《欢乐之家》的自然主义解析
彷徨和迷茫的区别“老纽约”社会的迷茫与彷徨
彷徨和迷茫的区别“老纽约”社会的迷茫与彷徨作为20世纪美国最重要的女性文学作家,伊迪丝・华顿创作了大量以女性生存状态为题材的作品,尤其是在《欢乐之家》中成功塑造了丽莉这一生动的女性形象。
在这部作品中,华顿大量采用自然主义手法,以其细腻的笔触,独到的视觉角度以及深刻的内心挖掘给读者留下了极其深刻的印象。
因为华顿将文学创作视为一种生活方式和理想的寄托,所以文学作品中的形象与心理状态对于她本人有表达内心真实思想的作用。
在作品中,她用多种艺术手法表现了主人公的迷茫与彷徨,并以此为切入点揭示了整个社会深层次的矛盾和问题,发人深省,从而达到为历史和现实作证的目的,具备了深刻的社会意义和价值,成为其作品超越同时期女性作家的最重要因素之一。
一伊迪丝・华顿关注的世界伊迪丝・华顿将《欢乐之家》的背景设在19世纪末20世纪初的“老纽约”上流社会,也是作者成长的地方。
美丽聪慧的姑娘丽莉由于家庭的贫困,她只能通过自己的美貌换取幸福,通过与赋有的上层贵族交往,她才能在《欢乐之家》中占有一席之地。
“欢乐之家”里虽然充满了奢侈的物质生活,然而,她意识到自己只是上层社会的一件装饰品。
在这种环境之下,丽莉感到字苦闷与束缚。
当她遇到律师塞尔登,立刻被他的“精神共和国”所吸引。
所谓的“精神共和国”就是“解脱一切――从金钱,从贫困,从安逸与烦恼,从一切物质生活中得到解脱。
”这正是丽莉无意识中所向往的美好世界。
丽莉受到上层社会贵夫人白莎的诬陷而身败名裂,被逐出了“百乐山庄”。
尽管机会让她重返“欢乐之家”,但善良的天性让她放弃了复仇与爱情,服用安眠药,孤独悲惨的离开了给她带来快乐和痛苦的“欢乐之家”。
伊迪丝・华顿属于“风俗小说家”。
所谓“风俗小说”,是指反映特定时代、特定地点、特定阶层的社会风俗和惯例的小说。
华顿出身于美国上流社会,因此她对上层社会的面貌和习俗可谓了如指掌。
在她的作品中,多数小说都以“老纽约”的上流社会为背景,描写人们的日常生活和问题。
《欢乐之家》中的自然主义特色
《欢乐之家》中的自然主义特色
伊迪斯·华顿是美国著名女性小说家,也是二十世纪初美国自然主义小说家的代表人物之一。
对普通人们命运的深切关注,成为她在文学领域探索的不竭动力。
华顿创造的很多以自然主义为特征的作品使她在美国文坛上获得不可替代的地位,在这其中,华顿在1905年发表的《欢乐之家》成为我研究的焦点。
本论文意在探索和鉴证《欢乐之家》中的自然主义特色。
自然主义的两大特征—决定论和消费主义成为本论文研究的理论支撑。
首先,在充满自然主义色彩的社会环境下,尤其是无法反抗的决定论和遗传因素对小说主人公所造成的无效逃离、无效挣脱的悲惨命分别运进行分析；其次,压倒性的消费意识也成为此次研究的重点,以消费浪潮对人们生活产生的或放纵,或被吞噬的悲剧性命运作为研究内容；最后,华顿在《欢乐之家》中对自然主义的演绎,尤其作者对小说人物命运安排的特殊含义和她对美国自然主义的贡献进行深层次的探究。
总之,华顿的《欢乐之家》是美国自然主义小说的一个典范,是华顿赋予美国自然主义新的意义与活力。
《欢乐之家》的女性主义解读
《欢乐之家》的女性主义解读
程娟
【期刊名称】《岱宗学刊：泰安教育学院学报》
【年(卷),期】2009(000)002
【摘要】《欢乐之家》是20世纪初美国著名女作家伊迪丝.华顿的成名作。
本文主要从女性主义角度出发,阐述了女性主义文学批评的精髓,指出在以男性为中心的社会中,女性被压迫受歧视,失去自我意识,有着强烈的依赖性,并进一步探讨了《欢乐之家》的创作意义及女主人公丽莉.巴特的悲剧。
【总页数】2页(P36-37)
【作者】程娟
【作者单位】泰山学院外语系
【正文语种】中文
【中图分类】G658.3
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从空间叙事角度分析《欢乐之家》中丽莉·巴特悲剧的必然性
本文试图从空间叙事的视角出发,对这一主题进行探讨,分析空间是怎样参与叙述丽莉悲剧命运主题的。本论文分为五部分。
前言主要介绍了伊迪丝·华顿在美国文学界享有的盛名、其主要著作以及空间理论。第一章探讨了物理空间ห้องสมุดไป่ตู้丽莉·巴特悲剧命运的关系。
物理空间属于客观空间,分为地域空间—老纽约和景物空间。丽莉·巴特生活于老纽约社会,受到老纽约地域范围的限制,并且老纽约又以自己独特的政治、经济特点对生活于上流社会的丽莉·巴特施加影响。
通过分析交通工具、花园、沙龙式空间等具体景物空间的推动和作用,揭示了丽莉一步步走向悲剧命运的必然性。第二章分析了社会空间和丽莉·巴特悲剧命运的关系。
论文把丽莉·巴特居住过的居所归入社会空间。社会空间也属于客观空间。
丽莉·巴特从未有一处固定的居所,从她居所的不断转移展现了复杂的社会关系,她身心无家可归的悲惨命运和她悲剧发展的进程,并进一步揭示了她悲剧的必然性。第三章描写了心理空间和丽莉·巴特悲剧命运的关系。
心理空间属于主观空间,是丽莉·巴特悲剧的主观原因所在。在当时的老纽约上流社会,以金钱为导向的价值观和婚姻观占据主流地位。
但是,丽莉·巴特不仅坚持金钱的绝对重要性,还追求纯洁的爱情和道德上的清白。丽莉·巴特对老纽约主流价值观和婚姻观的背离从根本上导致了她必然的悲剧命运。
结论部分指出了丽莉·巴特在物理空间、社会空间、心理空间三者的共同作用下悲剧发生的必然性。
从空间叙事角度分析《欢乐之家》中丽莉·巴特悲剧的必然性
伊迪丝·华顿是19世纪末20世纪初美国著名的女作家。她的大部分作品以她所生活的老纽约为背景,描绘了当时上流社会女性的真实处境。
《欢乐之家》中莉莉·巴特悲惨命运的自然主义解读
《欢乐之家》中莉莉·巴特悲惨命运的自然主义解读作者：蓝雨晖来源：《青年文学家》2019年第12期摘; 要：《欢乐之家》是美国小说家艾迪丝·沃顿的代表作之一。
近年来对于该小说的分析基于自然主义解读居多，沃顿与众多自然主义作家深交，比如亨利·詹姆斯西奥多·德莱塞等。
本文通过存在主义浅析《欢乐之家》中主人公莉莉·巴特的悲惨命运，以及她对于女人的意识和作为一个个体的存在的意识。
提供一个新的视角来研究这部小说。
关键词：欢乐之家;存在主义[中图分类号]：I106; [文献标识码]：A[文章编号]：1002-2139（2019）-12--01一、引言伊迪丝·沃顿在她的作品中表现出对进化的浓厚兴趣，特别是社会达尔文主义。
在她的代表作《欢乐之家》中，沃顿指责纽约上流社会造成莉莉巴特的悲惨命运。
沃顿指出在一个不负责任的寻求乐趣的社会中，在“世界的悲惨遭遇”中，与构成这样一个社会的人能够猜到的任何更深层次的影响在哪方面？答案是，一个轻浮的社会只有通过其轻浮的摧毁才能获得戏剧性的意义。
其悲剧性的含义在于它贬低人民和理想的力量。
简而言之，答案就是她的女主角莉莉巴特。
存在主义是一种哲学和文学运动，通常被认为是一种追求存在意义并为现有个体寻求价值的研究。
让人忧虑的存在主义是人类的生存和存在与本质的关系。
“存在先于本质”是萨特的一句名言。
此外，存在主义强调行动，自由和决定是人类生存的基础，并且反对理性传统和实证主义。
对于存在主义者来说，宇宙往往是混乱的，含糊的，荒谬的。
他们往往认为人类由“原来需要”和“一个人的满意度（产品）的影响。
”存在主义是一门多学科的主题，涉及社会学，哲学，文学等各个领域的许多问题和研究。
像尼采，马丁海德格尔，让-保罗萨特这样的存在主义者提出了他们的想法和独特的想法。
由于存在主义有各种各样的想法，本文主要分析萨特对“恶意”理论，“自我”和“疗法”之间的关系，提出了莉莉巴特的悲惨命运是不可抗拒的，她不仅是父权社会的牺牲品，也是寻求自我的中心。
伊迪斯·华顿《欢乐之家》中的屋宅装饰释读
伊迪斯·华顿《欢乐之家》中的屋宅装饰释读作者：孙超来源：《江苏理工学院学报》2018年第01期摘要：在《欢乐之家》中，纽约城在华顿笔下主要由屋宅建筑及室内装饰来呈现。
华顿花费大量笔墨描绘的各种装潢的室内空间反映了纽约社会的文化变迁及新旧社会交替时期炫耀性消费的城市风尚，暗示了时代的文化矛盾性。
同时，华顿对室内装饰等环境的细致描写和人物特定的心理活动紧密相连、巧妙结合并相互作用，映照了主人公莉莉的心路历程及无家可归的人生状态，最终揭示了莉莉人生悲剧的必然性。
关键词：屋宅装饰；文化变迁；莉莉；悲剧；伊迪斯·华顿；《欢乐之家》中图分类号：TU241 文献标识码：A 文章编号：2095-7394（2018）01-0055-05伊迪斯·华顿是19世纪末20世纪初美国最重要的女性小说家。
其代表作品有：《欢乐之家》《纯真年代》和《国家风俗》等。
历史上的华顿夫人对建筑装饰颇有造诣，有着独到见解。
1897年，华顿和镀金时代的著名设计师奥格登·科德曼（ogdenCodan）合著的《屋舍装饰》建立了其在室内装饰方面的权威。
自此之后，室内空间装饰也成为华顿作品中有意义的一个组成部分。
可以说，没有哪位美国作家能像华顿夫人那样以细腻的笔触、深刻的理解力描写出人物、社会历史及家庭装饰美学之间的相互影响及作用。
被誉为“ 内部装饰的先驱和诗人”，华顿擅长通过细致入微的屋宅内部描写，来衬托人物的内心世界或性格特征。
1905年，小说《欢乐之家》大获成功，作品中同时呈现了华顿对室内装饰和文学创作的热爱。
华顿在建筑及室内装饰美学方面的天赋在小说中得到了充分体现。
克拉博曾提到，《欢乐之家》的成功部分源于华顿煞费苦心地把美丽有个性缺陷的莉莉的性格和她所处的环境联系起来，而她所处的环境主要是由一系列的室内空间和装饰组成。
[1]543本文旨在阐释分析伊迪斯·华顿的成名作《欢乐之家》中的建筑空间及室内装饰特点，说明小说中各个屋宅的建筑及室内装饰见证了纽约社会的文化变迁及新旧社会交替时期的城市风尚——炫耀性消费，暗示了时代的文化矛盾性。
女英雄之死——对《欢乐之家》的自然主义解析
坤靶柄君能执，鼓舞春风转物华。 “ ” 以自然反托心意的如 《 寄王 云衢》 “ ： 清霄散步林 泉下 ， 满眼光风霁月天 。 Ⅲ 等等 “ ” 。 细细品赏 韩乐吾的诗，仿佛听着一支支田园牧歌，观赏着一幅幅农村图景， 听着乡村野老贴心的肺腑语 ，给人无 限舞悦与启迪。 韩贞有的 ”Ⅲ 诗也具有王襞的洒脱诗风。如，“ 风月无边任我游”“ 开怀天上一轮 月”“ 韩贞的诗除具有王襞那种 自 洒脱的特征之外， “ 然、 具有宁静、 安谧 、 淳朴之意境 。 细草春前见，梅花雪后多 ‘ “ 一刻阳生初破腊” “ 万方雪化始回春 ” “ 韩乐吾 的乡村诗 ， 如诗如画。 。 “ “ ”仅 “ 水墨 画式”的诗就有十几首，仅咏月的诗句便有二十余句，使人感到如 苏轼赞颂的 “ 无形画” 。 韩贞对对人物的活动描写也非常活泼有 ｎ 趣，如 《 寄王云衢》 “ ： 闲携童冠歌沂上，静对沙鸥狎水边。 “ 等 ”
论界长期忽视了它 的自然主义倾 向 本文对女主人公莉莉 ・ 特的悲剧人生进行 作者在回忆录里谈到这部小说的写作动机： 巴
