科技主宰的当代病态社会
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摘要
詹姆斯·格雷厄姆·巴拉德是当代英国公认的最杰出作家之一,有“科幻小说之王”的美誉,共出版了20多部小说,许多短篇小说集和散文集。他的作品独树一帜,写作风格独特而怪异,外界对于他的评价褒贬参半。尽管他的作品引发争议,由他的名字引申出的形容词“巴拉德式的”被编入《柯林斯词典》。
本论文研究了巴拉德在20世纪70年代出版的“城市灾难三部曲”——《撞车》(1973)、《混凝土岛》(1974)和《高层公寓》(1975)。三部曲植根于当代社会,探讨了科技灾难性的一面。《撞车》将描述了一些人对汽车世界的迷恋,沉浸在暴力和色情中不能自拔。《混凝土岛》讲述了在一次车祸后,主人公为了生存,与流浪者在一座立交桥中的安全岛里进行斗争。在《高层公寓》中,象征高科技的高楼大厦却成了战场,在公寓断电和资源缺乏时,文明的面具逐渐被撕裂,暴露出人性野蛮、残忍、暴力的一面。
本文要研究的是人们普遍的一种精神状态：当代社会科技高速发展,人们理应享受到科技所带来的快捷便利,却为何为科技所累,变得麻木不仁,残忍堕落?本文将采用文本分析的研究方法,探究巴拉德如何表现现代科技社会引发人类精神危机这一主题。
论文包括三章。
首先,论文简介部分简要介绍了巴拉德的生平及他的创作状况,以期读者对其写作风格有更深入的了解,并对巴拉德作品的研究状况进行了文献综述。
第一章阐述了巴拉德作品中常关注的主题：孤独、暴力和野蛮,这也贯穿于“城市灾难三部曲”中。通过介绍三部小说的主要人物和情节,揭示人们在科技主宰的现代社会身心受困,饱受折磨。
第二章详细地对文本进行分析,举例说明各种各样的社会弊病。虽然三部小说都关注社会病态,其侧重点各有差异。《撞车》描述了性行为的扭曲,《混泥土岛》强调精神上的紊乱,而《高层公寓》则叙述人们退化到未开化状态。
第三章力图阐明科技引发灾难的深层原因。一方面,科技创造了大量虚无空间,导致城市居民彼此疏离,孤独感加剧,造成负面心理影响。另一方面,小说中人物把暴力当作一种精神救赎的手段。通过暴力,有的人通过制造伤口重新唤醒身体感觉,如果在车祸中丧生,则视为升入天堂,获得拯救；有的人实现精神同化,与周遭环境融为一体；有的人试图建立新的社会秩序,将自己从现代科技构建的“动物园”中解放出来。
最后一部分是结论。本文结论为：在科技主导的现代社会,人们普遍遭受情感死亡(一种情感麻木和道德缺失)状态,不得不求助于一系列充满暴力、情色的病态行为来唤醒感觉和获取拯救。通过科幻小说的框架,巴拉德深刻地揭示了社会的病态和人的深层次的心理状况,具有巨大的警示意义。
James Graham Ballard, one of the most significant British writers of the contemporary period, enjoys the reputation of "the King of science fiction." A prolific writer, Ballard had published a record of more than 20 novels and lots of short stories since 1956. His writing is unique with an obscure and bizarre style, which earns him both praise and condemnation. Despite the controversies of his work, the adjective "Ballardian" entered the Collins English Dictionary.
This thesis researches Ballard's Urban Disaster Trilogy published in 1970s:Crash in 1973, Concrete Island in 1974, and High-Rise in 1975. The trilogy is firmly placed in the urban world of the present day and investigates the effects of complex technology upon man. The controversial Crash, one of his best-known novels, deals with a motor-centered society in which automobile violence becomes engaged with erotic fantasy. Concrete Island centers on a few castaways'struggle for survival in the central areas of a motorway flyover after a car accident of the protagonist. High-Rise depicts a modern high-tech building as a mini-society, an isolated battleground in which the civilization is torn away, revealing raw power, violence, and sexuality.
