寻找黑人女性的自我
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摘要
作为迄今为止唯一获得诺贝尔文学奖的美国黑人女作家，托妮·莫里森努力致力于保存和弘扬黑人文化，为二十世纪美国黑人文学树起了又一座丰碑。她以丰富的想象力和诗一般的语言生动地再现了非洲裔黑人在美国社会的生存境遇，揭示出蓄奴制和种族歧视对黑人的精神伤害从而造成其自我扭曲的罪恶现象，并深入探索了黑人未来的命运。
作为一名黑人女性作家，莫里森更多关注的是黑人妇女的爱与恨，欢乐与悲伤，幻想与希望以及黑人女性心灵世界的冲突，并以这一内在的冲突反映外在的黑白两种文化的错位和对立。她的主要笔触用来描绘当代黑人女性面对双重文化价值冲突时寻求自我的困惑与艰苦的探索。这种困惑与探索在莫里森的小说《秀拉》中做了更为深入，更具象征性的刻画。女主人公秀拉是一位一生无悔的寻求自我个性，挖掘自身价值，蔑视传统幸福，坚持精神世界始终完整的现代黑人女性，但她的结局仍是悲剧性的。莫里森认为，美国黑人“新”女性只有将个性根植于黑人传统文化，才能寻找到真正完整的自我。由此，我们可以看出，在种族，性别，阶级等多重压迫下，黑人女性的寻找自我之路虽然漫长和泥泞，但也是充满希望的曙光。
全文主要由四部分组成。第一部分介绍莫里森的家庭背景，生活经历以及当时的社会背景对她的影响。第二部分对莫里森的主要作品进行了回顾并对其作品的主题，特色和风格作了简要的分析。第三部分，也是论文的核心部分，通过对秀拉与社区的关系，秀拉与母亲外祖母的母女关系，秀拉与内儿的姐妹情谊，秀拉与社区男人四个层面的深入探讨，剖析了秀拉冲破种种压抑自我的巨大藩篱，始终坚持独立自主的个性的必要性。同时指出，秀拉只有将自我根植于本民族文化传统中，她的悲剧才能避免。第四部分试图针对以上文中所讨论的内容，提出作者本人对美国黑人女性寻找自我的一些尝试性途径，以期对中国女性也有所启示。
Toni Morrison being awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature makes her the first African American to be so honored and marks not only a personal triumph but also the recognition of the artistry of African American fiction and the validity of Black woman's voice. With her magic imagination and poetic language, Morrison not only delineates the cruelty of historical slavery and white American's continual denial of Black people, but also examines Black people with the pursuit of individual advancement in a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) nation and culture, and whether this is at the expense of their "blackness". In such way, she explores the future of modern Blacks.
As a female Black writer, Morrison is preoccupied with love and sorrow, laughter and dreams, triumphs and failures, and inner conflicts of Black women faced with contradictions between two cultures. Much more, she probes the hardships and confusions when Black women pursue their selfhood within the confines of a sexist and racist society. In her novel Sula, Toni Morrison asserts an unprecedented black woman who resists traditional sociomoral constructs, and keeps her selfhood intact all along in life. However, Morrison also probes the causes of Sula's tragedy and suggests a new black womanhood with both Sula's freedom and Nel's rootedness in the community.
The thesis consists of four parts. Part one is an introduction to Morrison's family and community background, her early experiences and its influence. The second part briefly analyzes Morrison's seven major novels and the theme, characterization, and style of her novels. The third part, the core part of the paper, comments on Morrison's controversial work Sula and displays how hard but crucial for a black woman to maintain her complete selfhood under the pressure of racism and sexism through the discussion about the relationships between Sula and Community, Sula and her maternal ancestors, Sula and her female friend Nel, Sula and men. The last part tries to suggest some more solutions for Black women's further search for selfhood, which, I hope, can provide some inspiration to Chinese women.
作为一名黑人女性作家，莫里森更多关注的是黑人妇女的爱与恨，欢乐与悲伤，幻想与希望以及黑人女性心灵世界的冲突，并以这一内在的冲突反映外在的黑白两种文化的错位和对立。她的主要笔触用来描绘当代黑人女性面对双重文化价值冲突时寻求自我的困惑与艰苦的探索。这种困惑与探索在莫里森的小说《秀拉》中做了更为深入，更具象征性的刻画。女主人公秀拉是一位一生无悔的寻求自我个性，挖掘自身价值，蔑视传统幸福，坚持精神世界始终完整的现代黑人女性，但她的结局仍是悲剧性的。莫里森认为，美国黑人“新”女性只有将个性根植于黑人传统文化，才能寻找到真正完整的自我。由此，我们可以看出，在种族，性别，阶级等多重压迫下，黑人女性的寻找自我之路虽然漫长和泥泞，但也是充满希望的曙光。
全文主要由四部分组成。第一部分介绍莫里森的家庭背景，生活经历以及当时的社会背景对她的影响。第二部分对莫里森的主要作品进行了回顾并对其作品的主题，特色和风格作了简要的分析。第三部分，也是论文的核心部分，通过对秀拉与社区的关系，秀拉与母亲外祖母的母女关系，秀拉与内儿的姐妹情谊，秀拉与社区男人四个层面的深入探讨，剖析了秀拉冲破种种压抑自我的巨大藩篱，始终坚持独立自主的个性的必要性。同时指出，秀拉只有将自我根植于本民族文化传统中，她的悲剧才能避免。第四部分试图针对以上文中所讨论的内容，提出作者本人对美国黑人女性寻找自我的一些尝试性途径，以期对中国女性也有所启示。
Toni Morrison being awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature makes her the first African American to be so honored and marks not only a personal triumph but also the recognition of the artistry of African American fiction and the validity of Black woman's voice. With her magic imagination and poetic language, Morrison not only delineates the cruelty of historical slavery and white American's continual denial of Black people, but also examines Black people with the pursuit of individual advancement in a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) nation and culture, and whether this is at the expense of their "blackness". In such way, she explores the future of modern Blacks.
