辛克莱·刘易斯四部杰作中主人公形象分析
摘要
辛克莱·刘易斯以其刚健有力、栩栩如生的描写和以机智幽默，入木讽刺创造新型性格的才能成为美国第一位获得诺贝尔文学奖的作家。
刘易斯写了20多部长篇小说，题材集中，主要描写中产阶级，从不同侧面揭示了中产阶级生活中的矛盾，表达了作者追求更美好社会的愿望。刘易斯的小说鲜以情节取胜，他的突出特点是对人物的刻画。尤其辅以他那摄影师般敏锐的洞察力，人物的言谈举止及精神风貌即通过他那支生花妙笔跃然纸上，其中有些人物形象已家喻户晓。本文就针对刘易斯四部最著名小说中的四个最具创造力的主人公形象进行细致研究，旨在分析不同人物的特点，其典型行，社会性和独创性。文章由四个章节和结论部分组成。
第一章是绪论，从整体上对刘易斯的历史地位，文学生涯，及四个人物形象进行概况性的评价。第二章在研究刘易斯生平及其心理曲线的基础上力图揭示二者与刘易斯创作的人物形象某种内在的抑或显而易见的联系。
第三章作为本文的核心主要从以下几个方面论述四个人物形象的特点。首先探讨了人物的时代背景，社会背景，及文学时期背景。然后详尽阐述各个人物形象的特点，依次是《大街》中的卡络，一个面对文化冲突勇敢应对，力求革新，虽重新回到狭隘闭塞的小镇，但仍怀有梦想的年轻女性；《巴壁德》中的巴壁德，一个虚伪固执，注定无法摆脱自身局限，却一定要尝试并以彻底的失败告终的房地产掮客；《亚罗史密斯》中的亚罗史密斯，一个怀有梦想并为之终身追求的最具英雄气质的年轻医生；及《道茨沃斯》中的道茨沃斯，一个富有，宽容，体贴，勤奋，脚踏实地，热爱生活的汽车生产商。这一章的最后对人物形象所揭示的美国社会做了分析总结。第四章是对第三章的补充说明，分析了
人物刻画手段。
通过这几章的分析可以得出结论:一个开创历史先河，一个创造出
这么多既有代表性又有鲜明个性的人物形象的作家是应该拥有与其相
称的历史地位和更多人的欣赏与认同的。
Sinclair Lewis, the first Nobel Prize winner, characterizes his writing by vivid description, strong control, and creation of new type of images with satire and wit and humor.
Lewis presents his readers more than 20 novels, whose subjects are mainly confined to middle-class Americans. The conflicts they are experiencing are sarcastically revealed with the good intent of a better world. Plot is hardly the shining point of Lewis's novels. The overwhelming attraction lies in his depiction of various images, especially sharpened by his photographic documenting ability. Some images have long dwelled in people's mind and some have established themselves in American's daily vocabulary.
This thesis aims to conduct a detailed study of four most creative images of protagonists in Lewis's four top novels to show their typicality, sociality and originality. The dissertation consists of four chapters and a conclusion part.
Chapter 1 is a preface, in which there is an overall comment on Lewis's historical position, literary career and a brief introduction to the four images. Chapter 2 is devoted to the study of inner relationship between Lewis's psychograph and his creation of those images.
Chapter 3 is the core of the dissertation, which is composed of three sections. In the first section, the historical, social and literary settings are discussed. The detailed and thorough analyses of the four images of protagonists are carried out in the second section. They are respectively
Carol in Main Street, a brave young bride who faces the cultural conflicts with enthusiasm of reformation, and whose dream is still alive waving despite the final return to the parochial Gopher Prairie; Babbitt in Babbitt, the typical "TBM", who is in nature a conformist and doomed to be bounded but tries to escape and finds only failure; Arrowsmith in Arrowsmith, a young medical scientist with grand dream and determination in truth-seeking; and Dodsworth in Dodsworth, a rich, generous, considerate, diligent and down-to-earth car producer. This chapter ends up with analyses of the implied America presented through the images. Chapter 4 is the complement to Chapter 3 about the methods of depiction.
A conclusion can be draw in the light of the previous chapters that a writer who paves the way and creates so many unique and typical images surely should win recognition and admiration from more people and possess a position he much deserves.
