【作者】 王静；

【导师】 王腊宝；

【作者基本信息】 苏州大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2014， 博士

【摘要】 美国当代最负盛名的女作家乔伊斯·卡罗尔·欧茨（Joyce Carol Oates）将悲剧视为“艺术的最高形式”，认为“这一艺术所展示的对抗虚无的胜利向我们呈现了一个未来，一个我们无法想象的未来”。在其半个多世纪的小说创作中，用悲剧的形式昭示当代美国人的生存困境以及讴歌这一困境下所凸显的悲剧精神成为贯穿欧茨创作始终的本质特征。本论文选取欧茨不同时期的四部代表作品——《他们》、《光明天使》、《狐火》、和《大瀑布》——进行研究。论文立足悲剧理论，集中探讨欧茨在反思上世纪30至60年代美国人所面临的生存困境和遭遇过程中的悲剧写作与悲剧意识。欧茨小说中的人物有男有女，有老有幼，这些人物富于激情，敢于挑战权威，但因为命运、性格、社会环境和伦理冲突而不可避免地走向悲惨的结局。在欧茨看来，这些人物作为20世纪美国人的代表不时地流露出悲剧式的缺陷，但他们普遍表现出的令人称道的激昂个性使其在斗争中绽放出人性的光辉。本论文共分为六章。第一章为绪论，首先介绍欧茨其人及其在创作中取得的成就和文学地位，并梳理国内外对于欧茨的研究现状；通过梳理古典悲剧与现代悲剧的特点以及当代学者对现代悲剧的论述，归纳学界对于悲剧的分类，构建论文的理论框架；最后说明本论文的研究方法、内容及意义。第二章结合《他们》探讨欧茨笔下20世纪30至60年代底层小人物在命运的无常与荒诞下悲惨的生存境地。命运以暴力的形式实现对个人价值体的摧毁，并在日常生活中的偶然与巧合中体现其意志。在应对这一生存困境时，《他们》中的主人公要么凭借令人难以置信的韧性与弹力一次次地重新找到生活的轨迹，顽强地生存了下来，用“活着”这一简单的事实发起对命运的抗争；抑或以暴力为武器与一直压制自己的命运进行无畏的抗争，释放了自己被压制抑郁的激情，洋溢出丰盈的生命活力。《他们》通过悲剧形式向人们呈现了30年代美国极度的经济贫困与五六十年代丰裕社会给底层美国人带来的强烈荒诞感。第三章结合小说《光明天使》探讨欧茨笔下的美国人在20世纪60年代历经的性格悲剧。冲动、莽撞、短于思考、易于轻信以及过度张扬等性格上的缺陷是这部小说主人公失败乃至死亡的主要原因。小说通过主人公性格与悲剧结局关系的揭示，充分展示出欧茨强烈的悲剧意识和对于美国社会的忧患意识：她一方面颂扬了60年代美国人激昂的拼搏精神，另一方面又表达了对美国人在激进浪潮中的表现表达了深切的担忧。第四章聚焦小说《狐火：一个少女帮的自白》。欧茨在这部小说中重现了女权运动到来之前、50年代美国女性的生存困境。在充满男性暴力的50年代，女性在肉体上承受着男性暴力的戕害并面临着群体性失语的困境。在与父权社会的反抗中，女性用姐妹情谊为纽带建立起对抗男性权威的统一战线；用文字将故事从记忆转为历史，与以男权话语为主导的男性叙事相抗衡；用暴力切断男性话语和权力的关联。虽然势单力薄的少女们最终不得不面临失败的悲惨结局，但《狐火》这部小说充分展现了20世纪50年代美国女权主义先驱们在反抗父权社会过程中所展现的巨大能量和斗争意志。第五章以《大瀑布》为例考察欧茨又一部关于20世纪50年代美国社会生活的小说。上世纪50年代，小说主人公面临着强大的传统信仰和伦理压力：一方面是基督教教义中对异性恋和传统信仰的坚持；另一方面，传统的个人主义作为美国核心社会价值主导着50年代美国社会的思想。同性恋情结与宗教信仰、科学与宗教教义构成了两组不可调和的伦理矛盾，但深陷此伦理矛盾的小说主人公并未选择懦弱地生存，而是在张扬的生命活力下选择用死亡对压抑自我的基督教伦理进行最后的反抗。同时，在善良意志与美国个人主义伦理观的冲突下，主人公无畏地向个人主义宣战，用生命激情奏起了悲剧之歌。《大瀑布》这一伦理性悲剧小说既传达了欧茨对50年代反叛青年的敬意，也书写了当代美国社会的困境。小说影射了美国新保守主义思潮，同时也表达了欧茨对社群主义的呼吁。第六章为结论。欧茨在自己的小说中表达了对20世纪美国人生存困境的关注，她用严肃的悲剧艺术表达了她对现代美国社会生活的反思。她的创作揭示了20世纪美国人所经历的苦难以及面临的种种生存困境，但在欧茨笔下，那是一种悲剧式的苦难。在欧茨的小说中，20世纪的美国人经历了许多失败与苦难，但她从美国人的奋起反抗中看到了一种不屈的品格与崇高精神。欧茨的悲剧性小说突出表现以下特点：在内容上体现出现代悲剧平易近人的特点，将小人物带进悲剧的殿堂；在形式上仍然遵循古典悲剧崇高的原则；极力通过暴力故事传达主旨，暴力构成了欧茨悲剧书写的两个层面：一方面通过对暴力以及暴力所造就的悲惨的呈现来营造悲剧氛围，唤醒混沌懵懂的大众，完成悲剧第一层面的书写；另一方面藉由暴力展现个体内心的激情和生存意志力，表现个体的悲剧气概，向读者展示一种现代生存困境中的悲剧性超越。她的悲剧区别于美国肤浅乐观主义，也绝非阴郁绝望的悲观主义，而是以一种“向死而生”的态度启发人们正视生存困境，认识自我，寻找出路。更多还原