问题是如何提取这样一个典 型的人性意义 的主 题，这是一个作 者讲述这一个故事而不是另外一个的原因。对一个社会的不负责任 Ｌ 键１ 关 司Ｊ＜ 欢乐之家》 伊迪 ・ 顿；莉 ・ 特：自 义 ； 斯 华 莉 巴 然主 的寻欢作乐者应该从哪些方面去描述，在这个 “ 旧日的悲哀世界” 伊迪斯 ・ 华顿 （ ｄｈ ａｏ ，１６．９７ Ｅ ｉ Ｗｈｒ ｎ ８２１３ ）是 ｌ 世纪末 ２ 世 上，怎样 才能说明一个 由不负责人的寻欢作乐者组成 的社会具有 比 ｔ ｔ ９ Ｏ 纪初美国著名作家，出身于纽约名门望族，擅长描写纽约上流社会 组成这个社会的人们能够猜到 的更深 的意蕴 ？答案是 一个轻浮 的社 的世态风俗。１０ 年出版的长篇小说 《 ９５ 欢乐之家》是她的成名作， 会只有通过它愚蠢的破坏才能表现出戏剧般的意味。它悲剧的含义 描写 了聪 明美丽 的女主 人公的莉莉 ・巴特，在父母去世之后寄居在 存在于对人生和理想的贬低。简而言之，答案就是，我的女英雄， 巴特 。“ ¨ 姑妈家，希望通过婚姻跻身上流社会却屡遭失败，最后落魄致死的 莉莉 ・ 故事。作品一 问世就获得 了评论 界的广泛关注与高度评价，向来以 从以上的描述可以看出，作者意在说明肤浅的社会环境对人的 苛刻著称的亨利 ・ 詹姆斯，也高度称赞这部 “ 美国风俗小说”的巨 扼杀。在小说中，莉莉所 处的环境就是作者生活 的时代 ：美 国南北 大成 功 。长期 以来 ，批评 界多从女性主义角度来研究小说文本 ，却 战争后，资本主义经济迅速增长 ，新兴工业 资产阶级大刀阔斧地 闯 忽略 了它所蕴含 的 自 然主义 倾向。为此，本文 从 自然主义 的环 境、 入了贵族资产阶级的世袭领地，社会阶级结构与经济结构迅速解体 遗传、偶然因素三个方面来分析莉莉 ・ 巴特的悲剧命运，为华顿作 与重 新组合 。金钱成为社会的法则，人们之间为 了地位、荣誉和财 品深入研究提供可行的途径。 富进行残酷的竞争，传统的理想主义被抛弃，整个上流社会沉浸在 “ 愚昧的心，在欢乐之家” 片寻欢作乐的喧嚣中。 这一点从小说的题 目也可以看出， 欢乐之 “ 自然主义是 ２ 世纪初美国文学主流， ０ 侧重描写人在冷漠 的世界 家 ”取 自 《 圣经 ・ 传道书》 “ ： 智慧的心，在遭丧之家 ：愚昧的心 ， 中无足轻重的地位，当面对恶劣的环境和遗传等强大的外力时，几 在欢乐之家” ，这里华顿把追求金钱享乐的纽约上流社会成员比作 乎无能为力， 任何抗争都必然徒劳无益， 最终不可避免地走向毁灭。 《 圣经》 里的愚昧之人 。莉莉在这种环境中成长生活 ，并试图寻找 华顿把这种 自然主义 思想运 用到了她的文学创作中，强调社会环境 自己的精神理想，结果只能成为环境的牺牲品。
读书随笔 读《欢乐之家》有感
读书随笔读《欢乐之家》有感伊迪丝.华顿是20世纪初美国最受欢迎的畅销书作家之一，曾在1920年获得普利策文学奖。
华顿出身于纽约一个豪门世家，擅长描写纽约上流上会的世态风俗。
1905年出版的长篇小说《欢乐之家》是她的成名作。
本书讲述了出身上流家庭的美女莉莉.巴特在家道中落，双亲相继去世后寄居在姑妈家，希望依靠自己的美貌和气质嫁给金龟婿，通过婚姻跻身上流社会却屡遭失败，并且遭人陷害落入社会底层，最终贫穷落魄、含恨而死的故事。
黑格尔的悲剧理论是西方最突出的悲剧理论之一。
他运用矛盾的对立统一来解释悲剧的冲突。
他所谓的冲突是指人物性格在某种具体情境中所遭受到的两种普遍力量的分裂和对立，并认为悲剧冲突是悲剧的基础，这种悲剧冲突是有其内部的合理性和必然的运动规律的。
黑格尔在论述冲突的重要性时，把冲突分为三种：第一种是由物理的或自然的情况产生的冲突；第二种是自然条件产生的心灵冲突；第三种是由心灵的差异面产生的分裂，这是形成悲剧的真正冲突。
黑格尔对悲剧冲突的分类有着深刻的美学价值，许多悲剧作品的深层都隐藏着这样的悲剧冲突规律。
莉莉与社会环境的冲突属于黑格尔冲突分类的第一种。
这部小说的背景取材于20世纪初的纽约。
当时的美国在南北战争结束后，资本主义经济迅速增长，新型工业资产阶级闯入了贵族资产阶级的世袭领地，大批新兴的资本家随即挤进上流社会，与旧有的豪门联姻。
社会阶级结构和经济结构迅速解体和重新组合。
金钱成为社会的法则，人们为了地位、财富、荣誉等进行残酷的竞争。
人们逐渐抛弃了传统的理想主义观念，整个上流社会整日沉迷于寻欢作乐的喧嚣中。
莉莉在这样的环境中成长，耳濡目染，她同样渴望进入纸醉金迷的上流社会。
然而她虽然出身贵族，但金钱财富的缺乏成了她进入上流社会的绊脚石。
她曾经拒绝玩桥牌。
因为她知道自己付不起赌帐，害怕染上如此奢侈的习气。
但是后来为了能融入上流社会，取悦上流社会的贵妇们，她开始经常打牌，从此愈发沉迷于赌局，致使她的赌注越下越大。
英语文学论文—《欢乐之家》
本科毕业论文中文题目：《欢乐之家》中莉莉·巴特命运的衰落——追寻自我过程中超越同一性危机的失败外文题目: The Decline of Lily Bart in The House of Mirth –The Failure to Transcend the Identity Crisisin the Process of Self-Discovery系别英语学院专业英语（翻译）年级 2006级学号 200601010031学生姓名马晓瑞指导教师张从成结稿日期 2010年5月10日四川外语学院教务处制《欢乐之家》中莉莉•巴特命运的衰落——追寻自我过程中超越同一性危机的失败摘要：美国现代女作家伊迪丝·华顿是20世纪初现实主义文学代表人物之一，她在作品中塑造的众多女性形象尤其受到西方女权主义者的推崇，被认为是西方女性主义的先驱作家。
《欢乐之家》是华顿的成名作。
故事以作者熟悉的纽约上流社会为背景，描述了女主人公莉莉•巴特寻求嫁给有钱人，但由于无法超越内心的矛盾，她始终找不到心灵的处所，最终在极度的孤独中莉莉结束了自己年轻的生命。
本论文运用美国精神分析学家埃里克·赫·埃里克森的同一性危机理论，对《欢乐之家》中莉莉的命运进行分析，认为她在社会生活中屡受挫折以及她最终结束自己生命是莉莉的早期生活经历使她无法超越同一性危机的后果。
华顿虽和莉莉在成长过程中有相似的经历，但凭着对文学的热忱和执着，她寄托了自己孤独的心灵于文学，成功地超越了同一性危机。
本论文作者希望能从新的视角分析《欢乐之家》这部作品的女主角的精神世界，加深对伊迪丝·华顿艺术创作的理解。
关键词：精神分析；埃里克·赫·埃里克森；同一性危机；超越同一性危机失败The Decline of Lily Bart in The House of Mirth – The Failure toTranscend the Identity Crisis in the Process of Self-DiscoveryAbstractModern woman writer Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is one of the representatives of Realism Literature in the early 20th century in the United States. The numerous female images she created in her works especially appeal to Western feminists, and she was regarded as one of the precursors of the Western feminist writers. The House of Mirth is her first well-known piece of work, published in 1905. The story, written under the background of the New York upper-class society which Wharton is quite familiar with, depicts the protagonist Lily Bart’s tragedy of dying in her early age as she cannot overcome the conflicts inside herself in the process of searching for a potential rich man to marry.This paper analyzes the final destiny of Lily Bart under the guidance of identity crisis theory of American psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson. Those numerous setbacks in her social life and her final death are mainly due to Lily’s early life which results in her failure to go beyond the identity crisis. Wharton’s early experiences are quite sim ilar with those of Lily’s, yet thanks to her passion and determination about literature where she dwells her lonely heart, Wharton successfully transcends the identity crisis. By writing this paper I hope to analyze the psychological world of the protagonist in The House of Mirth in order to deepen the understanding of Edith Wharton’s artistic works.Key Words: Psychoanalysis; Erik H. Erikson; Identity Crisis; Transcend Identity CrisisAcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Zhang Congcheng, both for his intellectual guidance and for his warm and constant encouragement during the process of writing this thesis. With patience and prudence, he labored through drafts of this thesis and pointed out defects in my theorizing. Therefore, I owe all the merits in this thesis, if any, to him, though I am fully aware that the thesis might still contain some mistakes, for