《占有》分析研究漢語言文學專業(yè)

Abstract Possession belongs to the Neo-Victorian novel. In this novel, Byatt creatively reproduces the true life of female intellectuals living in the Victorian Age and revives the distorted images of the female by the traditional male-dominated culture.Through the letters,dairies and poems by the Victorian females, Byatt tries to reveal the truth of existential and the psychological status of those females marginalized by the patriarchal society, deconstruct and subvert the male-centered narrative discourse in the traditional text and put forward her feminist’s view that females will move from margin to center in future society. This paper thought the usage of character analysis method, aims to better control Byatt’s feminism thought.This paper intends to offer a fresh analysis of the book from the author’s own view to literature. The emphasis in this analysis is on three subjects which Byatt very often approached in her works but never as poignant than in Possession: feminism, the nature of fiction and the overrating of literary theories. This paper contains four part: The first part is the literature review, including the brief introduction of Byatt, possession, the feminism, through the analysis of this part, we can get a general understanding of this novel, its influence and the feminism ideas of Byatt. The second part is the discussion about the feminism in this novel and Byatt’s artistic technology in Possession. Including The Symbols in Possession to Present Feminism Thoughts, and the Unique Narrative Stragegy and Feminism. Through the analysis in this part, we can get a better understanding of Byatt’s feminism narrative strategies, then learn more about the feminism view in this novel. The third part is the main part of this paper, ie. the analysis of the female characters in this novel, these female characters are all the typical representitive of the feminism. Through the analysis of them, we can learn the female psychological states and social living conditions in The Victorian Period, moreover, through the analysis, we can know the strong feminism contained in the author’s inner world. The four th part is the conclusion. In this part, the author concludes the related findings and future research development trend about this thesis. Keywords：patriarchal society; feminism; critical ideas 摘 要 《占有》屬于維多利亞時期的小說。在該小說中，拜爾特創(chuàng)造性地再現(xiàn)了維多利亞時期的女知識性分子的真實生活，并喚醒了長期受男權文化控制而曲解的女性意識。通過維多利亞時期女性的信件、日記以及詩歌，拜爾特嘗試揭示存在的真理和處于男權社會邊緣的女性心理狀態(tài)，并結(jié)構(gòu)和顛覆了傳統(tǒng)敘事中以男性為中心的觀點，并提出了她女性主義的觀點，即，在未來的社會中，女性將會從邊緣社會走向中心。本文通過采用人物分析法對主要人物進行分析，旨在令讀者們更好地掌握拜爾特的女性主義思想。本文從拜厄特自己對文學的觀點角度作出對《占有》的全新解析。 本文分析的重點是拜厄特經(jīng)常在其寫作中探討,尤其在《占有》中最為顯著的三個主題:女性主義、小說的性質(zhì)以及對文學理論的過分倚重。 本文主要從四個方面展開進行論述：第一部分是文獻綜述部分，包括對作者、小說及女性主義的簡要論述。通過這個部分的分析，我們可以對該小說有更全面的了解，并對該小說的影響以及拜爾特的女性主義做以認識。第二部分主要探討該部小說的女性主義，以及拜爾特的女性敘事策略，包括對一些展現(xiàn)女性思想的事物的象征及敘事技巧，通過該部分的研究，可以使讀者更高地了解拜爾特的女性觀點，第三部分是本文的重點，主要是對本文一些關鍵的女性角色進行的分析。這些角色可以說都是典型的女性主義的代表，通過對她們的分析和了解，我們可以更好地了解維多利亞時期的女性心理狀態(tài)以及社會生存狀況,而且通過分析，我們可以更好地了解作者內(nèi)心的很強的女性主義意識。第四部分為本文的總結(jié)部分，主要總結(jié)了該小說研究中的發(fā)現(xiàn)，不足以及未來的發(fā)展趨勢。 關鍵詞：族長統(tǒng)治社會；女權主義；批判觀念 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter One LITERATURE REVIEW 2 1.1 About the Author 2 1.2 About the Work 2 1.3 About Feminism 3 Chapter Two UNFOLDING FEMINISM FROM THE ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED BY A.S. BYATT IN POSSESSION 5 2.1 The Symbols in Possession to Present Feminism Thoughts 5 2.2 The Unique Narrative Stragegy and Feminism 6 2.1.1. Discovery of suspenseful letters 6 2.2.2. Content of correspondences and journals 6 Chapter Three THE ANALYSIS OF THE WOMEN CHARACTER IN POSSESSION 10 3.1 Lamotte 10 3.2 Maud 12 3.3 Val 14 3.4 Alan 15 CONCLUSION 17 WORKS CITED 19 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 22 INTRODUCTION This preliminary feminist study of Possession aims to focus on the analysis of the feminine narration of the novel with a view to interpreting the feminist implications of the narrative strategies, which challenge and disrupt the conventional masculine narrative and justifying the feminist stance of Byatt. In addition, this paper through the use of the character image analysis method, aims to reveal the female psychological states in the patriarchal society, arouse the detorted female image ,and finally control the feminism of Byatt. This paper contains four part. The first part is the introduction, including the brief introduction of Byatt, possession, the feminism, esearch objectives. through the introduction of this part, we can get a general understanding of this novel, its influence and the feminism ideas of Byatt. In addition, through the research of this thesis, this paper aims to reveal the female psychological states in the patriarchal society, arouse the character image detorted by the traditional male-dominated society, and control the feminism ideas of Byatt. The second part is the discussion about