Based on the former studies, my thesis tries to further the study on three novels. The thesis aims to explore why modern people, supposed to enjoy facilities brought by prevalent technology, fall into aggression and barbarism. I would adopt text analysis to probe into how Ballard expresses the theme of modern-urban world causing inner crisis. I believe that a profound investigation of these aspects facilitate readers' understanding of Ballard'logic.
This thesis consists of three chapters.
The introduction makes a brief account of Ballard's life for readers'better comprehension of his writing style and introduces the present study situation about Ballard.
The first chapter analyzes themes recurrent in Ballard'works, i.e. isolation, violence and brutality, which also dominate the Urban Disaster Trilogy. Through introducing plots of the novels, it reveals various characters that have been trapped and are struggling in the technology-centered modern world.
Chapter Two illustrates symptoms of social diseases existing in the contemporary world. Concerned with perversity, three novels bear different focal points. Crash depicts sexual perversion, while Concrete Island stresses mental disturbance and High-Rise describes a regression to barbarism.
Chapter Three identifies the root causes of technological disasters depicted in the last chapter. On one hand, non-places brought about by technology have led to dwellers' alienation and negative psychological state. On the other hand, characters regard violence as a means of psychic salvation. Through violence, some reawaken their bodily sensation by wounds and achieve rebirth by death in car crashes, some realize psychic integration, and some others try to form a new social order for freeing themselves from the "zoo" constructed by technology.
The conclusion is that modern urban dwellers suffer from death of affect (a state involving waning of emotions and moral anesthesia). In reaction against this state, they resort to perverse actions to awaken affect and to seek personal salvation.
本论文研究了巴拉德在20世纪70年代出版的“城市灾难三部曲”——《撞车》(1973)、《混凝土岛》(1974)和《高层公寓》(1975)。三部曲植根于当代社会,探讨了科技灾难性的一面。《撞车》将描述了一些人对汽车世界的迷恋,沉浸在暴力和色情中不能自拔。《混凝土岛》讲述了在一次车祸后,主人公为了生存,与流浪者在一座立交桥中的安全岛里进行斗争。在《高层公寓》中,象征高科技的高楼大厦却成了战场,在公寓断电和资源缺乏时,文明的面具逐渐被撕裂,暴露出人性野蛮、残忍、暴力的一面。
本文要研究的是人们普遍的一种精神状态：当代社会科技高速发展,人们理应享受到科技所带来的快捷便利,却为何为科技所累,变得麻木不仁,残忍堕落?本文将采用文本分析的研究方法,探究巴拉德如何表现现代科技社会引发人类精神危机这一主题。
论文包括三章。
首先,论文简介部分简要介绍了巴拉德的生平及他的创作状况,以期读者对其写作风格有更深入的了解,并对巴拉德作品的研究状况进行了文献综述。
第一章阐述了巴拉德作品中常关注的主题：孤独、暴力和野蛮,这也贯穿于“城市灾难三部曲”中。通过介绍三部小说的主要人物和情节,揭示人们在科技主宰的现代社会身心受困,饱受折磨。
第二章详细地对文本进行分析,举例说明各种各样的社会弊病。虽然三部小说都关注社会病态,其侧重点各有差异。《撞车》描述了性行为的扭曲,《混泥土岛》强调精神上的紊乱,而《高层公寓》则叙述人们退化到未开化状态。
第三章力图阐明科技引发灾难的深层原因。一方面,科技创造了大量虚无空间,导致城市居民彼此疏离,孤独感加剧,造成负面心理影响。另一方面,小说中人物把暴力当作一种精神救赎的手段。通过暴力,有的人通过制造伤口重新唤醒身体感觉,如果在车祸中丧生,则视为升入天堂,获得拯救；有的人实现精神同化,与周遭环境融为一体；有的人试图建立新的社会秩序,将自己从现代科技构建的“动物园”中解放出来。
最后一部分是结论。本文结论为：在科技主导的现代社会,人们普遍遭受情感死亡(一种情感麻木和道德缺失)状态,不得不求助于一系列充满暴力、情色的病态行为来唤醒感觉和获取拯救。通过科幻小说的框架,巴拉德深刻地揭示了社会的病态和人的深层次的心理状况,具有巨大的警示意义。
James Graham Ballard, one of the most significant British writers of the contemporary period, enjoys the reputation of "the King of science fiction." A prolific writer, Ballard had published a record of more than 20 novels and lots of short stories since 1956. His writing is unique with an obscure and bizarre style, which earns him both praise and condemnation. Despite the controversies of his work, the adjective "Ballardian" entered the Collins English Dictionary.