which I bear the whole responsibility.My cordial and sincere thanks go to all the teachers in the Department of English, whose interesting and informative courses have benefited me a lot during my college years. The profit that I gained from their profound knowledge, remarkable expertise and intellectual ingenuity will be of everlasting significance to my future life and career.I am also very grateful to my classmates, who have given me a lot of help and courage during my stay in the University and throughout the process of writing this thesis.Last but not the least, big thanks go to my family who have shared with me my worries, frustrations, and hopefully my ultimate happiness in eventually finishing this thesis.Content中文摘要 (i)Abstract (ii)Acknowledgements (iii)Introduction (1)I. Lily Bart’s Failure to Go Beyond Identity Crisis in The House of Mirth (5)A. A Brief Introduction to Identity Crisis Theory (5)B. Lily Bart’s Cultivation of the Identity Crisis (5)1. The Influence of Lily Bart’s Family in Lily’s Childhood (5)2.The Influence of Lily’s Aunt and Friends in Lily’sAdolescent Years (8)C. Lily Bart’s Vain Trial to Overcome the Identity Crisis (10)II. The Influence of Identity Crisis on Lily Bart’s Fate (12)A. Lily Bart’s Sense of Isolation and Solitude (12)B. Lily Bart’s Final Death (16)III. Edith Wharton’s Management to Pass Through Identity Crisis (18)A. Edith Wharton’s Transcendence of Identity Crisis (18)B. Edith Wharton’s Attempt to Get Lily Bart Go Beyondthe Identity Crisis (19)Conclusion (21)Notes (23)Bibliography (25)The Decline of Lily Bart in The House of Mirth – The Failure toTranscend the Identity Crisis in the Process of Self-DiscoveryIntroductionEdith Wharton(1862-1937), also known as Edith Newbold Jones Wharton, Edith Newbold Jones, David Olivieri, and Edith Newbold Wharton, is one of the leading American novelists of the 1900s and 1910s, was born Edith Jones to wealthy and conservative parents who were part of New York City’s upper-class society. Wharton had the best that money could buy. She was privately tutored, traveled to Europe, and married at the age of twenty-three in 1885 to a member of her family’s set, Edward Wharton.During the early decades of the twentieth century – at a time when New York City could ban women from smoking in public, Wharton published works which discussed love outside of marriage, scandal, class divisions, and poverty. Wharton is a profilic writer with many a famous novel such as The House of Mirth(1905), Ethan Frome(1911), The Reef(1912), The Custom of the Country(1913), the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Innocence(1920), among which The House of Mirth earns her a worldwide reputation. In 1921, she became the first female recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, and two years later she received an honorary doctorate of letters from Yale University.The House of Mirth is one of the masterpieces of Edith Wharton，in which the protagonist, twenty-nine-year-old Lily Bart, adopted by her aunt Mrs. Peniston after her parents’death, is managing a wealthy marriage for herself. Although she is a beautiful, graceful, and sociable woman in the New York society, she fails to fit herself to those “well-mannered”people. Lily is accused of cheating her friend’s (Judy Trenor) husband, Gus Trenor, of his money, and of having an affair with another friend’s (Bertha Dorset) husband, George Dorset, though she knows those roles of being somebody’s mistress are just what her friends assign to her. There are also two other men, Percy Gryce and Simon Rosedale, the representatives of the New Rich inNew York, whom Lily has ever wanted to marry. However, Lily does not marry either of the two men due to the lack of feelings for both of them. The man Lily really intends to marry is someone who could give her the luxurious life she wants and also could give her the love she wants. Actually there is no such man in her circle. Lawrence Selden is the only one to whom Lily directs her real love, yet has little money to meet her needs. Eventually Lily is deserted by that society, also by those potential spouses. Lily is so lost and helpless, and the whole story ends with her anonymity and death.The House of Mirth (1905) brought Wharton critical acclaim. In this novel Wharton offered a scathing and realistic portrait of what she knew best: New York City society. By showing the wealthy as emotionally frivolous, Wharton shed light on the moral crisis besetting the wealthy in a time of social unrest and upheaval. The House of Mirth became a best-seller in 1905 and 1906. In The House of Mirth, Wharton documents the moral consumption of both the old New Yorks and the new rich during the waning years