【作者】 马素贞；

【导师】 侯玉海；

【作者基本信息】 陕西师范大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2010， 硕士

【副题名】荣格原型理论分析

【摘要】 幽默是美国文化的一个重要成分,美国人以具有很强的幽默感而著称。为更好地理解美国文化,对美国幽默追根溯源是重要且必要的,美国的幽默传统则要追溯到民族和文化形成的最初阶段——殖民地时期。这个时期存在大量的传说故事,这些故事对美国幽默的形成和发展具有重大贡献。此篇论文涉及到几种传说故事：海盗故事,美国佬和美国小贩的故事,边远英雄的故事,还有印第安人和黑人的故事。为系统地分析这些幽默人物及其他幽默成分,本文采用了荣格的原型理论及三个传统的幽默理论：怪讹理论,优越理论,和释放理论。这些理论对研究殖民地时期各种传说故事中的幽默及其成因有很大贡献。殖民地时期故事中的幽默人物和荣格的某些原型相符,比如骗子原型,英雄原型,魔鬼原型和被嘲弄者的原型。骗子原型可通过爱尔兰吝啬鬼杰克,美国佬和美国小贩,以及印第安传说中的各种恶作剧者等幽默人物得到体现。英雄原型在边远者身上得到论证,魔鬼原型跟海盗相关,海盗的长相衣着足够恐怖和邪恶,而被嘲弄者原型则通过殖民地时期的印第安人和黑人得到展现。殖民地时期的故事是当时人们社会生活的一个缩影,故事中幽默的产生具有深刻的原因,这些原因也可以通过荣格的两个主要原型得以阐释：人格面具和阴影。人格面具在故事中有不同呈现。人格面具可以满足社会的需求,在个人愿望和社会期待之间寻得折中,比如美国佬冷若冰霜的面具；人格面具可以用来欺骗和控制别人,进而达到自己的目的,比如海盗凶神恶煞的面具；人格面具可以尝试着去实现大众的梦想和希望,比如边远者理想化的面具。而另一个原型——阴影,是人格的黑暗面,由所有被抑制的和消极的特性组成：性本能,欲望,弱点,缺点,混乱,野蛮甚至还有动物本性。这些特性在故事中集中体现在各种骗子身上,通过骗子暴露个人的消极面,揭示社会主流价值的阴暗面。骗子故事可以释放社会压力,带来满足和愉悦感,同时让人们更清楚地了解阴影及自己。骗子故事还有助于强化社会规则,维持社会秩序。然而,人们通常不承认自己的阴影,并把这个黑暗面投放在别人身上,称其为“低等者”,“敌人”,“异类”,以及“受动物本性牵引者”,因此实际上,人们是通过别人不相适宜地看见并经历了阴影。殖民地时期白人中流行很多关于种族幽默的故事,其中对印第安人和黑人的嘲笑和种族歧视在很多故事中都有体现。总之,殖民地时期传说故事中的幽默记录了当时美国人民的经历及渴望,对美国文化有重大影响,尤其是对美国文学。像富兰克林,朗费罗,欧文,爱伦坡等许多作家和诗人都吸纳民间故事的精髓,进而创作出诙谐新颖的好作品。作家赏识故事中的幽默人物,将其改造成符合时代需求的人物,这些人物成为灵感和创作的源泉。不仅如此,美国作家为达到幽默效果,采用夸张,贬低和讽刺等方法,而这些方法在殖民地时期的幽默传说中都可以找到。另外,殖民地时期传说中的幽默具有地方色彩,这一特点也在美国文学中得到发展。其中,文学中体现出来的两种美国幽默“东部幽默”和“西南幽默”分别得到研究。更多还原

【Abstract】 Humor is a vital element in American culture and American people are well-known for their strong sense of humor. It is of tremendous importance and necessity to search for the origin of American humor to better understand American culture. Historically, American tradition of humor traces back to the nation’s very beginning---the colonial period, when the American people as well as their culture were taking shape. A large number of legends and tales that turned up in this period contributed enormously to the shaping and evolution of American humor. In the thesis, several types of legends are studied:the legends about pirates, Yankee and Yankee peddlers, backwoodsmen, and the legends concerning blacks and Indians.To systematically analyze the humorous figures and other elements in those legends, the author adopts Jung’s archetypal theory, as well as three traditional humor theories:the incongruity theory, the superior theory and the relief theory. These theories work efficiently in the study of humor in various legends and in the exploration of causes of humor in colonial America.Humorous figures in colonial legends coincide with some of Jung’s archetypes, for instance, the trickster, the hero, the demon, and the teased. The trickster archetype is demonstrated in many legends, such as the Stingy Jack in Irish legends, Yankee and Yankee peddlers, and various tricksters in Indian legends. The hero archetype is manifested by backwoodsmen. The demon archetype is related to the pirate, whose appearance is scary enough and demon-like.And finally the teased archetypes are connected with Indians and blacks.Humor in colonial America can be attributed properly to the social life in colonial days by means of colonial legends, which can be interpreted by Jung’s archetypes:the persona and the shadow. A persona, or mask, varies in manifestation. A mask may be worn to meet the social demand and get a compromise between one’s own desire and the society’s expectation, for example, the deadpan mask of the Yankee, or to trick and manipulate others so as to obtain one’s goal, for instance, the fiendish mask of the pirates, or to attempt to fulfill the dreams and hopes of folk people, e.g.,the idealized mask of the backwoodsmen. Shadow,on the other hand, is the dark side of personality and it consists of all the repressed and negative characteristics:sex instincts, desires, weaknesses, shortcomings, chaos, wildness, and even animal tendencies.These features show themselves collectively in form of varieties of tricksters, bringing to the surface an individual’s negative aspects or the underside of a society’s dominant values.Trickster legends serve as perfect vents for social pressure and best entrances to satisfying entertainment, bringing people close to the shadow and making them have a better understanding of themselves. Moreover, trickster legends help reinforce social rules and maintain social order. However, since shadow is often disowned and projected outward onto others and then labels them as "inferiorities", "enemies", "being exotic" and "being animal instinct-led", it is practically seen and experienced unfavorably. There were many colonial legends popular among the white people, by which they showed their racial attitude to Indians and blacks and considered them inferior.In a word, humor in colonial legends records American experience and aspiration in colonial life in the day and has a great impact upon American culture, especially upon American literature.Many American writers and poets,such as Franklin, Longfellow, Irving, and Edgar Allan Poe, have created their witty works by absorbing the legacy of colonial legends. A series of humorous characters in the colonial period have been appreciated and transformed to favorable images to meet the taste of the day, which now become the sources of aspiration and creation. What’s more, American writers employ many strategies, such as exaggeration, hyperbole, satire and debasement, to achieve the expected humorous effect. These strategies trace their roots far back to humor in colonial legends.In addition, the local color of humor in colonial legends has also gained development in American literature, in which two major divisions of American humor, "Down East humor" and "Southwestern humor" are studied respectively in this thesis.更多还原