刘易斯写了20多部长篇小说，题材集中，主要描写中产阶级，从不同侧面揭示了中产阶级生活中的矛盾，表达了作者追求更美好社会的愿望。刘易斯的小说鲜以情节取胜，他的突出特点是对人物的刻画。尤其辅以他那摄影师般敏锐的洞察力，人物的言谈举止及精神风貌即通过他那支生花妙笔跃然纸上，其中有些人物形象已家喻户晓。本文就针对刘易斯四部最著名小说中的四个最具创造力的主人公形象进行细致研究，旨在分析不同人物的特点，其典型行，社会性和独创性。文章由四个章节和结论部分组成。
第一章是绪论，从整体上对刘易斯的历史地位，文学生涯，及四个人物形象进行概况性的评价。第二章在研究刘易斯生平及其心理曲线的基础上力图揭示二者与刘易斯创作的人物形象某种内在的抑或显而易见的联系。
第三章作为本文的核心主要从以下几个方面论述四个人物形象的特点。首先探讨了人物的时代背景，社会背景，及文学时期背景。然后详尽阐述各个人物形象的特点，依次是《大街》中的卡络，一个面对文化冲突勇敢应对，力求革新，虽重新回到狭隘闭塞的小镇，但仍怀有梦想的年轻女性；《巴壁德》中的巴壁德，一个虚伪固执，注定无法摆脱自身局限，却一定要尝试并以彻底的失败告终的房地产掮客；《亚罗史密斯》中的亚罗史密斯，一个怀有梦想并为之终身追求的最具英雄气质的年轻医生；及《道茨沃斯》中的道茨沃斯，一个富有，宽容，体贴，勤奋，脚踏实地，热爱生活的汽车生产商。这一章的最后对人物形象所揭示的美国社会做了分析总结。第四章是对第三章的补充说明，分析了
人物刻画手段。
通过这几章的分析可以得出结论:一个开创历史先河，一个创造出
这么多既有代表性又有鲜明个性的人物形象的作家是应该拥有与其相
称的历史地位和更多人的欣赏与认同的。
Sinclair Lewis, the first Nobel Prize winner, characterizes his writing by vivid description, strong control, and creation of new type of images with satire and wit and humor.
Lewis presents his readers more than 20 novels, whose subjects are mainly confined to middle-class Americans. The conflicts they are experiencing are sarcastically revealed with the good intent of a better world. Plot is hardly the shining point of Lewis's novels. The overwhelming attraction lies in his depiction of various images, especially sharpened by his photographic documenting ability. Some images have long dwelled in people's mind and some have established themselves in American's daily vocabulary.
This thesis aims to conduct a detailed study of four most creative images of protagonists in Lewis's four top novels to show their typicality, sociality and originality. The dissertation consists of four chapters and a conclusion part.
Chapter 1 is a preface, in which there is an overall comment on Lewis's historical position, literary career and a brief introduction to the four images. Chapter 2 is devoted to the study of inner relationship between Lewis's psychograph and his creation of those images.
Chapter 3 is the core of the dissertation, which is composed of three sections. In the first section, the historical, social and literary settings are discussed. The detailed and thorough analyses of the four images of protagonists are carried out in the second section. They are respectively
Carol in Main Street, a brave young bride who faces the cultural conflicts with enthusiasm of reformation, and whose dream is still alive waving despite the final return to the parochial Gopher Prairie; Babbitt in Babbitt, the typical "TBM", who is in nature a conformist and doomed to be bounded but tries to escape and finds only failure; Arrowsmith in Arrowsmith, a young medical scientist with grand dream and determination in truth-seeking; and Dodsworth in Dodsworth, a rich, generous, considerate, diligent and down-to-earth car producer. This chapter ends up with analyses of the implied America presented through the images. Chapter 4 is the complement to Chapter 3 about the methods of depiction.
A conclusion can be draw in the light of the previous chapters that a writer who paves the way and creates so many unique and typical images surely should win recognition and admiration from more people and possess a position he much deserves.