of the Gilded Age. This Gilded World is described by Wharton as a house of mirth, which is, in fact, taken from Ecclesiastes 7:2-4: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth”1–indicates that Wharton considers New York society to be vain, petty, and foolish. Wharton wrote The House of Mirth and, later, The Age of Innocence to expose what she knew about the social customs of the wealthy. In a letter to Dr. Morgan Dix, rector of New York City’s Trinity Church, Wharton wrote: “Social conditions as they are just now in our new world, where the sudden possession of money has come without inherited obligations, or any traditional sense of solidarity between the classes, is a vast and absorbing field for the novelist.”2 Wilson Edmund writes that “the book has some originality and power, with its chronicle of a social parasite on the fringes of the very rich… and finding a window open only twice, at the beginning and at the end of the book, on a world where all the values are not money values”3The House of Mirth traces the conspicuous wasting of Lily Bart, who is evidently the victim of the civilization. The House of Mirth is also a novel about the old New York society, because without the confinement of social codes, Lily’spsychological and material life would be very different. Lily has accepted the ideology of her wealthy society; she too believes that her role in life is to be the beautiful ornament that spend s her husband’s fortune on superior things. But, at heart, she longs for freedom, free from everything – from money, from poverty, from ease and anxiety, from all the material accidents, for she is deeply influenced by Lawrence Selden’s “the republic of th e spirit”.4 Wharton’s heroine finds herself doubled or more precisely self-divided. She has two selves and they are not conforming to each other. The journey of Lily’s rebellion against and decline from the upper class is also a journey of her self-discovery. Eventually, Lily is deserted by that society, and the whole story ends with her tragic death.Feminist critics see late-nineteenth-century attitudes toward women as constitutive – but also restrictive – forces in Lily Bart’s and Edith Wharton’s efforts to gain self-determination. Elizabeth Ammons’s Edith Wharton’s Argument with America written in 1980 traces Wharton’s argument with the patriarchal society through her life and fiction. Carol Wershoven’s The Female Intruder in the Novels of Edith Wharton(1982) and Katherine Joslin’s Women Writers: Edith Wharton(1991) are another two important critical books in feminist approach.Marxist critics examine how class structures and the system or economic exchange construct and position Lily within a capitalist marketplace where she herself is not an agent of change but a commodity, an item of exchange. Wai-chee Dimock’s Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and Diana Trilling’s The House of Mirth Revisited are representatives of Marxist criticism on the novel.This paper intends to analyse Lily Bart, the heroine of The House of Mirth, using Erik H. Erikson’s identity crisis theory and to disclose how Lily’s failure to go beyond identity crisis affects her ultimate fate. The body of this essay is to be divided into three parts. The first part of this passage gives a brief introduction to Identity Crisis Theory, the most prominent theory of Erikson. And this paper will also study how Lily falls into identity confusion through a brief introduction to Lily Bart’s early childhood when she should build her own identity in a right way. The next part deals with the influence of identity crisis on Lily’s fate – a lack of intimacy with others, asense of loneliness and her final death. In the last part, this paper will present how Edith Wharton manages to go beyond her identity crisis by find an alternative way of self-realization in literary world and how Wharton tries to pull Lily through her identity crisis.The purpose of my essay is to study Lily Bart in a psychoanalytic way under the guidance of Erik H. Erikson’s identity crisis theory in order to reexamine the reason of Lily’s tragic fate, which has long been deemed as the patriarchal social conditions. Lily has also been regarded as an ornament and still a victim of the money-comes-first society as well as a society of male control. Yet simultaneously, the deeper reason why Lily commits suiside is her failure to get herself go beyond identity crisis in a positive way. In the process of pursuing a real selfhood, Lily is too helpless to transcend herself, so she chooses an extremely negative way to extricate herself from the world of money stink.I. Lily Bart’s Failure to Go Beyond Identity Crisis in The House ofMirthA. A Brief