【Abstract】 Joyce Carol Oates, perhaps the best-known female writer of contemporary America,considers Tragedy as “the highest form of art”, arguing that “we feel that the triumph overnothingness that art represents is assured of a future beyond even our ability to imagine.”Oates adopts her favorite tragic approach to the plight of modern Americans and depictingthis plight along with the tragic spirit of American people is at the very essence of Oates’snovels.This dissertation discusses the tragic vision of Oates as it is presented in four novelswritten and published in four different periods: them, Angel of Light, Foxfire: Confessionsof a Girl Gang, The Falls. It explores the way in which Oates writes about the plight ofAmerican people from the1930s to the1960s and their inevitable failure. In Oates’s novels,the heroes and heroines are full of passion and action, and they are daring and defiant.However, confronted with fate, their own character defects, social pressure and ethicalconflicts, they are doomed to their tragic end. For Oates, these protagonists, asrepresentatives of modern American people, show personalities that make the embodimentof the tragic spirit.This dissertation consists of six chapters.Chapter One presents a brief introduction to Oates’s literary background and acomprehensive review of the Oates criticism at home and abroad. It then proceeds to statethe characteristics of classical tragedy and modern tragedy, and offers an overview of thearguments of contemporary scholars over modern tragedy. After a classification of tragedyby scholars, the theoretical framework is introduced. Finally, It concludes with a briefstatement of the research method, the structural layout and the significance of the project.Chapter Two begins with a brief introduction to the novel them and the notion of the Tragedy of Fate. Through a close examination of them, this chapter explores the way inwhich Oates writes about the plight of the average Americans suffering and struggling atthe invisible hand of Fate. Fate destroys men through a violent force that manifests itspower in premonition, contingency and coincidence. Confronted with fate, the heroes andheroines in them either survive with amazingly strong will or take up violence as theirweapon to fight back. Their fearless fighting releases their passion, and demonstrates theirvigor and unyielding spirit. It is also argued that Oates presents through the novel anoverwhelming feeling of absurdity brought to the subaltern classes by both poverty in the1930s and affluence in the1950s and60s in them.Chapter Three offers a critical analysis of Oates’s tragic vision as it is manifested inAngel of Light. Oates suggests that defects in character, such as impulsiveness, rashnessand excessive desire have brought about the destruction of many protagonists (the Tragedyof Character). In this novel, the novelist gives expression to this belief through anextremely painful story. The tragic story also highlights her concern about the uniqueproblems of the American society. In Angel of Light, it is contended, the passion ofAmerican people in the1960s is celebrated while Oates’s deep concern about Americansliving in a time of radical social uproar is also expressed.Chapter Four takes Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang as an example to study thetragic vision in Oates’s writing when she writes more specifically about the problems of asociety (Social Tragedy). In this novel, Oates examines the extreme misery of Americanwomen in the1950s when male violence was prevailing and females were compelled tosuffer both physically and mentally. According to Oates, the patriarchal society of the1950s accounts for women’s tragic sufferings, although through sisterhood, female writingand violence, the girls in Foxfire do manage to fight against the repressive society, andshow their adamant will and tremendous energy.Chapter Five offers a reading of The Falls as a tragedy brought about by ethicalconflicts (the Tragedy of Ethics). In the1950s, the protagonists in The Falls are confronted with compelling traditional beliefs and ethical values. On one hand, Christianity with itsdoctrines against homosexuality and science impose tremendous pressure on modernAmericans; one the other hand, individualism as America’s core value remains a dominantpower over the country. Irreconcilable conflicts between Christian doctrines andhomosexuality and those between good will and individualism throw the protagonists in anabysmal plight of misery and suffering. However, these heroes do not compromise. Instead,they fight bravely, sometimes at the cost of their lives. The Falls is a celebration of therebellious young men in the1950s, and it also demonstrates the tragic dilemma of modernAmerica.Chapter Six is the conclusion, in which I argue that Oates reflects on the plight ofAmericans in the20thcentury in her tragic writing. Sufferings and failures of the20thcentury Americans are vividly depicted in her novels. However, an unyielding spirit andnobility in the Americans is also presented. In Oates’s tragic novels, violence destroys theprotagonists, leading them to their ruins but it is also a vehicle through which theprotagonists’ vigor and vitality is presented. Oates favors no happy ending. However, she isno pessimist either. Her tragic writing brings with a serious form of optimism, and itprovides modern people with hope and the power to keep on moving.更多还原