【作者】 高婷；

【导师】 李杨；

【作者基本信息】 山东大学， 英语语言文学， 2005， 硕士

【副题名】《隐形人》主题之分析

【摘要】 许多文学评论家认为不应该把拉尔夫·埃里森的《隐形人》称作一部黑人小说,尽管很显然这本书是由一位黑人作家所写,且主要内容描述的是一位黑人的经历。但是,与以往那些黑人作家不同的是,拉尔夫·埃里森没有去刻意描写黑人所遭受的不公和歧视,而是客观,冷静地去看待黑人和白人之间的关系:对黑人如何探寻自我的问题,发表了独到的见解。在某种程度上,《隐形人》是一部教育小说(一种记载主人公道德和心理成长历程的小说),因此故事的叙述和主题都围绕着年轻的主人公作为个体的发展过程展开。小说中主人公刚开始他行程的时候,本希望在白人社会里获得一个确定的身份,最后却发现在别人的眼中,他只是个无形人。这个问题的普遍性因超越了纯黑人文学的局限而获得广泛的称赞。尽管一些黑人文学评论家指责埃里森违背了由理查德·赖特所开创的黑人抗议文学的反抗传统,越来越多的呼声却一致赞同把《隐形人》列为一部当代的经典作品。 黑人作家的使命是否只能局限在种族抗议上?答案是一个作家有权利就自己感兴趣的题材进行创作,不能因为是黑人就局限在写种族问题上。《隐形人》的力量就在于埃里森向读者提出了一个超越种族的具有普遍意义的问题:在一个使人异化、敌对的社会里,如何获得一个身份?《隐形人》是这样一部典型的存在主义小说。埃里森把音乐,尤其是黑人音乐——爵士乐和蓝调运用到小说中去,对小说中寻求身份这一主题起到了深化作用。自从《隐形人》1952年问世以来,涌现了大量关于此书的评论和研究。但是几乎没有人从音乐角度对本书的主题作过分析。因此本论文旨在试图主要从音乐这一独特视角,在三个层面——个人的、文化的和社会的层面上来剖析主人公在敌对的环境里如何获得对自己和对社会的认识,来发现自己无形的荒谬处境,并由此认识到了自己的真正身份所在。 本论文分四部分。前言介绍了这位独特的黑人作家和他独特的“黑人”小说的背景知识。首先,作者的成长经历有别于其他的黑人作家。缺少奴隶制传统的家乡使埃里森自小对生活对机遇抱有更乐观的态度,他对西方经典文学的研究以及他所受到的良好大学教育使他的思想突破了种族的界限。在这部体现人类普遍主题的伟大作品中,他以黑人为例,通过描写这个“无形人”的经历和思想转变,来抒写整个人类的命运和处境。许多西方评论家称赞的,主要是这一点:许多进步黑人领袖指责的,也正是这一点。 第一章从两个角度分析了主人公对个人身份的追求。个人身份是关于个人存在的最基本的情况。一方面主人公对身份的追求是一个心理发展的过程,是从天真到经验的转变。故事开始的时候这个年轻幼稚的年青人决心在这个世界上获得一己之地,但他却不知道世界 更多还原

