下的社会与文化对女性身份的建构——德拉布尔《针眼》研究.pdf

ii 内 容 摘 要 著名女作家玛格丽特 德拉布尔 margaret drabble 1939 是当代英国文坛上一 位多产作家 身兼传记家 评论家 编撰者等多种身份于一身 自从上世纪 60 年代 出道以来 经过辛勤耕耘 目前已经有 17 部长篇小说问世 她曾荣获布莱克纪念奖 罗斯纪念奖 爱 摩 福斯特奖等多项英美文学奖 并因其卓越的文学成就被英国女 王授予 cbe 勋位 德拉布尔成名于西方女权运动风起云涌之时 她以其敏锐的嗅觉 深重的责任意 识及切身体验 关注知识女性在社会中寻求自由独立的艰辛与无奈 着力刻画她们的 心理困惑和生活中的烦恼 表现她们在社会上受到的不公正待遇 精神上受到的压抑 和痛苦以及在经济上的依附和顺从 她以客观冷静的目光关注女性苍凉悲壮的人生 表现她们与男权社会抗衡的果断和勇敢 德拉布尔以客观现实主义的叙事手法 为她 赢得了众多女性读者的喜爱 国外对她研究的专著推陈出新 而国内才刚刚起步 针眼 是她的第六部长篇小说 发表于 1972 年 并获 yorkshire 最佳图书奖 此书是德拉布尔由早期小说转入中后期的标志 在此书中 作者塑造了一个男主人翁 西蒙 叙事角度在西蒙与女主人翁罗丝之间转换 由西蒙眼中罗丝形象与罗丝本人的 心理活动为基轴 清楚地显示了对女性怀有深切同情的西蒙尚无法理解罗丝的言行 理性地彰显了女性在男权社会中苦苦挣扎的艰辛和无奈 此书主要讲述了富家出生的罗丝为寻找精神之旅在男权社会的种种束缚里苦苦 挣扎最终惨遭失败而倍遭心灵折磨的故事 她独特的女性生存方式在众人眼中显得怪 异 疯狂 而正是这种独特的生存方式显示出罗丝为保存自我本质和身份完整 拒绝 男权社会文化规范的束缚和制约 为在强大的男权社会中为自己寻找一个不受父权文 化浸染的自由空间而努力 而她最终放弃自我权利和幸福回归男权社会怀抱 预示着 她最终身份的丧失从而变成一具活死人的形象深刻地说明男权社会是如何对女性身 份进行建构的 本文以女性主义和拉康的人格三段说为理论基础 阐明罗丝独特的追求自我身份 完整 保存自我独立人格的意义和最终失去身份结局 试图说明她最终形象和自我牺 牲是男权社会建构的结果 本文由导论 正文 和结语三部分组成 导论部分主要阐述德拉布尔的经历 文学成就 女性小说的创作 简要地叙述了 针眼 故事梗概及文献综述和研究的方法 意义 正文第一章主要是罗丝寻求自我 身份 并从女性主义角度来证明罗丝追求自我独立的意义 她是一个具有独立意识的 新时代女性 她为追求物质和精神上的自由独立甘愿自我放逐 她自我放逐和斗争是 iii 为了保护自我本质和身份完整 为在男性至上的社会里寻找一个新的生存空间 这个 新的空间是与男权社会所预设的女性身份完全不同的 真实的有意义的生活 第二章 讲述了罗丝为保存自我身份而做出的努力 主要从两方面进一步论证罗丝是如何反 抗男权社会对她的控制 一是在意识形态上 她反对父亲权威和大男子主义 婚前 她反抗父亲权威 摆脱了女性 在家从父 的社会畸形角色定位 婚后 她拒绝做一 个顺从的 贤妻良母 角色 大胆地反抗男性暴力 坚持自我人格独立和完整 在社 会机制方面 罗丝主要挑战法律的不公正和宗教戕害女性的虚伪本质 第三章是罗丝 最终失去自我身份的结局 本章主要借用拉康的 象征界 和 父亲法 理论总结罗 丝反抗的意义和父权社会是如何建构罗丝的最终身份的 在强大的社会机制和思想控 制面前 她无力摆脱父权社会对其身份的建构 最终放弃自我而回归父权社会怀抱 第四章论述了作者让罗丝回到其丈夫身边用意何在 这个以悲剧结尾的故事是与作者 的写作原则有着千丝万缕的联系 第三部分总结全文 指出罗丝斗争和放弃的意义 这是一个女人在父权制社会为争取独立和自由生存的悲剧 代表了整个社会女人的悲 剧 作者通过罗丝的形象揭露了父权社会的不公正 控诉了父权社会对女人的压迫 并对广大女性的命运寄予了深深的同情 关键词 针眼 父权 身份 关键词 针眼 父权 身份 iv abstract margaret drabble is a brilliant and productive contemporary british woman writer and she is an authoress biographer critic and editor since the 1960s she has published 17 novels several short stories and some screenplays she is also the editor of the oxford companion to english literature for her great talent in the literary world she has been awarded the john llewellyn rhys memorial award 1966 the james tait black memorial book prize 1968 the book of the year award from the yorkshire post the finest fiction 1972 and the e m forster award of the american academy of arts and letters 1973 and the cbe commander of the order of the british empire in 1980 by the queen when she started to write it was the time of the second wave of the feminist movement which was like a rising wind and scudding clouds and influenced many women writers drabble as a writer with a strong social responsibility provided by her own experiences is best known for her portrayal of britain as well as her concern with female intellectuals their painful experience in striving for freedom and independence and their psychologically troubled mind and life she never ceased to write about their unfair treatment mental suffering and economic dependence on their husbands she is concerned with women s bleak and solemn life objectively and soberly and their bravery and determination in fighting against patriarchy this won her many female readers around the world she is a world figure and her works have been translated into more than a dozen languages although drabble has achieved a high reputation in the literary field and many monographs about her have been written by overseas critics the research on her in china is only at the beginning the needle s eye which is her sixth novel first published in 1972 was awarded the yorkshire post book award finest fiction it was the turning point in her writing life for the first time the author introduced a male protagonist simon and the narration shifted between simon and rose the story is mainly about the spiritual journey of rose back to her nature in order to preserve her nature and identity she gave up her inheritance and moved to a north london working area her strange abnormal and weird way gave rise to misunderstandings from other people and abuse from her husband her special way of being in this world is her protecting her nature and identity trying to create a free space in a patriarchal society v rejecting the social rules and norms and entering the symbolic order her final sacrifice and self abnegation for her husband and children s sake and return to patriarchy symbolize the loss of her identity thus resulting in her living death which vividly validates how patriarchy constructs woman s identity and makes her a selfless