引文
Anon. "Babbitt." Times Literary supplement, 21 (12 October) 1922: 647
Anon. "Babbitt, of Zenith, Searches in Vain for Happiness." Current Opinion, 73 (November), 1922: 591-92
Anon. "Sinclair Lewis's Plot Paradigms." SLN, 5-6 (1973-1974), 4-6
Austin, James C. American Dreams, American nightmares, ed. David Madden (Southern Illinois). 1970: 104-5
Bloom, Harold. Twentieth-Century American Literature. Vol. 4. New Haven: Chelsea House Publishers. 1986: 2235-2254
Brown, R. Daniel. "Lewis's satire- A Negative Emphasis" Modern Critical Views Sinclair Lewis. New York 1987: 51
Bruccoli, Layman, et al., eds. "The Twenties, 1917-1929" Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989:165-166
Butcher, Fanny, "Sinclair Lewis" Many Lives-One Love. 1972: 389
Clark, Walter H. JR. "Aspects of Tragedy in Babbitt" Michigan Academician, 8 (winter), 1976: 277-85
Clark, C. E. Frazer, Jr., et al., eds. The Twenties, 1917-1929. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989: 170
Coard, Robert L. Babbitt: The Sound Track of a Satire. SLN, 5-6 (1973-1974),1-4
Coblentz, Stanton A. "Main Street. "Bookman, 52(January), 357-58; issue misnumbered.
Conroy, Stephen S. "Sinclair Lewis's Sociological Imagination" American Leterature 42, no. 3 (November 1970). Duke University, 1970: 71
Daniels, Howell. "Sinclair Lewis and the Drama of Dissociation" in The American Novel and the Nineteen Twenties. 1971
Douglas, George H. The Nation. May 22, 1972: 661
Forster, E. M. "Sinclair Lewis" (1929) Abinger Harvest 1936: 129-36
Geismar, Maxwell. "Sinclair Lewis: The Cosmic Bourjoyce" The Last of the Provincials. 1947: 130
Gong, Zheng Wu. Beauty in Novels. Jiang Su: Wenyi Publishing House, 1985: 166-77
Grebstein, Sheldon Norman. "Sinclair Lewis" Twayne's United States Authors Series. Ed. Sylvia E. Bowman. Indiana University, 1962: preface
——. Sinclair Lewis. New York: Twayne Publisher, Inc., 1962: 58
Gurko, Leo and Miriam Gurko. "The Two Main Streets of Sinclair Lewis." In College English The National Council of Teachers of English, Vol. 4, No. 5, February, 1943: 290
Hall, Sharon K. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1981. Vol. 4, 245
Harris, Laurie Lanzen. Characters in 20th-Century Literature. Detroit: GaleResearch Inc. 239-40
Hazard, Lucy Lockwood. The Frontier in American Literature. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, xx+308
Henderson, Helene, and Jay P. Pederson, eds. Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary. Detroit: Omnigraphics Inc. 2000: 309-310, 312
Hutchisson, James M. The Rise of Sinclair Lewis, 1920-1930. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, 1996:
Johnson, Gerald W. "Romance and Mr. Babbitt." NR, Jan. 29, 1951, 14-15
Kazin, Alfred "The New Realism: Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis," On Native Grounds, 1942:223-25
Koblas, John J. Sinclair Lewis Home At Last. Bloomington: Voyageur Press, 1981: Foreword xvii, 13
Krutch, Joseph Wild. The Nation, Feb. 24, 1951:180
Lea, James. "Sinclair Lewis and the Implied America." American Fiction 1914 to 1945. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987:115-25
Lewis, Robert W. "Babbitt and the Dream of Romance." North Dokato Quarterly, 40, no. 1, 7-14
Lewis, Sinclair. Arrowsmith. New York: New American Library, (original work published 1924) 1952: 15, 83,142,153,267, 237,281
——. Babbitt. New York: New American Library, 1952: 150 (original work published 1922)
——. Dodsworth. New York: New American Library, 1952: 17, 60, 100,116(original work published 1929)