【Abstract】 Many critics hesitate to call Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man a Negro novel, though of course it is written by a Negro and is centrally concerned with the experiences of a Negro. However unlike the black writers before him, Ellison does not depict purposefully the unfairness and discrimination of the Negroes; instead, he remains calmly objective when it comes to the black—white relations and reveals his unique opinions on Negroes’ search for identities. In a sense, Invisible Man is a bildungsroman (a type of novel that chronicles a character’s moral and psychological growth), the narrative and thematic concerns of the story revolve around the development of the young protagonist as an individual. The protagonist sets his feet on his journey with the hope of achieving a concrete identity in the white-dominated society, only to find that he is actually invisible in other’s eyes. The universal problem of identity goes beyond the restrictions of the Negro novel and receives worldwide acclaim. Though some black critics accused Ralph Ellison of turning away from the rebellious tradition of Negro protest novel set forth by Richard Wright, more and more discussions of the constitution of American canon has confirmed the status of his Invisible Man as a major modern classic.Can the mission of Negro writers only be restricted on protest? The answer is that a writer has a right of writing on what interests him and that a black cannot only focus his writing on racial problem. The strength of Invisible Man lies in its non—racial and universal question that Ellison puts forward for readers: how to achieve an identity in an alienated hostile society? Invisible Man is such an archetypal existential story of modern times. Ellison works music—specifically black music—jazz and blues into novel to deepen the theme of this novel—quest for identity. Since the appearance of Invisible Man in 1952, a large amount of critical reviews and studies have been made. However, few have attempted to analyze the central theme in terms of music. Therefore, mainly from the unique point of view of music, this thesis is intended to make a more comprehensive and a more detailed analysis of how the protagonist gains the knowledge of himself and the society andthus achieves his identity by realizing his ridiculous state of being invisible in the hostile circumstance from three levels—personal, cultural and social levels.This thesis is divided into four parts. In the Introduction some background knowledge is provided to explain Ralph Ellison the unique Negro writer and his Invisible Man, a unique Negro novel. First the experience of the writer is different from other Negro writers’. The hometown without long—standing slavery tradition made Ellison have a more optimistic belief on life and possibility. The studies he made on western classics and his formal education help his thought break through the racial restriction. In this book with the universal theme, Ellison expresses the common fate of all human beings by describing the Invisible Man’s experience and psychological transformation. This is just the point that many western critics praise and many black leaders criticize.Chapter One is intended to analyze the protagonist’s quest for personal identity from two angles. Personal identity is the essential truth about an individual. On the one hand, the protagonist’s quest for personal identity takes place on the psychological level. In this level he moves from innocence to experience. The story begins with the young innocent Negro deciding to gain a position in the world, but he then does not know that the world is not what it appears. He suffers a series of disillusionment and betrayals, which help him remove his illusions about the reality and the knowledge obtained from his experiences makes him achieve a true personal identity—he becomes at last a mature, introspective man who is really aware of himself.On the other hand, in this part, Ellison works blues and jazz—specifically that of Louis Armstrong—into the novel to complement the protagonist’s quest to define himself. As jazz depends on the improvisational talents of individual soloists and as it developed primarily among African-American musicians, it serves as an apt metaphor for the protagonist’s struggle for individuality in American society. It also makes an appropriate soundtrack, as it were, for a novel about the search for such individuality. In this sense, jazz plays a very important role in further interpreting the universaltheme—quest for identity.Chapter Two is about the protagonist’s quest for cultural identity. The protagonist’s quest for cultural identity takes place on the historical level. At the beginning, the protagonist feels ashamed of his own race and race’s history and culture, trying to conceal his true identity. But he ends up finding himself falling into chaos and formlessness. To Ellison, one cannot obtain his true identity and true freedom if he (or she) denies his (or her) race’s history and culture. Eventually, he begins to cherish them because during his journey his unconscious dependence on the Negro’s history is expressed by means of blues and black folktales. It is from blues and black folktales that the protagonist derives strength and courage to overcome confusion and frustration during his journey; it is in Armstrong’s blues that the protagonist sings the song of invisibility—to make his retrospection and finally find his true cultural identity. That is to say, accept themselves, cultivate the appropriate attitude to their race’s history and cherish their race’s culture.One point necessary to be made clear is that the description of the Invisible Man’s oppression is tingled with stages of his transformation and progress on his journey towards true identity with the help of three black characters—Mary, Clifton and Tarp. Then it is not sufficient to talk about the Invisible Man without mentioning the three.Chapter Three reveals the protagonist’s quest for his social identity, which is embodied in his traveling on the geographical and social level. Geographically, his journey is from the South to the North, from the black world to the white world. It is also a journey against injustice and racial prejudice. Over the course of the novel, the Invisible Man realizes that the complexity of his inner self is limited not only by white racism but also by black racism. Under such circumstance, how can a Negro like him achieve a concrete social identity? He follows several Negroes’ examples successively but on all occasions he fails. Here Ellison does not intend to criticize racial prejudice but to show the common fate of all human beings, for the Negro’s absurd position in the hostile white society just represents the irrational and abnormal relationshipbetween human beings.The Invisible Man’s journey also takes place on the social level, which means he travels through invisibility to visibility, the recognition of self. Invisibility is this novel’s central metaphor. He only achieves visibility by realizing his invisibility after his adventures. What’s more, he obtains a concrete social identity, i.e. he becomes a brave, optimistic man who is willing to put off the mask of invisibility and to take the social responsibility.The charm of a great literary work lies in that it can reflect and reveal the common fate of all human beings by delineating a particular individual or group. So Invisible Man is such a work. This novel, in a sense, provides all of us in reality with very useful implication. Ellison, like protagonist, remains optimistic and calm in the face of the human dilemma and tries to make contribution to society. 更多还原 　　