Byatt’s artistic technology in Possession. Including The Symbols in Possession to Present Feminism Thoughts, and the Unique Narrative Stragegy and Feminism. Through the analysis in this part, we can get a better understanding of Byatt’s feminism narrative strategies, then learn more about the feminism view in this novel. The third part is the main part of this paper, ie. the analysis of the female characters in this novel, these female characters are all the typical representative of the feminism. Through the analysis of them, we can learn the female psychological states and social living conditions in The Victorian Period, moreover, through the analysis, the strong feminism contained in the author’s inner world. The four th part is the conclusion. In this part, the author concludes the related findings and future research development trend about this thesis. Chapter One LITERATURE REVIEW Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's social roles and lived experience, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, psychoanalysis, economics, literary criticism, and philosophy. Here the author wants to introduce the development of the feminism first. 1.1 About the Author A. S. Byatt is internationally acclaimed as a novelist, short story writer and critic.she is one of the most imaginative and intelligent contemporary British writers who enjoys a growing international reputation. Her novels are imbued with a rich heritage of realism and conspicuous traits of postmodernism, which have attracted worldwide academic attention. Byatt has focused her concern on a female creative identity, around this theme a range of female artists are built in her novels. Conspicuously, adoption or adaptation of traditional myths and fairy tales for characterization highly features in her fiction. Byatt Educated at York and Newnham College, Cambridge, she taught Art and Design at the Central School, and was Senior lecturer in English at University College, London, before becoming a full-time writer in 1983. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999. Her novels are imbued with a rich heritage of realism and conspicuous traits of postmodernism, which have attracted worldwide academic attention. Byatt has focused her concern on a female creative identity, around this theme a range of female artists are built in her novels. Conspicuously, adoption or adaptation of traditional myths and fairy tales for characterization highly features in her fiction. 1.2 About the Work Possession, winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction which is the highest British literary prize in Britain, locates A.S. Byatt in a sublime position in contemporary world’s literature. In this book, the talent-endowed writer manages to integrate the traditional literature with modern literature so that this great masterpiece can reach a triumphant success on every level — the critique of 19th Victorian poetry, an unbearably moving story, and a satire on the modern Biography Industry Cosmopolitan. Of all these important elements, the story also contains the distinctively different feminism thoughts of A.S. Byatt on the male- female relationship in deferent societies. The story tells us how the two academic researchers, Roland Mitchell and Maud Bailey, discovery a secret romance between two Victoria poets, and during their unearthing the fact, their own love story also parallels that of the two poets, who are subjects of their research, Randolph Henry Ash and Christabcl LaMotte. Apart from them, there are also the deconstructionist academic Mortimer Cropper，the British Professor James Blackadder,and Professor Leonora Stern, who study the works of Ash and LaMotte respectively and also harbour different purposes in unfolding the Ash-LaMotte relationship. Through these conflicts, the author covers a reader a intense suspense all over the story. The story does not play on the readers’ heartstring until it ends well. Possession is a diplonema structure novel, it respectively tells two romantic love story in the 20th century and the middle of the nineteenth century ,shapes two groups of both spirit likeness and different image mirror characters. Through the voice of the characters, especially through the narrative of the love story between Ashy Lamote ,The author tries to tell people that women should be independent and self-esteem. Even though she admitted that, in a way, love can stimulate women’s wit, but she insists that women should seperate sex from career , love, marriage and children just the barriers to their success. Near the end, the author expressed her inner voice borrowing the mouth of Moude : “ oh, love is terrible, is a destroyer”. through the characterizations of different women in different two centuries, and through the fictional Lamote myth in the story, the author highlights the improvement of the modern women’s social status and individual rights. Focusing on the feminist tone. and analysing the female characters ,the novel can help us better understand Byatt’s feminist ideas. 