Dreiser’s Naturalism in Sister Carrie 论在嘉莉妹妹中德莱赛的自然主义.docx

Dreiser’s Naturalism in Sister Carrie 论在嘉莉妹妹中德莱赛的自然主义.docx

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摘要：

美国作家西奥多德莱塞被认为美国自然主义的杰出代表，本文以其第一部小说《嘉莉妹妹》为例分析德莱塞自然主义的一些特征。

论文从德莱塞创作《嘉莉妹妹》的历史文化背景出发，研究德莱塞在《嘉莉妹妹》中表现出来的自然主义思想。

论文涉及该小说的主要三大背景：

一是达尔文主义和宿命论；二是美国然主义；三是19世纪末在美国兴起的消费主义。

同时分析自然主义的三大特点：

欲望，本能和环境，最后得出结论：

《嘉莉妹妹》一文中主人公嘉莉妹妹的最终命运与德莱塞本人的命运息息相关，赫思渥德的最终堕落也是德莱塞惧怕失败的结果。

而德莱塞却把嘉莉妹妹和赫思特渥德最终得不到幸福归因于“人心

Dreiser'sNaturalisminSisterCarrie

Abstract：

TheodoreDreiserisregardedasanoutstandingrepresentativeofAmericannaturalism.Inthisthesis,Dreiser'sfirstnovelSisterCarrieistakenasanexampletoanalyzethefeaturesofDreiser'snaturalism.ThethesisreferredtothreegreathistoricalandculturalbackgroundofthenovelwhichareDarwinism,Determinism.AmericanNaturalismandConsumerism.Meanwhilethethesisanalyzesthreefeaturesofnaturalism.Atlast,wecandrawtheconclusionthattheleadingcharacterofthenovel-Carrie'sdestinyhasagreatconnectionwithDreiserhimselfandthedeclineofHurstwoodisaresultofDreiser'sfearoffailure,butDreiserattributesCarrieandHurstwood'sunhappinesstotheirinsatiabledesireforlifeortheyaredoomedtobeunhappyetc,andfromwhichwecanseeDreiser'snaturalismeasily.

KeyWords：

NaturalismDarwinismConsumerismdesireenvironment

Contents

Introduction 1

1.ThehistoricalandculturalbackgroundforSisterCarrie 2

1.1DarwinismandDeterminism 2

1.2Americannaturalism 2

2.ThetypicalcharacteristicsofnaturalisminSisterCarrie 2

2.1Therelationshipamongreason,freewillandinstinct 2

2.2Theinfluenceoftheenvironment 3

3.Dreiser'snaturalisticattitudeoftruthfulreflectionoflife 3

3.1Dreiser's"Sister”-Carrie 3

3.2Hurstwood'sdecline-Dreiser'sfearoffailure 3

Conclusion 3

Notes 4

Bibliography 4

Dreiser,sNaturalisminSisterCarrie

ZhangYu

Introduction

TheodoreDreiserisoneofthemostinfluentialAmericanwritersofcriticalrealism,butmanyofhisworksreferredtothedescriptionofnaturalismandweakenedhiscriticalspirit.HisfirstnovelSisterCarriepublishedin1990revealedthefinancialdisparityandthemoraldeclineofAmericansocietyandthusregardedasforbiddenbook.Butnowthebookbecomesoneofthebest-sellersofAmericanliteraturebecauseofthenaturalisticfeaturesinit.ThenDreiserisregardedasapioneerofAmericannaturalismandasanaturalistDreiserexpressesthecharacteristicsofnaturalisminmostofhisworks.ThethemesofDarwinismandDeterminismarethecommonfeaturesofDreiser'sstorywhichalsocharacterizeSisterCarrie.

Whenmostnovelsdealonlywiththesmilingandbeautifulaspectsoflife,Dreiseradvocatestruthfulreflectionoflifeinhisfiction.ItisnotanexaggerationtosaythatDreiser'sSisterCarrieclearsthewayforthedevelopmentofAmericanfiction.