This thesis researches Ballard's Urban Disaster Trilogy published in 1970s:Crash in 1973, Concrete Island in 1974, and High-Rise in 1975. The trilogy is firmly placed in the urban world of the present day and investigates the effects of complex technology upon man. The controversial Crash, one of his best-known novels, deals with a motor-centered society in which automobile violence becomes engaged with erotic fantasy. Concrete Island centers on a few castaways'struggle for survival in the central areas of a motorway flyover after a car accident of the protagonist. High-Rise depicts a modern high-tech building as a mini-society, an isolated battleground in which the civilization is torn away, revealing raw power, violence, and sexuality.
Based on the former studies, my thesis tries to further the study on three novels. The thesis aims to explore why modern people, supposed to enjoy facilities brought by prevalent technology, fall into aggression and barbarism. I would adopt text analysis to probe into how Ballard expresses the theme of modern-urban world causing inner crisis. I believe that a profound investigation of these aspects facilitate readers' understanding of Ballard'logic.
This thesis consists of three chapters.
The introduction makes a brief account of Ballard's life for readers'better comprehension of his writing style and introduces the present study situation about Ballard.
The first chapter analyzes themes recurrent in Ballard'works, i.e. isolation, violence and brutality, which also dominate the Urban Disaster Trilogy. Through introducing plots of the novels, it reveals various characters that have been trapped and are struggling in the technology-centered modern world.
Chapter Two illustrates symptoms of social diseases existing in the contemporary world. Concerned with perversity, three novels bear different focal points. Crash depicts sexual perversion, while Concrete Island stresses mental disturbance and High-Rise describes a regression to barbarism.
Chapter Three identifies the root causes of technological disasters depicted in the last chapter. On one hand, non-places brought about by technology have led to dwellers' alienation and negative psychological state. On the other hand, characters regard violence as a means of psychic salvation. Through violence, some reawaken their bodily sensation by wounds and achieve rebirth by death in car crashes, some realize psychic integration, and some others try to form a new social order for freeing themselves from the "zoo" constructed by technology.
The conclusion is that modern urban dwellers suffer from death of affect (a state involving waning of emotions and moral anesthesia). In reaction against this state, they resort to perverse actions to awaken affect and to seek personal salvation.
引文
Auge, Marc. Non-Places: An Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity London:Verso,2000.
Ballard, James Graham. Concrete Island. London:Jonathan Cape,1974.---. Crash. London:Jonathan Cape,1973.---. High-Rise. London:Jonathan Cape,1975.---. "Introduction to the French Edition of Crash." ed. Vale V & Andrea Juno. J. G. Ballard. San Francisco:Re/Search,1984.---. A User's Guide to the Millennium:Essays and Reviews. New York:Picador, 1997.---. "Which Way to Inner Space?" New World Science Fiction May.1962:116-18.
Bleiler, Richard. Science Fiction Writers:Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. New York:Charles Scribners Sons,1999.
Brigg, Peter. J. G. Ballard. San Bernardino, Calif.:Borgo,1985.
Chaudhuri, Shohini. "Witnessing Death:Ballard's and Cronenberg's Crash.' Strategies:Journal of Theory, Culture and Politics 14.1 (2001):63-75. Taylor & Francis Group.10 Dec 2006
Chen, Yiwen. "Technology, Media and Wounds:Utopia Imagination in James Graham Ballard's Crash." Diss. National Chung Hsing U,2008.