1.3 About Feminism Feminist, as the theme of the literary creation, is mostly implicated in the women writers works. it aims to attack the man-dominated concept and the practical truth. After the second world war, European and American literary creation were more advocating women writers to show women’s survival circumstance and mental consciousness from women’s special position and the female peculiar sharpness and subtlety. Although which is not as strong as American feminist literary movement, English literature has also emerged a large number of feminist ideas of outstanding female writer. Contemporary writer A.S Byatt, with her booker prize (1990) the best novel the possession and other several autobiography novels have won a space for them in this field. Generally speaking, the feminism experienced two big stages. Ie. Traditional Feminist Theories and New Feminist Theories. Among which, traditional feminism includes Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism , and Socialist and Maxist Feminism. Liberal Feminism refers to women have equal opportunity to compete within the existing system; women can act as men given the equal opportunity;the institutions seem as specifically oppressive to women can be changed without any foundamental change in other social institutions; Radical Feminism refers to oppression of women is built into the very structure of our society; division between the sexes,based on the patriarchal family ,is seen as foundamental to social organization; sees equality for women within the present system as impossible and calls for a radical restructuring of society.and women’s oppression is so deeply rooted that only a basic restructuring of society can change it. New Feminist Theories include Eco-feminism and Postmodern Feminism.Eco-feminism means women must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to the ecological crisis within a society whose foundamental model of relationships continues to be one of the domination.they must unite the demands of the women’s movement with those of the ecological movement to envision a radical reshaping of the basic sociecolomic relations and the underlying values of this society. Postmodern Feminism means From equality view towards "difference" view, admit the difference between men and women, based on the analysis of the relationship between the sexes, from women's uniqueness starting to see people, between people and nature, individual and social relations. Chapter Two UNFOLDING FEMINISM FROM THE ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED BY A.S. BYATT IN POSSESSION In Possession,both new and traditional theories are embodied, in which Byatt uses Radical Feminism and Postmodern Feminism to start from the female's perspective. she figures some female image, which makes the topics more distinctive, from this female image, we can know more about the feminism's view of Byatt, in modern society, women's status and individual rights have been improved. if the women can stand on their own, and have the courage to seek, they will eventually find their happiness. 2.1 The Symbols in Possession to Present Feminism Thoughts The successful use of symbolic images is one of the strong features of the fictional language in Possession.The images formed by the names of the characters and places symbolize the females confined physical or psychological spaces.the use of symbols in pairs greatly reveals the rich historical and cultural meanings in the novel.the symbolic images link history and reality ,time and space,and are significant in theme presenting and text constructing. In possession,Water and the rock are both symbolic words, in Lamott’s text, the female are most the water life,by figuring this, Byatt highly praises the female's power. so, Water in possession has a profound meaning by analysing the description of Byatt’s Thomason Foss Under The Sunlight,we can know that here Water symbolizes the imprisoned female power,although the water is limited ,guided and promoted,it can still get through the cage of rocky composition.as long as it can search through the cracks,it will seek freedom upwards desperately. This is especially Byatt ‘s Victorian and modern women's best portraiture.The female writers from 19th century or even from the 20th century ,often use the imprisoned space in their works,to express their imprisoned thought .such as :the house ,the hole ,the attic,and the box…the closed space image with symbolic meaning expresses the feeling that the women suffer confinement and the wish to escape from men’s restriction. In possession, Byatt takes advantage of colors to parallel narratives of the Ash-Christabel story and the Roland-Maud story．Jiang Xianwen in the preface to Possession(2000)，reminds the readers of Byatt’S application of Italian Pre-Raphaelite painting，to awaken the readers’sensitive feeling．