对传统的价值凤仪说不-伊迪丝.沃顿六部主要小说主题研究

2007-7  

陕西西北工业大学  

恭小惠  

140  

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　　This hook presents an in-depth analysis of Edith Wharton's progressive attitude to wards history with the focus on her challenges of the conventional values in the American so-ciety in the latter part of the 19th century.With the analysis of the six works，the author intends to show that Wharton has succeeded in instilling in the reader the notion that the disappearance of the old values is inevitable because they impede people's pursuit for happiness and social progress.

　　薛小惠，陕西西安人，西安外国语大学英文学院副教授，硕士研究生导师，研究方向为美国小说。1993年7月毕业于西安外国语大学（原西安外国语学院）英语系，获英语语言文学学士学位；2000年7月毕业于西安外国语大学研究生部，获英美文学硕士学位；2006年7月毕业于北京外国语大学英语学院，获文学博士学位。 主要著作/成果有《中的黑人女同性恋主义剖析》《谁是真正的受害者？——的女权主义解读》《中莉莉·巴特的崇高美》《海明威的的双重解读》 《浅析中的自然主义倾向》《哈姆雷特与俄狄浦斯情结》《民族灵魂的一面镜子——马克·吐温的主题赏析》《不同的出身，不同的现实主义——亨利·詹姆斯与威廉·豪威尔斯的对比》，以及《英语听力——听力巩固》（第四册）等10余篇（部）。

IntroductionⅠ. Edith Wharton's Life and WorksⅡ. Critical Reception of Edith WhartonⅢ. Edith Wharton RediscoveredⅣ. The Layout of the BookChapter One Challenging Traditional Religious ValuesⅠ. Questioning Christian Values1. The Prosaic and the Ideal2. Railroads and Pilgrims3. Lilies of Love4. Salvifie Death5. The Heart of WisdomⅡ. Transcending Calvinist Sensibilities1. New England Revisited2. Lost Eden3. Inscrutable Powers4. A Usable PastChapter Two Challenging Traditional Social ConventionsⅠ.Rejecting the Stagnant Social Conventions of Old New York1. Puritan Hellenism2. Higher Reality3. Truth or Taste?4. Arrested AscentⅡ. Subverting the Norm of Marriage1. The Divorce Novel2. Sweet Hotel3. Turn West， Turn East4. Becoming Town TalkChapter Three Challenging Traditional Patriarchal ValuesⅠ. Subversively Conforming to the Law of the Father1. Critical Background2. The Resistance3. The Subversive Conformation4. The Significance of the NovelⅡ. Seeking Feminine Powers1. Seeking Sophia2. Delicate Deceptions3. Perilously Aground4. Charting New CoursesConclusionBibliography

　　Contributing to this misunderstanding is the early critical view of her as a novelist of manners，a view that persists despite fresh， insightful approaches by feminists， new historicists， and othercritics who address the range and complexity of Wharton's themes and narrative techniques.Wharton， I believe， is also a novelist of morals： a writer not only of society but of spirit； a womanwho， in life and art， searched for religious， moral， and philosophical meanings. This search for，fulfillment is evident in her comments about fictioh. For example， she defends its power totranscend the mundane in an article on literary criticism， in which she argues that the "conclusionof the tale must be sought， not in the fate of the characters， and still less in their own commentson it， but in... the light it casts on questions beyond its borders" （ "Criticism" 210）. She similarlyargues in another essay： ，any serious portrayal of life must be judged not by the incidents itpresents but by the author's sense of their significance" （"Vice" 519）. Wharton's search formeaning is abundantly clear in her major novels， as this book demonstrates.　　Although Edith Wharton was highly .respected and well-known in her life time， her workshave been largely neglected since her death 69 years ago - only a few of her books remain in print.Few writers of quality have suffered such an eclipse. There have been intermittent efforts， by criticslike Edmund Wilson and Irving Howe， to resuscitate her reputation， and there has been increasinginterest in Wharton's works recently. But some of the very people who have attempted to revivesuch interest are responsible for impeding that process， by writing essays tainted with undisguisedpatronization for this "lady writer，" and by approaching her work negatively. That is， criticsfrequently direct more attention to what Wharton did not do than to what she did do. They haveskirted the task of focusing and elucidating which is surely the ftrst business of criticism. Forexample， although Edmund Wilson admitted on one hand that the critical world did Wharton"something less than justice，" he complained on the other hand that her tragic heroines and heroesare "invariably ... locked into a small closed system， either destroying themselves by beating theirheads against their prison or suffering a living death in resigning themselves to it" （195-213）.　　But part of the reason for the long neglect of Edith Wharton may also be that， without achange in certain attitudes， it is difficult to recognize her central concerns. One of the moreperceptive critics， Blake Nevins， writing in 1953， pointed out a "lurking feminism" in Wharton（Nevius， A Study 53）. Feminist concerns do appear in her work， although she did not associateherself with the feminist movement of her time. She wrote frequently of the way in which womenwere educated to become ornaments， mindless and self-regarding， not people but products. 　　……

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