节点文献
对赫胥黎《美丽新世界》中“野人”约翰的拉康式解读
The Lecanian Reading of John the Savage in Huxley’s Brave New World
【作者】 赵志刚;
【导师】 段晓英;
【作者基本信息】 河北师范大学 , 英语语言文学, 2010, 硕士
【摘要】 阿道斯·赫胥黎是二十世纪一位多产的英国作家,其最著名的反乌托邦小说《美丽新世界》就是预测了600年以后的人类世界。本论文从拉康的镜像理论和三界说理论入手,探讨了影响主人公约翰的重重镜像,分析在主体建构的过程中,想象界与象征界的相互作用。野蛮人约翰在想象界对新世界充满了向往。而当他来到新世界时,他与象征界的任何观念都发生了激烈的冲突。约翰并没有认同象征界的社会法则,它选择了抗争和离开。他幻想的是一个不可能的真实界。拉康认为,个人的主体性是通过认同社会法则而确立的。但约翰并不能认同他所生活的社会法则,所以他的主体性无法成功的确立。本论文一共分为五部分。引言部分概括介绍了作者阿道斯·赫胥黎的生平和其代表作《美丽新世界》以及国内外学者们对这部小说的研究和评论,分析了用拉康理论解读小说的可能性和意义。第一章论述了野蛮人约翰的出生背景,分析野人约翰的自我意识的形成过程,强调了语言和文化在约翰主体的构建过程中所起的作用和影响。指出了语言的道德和对话属性对约翰自我构建的特殊意义。同时,在保留区的文化尤其是当地的土著文化和莎士比亚的文学作品帮助约翰完成了在镜像阶段的主体意识的构建。第二章重点介绍了约翰在想象界中追寻主体性的尝试。根据拉康的理论,想象界充满了幻想、想象和欲望。当约翰发现在保留地的镜像破灭后,他开始了对新世界生活的向往。这一部分主要体现了约翰对自我主体性的追求和对幸福的渴望,由此阐明了想象界中主体镜像的虚幻性和欺骗性。第三章对约翰在象征界的心理状态进行分析,并讨论了在约翰的世界里,想象界和象征界的相互作用,使他对象征界社会的非人性和人性的扭曲产生了厌恶。他开始重新审视自己的环境和对自我的主体的追求,认为在这样的社会中的身份认同是毫无意义的。第四章分析了约翰的理想世界和它的最终选择。他的逃离是对新世界的无意识反抗。拉康认为,实在界是不可知且不可同化的。约翰所追求的理想世界是根本无法实现的。约翰的鞭打自己的行为是对新世界的挑战和对自己人性弱点的惩罚。当他的人性弱点被击破后,他带着无法选择完美世界的遗憾自杀了。约翰最终无法确立自己的主体性,归根结底是因为新世界无视个体的主体性。结论部分总结了对《美丽新世界》进行拉康式解读的重要意义。本论文通过对小说主要人物的分析,揭示了镜像阶段在个人寻找自我过程中的重要作用。同时根据拉康的理论阐明缺乏人性的社会制度造成了个体的主体性的缺失。另外,反乌托邦小说的一个重要作用就是警示。赫胥黎通过约翰这一形象向现代人提出警告:如果未来人类社会像世界国那样没有自由,缺乏人性,那么人类的生活将变得毫无意义。
【Abstract】 Aldous Huxley(1894-1962) is a British voluminous novelist. His masterpiece, a typical dystopian novel Brave New World, published in 1932, makes a prediction to the human life of six centries later.This thesis, based on Lacan’s theory of mirror stage and three orders, analyses the multi-mirrors which cause John’s fragmented subject and explores the interplay of the imaginary and the real in the process of the subject constitution. John the Savage in the imaginary order harbors great hopes and illusions to brave new world. And his life in new world is the symbolic. When he is brought into the new world, he seems so incompatible with everything in the symbolic order. John cannot identify with the Law-of-the-Father in the symbolic, thus causing his fight and leaving the new world. He is imagining an impossible real order. Lacan states that an individual’s subjectivity is established through identifying the social principles. However, John the Savage can not identify with the social laws and principles of the society he is living in, therefore he fails to establish his subjectivity through his entire life.This thesis consists of five parts. The introduction contains the life story of Aldous Huxley and the present research and responses to his masterpiece Brave New World. The possibility and significance of reading this novel in a Lacanian way is as well analyzed.Chapter one depicts the birth background of John the Savage and analyzes the formation of John’s self and emphasizes function and the influence of language and culture during the process of the constitution of John’s fragmented subject, pointing the special significance of the moral and dialogue attributes of language to the establishment of one’s self. At the same time, the culture including the native culture on the Reservation and Shakespeare’s works helps John finish constructing his fragmented subject in the mirror stage.Chapter two illustrates the attempt and thorny process of John’s seeking subjectivity in the imaginary stage. According to Lacan, the imaginary is full of illusions, images and desires. When John feels disappointed about his life on the Reservation, he begins to long for the life in the new world. This part mainly reveals the pursuit of John’s self-identity and his desire to happiness. In this way this thesis interprets the features of illusions and cheating of the subject’s mirror images in the imaginary order.Chapter three analyzes the psychology of John in the symbolic order and discusses the interplay between his imaginary and symbolic order making him get disgusted about the dehumanization and the distorted interrelationship of the symbolic society. He, thus, starts to rethink about his surroundings and his pursuit of his subjectivity, holding that the identification with the social laws in the new world is meaningless.Chapter four analyses John’s pursuit to his ideal world and his terminate choice. His fleeing from the new world is his unconscious fight against the new world. According to Lacan, the real order is unknown and unassimilated. The perfect world that John pursues can not be achieved at all. John’s self-flagellation is the challenge to the new world and the punishment of his human shortcomings. When his human shortcomings are defeated, he commits suicide with the regret of not being able to choose his ideal world. The root reason for John’s failure to establish his subjectivity is that the new world ignores individuals’ subjectivity.The Conclusion sums up the significance of interpreting the fiction in a Lacanian way. This thesis reveals the function of the mirror stage in the process of one’s searching for self and also interprets the fact that the dehumanized social system causes the lack of individuals’ subjectivity based on the theory of Lacan. In addition, one of the most remarkable functions of the dystopian novels is warning. Huxley warns the modern people through the image of John the Savage that if the future human world is just like the World State in Brave New World—no freedom, no humanity, our life will then be meaningless.
【Key words】 Lacan; The Mirror Stage; Alienation; Self; Subjectivity; Imaginary Order; Symbolic Order;