Since1900,AmericancriticshaveneverceasedtheirstudyonDreiser.Theearlyresearchwasmainlybasedonthewriter'slifeexperience.Itprovideduswithlotsofusefulinformationaboutthewriter.Thestudywitnessedatransitionfromtheauthorhimselftothetextin1960s.From1980s,scholarsemployednewdevicesofFreudianism,FeminismandPost-Structuralismintheirstudies.ThesenewmethodshelpusknowDreiserandhisworksfromdifferentangles.However,onethingtheyshareincommonisthattheylackmacroscopicanalysis.

Inchina,someChinesecriticshavealsoshowngreatinterestinSisterCarrie.Twodomesticliterarymagazines,ForeignLiteratureStudyandForeignLiteratureReview,havebeenthemajorpublishingfieldsforthesecritics...

InordertofindoutDreisefsnaturalism,themethodoftextanalysisisemployedinthisthesis.TheauthorofthisthesisreadsthenovelintensivelysothatevidencescanbedugouttodemonstrateDreiser'snaturalism.Anothermethod,culturalcriticism,isemployedtoresearchthecomplicatedrelationbetweenDreiserandthesocietyhelivedin.Dreiserisinvestigatedinhishistoricalandculturalbackground.TheconclusionshowsthatDreiserisnotonlyacriticizerofcapitalism,butalsoabuilderofAmericanculturalsystem.

1.ThehistoricalandculturalbackgroundforSisterCarrie

TheodoreDreiser'sSisterCarriereflectstheprofoundtransformationsinAmericanlifeinthelatenineteenthcentury.Amongthemostsweepingchangesregisteredinthenovelaretheeconomy'sshiftingfromanagriculturalbasetoan...

1.1DarwinismandDeterminism

SisterCarriewaswrittenatthetimewhenDarwinismwasprevalent.ManyofSisterCarrie'sthemes-struggle,survivalanddesire-derivedirectlyfromtheevolutionaryviews.Theconceptofevolutionwasputforwardinthemid-19thcenturybyCharlesDarwin...

1.2Americannaturalism

SisterCarriewaswrittenandpublishedalsoattheriseofAmericannaturalism,whichmeansaparticulargenreoffictionthatdevelopedinthelate19thcenturyAmerica,andassociatedprincipallywithwriterssuchasJackLondon,StephenCrane,FrankNorrisandTheodoreDreiser...

2.ThetypicalcharacteristicsofnaturalisminSisterCarrie

InSisterCarrieIfindoutthatsomeofitsthemesdifferfromthoseofothernaturalisticworks...

2.1Therelationshipamongreason,freewillandinstinct

InSisterCarrieDreiserdetailstherelationshipamongreason,freewillandinstinct:

Whenhumans1instinctandreasonareatwar,theformerprevailsoverthelatterinmostinstances;humans*freewillismostlyanillusionandsubmitstohumans*instinct...

2.2Theinfluenceoftheenvironment

Environmentisatremendousthingandoftenleadshumantoawrongdirection.WeknowthatDrouettellsCarriethatChicagoisawonder,andthatshewillfindlotstoseethere.EvenhermeagersisterMinnietellsher,"You'llwanttoseethecity.'"L..

3.Dreiser'snaturalisticattitudeoftruthfulreflectionoflife

AphraseoftenappliedtoDreiserbyothersisstandingaloneormarchingalone.InhisNobelPrizeaddress,SinclairLewistellstheSwedishAcademythatDreiser“morethananyotherman,marchingalone,usuallyunappreciated,oftenhated,hasclearedthetrailfromVictorianandHowellSiantimidityandgentilityinAmericanfictiontohonestyandboldnessandpassionoflife.⑵”...

3.1Dreiser's“Sister"一Carrie

EmmaDreiser,theprettiestofthefiveDreisersisters,waseightyearsolderthanTheodoreDreiser.AsayounggirlinthesmalltownofSullivan,Indiana,sheandherothersistersweredeeplyinterestedinboys...