creature by applying the symbolic order of lacan and the feminist viewpoint this thesis explores the significance of rose s struggle and unique way of living in this world and her struggle which is doomed to failure for the social powers and forces are strong and inescapable this thesis consists of three parts the introduction main body and conclusion the introduction gives an account of drabble s life achievements her writing characteristics and concern with women s life and fate it also includes the main story of the needle s eye and literary reviews chapter one is about rose s search for her identity and the significance of her struggle for independence from a feminist viewpoint she is a woman who has a strong female consciousness and she exiled herself in order to obtain freedom and independence her self abnegation rejection of her inheritance and abstinence constitute her spiritual journey back to her nature and to preserving her identity chapter two further construes rose s struggle against the dominance of patriarchy to protect her identity and nature the dominance of men over women is embodied in two forms the ideology and the institution these two are entwined the former is to teach and indoctrinate women to be subordinate to men and the latter to oblige them to accept these ideas before the marriage she consciously fought against her father s authority and after the marriage she fought against male chauvinism refused to be an obedient wife and mother and persisted in her stance to be independent she defied law and religion whose hypocrisy is obvious chapter three is rose s final loss of her identity when we try to analyze the significance of her retreat by applying the symbolic order and work out why her efforts failed at last chapter four is further reflections on rose s loss of identity and why drabble made rose return to her husband the conclusion gives an overall view of the significance of rose s struggle against and retreat from patriarchy and points out that the tragedy of rose is all women s tragedy by presenting rose s predicament and tragedy drabble shows her sympathy to women and her criticism of the unjust society keywords the needle s eye patriarchy identity i 三峡大学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后果由本人承担 学位论文作者签名 日 期 1 1 introduction margaret drabble is one of the most well known english contemporary novelists and at the same time a critic and biographer who shows broad social concerns and plays a lively role in both popular and literary culture until now she has published 17 novels and several short stories and some screenplays the famous realist novelist arnold bennett of whom she has written a biography is said to be a distant relative and has influenced her much drabble also has written scores of reviews and other pieces from short notes to extended essays for literary and popular journals newspapers and magazines for her special literary talents she has been awarded many prizes she is a member of the national book league and served as its chair from 1980 to 1982 during the 1980 s she devoted much of her effort to revising the oxford companion to english literature in addition to these drabble has received honorary doctor s degrees from many universities she has lectured in the united states at such educational institutions as purdue university and carleton college she was made an honorary fellow of the sheffield city polytechnic in 1989 in 1993 she and doris lessing visited china besides her novels she has also written some non fiction such as a short critical study of william wordsworth and thomas hardy over the years she has edited or written introductions for most of jane austen s works for various publishers she also edited thomas hardy s the woodlanders and emily bront s wuthering heights and poems in 1989 she published her gareth lloyd evans shakespeare lecture at stratford upon avon as stratford revisited a legacy of the sixties she has written two major biographies arnold bennett and angus wilson her literary travelogue a writer s britain landscape in literature was published in 1979 margaret drabble was born on 5 june 1939 in sheffield yorkshire her father john frederick drabble was a barrister then a judge and after he retired he became a novelist her mother marie bloor drabble was an english teacher at the mount in york a quaker school which drabble sisters attended later both her parents had graduated from cambridge subsequently