【作者】 高婷；

【导师】 李杨；

【作者基本信息】 山东大学， 英语语言文学， 2005， 硕士

【副题名】《隐形人》主题之分析

【摘要】 许多文学评论家认为不应该把拉尔夫·埃里森的《隐形人》称作一部黑人小说,尽管很显然这本书是由一位黑人作家所写,且主要内容描述的是一位黑人的经历。但是,与以往那些黑人作家不同的是,拉尔夫·埃里森没有去刻意描写黑人所遭受的不公和歧视,而是客观,冷静地去看待黑人和白人之间的关系:对黑人如何探寻自我的问题,发表了独到的见解。在某种程度上,《隐形人》是一部教育小说(一种记载主人公道德和心理成长历程的小说),因此故事的叙述和主题都围绕着年轻的主人公作为个体的发展过程展开。小说中主人公刚开始他行程的时候,本希望在白人社会里获得一个确定的身份,最后却发现在别人的眼中,他只是个无形人。这个问题的普遍性因超越了纯黑人文学的局限而获得广泛的称赞。尽管一些黑人文学评论家指责埃里森违背了由理查德·赖特所开创的黑人抗议文学的反抗传统,越来越多的呼声却一致赞同把《隐形人》列为一部当代的经典作品。 黑人作家的使命是否只能局限在种族抗议上?答案是一个作家有权利就自己感兴趣的题材进行创作,不能因为是黑人就局限在写种族问题上。《隐形人》的力量就在于埃里森向读者提出了一个超越种族的具有普遍意义的问题:在一个使人异化、敌对的社会里,如何获得一个身份?《隐形人》是这样一部典型的存在主义小说。埃里森把音乐,尤其是黑人音乐——爵士乐和蓝调运用到小说中去,对小说中寻求身份这一主题起到了深化作用。自从《隐形人》1952年问世以来,涌现了大量关于此书的评论和研究。但是几乎没有人从音乐角度对本书的主题作过分析。因此本论文旨在试图主要从音乐这一独特视角,在三个层面——个人的、文化的和社会的层面上来剖析主人公在敌对的环境里如何获得对自己和对社会的认识,来发现自己无形的荒谬处境,并由此认识到了自己的真正身份所在。 本论文分四部分。前言介绍了这位独特的黑人作家和他独特的“黑人”小说的背景知识。首先,作者的成长经历有别于其他的黑人作家。缺少奴隶制传统的家乡使埃里森自小对生活对机遇抱有更乐观的态度,他对西方经典文学的研究以及他所受到的良好大学教育使他的思想突破了种族的界限。在这部体现人类普遍主题的伟大作品中,他以黑人为例,通过描写这个“无形人”的经历和思想转变,来抒写整个人类的命运和处境。许多西方评论家称赞的,主要是这一点:许多进步黑人领袖指责的,也正是这一点。 第一章从两个角度分析了主人公对个人身份的追求。个人身份是关于个人存在的最基本的情况。一方面主人公对身份的追求是一个心理发展的过程,是从天真到经验的转变。故事开始的时候这个年轻幼稚的年青人决心在这个世界上获得一己之地,但他却不知道世界 更多还原