3.2Hurstwood*sdecline-Dreiser'sfearoffailure

ForHopkinsDreisersubstitutestheprosperousandrespectedupper-middle-classmanagerwhokeepsawell-appointedhouseontheNorthSide,thebestsectionofChicago...

Conclusion

ThisshortthesiscannotcoverDreisefsmeaningfulnaturalism.Hisgreatnessisinhisinsight,hissympathy,andhistragicviewoflife...

Notes

[1]Bantam.SisterCarrie[M].NewYork:

BantamClassics,1992.p.61.

[2]Ibid.,p.51.

Bibliography

[1]Bartlett,L.TeacherDevelopmentThroughReflectiveTeaching[A],inRichards

&Nunan（eds.）.SecondLanguageTeacherEducation[C].Beijing:

ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress/CambridgeUniversityPress,2000.26-29.

[2]HeGang.TheBriefAnalysisofJaneEyre,http:

〃www.pragmaticsChina.Com/grammaticalization.htm,2003-05-12.

[3]Williams,M&L.B.Burden.PsychologyforLanguageTeachers[M].Beijing:

ForeignlanguageTeachingandResearchPress/CambridgeUniversityPress,2000.

[4]肖晨.英语语言、文学工具书及其使用[M].北京：

学苑出版社，1990.34-42.

NaturalisminSisterCarrie

WuXiaojun

Abstract:

TheodoreDreiser,thewriterofSisterCarrie,isoneofthemostoutstandingrepresentativesofAmericannaturalism.Inthisthesis,hisfirstnovelSisterCarrieistakenasanexampletoanalyzethefeaturesofDreiser'snaturalism.ThethesisreferredtothreegreathistoricalandculturalbackgroundofthenovelwhichareDarwinism,Determinism,AmericanNaturalismandIndustrialRevolution.Andthethesisanalyzesthreefeaturesofnaturalism.Atlast,wepayattentiontoDreiser'sexploration humandesireandrevelationofthedarksideof

humannature

KeyWords:

NaturalismDarwinismdesireenvironmenthumannature

NaturalismofDreiserinSisterCarrie

Introduction

TheodorDreiser（1871-1945）,anAmericanauthor,outstandingrepresentativeofnaturalism,whosenovelsdepictreal-lifesubjectsinaharshlight.Manyofhisworksreferredtothedescriptionofnaturalismandweakenedhiscriticalspirit.HisfirstnovelSisterCarriepublishedin1990revealedthefinancialdisparityandthemoraldeclineofAmericansocietyandthusregardedasforbiddenbook.Butnowthebookbecomesoneofthebest-sellersofAmericanliteraturebecauseofthenaturalisticfeaturesinit.ThenDreiserisregardedasapioneerofAmericannaturalismandasanaturalistDreiserexpressesthecharacteristicsofnaturalisminmostofhisworks.ThethemesofDarwinismandDeterminismarethecommonfeaturesofDreiser'sstorywhichalsocharacterizeSisterCarrie.

Dreiserchosetoreflectlifetruthfulinhisworkswhenothernovelsdealonlywiththebeautifulaspectsoflife,.ItisnotanexaggerationtosaythatDreisefsSisterCarrieclearsthewayforthedevelopmentofAmericanfiction.

Fromfollowanalysisofthreeaspectsandconclusion,wecanfindoutthenaturalismofDreiserinSisterCarrie

1.ThehistoricalandculturalbackgroundforSisterCarrie

TheodoreDreiser'sSisterCarriereflectstheprofoundtransformationsinAmericanlifeinthelatenineteenthcentury.

1.1DarwinismandDeterminism

In1859,Darwin'sTheOriginofSpecieappeared.Itsoonchangedman'srecognition.BeforeDarwin,humanwasseparatedfromtheanimalsbecauseofitsmoral.However,atthistimeevolutionistconsideredhumanasapartofnaturalthingsandamemberoftheanimalkingdom.Americannaturalistsaccepted“bestiality”and

“humanbeast“asanexplanationofd