——. Main Street. New York: Bantam Books, 1996: 26-27 (original work published 1920)
Light, Martin. "Dodsworth: The Quixotic Hero" A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Mark Schorer. N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962:119-126
——. The Quixotic Vision of Sinclair Lewis. 1975
——. "Introduction to Sinclair Lewis." Modern fiction Studies. Autumn, 1985: 480-82
——. University Review. Dec., 1963:151
Lovett, Robert Morss. "An Interpreter of American Life." Dial, 78 (June), 1925: 515-18
Lundquist, James. Sinclair Lewis (Ungar). 1973: 85-6
Magill, Frank N. ed. The Novel Prize Winners. 3vols. California: Salem Press, 1987. Vol. 2, 375,372
Mencken, H. L. "Portrait of an American Citizen" (1922), H. L. Mencken's Smart Set Criticism, ed. William H. Nolte, 1968: 283
Morris, Lloyd. Postscript to Yesterday (Random). 1947:137
Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson, eds. Literature and Its Time. 5 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Vol. 3, 21-25
Olson, Roberta J. Sinclair Lewis-The Journey. (2nd ed.). Minnesota: Lilac Drive, 1997, 48
ROBERT, SILHOL. Les Tyrans Tragiques: Un Temoin pathetique de notre temps: Sinclair Lewis. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1969:443
Schorer Mark, Sinclair Lewis An American life. New York: Library ofCongress, 1961:6
——. A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962: 4-9
——."Introduction." Lewis at Zenith A Three-Novel Omnibus. New York:Harcourt INC, 1961, ⅷ-ⅹⅱ
——.Sinclair Lewis. (American Writers Pamphlet NO. 27) Minneapolis:University of Minnesota, 1963: 14-16, 25
——. New Republic. Apr. 6, 1953:19
——. "The World of Sinclair Lewis," NR. April 6, 1953 18
Wagenaar, Dick. American Literature. May, 1978:230,235,249
West, Thomas Reed "Sinclair Lewis; In Affirmation of Main Street," Flesh of Steel, 1977: 122
——. "Sinclair Lewis; In Affirmation of Main Street," Flesh of Steel, 1977: 122
Wharton, Edith. "The Great American Novel." YR, July 1927: 648, 649
Whipple, T. K. "Sinclair Lewis." New Republic, 42 (15 April), part 2, spring Book Section, 1925:3-5
Woolf, Virginia "American Fiction", SR, Aug. 1, 1925:2
Yu, Liyan. "The Truth-Seeking the Spirit of Dr. Arrowsmith as well as Sinclair Lewis Himself". A selected paper in The Sinclair Lewis Conference held in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, July 12-14, 2000: (1-8)
Anon. "Babbitt, of Zenith, Searches in Vain for Happiness." Current Opinion, 73 (November), 1922: 591-92
Anon. "Sinclair Lewis's Plot Paradigms." SLN, 5-6 (1973-1974), 4-6
Austin, James C. American Dreams, American nightmares, ed. David Madden (Southern Illinois). 1970: 104-5
Bloom, Harold. Twentieth-Century American Literature. Vol. 4. New Haven: Chelsea House Publishers. 1986: 2235-2254
Brown, R. Daniel. "Lewis's satire- A Negative Emphasis" Modern Critical Views Sinclair Lewis. New York 1987: 51
Bruccoli, Layman, et al., eds. "The Twenties, 1917-1929" Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989:165-166
Butcher, Fanny, "Sinclair Lewis" Many Lives-One Love. 1972: 389
Clark, Walter H. JR. "Aspects of Tragedy in Babbitt" Michigan Academician, 8 (winter), 1976: 277-85
Clark, C. E. Frazer, Jr., et al., eds. The Twenties, 1917-1929. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989: 170
Coard, Robert L. Babbitt: The Sound Track of a Satire. SLN, 5-6 (1973-1974),1-4
Coblentz, Stanton A. "Main Street. "Bookman, 52(January), 357-58; issue misnumbered.
