英国文学史及作品选读教案 Lecture 16(09级).doc

Lecture 16The Modern Period (IV) Teaching ContentWilliam Golding; Doris Lessing Time Allotment2 periods Teaching Objectives and Requirements1 Help the students know about William Golding.2 Help the students know clearly about Doris Lessing.3 Help the students have a better understanding of A Woman on a Roof. Key Points and Difficult Points in Teaching1 Doris Lessing2 A Woman on a Roof Teaching Methods and Means Lecture; Discussion; Multi-media Teaching Process1 William Golding (1911-1993) He was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies. He was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book of the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth. His first book Lord of the Flies established him as a rising star on the scene and paved the way for him to win the Nobel Prize in 1983. In later years, Golding wrote quite a few stories along roughly the same line as Lord of the Flies. The stories are usually set in a place far from “the old world”: either on a wild island, or on a rock in the Atlantic, or in a primitive world, or a medieval town. Goldings theme is the dark sideor evilof human nature. Golding prefers his story to be called “a fable”, a veiled story about the truth of human existence. His Lord of the Flies is the most adequate illustration of the dark side or evil of human nature. Instead of creating and replicating their civilized way of life in a new, bleak environment as Robison Crusoe does, the boys of the Lord of Flies repeats the dark, tragic side of human history of tyranny, violence, fanaticism, intolerance, and confrontation. Thirsty for power and blood, resorting to barbaric rituals and superstitions, they fight and kill the each other, thus revealing the naked heart of darkness that exists at the center of their beings. “The Lord of Flies” is the devil figure, the source of evil, and the story of the Lord of Flies is just about the devil that lives in all human. 2 Doris Lessing (1919- )2.1 General Introduction Doris Lessing is one of the most successful prolific British novelists of the recent decades. She was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was described by the Swedish Academy as “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny”. (女性经验的史诗作者，以其怀疑的态度、激情和远见，清楚地剖析了一个分裂的文化”) She was the eleventh woman and the oldest ever person to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Basically a realist, Lessing took interest in writing in the mythic mode in the 1970s. In the 1980s she reverted back to the realistic mode. Since the 1990s she has been writing a good number of short stories. Lessings themes are wide and varied: social problems, political concerns, racial questions, and feminist views on life and love relationships, but she focuses mostly on black-white relations and on the life of the woman in a male-oriented world. Lessings major works include the five novels of her Children of Violence series, The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, Briefing for a Descent into Hell, Canopus in Argos: Archives, The Diaries of Jane Somers, The Fifth Child, and many volumes of short stories such as A Man and Two Woman. Lessings best known book is her novel, The Golden Notebook, which is about a middle-aged womans experience in mans world. The characterization of Anna is a feat in fiction, beautifully done through the medium of the four notebooks and the supportive portrait of Molly. The novel is structurally intriguing. It reads like a novelist writing about a novelist, with stories within the story and novels within the novel. (See Chang Yaoxin, 503-504) 2.2 A Woman on a Roof2.2.1 StoryA woman was enjoying sunbathing on the roof, which aroused the notice of three work men (Harry, Stanley and Tom). And the three men on the roof were seduced. And for several days, they kept chasing her and talking about her. They tried any method to draw the womans attention. However, the sunbathing woman totally ignored thembeing indifferent to their wolf whistle, as well as little Toms confession. The three men were all angry and anguished because of the womans utter indifference to them. 2.2.2 Characters The unnamed woman: bold, straightforward, revolutionary, charming, free, leisure, disdainful of the mens harassment Harry: the oldest of the three men, calm, rational, responsible, humorous, angry with the woman Stanley: the middle-aged one of the three men, sharp, dominant, unbridled, hot-tempered, hard on his wife and the woman, blind angry with the woman, attracted by the woman, a contradictory unity Tom: the youngest of the three men, a dreamy boy, excited, innocent, enthusiastic, lost himself in his illusion, impulsive, romantic, lack of self-control, depressed about the womans decisiveness to refuse him and the impassable class gap between him and the woman, resentful of the woman2.2.3 Themes Conflict between man and womanMan has a strong desire of control of woman and woman has a strong desire of breaking away from the control of man. Man shows prejudice against woman. In the texture, the desire of control is represented in three manifestations. The first manifestation exists in mens charm to fascinate women. The novel uses the common words to describe the life of common people, to reflect their common behavior and to express their common interest in beautiful woman. Three men are indeed tempted by the woman, only the whistle appearing 7 times in the texture, especially Stanley. His whistle or yells or stamping or swearing never gains the active response from woman. At last his reaction to the womans indifference is from “adding a jest” to really angry and going home, his whistles from “wolf whistle” to provocation. Womans remote and cool eyesight injury his self-esteem that he was confident at his appearance and assured no woman could resist his charm. His irritation really reveals that under the condition of male worship and social preference, mens proper pride increases rapidly. In this sense, they take it for granted that they can handle all the situations. But the surrounding has changed. Women said NO. The second one lies in ruling role in their life. In Stanleys mind, there is a clear principle to distinguish the women, (1) wifehis possession, must stay at home. If necessary, he will package and store her; (2) the roof woman and Mrs. Pritchettyoung ladies, the object of entertainment; (3) Lady Godiva like mother. So he thought the birth of women relying on needs of men. Woman must cater for mens needs in the certain period. Stanley thought in his world he was the Kind, so his words were the command. But the refusal of the roof woman really astonished him. However, that cant make him sense his ruling position had declined. He just turned to his wife or Lady Godiva or Mrs. Pritchett to seek the comfort.The third one is the strong desire of monopolizing a woman. The monopolization can be seen from Tom. Toms monopolization has two sides. One is to the roof woman who is his “doll”, and the other is to men. He is reluctant to share his “doll” with others. Tom is a half-man boy, not mature in psychological. His love, in his mind, is romantic, and will bring the woman boundless enjoyment. As a mater of fact, his pappy love is based on his conceitedness, illusion and daydream. Finally his dream ended with hatred of her. The reason of his loves corruption is that he initiated his pursuit on the possession and conquest. Meanwhile, the desire of romantic love is strong. But he didnt concern about the others feeling. Therefore, His love to others is a burden and in fact, he never really pursued the roof woman, never knew about the woman. “Unknown woman” is just his prey, his goal to prove that he was a mature man like Stanley to draw womens attention. War of class differences The woman from the upper class lives leisurely in the hot sun. For her, the hot sun is helpful. While the three men works hard in the hot sun. For them, the hot sun is cruel. The low class people have their desires and they suffer the prejudice from the upper class. No matter what they did, the woman ignored them. They were all angry because of the womans utter indifference to them. The gap between the low class and upper class is impassable. 2.2.4 Comments The beauty of the story lies in Doris Lessings apparent ability to discern and relate the mens thoughts and feelings. Manifestly she possesses great insight into how other people think and feel. Though the story is simple, yet the deceptively simple story doesnt seem dated, because in it Lessing surfaces some elemental questions about male aggression and female sexuality, and about class and power. The story, seen from a feminist perspective, illuminates how easily men can be threatened by female independence (especially in sexual matters) and how they can respond violently when their sense of control and mastery is challenged. We are not far from the territory of degradation and rape, here, where the motivation is power, not sex. What makes the story hold up well, even today, is that while much has changed, much has not. Even with the greater sexual openness of the past years, and the advent of “sexual libera