波特《他》与福楼拜《包法利夫人》中的母道精神比较研究_英语论文

A Comparative Study of Motherhood in Porter’s “He” and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary

摘要

凯瑟琳·安·波特是当代美国文坛上一位颇负盛名的文体家。她尤擅短篇小说体裁，虽作品不多，但她受到的评价很高。彼得·史密斯称她为20世纪美国文坛女性乡土文学传统三位最出色的继承者之一。依帝·温特斯这样称赞波特，“写短篇小说，细节如此精美，结构如此有力，文风如此成熟睿智，波特是当世第一人。”《他》(1927)淋漓尽致地描写了赤贫使亲情变得漠然、母性畸形，读后让人潸然泪下。波特精炼的文字和象征手法完美地展现了母亲的艰辛和愧疚。这个故事说明人性冷漠可催生悲剧同时唤醒人们对残疾人的关怀。

    法国著名作家古斯塔夫·福楼拜的《包法利夫人》是世人公认的现实主义文学的代表作，小说女主人公爱玛因母亲早逝、童年缺少母爱而使她成年后缺乏女性应有的同情心与母性意识，取而代之的是浓重的自我意识。尽管关于爱玛的形象与命运众说纷纭，却少有文章就爱玛在家庭中扮演母亲角色进行论述，本文将着重就“母道精神”对爱玛的形象进行审视。

波特的《他》和福楼拜的《包法利夫人》自出版以来，国内外评论家和学者从不同视角分别对小说进行过解读、研究。有侧重于作品价值、意义的探索，有关于作品主题的思考以及语言特色的分析。研究者通常把人物置于一种人力无法控制的环境中来体现人物的生存困境，也有借用俄国形式主义的相关理论来解读波特小说中的“另类”人物。中国学者发现《包法利夫人》蕴含着丰富的美学意义，李健吾先生曾这样赞道：“司汤达是深刻的，巴尔扎克是伟大的，但是福楼拜，是完美的。”然而将《他》和《包法利夫人》结合起来的研究迄今为止可谓凤毛麟角，本文通过惠普尔太太和爱玛的“母道精神”的对比研究，来呼吁当代人：母爱应当是平等的，应当是无条件的。现代社会中，母爱畸零、母性丧失的例子比比皆是，本课题研究有一定的警醒世人的作用，具有较好的现实意义和社会价值。

关键词：凯瑟琳·安·波特；古斯塔夫·福楼拜；惠普尔太太；爱玛；母道精神

Abstract

In contemporary American literature, Katherine Ann Porter is a famous writer. Her novel titled Pale Horse, Pale Rider contains a total of 14 works. Among them, “He” is a short story created in 1927. It reflects the poverty and the destruction of human nature. This work vividly describes the theme of the struggle and contradiction of the soul because of the poor living environment. In a limited space, the author used a symbolic approach to present the complex inner contradictions of a mother who raised a disabled son in great poverty. In Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert, one of the best realistic literature, the lack of maternal love in Emma’s childhood has resulted in her lack of compassion and maternal consciousness.

Critics and scholars home and abroad have been taking great interest in studying Porter’s “He” and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary since their respective publication and have achieved considerable progress. Some are interested in Porter’s style as well as the themes in “He”. Others notice the freaks in this short story. Chinese scholars have found that Madame Bovary contains the elements of aesthetics. The famous literary critic Li Jianwu once concluded: “The profound Stendhal, Balzac great, but Flaubert, perfect.” There are few scholars domestic or foreign who have done a comparative research on these two writers or their relative works. 

This thesis attempts to make a comparative study of the theme “Motherhood” possibly reflected in Porter’s “He” and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. The study focuses on Mrs.Whipple’s and Emma’s duty and the respective weaknesses of the two mothers and then reveals Porter’s and Flaubert’s humanistic concerns: mother’s love should be equal and should be unconditional, which is of obviously practical significance.

Key words: Katherine Anne Porter；Gustav Flaubert；Mrs.Whipple；Emma；motherhood

Contents

Acknowledgementsi

Abstract & Key words in Englishii

Abstract & Key words in Chineseiii

Introduction 1

1. Literature review 2

1.1 “Motherhood”as a term of feminist criticism 2

1.2 Porter’s and Flaubert’s feminist tendency 3

2. Mrs.Whipple in “He”and Emma in Madame Bovary 4

2.1 Mrs.Whipple and her children 4

2.2 Emma and her daughter.5

3. A comparative study of motherhood as reflected on Mrs.Whipple and Emma 7

   3.1 Mrs.Whipple’s and Emma’s duty as a mother 7

3.1.1 Mrs.Whipple treating her children unequally7

        3.1.2 Emma’s abandoning her daughter.8

   3.2 Mrs.Whipple’s and Emma’s respective weaknesses9

3.2.1 Mrs.Whipple’s vanity10

3.2.2 Emma’s fantasy .11

4. Porter’s and Flaubert’s humanistic touch.12

   4.1 A mother’s love being equal among children.12

   4.2 A mother’s love being unconditional13

Conclusion 13

Notes 14

References 15