【作者】 谢满兰；

【导师】 陆煜泰；

【作者基本信息】 广西师范大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2003， 硕士

【摘要】 十九世纪末二十世纪初的美国文学有着复杂的背景。在大西洋彼岸得天独厚的条件下,美利坚合众国的社会经济得到迅猛发展，政治地位不断攀升。与此同时，这一时期也孕育了不少美国文化巨人。单就文学成就而言，从1930年到1954年不到30年的时间，就有刘易斯(Sinclair Lewis, 1930)、奥尼尔(O’Neil, 1936)、 赛珍珠(Pearl Buck, 1938)、艾略特(T. S. Eliot, 1948)、福克纳(W. Faulkner, 1950和海明威(E. Hemingway, 1954)等六位作家获得诺贝尔文学奖。他们大都出生或成长于世纪之交。此前，美国两大文学流派现实主义和自然主义的形成与发展促成了美国小说的成熟与繁荣。这无疑是美国转变为文化大国的进程的重要组成部分。 西奥多·德莱塞这位“现代小说家巨匠”（ Helfand, Michael S. 1985 in Ziff 1985: Foreword）是自然主义作家的代表。他创作的小说“体现了那个时期全部特有的题材，改变了大多数美国人生活的全部变革的现实”（同上），这是极不简单的。 我的论文选取了消费文化的视角来探讨德莱塞早期创作的两部小说《嘉莉妹妹》（Sister Carrie，1900）和《珍妮姑娘》（Jennie Gerhardt，1911）。 论文的简介回顾了德莱塞研究在美国和中国的百年历史，并介绍了选择本论文题目的原由。 论文第一部分对消费文化这一概念进行了阐释。消费文化是一个动态的概念，包括人们在消费行为中体现的消费价值取向、消费道德、消费习惯、消费时尚及消费审美等。它因时代、社会和地域而不同。本文还澄清了消费文化和消费主义两个概念的联系和区别，认为后者是现代消费文化的极端。论文所讨论的作家生活在现代美国消费文化蓬勃兴起之时，“美国正由从生产型向消费型转变”（蒋道超，2000：91）。现代美国消费文化的重要特点是消费行为被强化成一种符号：人们不仅关注商品的使用价值，更把购买和消费商品当作显示地位的符号来看待，消费的商品越高档，花钱越多，他的社会地位就越高，反之则反。因此，消费在日常生活中的地位日益突显，炫耀性消费成为社会时尚。德莱塞的创作正是受到这种文化氛围的影响。<WP=3> 论文第二部分是主体之一。论文首先论述了德莱塞怎样在《嘉莉妹妹》用对立的主线和人物反映美国人在转型时期对待现代消费文化的不同态度。一条主线是与嘉莉相关的上升的希望之路。嘉莉，一个无知的乡镇姑娘，到城市后产生了对各种消费品的无止境的渴望。为了满足它们，她不但经历了打工求职的艰辛，而且还屈身做过两个男人的情妇，最后成了纽约百老汇的名伶，过上了优裕富足的生活。另一条则是赫斯渥（Hurstwood）的绝望之路。他本是小康之家的一家之长，衣食无忧，但他却不满于妻儿的虚荣，经常离家去寻找乐趣，导致家庭破裂，后来与嘉莉私奔到纽约；渐渐地，他无力为生，走上乞讨乃至自杀之路。两个人物对现代消费文化截然不同的态度和两种结局形成了鲜明的对照。 然后，论文作者分析了《珍妮姑娘》的情节和人物特点，发现它有着平行发展的人物和故事主线。小说里的男女主人公都毫不例外的受制于高消费的欲望，而放弃道德乃至幸福。故事的主要人物有珍妮，白兰德和莱斯特。珍妮（Jennie）也是一个想摆脱贫穷的打工妹，几经波折，她先后失身于两个男人：参议员白兰德（Brander）和富商少爷莱斯特（Lester）。他们给她钱，使她免受饥寒之苦，却没有娶她。前者年老猝死，后者是迫于家庭的压力，为继承遗产而抛弃了她。 德莱塞以自然主义立身，在小说的哲学论述中把主人公们的行为归因于不可知的外力以及人的动物般的情欲，以便为他们的所作所为辩护。我们认为，德莱塞在两部小说中的人物刻画和情节更多的是美国的社会文化现实的反映。这些主人公的身上都有现代美国消费文化的烙印，我们完全可以通过消费文化来解读他们。 论文第三部分阐述了德莱塞对现代美国消费文化的质疑和困惑。德莱塞作为一个严肃作家，极为关注人的命运。他把目光投向了城市生活，投向了像嘉莉那样满怀希望努力往上爬的人们，像赫斯渥那样不喜欢你追我赶的虚伪的人们和其他众多受到金钱和享乐的诱惑却无力改善自身的悲观者。凡此种种，他都涉及到了，以引起社会对他们的关注。德莱塞更深层次的质疑是他的极端悲观主义。论文作者认为，德莱塞在两部小说中所刻画的人物无论成功还是失败，挣钱多还是少，消费高还是低，没有一个是幸福的。在他看来，幸福是不可得的。这种人生观虽有偏颇之处，却发人深思。 论文最后的总结部分分析了德莱塞作为一个承前启后的作家为美国乃至世界文学和文化所做的贡献。同时论文也分析了德莱塞的矛盾和局限性，尤其是他的极端悲观主义。论文作者认为，德莱塞早期创作的这两部小说是解读其时美国现代消费文化的很好的文本。更多还原