Collins English Dictionary. UK:Harpercollins,2006.
Delville, Michel. J. G. Ballard. Plymouth:Northcote House,1998.
Freud, Sigmund. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. New York:Bantam Books,1967.---. Three Essays on Sexuality. New York:Basic Books,1996.
Gasiorek, Andrzej. J. G. Ballard. Manchester:Manchester University Press,2005.
Hornburg, Mark W. "The Career of J. G. Ballard Considered as a Downhill Motor Race." Gadfly 11.26 (2001). Grimshaw.
Liao, Yi-ling. "Crash:Technological Desire for the Body in the Twentieth Century.' Diss. Nanchang U,2001.
Pederson, Jay P. St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers. Detroit, Mich.:St. James Press,1996.
Pringle, David. "J. G. Ballard's Science Fiction for Today", Science Fiction Monthly Oct.1975:9-11.
Revell, Graeme. "J. G. Ballard interviewed by Graeme Revell". Re/Search No.8/9 1984.
Smith, Matt. "The Work of Emotion:Ballard and the Death of Affect." J. G. Ballard Criticism & Analysis 2006..
Stephenson, Gregory. Out of the Night and into the Dream:a Thematic Study of the Fiction of J. G. Ballard. New York:Greenwood Press,1991.
Youngquist, Paul. "Ballard's Crash-Body." Postmodern Culture:An Electronic Journal of Interdisciplinary Criticism 11.1 (2000).10 Jan 2007.
Ballard, James Graham. Concrete Island. London:Jonathan Cape,1974.---. Crash. London:Jonathan Cape,1973.---. High-Rise. London:Jonathan Cape,1975.---. "Introduction to the French Edition of Crash." ed. Vale V & Andrea Juno. J. G. Ballard. San Francisco:Re/Search,1984.---. A User's Guide to the Millennium:Essays and Reviews. New York:Picador, 1997.---. "Which Way to Inner Space?" New World Science Fiction May.1962:116-18.
Bleiler, Richard. Science Fiction Writers:Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. New York:Charles Scribners Sons,1999.
Brigg, Peter. J. G. Ballard. San Bernardino, Calif.:Borgo,1985.
Chaudhuri, Shohini. "Witnessing Death:Ballard's and Cronenberg's Crash.' Strategies:Journal of Theory, Culture and Politics 14.1 (2001):63-75. Taylor & Francis Group.10 Dec 2006
Chen, Yiwen. "Technology, Media and Wounds:Utopia Imagination in James Graham Ballard's Crash." Diss. National Chung Hsing U,2008.
Collins English Dictionary. UK:Harpercollins,2006.
Delville, Michel. J. G. Ballard. Plymouth:Northcote House,1998.
Freud, Sigmund. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. New York:Bantam Books,1967.---. Three Essays on Sexuality. New York:Basic Books,1996.
Gasiorek, Andrzej. J. G. Ballard. Manchester:Manchester University Press,2005.
Hornburg, Mark W. "The Career of J. G. Ballard Considered as a Downhill Motor Race." Gadfly 11.26 (2001). Grimshaw
Liao, Yi-ling. "Crash:Technological Desire for the Body in the Twentieth Century.' Diss. Nanchang U,2001.
Pederson, Jay P. St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers. Detroit, Mich.:St. James Press,1996.
Pringle, David. "J. G. Ballard's Science Fiction for Today", Science Fiction Monthly Oct.1975:9-11.
Revell, Graeme. "J. G. Ballard interviewed by Graeme Revell". Re/Search No.8/9 1984.
Smith, Matt. "The Work of Emotion:Ballard and the Death of Affect." J. G. Ballard Criticism & Analysis 2006.
Stephenson, Gregory. Out of the Night and into the Dream:a Thematic Study of the Fiction of J. G. Ballard. New York:Greenwood Press,1991.
Youngquist, Paul. "Ballard's Crash-Body." Postmodern Culture:An Electronic Journal of Interdisciplinary Criticism 11.1 (2000).10 Jan 2007