Introduction to Identity Crisis Theory“Identity crisis” 5 is the most famous theory coined by Erik H. Erikson, and he believes that it is one of the most important conflicts people face in personal development.According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of exploration of different ways of looking at oneself, when an individual loses a sense of personal sameness and historical continuity.The emergence of an identity crisis occurs during the teenage years in which people struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion.According to Erikson, only those who succeed in resolving the crisis will be ready to face future challenges in life and establish committed relationships with others. Erikson suggests that people experience an identity crisis when they lose a sense of personal sameness and historical continuity. If society is too insistent, the teenager will acquiesce to external wishes, effectively forcing him or her to ‘foreclose’ on experimentation and, therefore, true self-discovery. Once someone settles on a worldview and vocation, will he or she be able to integrate this aspect of self-definition into a diverse society? When it turns out to be wrong, they will build role confusion instead of a certain identity of themselves, and then they become relunctant to commit to an identity. Failure to develop one’s own identity will long affects individuals and will make it difficult to build a trustful and intimate relation with others, especially with those of the opposite sex.B. Lily Bart’s Formation of the Identity Crisis1. The Influence of Lily Bart’s Family in Lily’s ChildhoodAs Erikson points out: “the ego’s beginnings are difficult to assess, but as we know, it emerges gradually out of a stage when ‘wholeness’is a matter of physiological equilibration, maintained through the mutuality between the baby’s need to receive and the mother’s need to give”.6The early development of identity produces a great influence over the later adult life, while the parental influence is an important factor in the psychological development of a little child. In the early childhood, one begins to cultivate a sense of trust, which is the most basic component of mental vitality to develop in life. If a child successfully develops trust in his or her early age, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Parents who are “inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting”7 contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. If a child fails to develop trust, he or she will have a sense of insecurity and formulate a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable. This is no good for the child to build a consistent identity later in the psychological development.In Lily Bart’s case, due to the lack of her parents’ love and care, she fails to cultivate the basic trust. Lily Bart in The House of Mirth grows up in a typical upper-class New York family in the late nineteenth century, with a mother who is always obsessed with superficial wealth and social matters, and a dim father as the financial provider. The distinct roles between her parents do not set a good example for little Lily. Our knowledge of Lily’s early life mainly comes from her discontinuous reminiscence. Lily’s early image of her family is “a house in which no one ever dined at home unless there is ‘company’; a door-bell perpetually ringing; a hall-table shadowed with square envelops which were opened in haste, and oblong envelopes which were allowed to gather dust in the depth of a bronze jar”8. As a stylish and socially obsessed mother, Mrs. Bart is deeply interested in arranging dinners, parties and their summer trips, and also in the fashionable clothes brought back from Europe. So she has little time and energy to offer her love and care for little Lily, and the child is left to the nurses or governesses. In Lily’s description of her early life, there is no intimacy mentioned between Lily and her mother, no embrace,no kiss, and no holding hands. Loss of mother’s love, indicated by Erikson, “makes the impression over the child of having been deprived, of having been divided and having been abandoned, all of which leave a residue of basic mistrust”.9 Since trust refers to “an essential trustfulness of others as well as a fundamental sense of one’s own trustworthiness”10 here, Lily finds no one to rely on in her world in the later life.Lily’s mistrust, mainly due to her loss of mother’s love at the early age, causes her isolation with others in the community. Though Mrs. Bart does not show enough interest in her daughter’s life in her early childhood, later, she wishes to regain her social position and wealth by her daughter’s beauty which may bring a