【作者】 蒋桂红；

【导师】 陆煜泰；

【作者基本信息】 广西师范大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2007， 硕士

【副题名】解读《了不起的盖茨比》和《夜色温柔》中的新潮女郎

【摘要】 弗.司各特.菲茨杰拉德是美国二十世纪二三十年代文坛的主要代表作家,是公认的“爵士时代”的代言人和桂冠诗人。美国新潮女郎的创作不仅是作家本人也是使读者和评论家着迷的主题之一。我们将菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》和《夜色温柔》这两部男性文本置于西方父权文化的大背景中,站在女性主义的立场重新审视它们,对其中的美国新潮女郎的形象作具体详尽的分析,发现它们构成了一个从强势的现代父权文化的逐渐衰退到女性文化崛起的隐喻,从而揭示作者对其所持的女性观。作为一位现实主义作家,菲茨杰拉德善于观察、忠于生活的态度使他塑造的人物更真实、更具有价值。他塑造的新潮女郎不是一成不变、令人乏味的,而是复杂、有个性的女性。新潮女郎张扬的外表和叛逆的行为不仅是其在喧闹的20年代中一种为获得存在自由和空间、逃避传统束缚的策略,而且是其为了达成自主的主体性的一种尝试和方式,她们的成长尤如蝴蝶从丑陋的毛毛虫,蛰伏化为蛹,到最后破茧而出羽化成为美丽的蝴蝶的蜕变过程。菲茨杰拉德用优美隽永的文笔描述了一群出现在小说《了不起的盖茨比》中摆脱不了父权文化的影响与穿透,仍旧靠依赖男性存活的女性:来自中产阶级上层的黛茜冷酷无情、拒绝为盖茨比的真心放弃现有体面的生活和地位;出身中产阶级中层、失去双亲的乔丹在追求不干涉其独立性的可靠婚姻的道路中变得漫不经心;作为移民白种妇女一员的梅特尔,为了改善命运而选择的错误途径注定其幻想的破灭并为此付出了生命。这部小说揭露了新潮女郎的既保守又叛逆的迷惘心态、左右为难的生存状态和扭曲的人性;她们找不着正确出路的凄凉遭遇反映了转型社会里美国妇女的现代进程仍然徘徊在现代和传统之间。然而作者在小说《夜色温柔》中展现给读者的却是经历了痛苦和锻炼成长起来的成熟而自立的新潮女郎:从小接受母亲独特教育的罗斯玛丽从天真单纯的少女逐渐成长为经济独立、感情独立的成熟职业女性;因父亲乱伦精神上饱受折磨的尼科尔在恢复健康和理性的思维后,敢于挑战男性权威并发出觉醒者的呐喊,按照自己的意愿重新选择自己的生活。她们的独立使得男人作为主人的地位再度削弱,日益从中心退到边缘,奏响了一曲现代父权文化衰落的哀歌,她们成为了新一代的美国新潮女郎的典型代表,其可贵的品质在今日现代女性身上得到了延续。菲茨杰拉德对新潮女郎的认识和执着很大程度上得益于自身特殊的人生经历,尤其是身边女性的影响。对于恪守传统美德,信奉传统家庭观念的他来说,新潮女郎代表了一种集浪漫的个人主义、反抗和解放于一身的新人生观,她们身上体现的独特品性、强烈的反叛精神和自我执着的追求深受菲茨杰拉德赞赏和喜爱,并为之付出毕生的时间和精力,无论是在艺术上还是生活中。更多还原

【Abstract】 F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896――1940), a representative American writer in both decades of 1920 and 1930, is widely regarded as the spokesman and the laureate of Jazz Age. The creation of the American Flapper is a theme that not only fascinates Fitzgerald but also his readers and critics. Taking the part of feminism, we will examine them again when putting Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night into the background of the western patriarchal culture. Having carefully analyzed the images of the American Flapper in them, we will find out the decline of modern patriarchal culture as well as the rise of woman’s culture, therefore get to understand the author’s praised attitude toward women.As a realistic writer, Fitzgerald’s careful observation and his loyal attitude toward life make his characters more realistic and valuable. His fictional flappers are not stereotypical, dull but complicated, individual women. Their aggressive appearance and unconventional behavior in the roaring Twenties actually are not only a strategy of escaping from conversions in order to gain existential freedom and space,but also an attempt and a way to achieve autonomous subjectivity. Their growing process is like the Butterfly’s, which experiences the stages of egg, larva, pupa and adult butterfly. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald tells us a touching story about a group of flappers, who struggle to survive but are still dependent on men under the influence and penetration of patriarchal culture: the cold-hearted and indifferent Daisy from the upper-middle-class refuses Gatsby’s love for fear of losing her decent life and social status; the parentless Jordan from the middle-middle-class has become careless and dishonest on the way of pursuing a reliable marriage which will not interfere her independence; as a member of immigrant white women, Myrtle’s wrong way of improving her fate fatally disillusions and results in her death. This novel indicates the American Flapper’s perplexed mind mixed with a feeling of conservation and rebellion, her hard existential state, and twisted nature. The bitter experience that they cannot find a right way out reflects the process of American women’s modernization in a shifting society still lingers between modernity and tradition. Those flappers presented by the author in Tender Is the Night, however, become mature and self-reliant after suffering the pain of growing: Rosemary, who receives her mother’s unique tuition, grows up gradually from a na?ve and innocent girl to a mature and independent professional woman in economy as well as in emotion;Nicole, who is tortured by the trauma derived from her father’s incest, dares to challenge the male authority and make an awakening shout after recovering physically and mentally, finally re-chooses her life on her own;Their independence, which weakens men’s masterful status gradually from the center to edge, is a dirge for modern patriarchal culture. These flappers become the typical representatives of a new generation of the American Flapper whose laudable qualities go down to nowadays American women.Fitzgerald’s understanding and persistency to the American Flapper, to a great degree, benefit from his extraordinary life experience, particularly the influence of the women at his side. He is a man who abides by traditional virtue and believes in traditional family concept. To him, the American Flapper is a new philosophy of romantic individualism, rebellion and liberation. Their individual distinctness, together with their violent revolting spirit and their persistent pursue of selfhood, wins Fitzgerald’s highly praise and adoration,and leads to his devotion to the American Flapper no matter in art and in life.更多还原