Conroy, Stephen S. "Sinclair Lewis's Sociological Imagination" American Leterature 42, no. 3 (November 1970). Duke University, 1970: 71
Daniels, Howell. "Sinclair Lewis and the Drama of Dissociation" in The American Novel and the Nineteen Twenties. 1971
Douglas, George H. The Nation. May 22, 1972: 661
Forster, E. M. "Sinclair Lewis" (1929) Abinger Harvest 1936: 129-36
Geismar, Maxwell. "Sinclair Lewis: The Cosmic Bourjoyce" The Last of the Provincials. 1947: 130
Gong, Zheng Wu. Beauty in Novels. Jiang Su: Wenyi Publishing House, 1985: 166-77
Grebstein, Sheldon Norman. "Sinclair Lewis" Twayne's United States Authors Series. Ed. Sylvia E. Bowman. Indiana University, 1962: preface
——. Sinclair Lewis. New York: Twayne Publisher, Inc., 1962: 58
Gurko, Leo and Miriam Gurko. "The Two Main Streets of Sinclair Lewis." In College English The National Council of Teachers of English, Vol. 4, No. 5, February, 1943: 290
Hall, Sharon K. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1981. Vol. 4, 245
Harris, Laurie Lanzen. Characters in 20th-Century Literature. Detroit: GaleResearch Inc. 239-40
Hazard, Lucy Lockwood. The Frontier in American Literature. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, xx+308
Henderson, Helene, and Jay P. Pederson, eds. Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary. Detroit: Omnigraphics Inc. 2000: 309-310, 312
Hutchisson, James M. The Rise of Sinclair Lewis, 1920-1930. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, 1996:
Johnson, Gerald W. "Romance and Mr. Babbitt." NR, Jan. 29, 1951, 14-15
Kazin, Alfred "The New Realism: Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis," On Native Grounds, 1942:223-25
Koblas, John J. Sinclair Lewis Home At Last. Bloomington: Voyageur Press, 1981: Foreword xvii, 13
Krutch, Joseph Wild. The Nation, Feb. 24, 1951:180
Lea, James. "Sinclair Lewis and the Implied America." American Fiction 1914 to 1945. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987:115-25
Lewis, Robert W. "Babbitt and the Dream of Romance." North Dokato Quarterly, 40, no. 1, 7-14
Lewis, Sinclair. Arrowsmith. New York: New American Library, (original work published 1924) 1952: 15, 83,142,153,267, 237,281
——. Babbitt. New York: New American Library, 1952: 150 (original work published 1922)
——. Dodsworth. New York: New American Library, 1952: 17, 60, 100,116(original work published 1929)
——. Main Street. New York: Bantam Books, 1996: 26-27 (original work published 1920)
Light, Martin. "Dodsworth: The Quixotic Hero" A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Mark Schorer. N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962:119-126
——. The Quixotic Vision of Sinclair Lewis. 1975
——. "Introduction to Sinclair Lewis." Modern fiction Studies. Autumn, 1985: 480-82
——. University Review. Dec., 1963:151
Lovett, Robert Morss. "An Interpreter of American Life." Dial, 78 (June), 1925: 515-18
Lundquist, James. Sinclair Lewis (Ungar). 1973: 85-6
Magill, Frank N. ed. The Novel Prize Winners. 3vols. California: Salem Press, 1987. Vol. 2, 375,372
Mencken, H. L. "Portrait of an American Citizen" (1922), H. L. Mencken's Smart Set Criticism, ed. William H. Nolte, 1968: 283
Morris, Lloyd. Postscript to Yesterday (Random). 1947:137
Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson, eds. Literature and Its Time. 5 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Vol. 3, 21-25
Olson, Roberta J. Sinclair Lewis-The Journey. (2nd ed.). Minnesota: Lilac Drive, 1997, 48
ROBERT, SILHOL. Les Tyrans Tragiques: Un Temoin pathetique de notre temps: Sinclair Lewis. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1969:443
Schorer Mark, Sinclair Lewis An American life. New York: Library ofCongress, 1961:6
——. A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962: 4-9
——."Introduction." Lewis at Zenith A Three-Novel Omnibus. New York:Harcourt INC, 1961, ⅷ-ⅹⅱ
——.Sinclair Lewis. (American Writers Pamphlet NO. 27) Minneapolis:University of Minnesota, 1963: 14-16, 25
——. New Republic. Apr. 6, 1953:19
——. "The World of Sinclair Lewis," NR. April 6, 1953 18
Wagenaar, Dick. American Literature. May, 1978:230,235,249
West, Thomas Reed "Sinclair Lewis; In Affirmation of Main Street," Flesh of Steel, 1977: 122
——. "Sinclair Lewis; In Affirmation of Main Street," Flesh of Steel, 1977: 122
Wharton, Edith. "The Great American Novel." YR, July 1927: 648, 649
Whipple, T. K. "Sinclair Lewis." New Republic, 42 (15 April), part 2, spring Book Section, 1925:3-5
Woolf, Virginia "American Fiction", SR, Aug. 1, 1925:2
Yu, Liyan. "The Truth-Seeking the Spirit of Dr. Arrowsmith as well as Sinclair Lewis Himself". A selected paper in The Sinclair Lewis Conference held in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, July 12-14, 2000: (1-8)