As a female Black writer, Morrison is preoccupied with love and sorrow, laughter and dreams, triumphs and failures, and inner conflicts of Black women faced with contradictions between two cultures. Much more, she probes the hardships and confusions when Black women pursue their selfhood within the confines of a sexist and racist society. In her novel Sula, Toni Morrison asserts an unprecedented black woman who resists traditional sociomoral constructs, and keeps her selfhood intact all along in life. However, Morrison also probes the causes of Sula's tragedy and suggests a new black womanhood with both Sula's freedom and Nel's rootedness in the community.
The thesis consists of four parts. Part one is an introduction to Morrison's family and community background, her early experiences and its influence. The second part briefly analyzes Morrison's seven major novels and the theme, characterization, and style of her novels. The third part, the core part of the paper, comments on Morrison's controversial work Sula and displays how hard but crucial for a black woman to maintain her complete selfhood under the pressure of racism and sexism through the discussion about the relationships between Sula and Community, Sula and her maternal ancestors, Sula and her female friend Nel, Sula and men. The last part tries to suggest some more solutions for Black women's further search for selfhood, which, I hope, can provide some inspiration to Chinese women.
引文
Bakerman, Jane. "The Seams Can't Show: An interview with Toni Morrison," Black American Literature Forum 12 (1978).
Byerman, Keith E. Fingering the Jagged Grain: Tradition and Form in Recent Black Fiction. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985.
Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Hew York: bRoutledge, 1991.
Christian, Barbara T. Black Feminist Criticism. New York: Pergamon, 1985.
David L. Middleton, ed. Toni Morrison's Fiction: Contemporary Criticism. New York: Garland pub, 1997.
DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1996.
Elain Showalter, A Literature of Their Own: British Woman Novelists from Bronte to Lessing, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage Books, 1972.
Evans, Marie. Black Women Writers: 1950-1980, A Critical Evaluation. New York: Doubleday, 1984.
Feng, Pin-chia. The Female Bildungstroman by Toni Morrison and Maxine Hong Kingston: a postmodern reading. New York: P. Lang, 1998.
Furman, Jan. Toni Morrison's Fiction. Columbia S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Black Literature and Literary Theory. New York and London: Methuen, 1984.
Gates, Henry Lousi, Jr. and K. A. Appiah, eds. Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad, 1993.
——The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Moral Development. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1982.
Hazel Arnett Ervin, ed. African American literature Criticism. 1773-2000 New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999.
Marshall, Paule. Browngirl, Brownstones. London: Virago, 1982
McKey, Nellie Y., ed. Critical Essays on Toni Morrison. Boston: Hall, 1988.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Washington Square Press, 1970.
——Sula. New York: Plume, 1973.
——Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literature Today 68 (1994): 5-8
——Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation," Black Women Writers (1950-1980), ed. Marie Evans: New York: Doubleday, 1984.
——"Lecture and Speech of Acceptance, Upon the Award of the Nobel Prize for Literature," The Nobel Lecture in Literature, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
——"Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The African American Presence in American Literature." Michigan Quarterly Review 28 (1989): 1-34.
Peach, Linden. Macmillan Modern Novelists: Toni Morrision. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1995.
Rigney, Barbara. The Voices of Toni Morrison. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991.
Robinson, Victoria ed. Introducing Women's Studies. London: Macmillan Press, 1997. Robbins, Ruth. Literary Feminisms. New York: palgrave, 2000.
Sandi Russell. "It's OK to say OK," Critical Essays on Toni Morrison, ed. Nellie Y. McKay. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988.
Samuels, Wilfered D. and Clenora Hudson-Weems. Toni Morrison. Boston: Twayne, 1990.
Spiller, Hortense J. Black, White and in Color: Essays on American Literature and Culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Smith, Valerie. Self-Discovery and Authority in Afro-American Narrative. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Taylor-Guthrie, Danille, ed. Conversations with Toni Morrrison. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994.