they thought the drabble sisters should have an education she is the second of the four children in the family her elder sister a s byatt is also a famous novelist critic and biographer they both attended cambridge and studied english there and both graduated brilliantly her younger sister helen is an art historian and her younger brother a barrister drabble once said that her family was of the same size and constitution 2 as the bronte family and that like the brontes they were all commonly interested in writing and in their childhood composed stories together creighton 1986 22 after she graduated from cambridge and the first week she quickly married an actor named clive swift a cambridge graduate in english who became a leading actor they separated in 1972 and divorced in 1975 in 1982 drabble married her second husband the biographer michael holroyd they settled down in london and somerset after marriage she still kept her maiden name to indicate her independence margaret drabble was born into a family that reflects the breakup of old patterns and the power of conventions which may account for her receptiveness to both aspects of modern england drabble says that her mother was released from the harshness of her religious training drabble s mother struggled against clinical depression until her death her novel the needle s eye was said to be based on her mother s background she is concerned with broad aspects in society about disciplining children or travelling abroad sexual mores or public policy to name a few creighton 1985 11 creighton stresses her concern with social problems and cites the great critic david lodge who called her a post realistic novelist at cambridge she studied under dr leavis who regarded tradition as very important the 19th century s novelists such as jane austin the bronte sisters george eliot arnold bennett are her idols especially george eliot influenced her greatly the feminist critic showalter called drabble an ardent traditionalist and maternity novelist showalter 1998 305 in the tremendous feminist movement of the 1960s as a woman writer drabble did not escape its influences maybe the great contribution in the literary world for drabble is her deep felt concern for the intellectual women who experience anguish and agony in choosing their own life and experience a split in mind when their free choices conflict with male superior society drabble thus gained her reputation as a writer on women s issues she had proclaimed in one interview that she was thrilled to be writing a kind of female voice that hadn t been in literature before and participated in and gave support to feminists in the 1960s cardwell 2006 1 her early novels are all narrated from a female standpoint and one reader once stated that male characters in her novels are pretty simple creatures rose 1980 72 compared with her more complex female characters creighton 2006 1 points out that drabble s novels have for the most part been concerned with the lives of women women whose age corresponds to that of the author her protagonists have generally followed the course and concerns of her own life young 3 women leaving university getting married and separated birthing children having affairs raising progressively older children reaching midlife wondering what next margaret drabble s early novels usually are narrated in the first person nearly all protagonists in her novels are females they are different from one another showing various female qualities under different conditions it is mainly about the lives of rather ordinary middle class girls their frustration growing up exploring the life experience drabble had analyzed the privileges and privations of the intelligent and well educated women who seek justice and salvation in their work in their domestic lives or in the integration of these two weng dexiu 295 the later novels are more complex exploring the delicate webs of social interconnections and covering longer periods of time both the early and later novels express concern with finding the legitimate sources of growth and development concerning women s life exploring drabble as a woman writer is thus so concerned about women their situation which clashed with social upheaval as lambert 1980 229 points out the heroines in her novels are closest to the author herself she thinks it is her responsibility to write about women i find it easier to write about women than men women s issues are very