wealthy marriage. Lily is thus reared to be a marriageable lady in the society and to follow the forms that the society mandates. After Mr. Bart’s bankruptcy and later death, the only financial provider of the family collapes, and to Mrs. Bart, Mr. Bart means nothing but a money provider. Then Mrs. Bart becomes obsessed with Lily’s prospects for winning a fortune by virtue of her beauty. L ily’s mother is entirely familiar with the rate of exchange in the world in which she lives, and she nurtures and indulges Lily’s beauty – first as the visible sign of the family’s station and finally as its one remaining asset. Lily is brought up in the faith that, whatever it may cost, one must have a good look, and be what Mrs. Bart called “decently dressed”.11Lily is deeply influenced by Mrs. Bart’s belief that she would win back the lost family fortune by virtue of her face. She alternates between worry over money and over-spending, always with the hope that a man will come along who will solve all her money problems. She finds Percy Gryce boring and beneath her in grace and charm, but she is forced by her values to pursue him as a potential marriage partner anyway. Lily learned a good deal from her mother, but still thought of her own values as different. She liked to think that when she reached her goal of winning a fortune, she would make the world a better place by the “vague diffusion of refinement and good taste.”12 She likes pictures and flowers and sentimental fiction. She thinks these values make her desire for money nobly. Her desperation for landing a good marriage as well as the contradictory desire to rebel against the falseness of such a position come out of this conflicted past. All of these indicate that actually Lily cannot fullyaccept the role imposed by her mother, nor can she absolutely eliminate the identification with her mother, since her view againt that of her mother’s is too weak to make a difference. In this way, the role confusion inevitably puts Lily in dilemma.In contrast to the strong-willed, vigorous mother, Lily remembers her father as almost a non-person. In her subtle impression of her father, Mr. Bart is described as follows, “the hazy outline of a neutral-tinted father filled an intermediate space between the butler and the man who came to wind the clocks”13. His father exists only as a financial provider to the family or to Mrs. Bart with little free will of his own. In little Lily’s mind, her father is too busy with his business to share the happiness and love with her. Lily, though, does not miss the trail of the love directed by her father. Late at night when father arrives at home, he would come to her room, kiss her in silence, and ask one or two questions of the nurse or the governess. But the moment of harmony is often interrupted by the dominant mother either by sending a maid to remind him that he is dinning out or something else. The father has to, involuntarily, plunge into those boring social activities instead. It seems that the father is kept detached from his little daughter, even though he may really enjoy accompanying her and sharing their feelings. As is pointed out, early trust is indispensable for the growth of a firmly developed autonomy. However, the communlcation between Lily and her father seems frequently to be silent, or interrupted or delayed by the outside world. Hence, the infirm, hesitant, docile and suppressed father could find no way to secure his little daughter from the negative factors in her development. Father’s silence indicates futility of action, furthermore, of expressing himself and responding to the active world. Such a father, who does not develop his free will, virtue of purpose and a sense of initiative very well, is unable to encourage his child in her personality development. Lily cultivates no ability to develop her autonomous will and a sense of initiative. Therefore, the confused child, when confronted with the inner conflicts and frustration, could find no way out.2. The Influence of Lily’s Aunt and Friends in Lily’s Adolescent YearsExcept for the family influence in her early childhood, Lily is greatly influenced by her company in the social circle. In Lily’s adolescent years, she drops into a sense of role confusion because of the ineffective company with and the negative influences of her aunt, Mrs. Peniston and her so-called friends, Bertha Dorset and Judy Trenor.As Erikson puts it that “in the adolescent years, adolescents are exploring their independence and developing a sense of self, and they are struggling between feelings of identity versus role confusion”.14 Young people who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge from this phase of their life