Tally, Justine. Toni Morrison's Histories and Truths. Lit, piscataway, NJ: Hambury, 1999.
Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mother's Gardens. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
Walker, Melissa. Down from the Mountaintop: Black Women's Novels in the Wake of the Civil Rights Movement 1966-1989. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
Wendy Harding & Jacky Martain. A Worm of Difference—An Inter-cultural study of Toni Morrsion's Novels. Westport, Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press, 1994.
Weinstein, Phillip M. What Else but Love?: the Ordeal of Race in Faulkner and Morrison. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
Willis, Susan. Specifying: Black Women Writing the American Experience. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987.
王守仁，吴新云，《性别．种族．文化：托妮莫里森与二十世纪美国黑人文学》，北京：北京大学出版社，1999．7．
常耀信，《美国文学简史》，天津：南开大学出版社，1987．
张岩冰，《女权主义文论》，济南：山东教育出版社 1998．
张京媛主编，《当代女性主义文学批评》，北京：北京大学出版社，1992．
李小江主编，《主流与边缘》北京：生活．读书．新知三联书店 1999．7．
宁骚，《非洲黑人文化》，上海：浙江人民出版社，1993．
Byerman, Keith E. Fingering the Jagged Grain: Tradition and Form in Recent Black Fiction. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985.
Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Hew York: bRoutledge, 1991.
Christian, Barbara T. Black Feminist Criticism. New York: Pergamon, 1985.
David L. Middleton, ed. Toni Morrison's Fiction: Contemporary Criticism. New York: Garland pub, 1997.
DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1996.
Elain Showalter, A Literature of Their Own: British Woman Novelists from Bronte to Lessing, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage Books, 1972.
Evans, Marie. Black Women Writers: 1950-1980, A Critical Evaluation. New York: Doubleday, 1984.
Feng, Pin-chia. The Female Bildungstroman by Toni Morrison and Maxine Hong Kingston: a postmodern reading. New York: P. Lang, 1998.
Furman, Jan. Toni Morrison's Fiction. Columbia S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Black Literature and Literary Theory. New York and London: Methuen, 1984.
Gates, Henry Lousi, Jr. and K. A. Appiah, eds. Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad, 1993.
——The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Moral Development. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1982.
Hazel Arnett Ervin, ed. African American literature Criticism. 1773-2000 New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999.
Marshall, Paule. Browngirl, Brownstones. London: Virago, 1982
McKey, Nellie Y., ed. Critical Essays on Toni Morrison. Boston: Hall, 1988.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Washington Square Press, 1970.
——Sula. New York: Plume, 1973.
——Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literature Today 68 (1994): 5-8
——Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation," Black Women Writers (1950-1980), ed. Marie Evans: New York: Doubleday, 1984.
——"Lecture and Speech of Acceptance, Upon the Award of the Nobel Prize for Literature," The Nobel Lecture in Literature, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
——"Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The African American Presence in American Literature." Michigan Quarterly Review 28 (1989): 1-34.
Peach, Linden. Macmillan Modern Novelists: Toni Morrision. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1995.
Rigney, Barbara. The Voices of Toni Morrison. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991.
Robinson, Victoria ed. Introducing Women's Studies. London: Macmillan Press, 1997. Robbins, Ruth. Literary Feminisms. New York: palgrave, 2000.
Sandi Russell. "It's OK to say OK," Critical Essays on Toni Morrison, ed. Nellie Y. McKay. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988.
Samuels, Wilfered D. and Clenora Hudson-Weems. Toni Morrison. Boston: Twayne, 1990.
Spiller, Hortense J. Black, White and in Color: Essays on American Literature and Culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Smith, Valerie. Self-Discovery and Authority in Afro-American Narrative. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Taylor-Guthrie, Danille, ed. Conversations with Toni Morrrison. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994.
Tally, Justine. Toni Morrison's Histories and Truths. Lit, piscataway, NJ: Hambury, 1999.
Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mother's Gardens. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
Walker, Melissa. Down from the Mountaintop: Black Women's Novels in the Wake of the Civil Rights Movement 1966-1989. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
Wendy Harding & Jacky Martain. A Worm of Difference—An Inter-cultural study of Toni Morrsion's Novels. Westport, Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press, 1994.
Weinstein, Phillip M. What Else but Love?: the Ordeal of Race in Faulkner and Morrison. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
Willis, Susan. Specifying: Black Women Writing the American Experience. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987.
王守仁，吴新云，《性别．种族．文化：托妮莫里森与二十世纪美国黑人文学》，北京：北京大学出版社，1999．7．
常耀信，《美国文学简史》，天津：南开大学出版社，1987．
张岩冰，《女权主义文论》，济南：山东教育出版社 1998．
张京媛主编，《当代女性主义文学批评》，北京：北京大学出版社，1992．
李小江主编，《主流与边缘》北京：生活．读书．新知三联书店 1999．7．
宁骚，《非洲黑人文化》，上海：浙江人民出版社，1993．