A Study of Diane di Prima’s Recollections of My Life as a Woman: the New York Years From the Perspective of Space Theory_英语论文

摘要

戴安·迪·普利玛是“垮掉派”运动中重要的女作家。在男性主导的文学圈子内，戴安打破了传统的写作规则以及对女性传统的束缚，从而创造了自己的空间。戴安的诗歌和回忆录中表达了高度的女性空间意识。本篇论文旨在用空间理论分析戴安的回忆录《纽约往事》，探索戴安如何在边缘空间重建身份以及实现和解。论文的分析主要分为三个方面。第一，从私人空间“家”出发。家作为居住的地方包含着男女之间的不平等；第二，从公共空间出发，比如学校，医院，精神病院等都是当权者行使权力的空间，这其中包括对女性的压迫；第三，从自我空间“身体”出发。对于传统的女性而言，身体空间被孩子和丈夫占有。为了重新创造一个属于女性自己的空间，女性需要解放她们的身体和头脑，从父权社会的影响中跳出来。通过本篇论文，我们将会对女性垮掉派作家有更深的了解。再者，对戴安作品的分析有利于为现代女作家提供创作灵感和生存的建议。

关键词：戴安·迪·普利玛  《纽约往事》  空间理论

Abstract

Diane di Prima is an important female Beat writer in the Beat movement. In the patriarchal literary circle, Diane strived to create her own space by breaking the writing rules and traditional conventions for women. Her poems and memoirs expressed high awareness of women’s space. This dissertation aims to analyze her memoir Recollections of My Life as a Woman: the New York Years using space theory and find out how Diane reestablished her identity and realized reconciliation in the marginalized space. Criticism of space of the work will be divided into three parts. First, from the house as private space. The house as a living place encloses inequality between men and women. Second, from space such as schools, hospitals, asylums as public space. Public spaces are spaces for authorities to exercise their power, which includes oppression for women themselves. Third, from the body as self-space. For traditional women the body is a space occupied by children and men. In order to recreate a space belongs to woman, they have to free their bodies and minds from the patriarchal society. Through this dissertation, a deeper understanding of the female Beat writers can be achieved. Moreover, the analysis of the space in Diane’s work will give some inspirations and advice about survival to the modern female writers.

Key words: Diane di Prima  Recollections of My Life as a Woman: the New York Years  Space theory

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  A Brief Introduction to Diane di Prima and Her Recollections of My Life as  a Woman: The New York Years 1

1.2  Space Theory—A Perspective Towards Literary Criticism 2

1.3 Purpose of This Thesis 6

1.4 Structure of This Thesis 6

Chapter Two  Literature Review 8

2.1  Previous Studies on Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years Abroad 8

2.2 Previous Studies on Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years at Home 11

Chapter Three  Space Theory Analysis in Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years 13

3.1 Private Space: Houses of Different Periods 13

3.2 Public Space: Institutions Dominated by Power 18

3.3 Body Space: Feminist Body Politics 24

3.4 Summary 31

Chapter Four  Conclusion 34

Bibliography

Acknowledgments