important to me a lot of women s problems have been resolved but others come up in their places rozencwajg 1979 335 drabble records the historical and psychological development of modern women with the social changes and portrays the painstaking and painful experiences about their self realization and how they try to find an ideal way leading to paradise in a word drabble s works are showing a panorama of female life no wonder she is adored by female readers all around the world the needle s eye regarded as drabble s finest novel takes its title from jesus proverbial words to a rich young man it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god matthew 19 24 1 sadler 1986 7 sees the needle s eye as a breakthrough both artistically and in respect of the theme in this novel the author employed two hetero protagonists for the first time while her early novels are concerned only with one female heroine at the center of the novel are simon camish a barrister from a poor family background who had regretfully gained the world at the expense of his soul and rose bryanston vassiliou a rich young woman who compulsively divests herself of the benefits of her inheritance living a modest life her struggle trying to keep her own way of being in the world was 1 holy bible nanjing china christian council 2000 the following quotations in bible are from the same book 4 destroyed at last by all the forces of society born into a rich family rose a pale timid girl had made herself notorious by marrying out of her class her choice was the disreputable seedy sexy christopher vassiliou son of greek immigrants whose financial dealings are not fully within the boundaries of the law rose sought to escape from the evils of wealth through christopher one of the downtrodden much to her surprise however christopher is not a happy peasant he detests poverty legitimately and associates it not with virtue but with humiliation and deprivation both of which he has endured christopher s dream is to make something of himself this dream is only strengthened by the birth of their three children for whom christopher wants only the best he sees in rose s war on wealth nothing but perverse self destructiveness his fury vents itself in physical abuse frail pale rose is equally and strongly protesting against him and trying to preserve her way of living to her mind the best means freedom from possessions again rose and christopher appeared in the newspapers this time in a dramatic divorce and custody case rose is working out her divorce settlement when she meets simon it is with this that the novel opens simon feels estranged from the lower class types he has been pushed upward by a mother embarrassed by the meanness of her lower class life and determined that her son will have what she never had simon tried to marry into an inheritance of warmth and wealth by his alliance with what he thought was a good natured girl of the comfortable upper middle class julie phillips their marriage however only revealed her fear and insecurity her essential coldness for her it consists in no more than the obligation to the children rose and simon have attempted to gain what each personally lacked through marriage such marriages are doomed to failure also doomed has been rose s attempt to get away from what she possesses because her strange and unique way of being in the patriarchal world cannot be understood by common people she has given a huge portion of her inheritance to a schoolhouse in a lonely little known part of africa within months the school was burned down in a civil war when approximately one hundred children died in the fire simon and rose strike up a professional acquaintance casually it seems because christopher has begun some devious attempt to get his children away from rose as he becomes increasingly involved in helping rose simon realizes that he is in love with her 5 while rose and simon are chasing around after christopher who appears to be in the process of abducting the children and taking them out of england simon finally tells rose that were they at liberty he would marry her the moment of his revelation finds them in sudden confrontation with a dead stoat hanging grotesquely in front of them a dried up little corpse according to the narrator this is a warning to simon and rose thus ends the possibility of their getting married both rose and simon shared a concern for their obligations and duties for these duties and love