《啊，拓荒者！》的原型批评解读
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摘要
威拉凯瑟是一位以描写美国拓荒运动而著名的小说作家,曾在美国西部内布拉斯加大草原生活过很长时间,她以草原生活为背景创作了一系列拓荒小说。《啊,拓荒者!》发表于1913年,描写了十九世纪第一代欧洲移民来到美国后的艰苦创业生活,塑造了以亚历山德拉为代表的坚强、睿智的拓荒者形象。鉴于文学与文化之间存在密切的联系,并考虑到美国早期文化所受基督信仰的巨大影响,本篇论文尝试以弗莱的原型批评理论为支撑,分析圣经中的神话原型对《啊,拓荒者!》这部小说的影响,并从小说中发掘出各种可以追溯到圣经神话的原型,以期待在文化背景中加深理解小说。
本篇论文包括引言、主体和结语三个部分。引言包括文献回顾和选题缘由。论文主体的第一章从弗莱的原型理论的角度解释原型、神话和传奇,并且分析《啊,拓荒者!》的女主人公亚历山德拉所具备的传奇英雄性格特征。神话往往经过移位出现在传奇小说中,移位在弗莱的理论中是变通地运用神话和隐喻,使之合乎情理的方法。圣经中最核心的历险探求神话,即约书亚征服应许之地和圣子耶稣降世、代赎、复活的神话在本部小说中都有所体现。亚历山德拉类似于接替摩西带领以色列人进入应许之地的约书亚,她带领家人和乡亲在旷野里用智慧和辛勤劳动建立起如同应许之地一般流着奶与蜜的美好家园。约书亚与耶稣是同一个名字,所以约书亚带领以色列人进入应许之地预言了救主弥赛亚的到来。亚历山德拉这个人物形象从圣经中神秘的救主弥赛亚移位而来。
第二章承接前一章对亚历山德拉超出常人的“神性特征”进行分析,从她身上可以看到的圣经原型很丰富,包括创世原型、牺牲原型、死亡复活原型以及饶恕原型。这些原型都能从小说文本中找到充分的说明,从而证实了亚历山德拉有非同寻常的天赋和品格,也肩负了非同寻常的人生使命,即带领她的家人和乡亲们在旷野中建立富饶美丽的家园。
第三章从伊甸园原型出发分析了与此相关的神话原型在小说中的体现。伊甸园和应许之地在圣经里都是与上帝同在的蒙福之地,是历险探求神话的开始,也是目的地。亚当夏娃因违背上帝被逐出伊甸园,因而伊甸园也隐喻了人类堕落的发端,而埃米尔和马莉因偷情而丧生的故事正是反映这一原型。本部小说也反映了拓荒运动中人们建造“新伊甸园”和重返伊甸园的梦想,即在历险探求神话中体现出来的人们想要回到蒙受祝福的伊甸园,恢复最初身份——上帝的子民,这样的愿望。结语部分是对整篇论文的小结。
Willa Cather is a writer celebrated for her novels of the immigrant experience on the American frontier. She had lived in the Nebraska prairie for a long time, and her experiences there informed much of her work. O Pioneers!was published in 1913, with a vivid description of the pioneering life of the first generation Europeans. Alexandra as a real pioneer and the protagonist of the novel is staunch and intelligent. As regard to the close relationship between literature and culture as well as the influence of Christianity on the early American culture, this thesis is devoted to an archetypal analysis of O Pioneers!. With the support from Frye’s archetypal theory, various archetypes in the novel are traced back to the Bible, thus a better understanding of the novel in its cultural background can be achieved.
This thesis comprises an“Introduction”, three chapters and a“Conclusion”. The“Introduction”gives a literary review of O Pioneers!, which is followed by a mentioning of the reason that I wrote this thesis. Chapter one gives an account of Frye’s archetypal theory of archetype, myth and romance. Furthermore, O Pioneers! is proved to be a romance because Alexandra, the protagonist possesses two characteristics that are features for romance. Displacement is used for the“the presence of a mythical structure in realistic fiction”(Frye 136). The displacement of the two concentric quest-myths in the Bible can be found in O Pioneers!. Alexandra is analogous to Joshua who succeeds Moses to take up the unaccomplished task and finally leads people into the Promised Land. Alexandra is the displaced mythical Messiah in the novel.
Chapter two follows the conclusion of chapter one that Alexandra is the displaced Messiah and analyzes the Biblical archetypes represented in her, which include the archetype of creation, the archetype of sacrifice, the archetype of death and rebirth and the archetype of forgiveness. All these archetypes found in the protagonist can testify that Alexandra is a larger-than-life figure, a hero who is endowed with greater power than average people and has a sense of mission in her life,which is to lead her families and people to build a prosperous and beautiful homeland in the wilderness.