And he further divides the colors in the novel into two schemes，which are communicating and struggling to speak something．One is earth colors，represented by the colors of brown，gray,yellow and black,signifing masculine power and identity；the other is vegetable colors，including green and yellow(or gold)，and white(or silver)，which are the embodiment of feminine power and identity5u．The two clarified colors interact together to form a unified picture of human experience．Byatt makes full use of the vegetable colors--green,white，silver,and golden，to bond the female characters of different penod—Melusina,Christabel and Maud together．And through the exertion of earth colors，he conflicts between female and male are demonstrated． white is the essential color,it is throughout the whole novel.it is the symbol of Purity and desire.more interesting is that Byatt links the the color with the dragons and the snakes to show the human being’s character.brown and blonde are the color of the dragon, they are the symbol of the male and the male power. And green ,white,and white-gold are all snake’s color, they are the symbol of female and the female power.In possession, Byatt creates two pairs of mirror characters who are similar in many ways ,and by using the myths ,she tries to tell us independence and liberty are the foundation for them to continue their work,she insists female should separate their love from work.the affection、the marriage and the children will just be the obstacle of their success. 2.2 The Unique Narrative Stragegy and Feminism In possession，the Victorian historical narrative is mostly presented through women's perspective, Byatt uses the a unique narrative mode-communal narrative to tell the four female's story in the form of letters, journals and poetries, the major roles in the Victorian era are all female, except Ashy.they use the female perspective to watch and accuse the Patriarchal society, giving their authentical voice to tell their own story and their thinking. 2.1.1. Discovery of suspenseful letters In Victorian society, women don't have the rights to participate in social discourse, neither the chance of a public voice, so Byatt can only consigh her artistic ideal to the rewritten personalities in the myth metaphorically. In Ashy and Lammot’s letters, Lammot often uses “we”to describe their experimental life, in one of her letters she says: we both hope to live in an ideal life, to have our beautiful dream come true, but we must stay away from the external world, because in that world, the female are full of hope, but meanwhile they are suffering from the horror. this is a secret appointment, it's just the life style we choose, so you should believe, to live a life of this kind, I feel so delighted. 2.2.2. Content of correspondences and journals Here the author gives an example for the illustration. The Correspondences:(a correspondence from Ashy to Lammot). Dear miss Lammot: I do not know whether to be encouraged or cast down by your letter. the essential point in it is "if you care to write again," for by that permission you encourage me more than by your wish not to be seen-which I must respect-you cast me down.and you send a poem, and observe wisely that poem are worth all the cucumber-sandwiches in the world. so they are indeed –and yours most particularly –but you may imagine the perversity of the poetic imagination and its desire to feed on imagined cucumber sandwiches, which, since they are positively not to be had, it pictures itself as a farm of english manna-oh the perfect green circles –oh the delicate hint of salt-oh the fresh pale butter-oh, above all, the soft white crumbs and golden crust of the new bread –and thus, as in all aspect of life, the indefatigable fancy idealizes what could be snapped up and swallowed in a moment's restrained greed, in sober fact. … Yours very truly Ashy 2.2.3 Usage of poems and mythologies In Possession, a large number of letters, diaries, poems, myths and fairy tales are ingeniously arranged in the novel, demonstrating the plight of the female in the chaotic remote antiquity, the prosperous Victorian Age and the decaying postmodern society respectively. The epic The Fairy Melusina and the fairy tale The Threshold are taken as examples to show how Byatt elaborates her idea of the female and her challenge of the male tradition and the male-power-oriented society by parodying classic myths in Possession.（Alban Gillian，2003） Among which an important myth in this novel is the story of Melusina (or Melusine), who can be viewed as the embodiment of the fictive nineteenth century poetess Christabel LaMotte. Melusina in French mythology was a goddess, who was bewitched so that every Saturday she would be transformed into a serpent. If she married a mortal man, she would regain her human body provided that she should not be seen bathing by her husband on Saturday. Then Melus