【作者】 李建荣；

【导师】 刘国清；

【作者基本信息】 东北师范大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2010， 硕士

【摘要】 艾丽斯·默多克是英国当代文坛上一位多产的女作家。她早期的四部小说创作于十九世纪五十年代,当时正是英国经历二战后的经济恢复时期。英国制定了一系列恢复经济的政策,成为人所共知的“福利国家”。但在经济复苏的背后,却隐藏着人们对战争的恐惧和对社会的失望。人们不再相信心目中的上帝,不再对客观世界抱有憧憬,人人都陷入到自我的封闭中,开始以自我为中心,按自己所赋予他者的形式去看客观世界,同时拒绝承认世界的偶然性,拒绝关注他人。针对五十年代英国社会上人们的这种精神和道德困境,默多克将其对自我主义者和社会的忧患折射在其早期创作的四部小说中,并且为陷入自我困境中的人找到摆脱困境的解决办法。本论文从社会历史批评的角度,结合柏拉图的洞穴喻,通过分析默多克早期创作的四部小说《在网下》(1954)、《逃离巫师》(1955)、《沙堡》(1957)和《钟》(1958)中的自我主义者从关注自我到关注他人的道德完善过程,揭示出四部小说中这一共同主题的社会价值。默多克旨在通过个人道德的完善来促进社会的和谐稳定发展,而关注他人则是人与他者,人与社会融洽交流的平台。本文由五部分组成。引言部分简要介绍了艾丽斯??默多克及其早期创作的四部小说,并对目前国内外对于这四部小说的研究进行了归纳整理,进而提出本论文的中心论点,研究方法及研究价值。第一章主要分析了四部小说中主要人物关注自我的表现,自我的深层原因及自我的结果。论文先总结了这些自我主义者的种种表现及陷入的道德困境,然后分析其原因,进而指出自我阻碍了个体与他者和外部世界的交流,从而使个体无法看到他人的他者性及外界的真实性,因此陷入到与社会隔绝的自我封闭和孤独中。第二章主要论述了四部小说中自我主义者开始摆脱自我的经历。他们经历了一系列的挫折之后,重新反思自己,开始摆脱臆想,接受客观世界中的偶然因素,这是看清真实的首要的一步。只有那些摆脱自我束缚的人才能去关注身边的他者,发现真实。第三章首先界定了默多克的“关注”这一概念的来源及涵义,然后阐述了四部小说中自我主义者如何由关注自我向关注他人转变的,最后论证了关注他人所带来的结果,进而指出只有用爱去关注他人与社会,个人才能走向道德的完善和精神品格的升华。结论部分指出默多克早期创作的这四部小说所体现的共同主题,即个体从关注自我到关注他人以获得道德上的完善,不仅对十九世纪五十年代的英国社会具有现实意义,即使是对我国当代的读者也具有一定的社会价值。更多还原

【Abstract】 Iris Murdoch is a prolific writer in contemporary Britain. Her early novels were published in the 1950s, a recovery period when Britain had suffered from World War II. Britain carried out a series of economic measures to recover the economy and did become a“Welfare State”. However, behind the recovering economy hid people’s scare about the war and disappointment to society. People no longer believed in God in their heart and gave up hope to the objective world. They were trapped in self-centeredness. Refusing to accept contingencies and pay attention to others, individuals visualized the objective world in the form which they imagined others. Responding to individuals’spiritual and moral predicament in Britain in the 1950s, Murdoch reveals her concern about those egoists and the society in the four novels created in her early writing career, meanwhile she also finds a solution to those egoists. This thesis attempts to analyze the common theme of egoists’moral perfection process from attention to self to attention to others in Murdoch’s early novels with social-historic criticism and Plato’s Allegory of Cave. Murdoch aims to present that the harmonious and steady development of society relies on individuals’moral perfection, and attention to others is just a platform on which individuals communicate with others and society harmoniously.This thesis is composed of five parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to Iris Murdoch and her early four novels Under the Net (1954), The Flight from the Enchanter (1956), The Sandcastle (1957) and The Bell (1958), and then summarizes the situation of the current studies on the four novels. Furthermore, the central argument of the thesis is put forward, along with the methodology of research and the significance of the thesis.Chapter One mainly analyzes the representations, reasons, and aftereffects of attention to self of the protagonists in the four novels. The thesis summarizes various representations of the egoists and their moral dilemma first and then analyzes the reasons. It further points outs that self impedes individuals’communication with others and the outside world. Hence it is difficult for individuals to see others’otherness and reality, which results in their isolation from the society and enclosure in selves.Chapter Two demonstrates how the egoists in the novels begin to escape from the bandage of self. After experiencing a series of obstacles, they begin to reconsider themselves, escape fantasy and accept contingencies in the objective world, which is the most essential step for them to discern others. Only those who have escaped the bandage of self are able to pay attention to others to find truth.Chapter Three limits the origin and connotation of Murdoch’s concept of“attention”first, and then explains how the egoists in the four novels shift from attention to self to attention to others. Finally the thesis demonstrates the effects of attention to others and concludes that only paying attention to others with love can individuals achieve moral perfection and improvement of spiritual personalities.The last part serves as a conclusion, which points out that the common theme in the four novels not only has realistic significance for the British society in the 1950s but also is of certain social value to readers in our contemporary society.更多还原