Chapter three deals with the archetype of the Garden of Eden, which is the beginning as well as the destination of the quest-myths in the Bible. The Garden is identical with the Promised Land as they both refer to the place where God is with people and greatly blesses them. The Garden also implies the loss of Edenic innocence as Adam and Eve are driven out of the Garden after the Fall, which is the archetype for the story of Emil and Marie. The wish to build an earthly Garden and the yearning to return to the Garden in this pioneer novel also reflect human beings’wish to regain the original status as the people of God in the quest-myths.“Conclusion”is a summary of the thesis.
本篇论文包括引言、主体和结语三个部分。引言包括文献回顾和选题缘由。论文主体的第一章从弗莱的原型理论的角度解释原型、神话和传奇,并且分析《啊,拓荒者!》的女主人公亚历山德拉所具备的传奇英雄性格特征。神话往往经过移位出现在传奇小说中,移位在弗莱的理论中是变通地运用神话和隐喻,使之合乎情理的方法。圣经中最核心的历险探求神话,即约书亚征服应许之地和圣子耶稣降世、代赎、复活的神话在本部小说中都有所体现。亚历山德拉类似于接替摩西带领以色列人进入应许之地的约书亚,她带领家人和乡亲在旷野里用智慧和辛勤劳动建立起如同应许之地一般流着奶与蜜的美好家园。约书亚与耶稣是同一个名字,所以约书亚带领以色列人进入应许之地预言了救主弥赛亚的到来。亚历山德拉这个人物形象从圣经中神秘的救主弥赛亚移位而来。
第二章承接前一章对亚历山德拉超出常人的“神性特征”进行分析,从她身上可以看到的圣经原型很丰富,包括创世原型、牺牲原型、死亡复活原型以及饶恕原型。这些原型都能从小说文本中找到充分的说明,从而证实了亚历山德拉有非同寻常的天赋和品格,也肩负了非同寻常的人生使命,即带领她的家人和乡亲们在旷野中建立富饶美丽的家园。
第三章从伊甸园原型出发分析了与此相关的神话原型在小说中的体现。伊甸园和应许之地在圣经里都是与上帝同在的蒙福之地,是历险探求神话的开始,也是目的地。亚当夏娃因违背上帝被逐出伊甸园,因而伊甸园也隐喻了人类堕落的发端,而埃米尔和马莉因偷情而丧生的故事正是反映这一原型。本部小说也反映了拓荒运动中人们建造“新伊甸园”和重返伊甸园的梦想,即在历险探求神话中体现出来的人们想要回到蒙受祝福的伊甸园,恢复最初身份——上帝的子民,这样的愿望。结语部分是对整篇论文的小结。
Willa Cather is a writer celebrated for her novels of the immigrant experience on the American frontier. She had lived in the Nebraska prairie for a long time, and her experiences there informed much of her work. O Pioneers!was published in 1913, with a vivid description of the pioneering life of the first generation Europeans. Alexandra as a real pioneer and the protagonist of the novel is staunch and intelligent. As regard to the close relationship between literature and culture as well as the influence of Christianity on the early American culture, this thesis is devoted to an archetypal analysis of O Pioneers!. With the support from Frye’s archetypal theory, various archetypes in the novel are traced back to the Bible, thus a better understanding of the novel in its cultural background can be achieved.
This thesis comprises an“Introduction”, three chapters and a“Conclusion”. The“Introduction”gives a literary review of O Pioneers!, which is followed by a mentioning of the reason that I wrote this thesis. Chapter one gives an account of Frye’s archetypal theory of archetype, myth and romance. Furthermore, O Pioneers! is proved to be a romance because Alexandra, the protagonist possesses two characteristics that are features for romance. Displacement is used for the“the presence of a mythical structure in realistic fiction”(Frye 136). The displacement of the two concentric quest-myths in the Bible can be found in O Pioneers!. Alexandra is analogous to Joshua who succeeds Moses to take up the unaccomplished task and finally leads people into the Promised Land. Alexandra is the displaced mythical Messiah in the novel.
Chapter two follows the conclusion of chapter one that Alexandra is the displaced Messiah and analyzes the Biblical archetypes represented in her, which include the archetype of creation, the archetype of sacrifice, the archetype of death and rebirth and the archetype of forgiveness. All these archetypes found in the protagonist can testify that Alexandra is a larger-than-life figure, a hero who is endowed with greater power than average people and has a sense of mission in her life,which is to lead her families and people to build a prosperous and beautiful homeland in the wilderness.