with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will be insecure and confused about themselves and the future. And the emergence of an identity crisis occurs at this time.When Lily’s mother died, her father’s widowed sister, Mrs. Peniston took her. Mrs. Peniston – whose name suggests both penance and stone – feels no sympathy for her niece. She leads a very staid life. “She belonged to the class of old N ew Yorkers who have always lived well, dressed expensively, and done little else; and to these inherited obligations Mrs. Peniston faithfully conformed.”15 Lily disgusts the life that Mrs. Peniston has. She had always hated her room at Mrs. Peniston’s – its ugliness, its impersonality, the fact that nothing in it was really hers. Mrs. Peniston, though Lily’s custodian, is surely not the right person for Lily to rely on wholly. Mrs. Peniston’s act of adopting her niece is out of her vanity, rather than out of her love, sympathy, or responsibility for the girl. The reason for her to assume the charge of Lily is her moral vanity which makes the public display of selfishness difficult. Mrs. Peniston may support Lily financially to some degree, but never take Lily’s best interest at heart. She simply stands outside, and leaves Lily alone to take the field. The over-control of Mrs. Peniston in the household as well as the moral ideas leaves Lily’s autonomy underdeveloped.Another influencial power is Bertha Dorset who is the representative of the fashionable expected females, Lily unconsciously identifies with or acts against her in one way or another. Lily is accused by Bertha of being her rival for her husband’saffection in order to obscure her own affair with the poet Ned Silverton, of fulfilling the role she assigns to Lily, and Lily assumes Bertha’s place as she takes the blame for Bertha’s infidelities in what is later described as a sacrifice. As Waid says, “what is most interesting about Lily and Bertha’s apparent rivalry is a doubling or interchangeability that is related to a confusion of identities”.16 Still another factor is Judy Trenor, who is regarded by Lily as a person she can go back on. Mrs. Trenor is willing to provide chances for her lonely friend, and shows her great care for her friend’s marriage. However, Mrs. Trenor’s great interest is her party in which Lily can be used as an efficient adornment to decorate the hall, to make some short notes, to amuse those dull males, and to cheer up those boring ones. Thus, this kind of friendship helps Lily nothing to overcome her role confusion. In a word, all these influencial powers put Lily into deep role confusion.C. Lily Bart’s Vain Trial to Overcome the Identity CrisisWe learn from Erikson that “beyond childhood which provides the moral basis of our identity, and beyond the ideology of youth, only an adult ethics can guarantee to the next generation an equal chance to experience the full cycle of humanness”.17 This permits the individual to transcend his identity crisis –to become as truly individual as he will ever be, and as truly beyond all individuality. Lily who has not pass through her childhood and adolenscence successfully due to the influence of her family and her aunt and friends finds it difficult to overcome the identity crisis. Lily has tried her best to transcend herself in her relationship with Lawrence Selden yet tries in vain.Lawrence Selden, whom Lily has known for eight years, gives a great challenge to Lily’s concepts about po wer and luxury. He is special to Lily – she admired him most of all, perhaps, for being able to convey as distinct a sense of superiority as the richest man she had ever met.18Selden offers Lily his “republic” as a refuge from her social dilemma. In “the republic of the spirit”, people can achieve the personalfreedom which is far “from everything – from money, from poverty, from ease and anxiety, from all the material accidents.” It is a republic that “one has to find the way to one’s self”19 which means not only it is a project motivated by self-will, but also it is the way to achieve one’s self.Lily is attracted by the realm of freedom and purity outlined by Selden. For the first time Lily tries to discover a real self and go beyond the identity crisis. But to travel with Selden into his “republic of the spirit” requires that Lily restrain her longings for the society of the material in which she has been brought up to seek herplace. However, Lily, as a woman, cannot get beyond to secure the spiritual freedom to achieve her ideal self. She understands that Selden wants to cross the boundaries of conventional society, and she admires his impulse to do so; while she has no money, no power, and no independence. Actually, even Selden himself