【Abstract】 Many critics hesitate to call Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man a Negro novel, though of course it is written by a Negro and is centrally concerned with the experiences of a Negro. However unlike the black writers before him, Ellison does not depict purposefully the unfairness and discrimination of the Negroes; instead, he remains calmly objective when it comes to the black—white relations and reveals his unique opinions on Negroes’ search for identities. In a sense, Invisible Man is a bildungsroman (a type of novel that chronicles a character’s moral and psychological growth), the narrative and thematic concerns of the story revolve around the development of the young protagonist as an individual. The protagonist sets his feet on his journey with the hope of achieving a concrete identity in the white-dominated society, only to find that he is actually invisible in other’s eyes. The universal problem of identity goes beyond the restrictions of the Negro novel and receives worldwide acclaim. Though some black critics accused Ralph Ellison of turning away from the rebellious tradition of Negro protest novel set forth by Richard Wright, more and more discussions of the constitution of American canon has confirmed the status of his Invisible Man as a major modern classic.Can the mission of Negro writers only be restricted on protest? The answer is that a writer has a right of writing on what interests him and that a black cannot only focus his writing on racial problem. The strength of Invisible Man lies in its non—racial and universal question that Ellison puts forward for readers: how to achieve an identity in an alienated hostile society? Invisible Man is such an archetypal existential story of modern times. Ellison works music—specifically black music—jazz and blues into novel to deepen the theme of this novel—quest for identity. Since the appearance of Invisible Man in 1952, a large amount of critical reviews and studies have been made. However, few have attempted to analyze the central theme in terms of music. Therefore, mainly from the unique point of view of music, this thesis is intended to make a more comprehensive and a more detailed analysis of how the protagonist gains the knowledge of himself and the society andthus achieves his identity by realizing his ridiculous state of being invisible in the hostile circumstance from three levels—personal, cultural and social levels.This thesis is divided into four parts. In the Introduction some background knowledge is provided to explain Ralph Ellison the unique Negro writer and his Invisible Man, a unique Negro novel. First the experience of the writer is different from other Negro writers’. The hometown without long—standing slavery tradition made Ellison have a more optimistic belief on life and possibility. The studies he made on western classics and his formal education help his thought break through the racial restriction. In this book with the universal theme, Ellison expresses the common fate of all human beings by describing the Invisible Man’s experience and psychological transformation. This is just the point that many western critics praise and many black leaders criticize.Chapter One is intended to analyze the protagonist’s quest for personal identity from two angles. Personal identity is the essential truth about an individual. On the one hand, the protagonist’s quest for personal identity takes place on the psychological level. In this level he moves from innocence to experience. The story begins with the young innocent Negro deciding to gain a position in the world, but he then does not know that the world is not what it appears. He suffers a series of disillusionment and betrayals, which help him remove his illusions about the reality and the knowledge obtained from his experiences makes him achieve a true personal identity—he becomes at last a mature, introspective man who is really aware of himself.On the other hand, in this part, Ellison works blues and jazz—specifically that of Louis Armstrong—into the novel to complement the protagonist’s quest to define himself. As jazz depends on the improvisational talents of individual soloists and as it developed primarily among African-American musicians, it serves as an apt metaphor for the protagonist’s struggle for individuality in American society. It also makes an appropriate soundtrack, as it were, for a novel about the search for such individuality. In this sense, jazz plays a very important role in further interpreting the universaltheme—quest for identity.Chapter Two is about the protagonist’s quest for cultural identity. The protagonist’s quest for cultural identity takes place on the historical level. At the beginning, the protagonist feels ashamed of his own race and race’s history and culture, trying to conceal his true identity. But he ends up finding himself falling into chaos and formlessness. To Ellison, one cannot obtain his true identity and true freedom if he (or she) denies his (or her) race’s history and culture. Eventually, he begins to cherish them because during his journey his unconscious dependence on the Negro’s history is expressed by means of blues and black folktales. It is from blues and black folktales that the protagonist derives strength and courage to overcome confusion and frustration during his journey; it is in Armstrong’s blues that the protagonist sings the song of invisibility—to make his retrospection and finally find his true cultural identity. That is to say, accept themselves, cultivate the appropriate attitude to their race’s history and cherish their race’s culture.One point necessary to be made clear is that the description of the Invisible Man’s oppression is tingled with stages of his transformation and progress on his journey towards true identity with the help of three black characters—Mary, Clifton and Tarp. Then it is not sufficient to talk about the Invisible Man without mentioning the three.Chapter Three reveals the protagonist’s quest for his social identity, which is embodied in his traveling on the geographical and social level. Geographically, his journey is from the South to the North, from the black world to the white world. It is also a journey against injustice and racial prejudice. Over the course of the novel, the Invisible Man realizes that the complexity of his inner self is limited not only by white racism but also by black racism. Under such circumstance, how can a Negro like him achieve a concrete social identity? He follows several Negroes’ examples successively but on all occasions he fails. Here Ellison does not intend to criticize racial prejudice but to show the common fate of all human beings, for the Negro’s absurd position in the hostile white society just represents the irrational and abnormal relationshipbetween human beings.The Invisible Man’s journey also takes place on the social level, which means he travels through invisibility to visibility, the recognition of self. Invisibility is this novel’s central metaphor. He only achieves visibility by realizing his invisibility after his adventures. What’s more, he obtains a concrete social identity, i.e. he becomes a brave, optimistic man who is willing to put off the mask of invisibility and to take the social responsibility.The charm of a great literary work lies in that it can reflect and reveal the common fate of all human beings by delineating a particular individual or group. So Invisible Man is such a work. This novel, in a sense, provides all of us in reality with very useful implication. Ellison, like protagonist, remains optimistic and calm in the face of the human dilemma and tries to make contribution to society. 更多还原