Chapter three deals with the archetype of the Garden of Eden, which is the beginning as well as the destination of the quest-myths in the Bible. The Garden is identical with the Promised Land as they both refer to the place where God is with people and greatly blesses them. The Garden also implies the loss of Edenic innocence as Adam and Eve are driven out of the Garden after the Fall, which is the archetype for the story of Emil and Marie. The wish to build an earthly Garden and the yearning to return to the Garden in this pioneer novel also reflect human beings’wish to regain the original status as the people of God in the quest-myths.“Conclusion”is a summary of the thesis.
引文
Adamson, Joseph. “The Treason of the Clerks: Frye, Ideology, and the Authority of Imaginative Culture.” Reading Frye: The Published and Unpublished Works. Ed. David Boyd and Imre Salusinszky. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1999.
Boyer, Cliff. “The Happiness and the Curse: Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and The Ecological Paradox.” The Mowers’ Tree. Winter/Spring 2006. 18 January 2008
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Bantam Books, April 1989.
Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. Toronto: Doubleday, 1989.
Facknitz, Mark A. R. “Character, Compromise, and Idealism in Willa Cather's Gardens.” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2003. 10 March 2008
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1957.
Giannone, Richard. “Music, Silence, and the Spirituality of Willa Cather” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature, 57.2 (2005): 123-151. Marquette Univ. Press.
Greene, Albert. Christianity and Western Culture. Beijing Univ. Press, 2005.
Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham, eds. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2004.
Hamilton, A.C. Northrop Frye : Anatomy of His Criticism. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1990.
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. Nan Jing: National TSPM and CCC, 1989.
Kinnison, Danak. “Cather's O Pioneers!” The Explicator. 58.2 (2000): 97. Heldref Publications.
Lindemann, Marilee, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Meeker, Joseph W. “Willa Cather: The Plow and the Pen” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2003. 10 March 2008
Millman, China. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: O Pioneers Study Guide - Major Themes.” 26 March 2007.
- - -. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: O Pioneers Study Guide - Full Summary and Analysis.” 12 September 2007.
Moseley, Ann. “The Hero Within: Heroic Archetypes in Shadows on the Rock.” Cather Studies. Vol. 4. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. 10 March 2008
Noe, Mark D. “Cather's ‘O Pioneers!’” The Explicator 64.3 (2006): 149-51. Pearson, Carol. The Female Hero in American and British Literature. New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1981.
Quawas, Rula. “Carving an Identity and Forging the Frontier: the Self-Reliant Female Hero in Willa Cather's O Pioneers!” Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English Studies, 41 (2005): p237-251. Adam Mickiewicz Univ. Press.
Reynolds, Guy J.. “Willa Cather as Progressive: Politics and the Writer.” The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather. Ed. Marilee Lindemann. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Rosowski, Susan J. “The Comic Form of Willa Cather's Art: An Ecocritical Reading.” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. 18 January 2008
Shin, Christine. “Breaking New Ground: Passion and Love in Willa Cather's O' pioneers!” 10 April 2007
Stimac, Richard C. “The Hero and the Fool in Willa Cather's Early Short Fiction.” The Midwest Quarterly. 43.1 (2001): 42-51. Pittsburg State Univ.
Stouck, David. “O Pioneers!: Willa Cather and the Epic Imagination.” Twentieth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 11. Gale Research Company, 1983. 112-113.
Stout, Janis P.. “Willa Cather and the Performing Arts.” The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather. Ed. Marilee Lindemann. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Welty, Eudora. “’The House of Willa Cather.” Twentieth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol.11. Gale Research Company, 1983. 110-112.
Woodress, James. Willa Cather: A Literary Life. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. 10 April 2007
Zhao, Ying. “Memories on Mothers---A Myth and Archetypal Analysis of Willa Cather’s My Antonia and O Pioneers!” Diss. Ji lin Univ. 2007.
陈许. 美国西部小说的起源与发展. 解放军外国语学院学报. 2002.3
--- . 美国西部小说研究. 北京大学出版社.2004
杜昌忠. 跨学科文化批评视野下的文学理念. 北京大学出版社. 2004.
弗莱,诺思洛普. 伟大的代码——圣经与文学. 北京大学出版社.1998.
霍跃红. 威拉.凯瑟的内布拉斯加女拓荒者三部曲. 外语与外语教学. 2004.3.
齐宏伟. 心有灵犀:欧美文学与信仰传统. 北京大学出版社. 2006.
王蒙. 威拉.凯瑟:永远的乡土作家. 山东外语教学. 2004.4.
王卓. 论维拉. 凯瑟作品中自然与人及艺术的交融性. 济南大学学报. 2002. 12(6).