is unable to break away from the material society on every occasion. His affair with Bertha Dorset is a forceful instance. His actions are not consistent with his words. His concept of “republic of the spirit” is just attractive and unrealistic. Lily cannot achieve her self by this.II. The Influence of Identity Crisis on Lily Bart’s FateA. Lily Bart’s Sense of Isolation and SolitudeLily’s early experiences cannot prepare her for passing through the identity crisis; instead, they make the best contribution to her confusion. First of all, Lily’s lack of a harmonious family atmosphere leads to her inability to live a normal psychological life in her childhood. Later in her life, Lily is mainly influenced by her relations with her aunt – Mrs. Peniston and her two friends – Judy Trenor and Bertha Dorsert. Lily abhors her aunt’s way of living yet has to believe that she is safe with her “family”, which at last turns out to be wrong. And her two friends are more likely to use Lily’s naivety for their own good. All these lead to Lily’s social decline and unconsciouly she believes that no one in her social circle is available for help. Lily tends to create an identity under her mother’s guidance of marrying a rich man to help her out of the financial crisis while at the same time she refuses the imposed role by the social power. However, in her trial to resist the imposed role, she fails to transcend the identity crisis due to her feeling that no one is trustworthy. Although she is so interested in Selden’s “the republic of the spirit”, she still cannot completely rely on it because of her material poverty. So we can conclude that Lily is kept in delimma whether she should become a woman the society wants or a lady of a real self, and this is, according to Erikson, an identity crisis. Lily finds herself doubled, or more precisely self-divided as Selden tells Lily “The difference is in yourself –it will always be there”.20According to Erikson, a strong sense of personal identity was important to developing intimate and commited relationships. Those with a poor sense of self tend to have less committed relationships and are more likely to suffer emotional isolation, loneliness, and depression. The intimacy between a person and others are often characterized by marriage. Lily’s failure to go beyond identity crisis stops her to establish an intimate relationship with other members in the society, especially males。
从《欢乐之家》和《纯真年代》看华顿女性思想的发展
从《欢乐之家》和《纯真年代》看华顿女性思想的发展
伊迪丝·华顿是美国20世纪举足轻重的女作家,她一生笔耕不辍,创作了许多优秀的作品,包括十九部中长篇小说,十一本短篇小说集,一本自传,诸多书信和游记、鬼故事、文学批评等。
其中《欢乐之家》和《纯真年代》是华顿两篇著名的长篇小说,二者都以华顿所熟悉的老纽约上流社会为创作背景。
1905年发表的《欢乐之家》是华顿的成名作,使她成为畅销书作家,出版于1920年的《纯真年代》使华顿获得了1921年普利策文学奖,华顿由此走向文学创作的巅峰。
华顿被誉为“女性主义先知”,她的小说大多关注女性命运,思考女性的发展与出路,女性思想充斥其中。
华顿去世后,随着第二次女性主义运动的发展,又迎来了对华顿的研究热。
因此本论文从女性主义及马克思主义的角度出发,运用弗吉尼亚·吴尔夫、桑德拉·吉尔伯特、苏珊·古芭及赫伯特·马尔库塞的相关理论,分析华顿两篇著名作品《欢乐之家》和《纯真年代》中的女性思想。
通过对两部作品中女主人公女性思想深度的对比、男主人公女性观的对比,发现华顿的女性思想处于步步发展之中,对现实有重要的启迪意义,它启发现代女性培养批判性的双向度思维,挣脱束缚,解放爱欲,做一位具有主体性的女性。
本论文分为五个部分:第一章绪论主要介绍华顿及其作品,以及国内外对华顿的研究综述;第二章写两位女主人公女性思想的对比;第三章写两位男主人公女性观的对比;第四章写华顿女性思想发展的现实意义;结语部分总结整篇论文,强调用女性主义及马克思主义解读华顿女性思想发展的意义。
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《欢乐之家》的自然主义解析
作为美国第一位获得普利策奖的女作家以及耶鲁大学授予荣誉博士学位的第一位女性，伊迪斯·华顿及其作品在美国文学史上占有举足轻重的地位。
华顿以其独特的自身经历以及透彻的洞察力创造了大量的作品，并被美国“国际文学艺术学院”授予了金质奖章。
她的成名作《欢乐之家》不仅得到广大读者的认可，而且也吸引了众多文学评论者的兴趣，但大多数评论家都是从女性主义的角度去分析这部作品。
本论文基于以往国内外对《欢乐之家》的研究，旨在从自然主义的角度去分析解读这部作品。
论文包括导论、主体和结论三部分。
导论部分对作者华顿及其小说《欢乐之家》进行了简单的概述，并分析了国内外对此小说的研究现状。
华顿及其作品最初受到批判绝大部分是由于她的性别和富裕的生活背景.因此虽然她的作品和同时代的男作家一样出色，但是那些主观评论也使她受到不公平的待遇。
从七十年代开始，研究华顿作品的热潮开始兴起，但大多是从女性主义的角度对其本人和作品进行剖析尽管华顿本人否认自己是所谓的女性主义作家。
随着时间的推移，评论界对华顿的研究发展到更深的层次。
比如一些评论者运用弗洛伊德的心理分析理论来剖析华顿的个人生活或者从社会学入手进行分析。
人们还从现代主义的角度对华顿的作品进行分析和研究，但很少人将华顿与自然主义联系起来。
本论文将从自然主义的角度剖析华顿的《欢乐之家》。
第一章着重介绍了自然主义及其对华顿创作的影响。
自然主义是在现实主义
的基础上发展而来的，但两者又有不同之处。
而美国自然主义深受达尔文进化论和左拉的影响，强调了遗传，环境和命运左右人的力量。
华顿自然主义观的形成并非偶然，论文从她的个人生活经验，时代背景和文化思潮等方面出发，分析了其独特自然主义观念形成的原因。
第二章主要从自然主义的基本因素，即环境、遗传和偶然因素出发，分析女主人公莉莉·巴特的悲惨命运。
自然主义者认为，人被环境和遗传所控制，是一定社会环境下自身情绪的产物。
小说中体现的金钱至上主义，男权专制及新旧社会观念的冲突等因素都是导致莉莉悲剧的社会背景。
而莉莉的家庭背景也是造成她不幸命运的重要原因，父母截然相反的世界观和生活方式造成了她的双重性格，进而使其无法适应社会，反被社会所吞噬。
此外，华顿从小说开始就将女主人公卷入一系列偶然事件中，将偶然因素与莉莉的命运结合起来，最终使其在偶然的漩涡中越陷越深，无法挣脱。
这一点更加重了小说的自然主义氛围。
第三章主要通过分析和比较《欢乐之家》中三位女性角色的性格以及她们在社会这个“竞技场”中的不同人生轨迹和命运，映射出华顿的自然主义观念及其心目中理想的人与自然的状态。
莉莉一方面追求物质享受，另一方面又不愿屈从于她所生活的物质世界，她性格中的矛盾因素导致她走向悲剧。
另外，她的轻信，逃避和依赖性等性格特点也是导致她不幸的主要因素。
本论文通过伯莎的角色反映出小说中丑陋的社会现实，进而体现了人在自然和社会面前的无能为力。
而歌蒂代表着华顿心目中理想的角色，其独立和坚强的性格及其勇于面对现
实的勇气正是作者所推崇和赞扬的。
第四章分析小说中隐藏在自然主义观念下的生存与道德，这也是华顿与其他自然主义作家的显著区别。
大多数自然主义作家强调人的渺小和自然的不可抗拒性，而华顿意识到自然主义的这一局限，在创作中赋予人物一定的自由意志并把道德问题作为作品的首要问题来关注。
在其自然主义小说的外表下深藏着她对道德精神的追求，因此女主人公莉莉被她塑造成为了心中的“精神共和国”而拒绝向社会和环境妥协，最终被社会无情吞没的角色。
通过以上的分析，最后得出结论，华顿独特的自然主义观念使其成为美国文学史上不可替代的作家。
对小说中人物的分析解读也对当代社会尤其是女性具有重要的现实意义和警醒作用。