【Abstract】 American literature in the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth had quite sophisticated background. With the rich endowments by nature, and other advantages, the economy of the US had developed enormously quickly so that it became one of the richest countries in the world. The international status of it had risen as well. Consequently, the great writers began to appear in the age. The obvious evidence is that from 1930 to 1954, six American writers won the Novel Prize for literature. They were all greatly indebted to the affluence of the country in economy, politics and culture in the transitional period. For most of them were born or grew up in that period and were greatly influenced by the generation before them. The generation of writers in the transitional period gave birth to the flowering of American modern fiction represented by two trends: realism and naturalism. Theodore Dreiser was regarded as "a great American fiction writer "( Helfand, M. S. Foreword in Ziff, L. 1985), but he was not fairly treated in the beginning. It was exceptionally uneasy to write novels " which represent all the specific subjects of his period, and change the whole<WP=5>revolutionary realities of most American people’s life"(ditto). I choose consumer culture as a perspective in studying two of Dreiser’s novels: Sister Carrie and Jennie Gerhardt. In the introductory part there is an examination of the critical history on Dreiser and his writing. I also tell about the cause of the research. Part one of the thesis offers a review of consumer culture and modern consumer culture. People can give as many definitions to consumer culture as to the term culture; however, I choose to understand consumer culture as a dynamic term, which diversifies in accordance with the time and age, the social system, and the place it belongs to. It includes the value system, tendency, habits and fashion and even the aesthetics revealed in the consuming behavior of a community.The author discussed in my thesis lived in an age when modern American consumer culture was becoming prevalent, especially in urban areas. As accepted by scholars, "The American society was turning from a producing type to a consuming one"(蒋道超 2000: 91). The status of consumption was highlighted in commerce. The modern consumer culture in the society was featured by the intensification of the function of consumption as a sign of social status. The more, the better one consumed, the higher status one held. Conspicuous consumption became a fashion in this country. In addition, a distinction is made between consumer culture and consumerism in this part. The second part is the major part. The paper first expounds Dreiser’s using contrastive themes and characters in Sister Carrie to reveal different attitudes toward the modern consumer culture in the transitional period. One is the theme of hope connected with Carrie, who experiences hardship in hunting jobs, and also depends on two men as their mistress and she becomes a famous actress in Broadway theaters of New York. The other is the theme of despair of Hurstwood. He is the breadwinner of a well-to-do family. But because he is not satisfied with his wife and children’s keeping-up-with-Joneses, he breaks up with them and flees for New York with Carrie illicitly. He is not active as before and he gradually loses the ability to support the necessities. Then he becomes a beggar and commits suicide in the end of the novel. Thus the novel is very forceful with the contrast. In Jennie Gerhardt, there are parallel themes and characters. Jennie is also a poor job-hunter who goes through some misfortunes in the cities. She is kept as mistress of two men: the senator Brander and Lester, a rich businessman’s son. In the novel, all of them are pursuing better status<WP=6>in the consumer society in spite that they may break the moral rules or sacrifice happiness. We think that the writer was trying to defend the characters’ behavior when he used naturalistic philosoph更多还原