杨金才. 美国社会转型时期的两位旗手: 舍伍德.德森与威拉.凯瑟. 四川外语学院学报 2000.16(1).
周玉军. 薇拉·凯瑟三部边疆小说中的浪漫传奇因素. 国外文学. 2000.4.
朱炯强.论薇拉·凯瑟及其创作. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版).2003. 33(5).
Boyer, Cliff. “The Happiness and the Curse: Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and The Ecological Paradox.” The Mowers’ Tree. Winter/Spring 2006. 18 January 2008
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Bantam Books, April 1989.
Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. Toronto: Doubleday, 1989.
Facknitz, Mark A. R. “Character, Compromise, and Idealism in Willa Cather's Gardens.” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2003. 10 March 2008
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1957.
Giannone, Richard. “Music, Silence, and the Spirituality of Willa Cather” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature, 57.2 (2005): 123-151. Marquette Univ. Press.
Greene, Albert. Christianity and Western Culture. Beijing Univ. Press, 2005.
Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham, eds. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2004.
Hamilton, A.C. Northrop Frye : Anatomy of His Criticism. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1990.
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. Nan Jing: National TSPM and CCC, 1989.
Kinnison, Danak. “Cather's O Pioneers!” The Explicator. 58.2 (2000): 97. Heldref Publications.
Lindemann, Marilee, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Meeker, Joseph W. “Willa Cather: The Plow and the Pen” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2003. 10 March 2008
Millman, China. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: O Pioneers Study Guide - Major Themes.” 26 March 2007.
- - -. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: O Pioneers Study Guide - Full Summary and Analysis.” 12 September 2007.
Moseley, Ann. “The Hero Within: Heroic Archetypes in Shadows on the Rock.” Cather Studies. Vol. 4. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. 10 March 2008
Noe, Mark D. “Cather's ‘O Pioneers!’” The Explicator 64.3 (2006): 149-51. Pearson, Carol. The Female Hero in American and British Literature. New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1981.
Quawas, Rula. “Carving an Identity and Forging the Frontier: the Self-Reliant Female Hero in Willa Cather's O Pioneers!” Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English Studies, 41 (2005): p237-251. Adam Mickiewicz Univ. Press.
Reynolds, Guy J.. “Willa Cather as Progressive: Politics and the Writer.” The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather. Ed. Marilee Lindemann. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Rosowski, Susan J. “The Comic Form of Willa Cather's Art: An Ecocritical Reading.” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski. London & Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. 18 January 2008
Shin, Christine. “Breaking New Ground: Passion and Love in Willa Cather's O' pioneers!” 10 April 2007
Stimac, Richard C. “The Hero and the Fool in Willa Cather's Early Short Fiction.” The Midwest Quarterly. 43.1 (2001): 42-51. Pittsburg State Univ.
Stouck, David. “O Pioneers!: Willa Cather and the Epic Imagination.” Twentieth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 11. Gale Research Company, 1983. 112-113.
Stout, Janis P.. “Willa Cather and the Performing Arts.” The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather. Ed. Marilee Lindemann. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Welty, Eudora. “’The House of Willa Cather.” Twentieth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol.11. Gale Research Company, 1983. 110-112.
Woodress, James. Willa Cather: A Literary Life. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. 10 April 2007
Zhao, Ying. “Memories on Mothers---A Myth and Archetypal Analysis of Willa Cather’s My Antonia and O Pioneers!” Diss. Ji lin Univ. 2007.
陈许. 美国西部小说的起源与发展. 解放军外国语学院学报. 2002.3
--- . 美国西部小说研究. 北京大学出版社.2004
杜昌忠. 跨学科文化批评视野下的文学理念. 北京大学出版社. 2004.
弗莱,诺思洛普. 伟大的代码——圣经与文学. 北京大学出版社.1998.
霍跃红. 威拉.凯瑟的内布拉斯加女拓荒者三部曲. 外语与外语教学. 2004.3.
齐宏伟. 心有灵犀:欧美文学与信仰传统. 北京大学出版社. 2006.
王蒙. 威拉.凯瑟:永远的乡土作家. 山东外语教学. 2004.4.
王卓. 论维拉. 凯瑟作品中自然与人及艺术的交融性. 济南大学学报. 2002. 12(6).
杨金才. 美国社会转型时期的两位旗手: 舍伍德.德森与威拉.凯瑟. 四川外语学院学报 2000.16(1).
周玉军. 薇拉·凯瑟三部边疆小说中的浪漫传奇因素. 国外文学. 2000.4.
朱炯强.论薇拉·凯瑟及其创作. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版).2003. 33(5).