（英语语言文学专业论文）回归非洲传统——托尼·莫里森作品的神话研究.pdf

return to the african traditionmythical studies of toni morrisons works iv 摘摘 要要 托尼莫里森在文学创作中，有一种明显的神话创作倾向。她使 用神话、原型、传说进行创作，从而来揭示非洲的文化渊源，表现非 洲人的民族意识，确立非洲人应有的身份回归非洲的文化传统。对这 一文学创作中特有的神话意识进行探讨， 能为更加真实地揭示莫里森 创作思想和意图，探究莫里森对回归非洲传统良苦用心，提供一个新 的视角。 本文着重考察莫里森作品中的非洲传统宗教、仪式、巫术、神话 等因素,研究其文学叙事中的神话思维和非洲人的集体无意识,探索 文学与古代神话、仪式以及原型之间的密切联系。本文由四个部分组 成。第一部分与第四部分分别为前言和结语。第二部分用神话原型批 评理论论述了非洲神话,及其与非洲传统的关系。第三部分至第六部 分详细地探讨了非洲神话、原型在她三部重要小说中的运用。其中第 三章论述了秀拉中幽灵小孩神话， ，第四章研究了所罗门之歌 中的飞翔神话和非洲传统的成人仪式，第五章分析了宠儿中自然 神树的原型，第六章分析了秀拉中河神和水祭祀的原型。 作为非裔美国人， 莫里森在现代主义文学中将集中反映黑人文化 传统的神话、原型、传说带到创作中,值得称道。本研究可使我们认 清莫里森的非洲神话情结，了解她对传统回归的追求，认识她颠覆白 人文化中心以及构建黑人文化价值体系的努力。 关键词：关键词：非洲神话原型；河神；幽灵小孩；飞翔神话；成人仪式；传 统的回归 return to the african traditionmythical studies of toni morrisons works ii abstract in the works of toni morrison that helped to establish her international fame, there is a noticeable tendency of her resorting to the typical african culture, mainly african myths, rituals, and legends. toni morrison values the african culture with particular clarity in her literary creation in an effort to bear active witness to the blacks common heritage and collective unconsciousness in order to feed the hearts of black people. we could see that morrison as an american contemporary writer distinguishes herself by keeping the african tradition where the african blacks could easily find their origins and roots. therefore, the study of morrison could not be complete without the research on her particular sense of the african tradition which is mainly reflected in her strong tendencies of using african myths and african traditional tales. this thesis focuses on african traditional myths, religious myths, rituals and traditional tales. it explores how morrison makes use of the african culture in her works to ensure the blacks return to the african tradition. the thesis is divided into seven parts. the first part is the introduction and the last one is the conclusion. the second part interprets african myths, the spiritual world of the blacks and the close relationship of myth and tradition, the theory of archetypal criticism and morrisons african mythical background. the third part analyzes the myth of spirit child in sula; the fourth part studies the flying myth and african traditional initiation in song of solomon; the fifth part interprets the archetype of tree in beloved while the sixth part studies sula from the aspect of “river priest/priestess”. this research on morrisons mythical consciousness provides us with a new approach to understand the works of toni morrison. it helps us to enter into the heart of morrison, to understand her dedicated return to the african tradition. in the world in which the whites still have the dominant control over the blacks, morrisons 南京航空航天大学硕士学位论文 iii deliberate return to the african tradition serves as a quest not only to decenter the white logos, but finally to rebuild the center and to discover the powers which lie hidden in the black logos. key words: african mythical archetypes, river god, spirit child, flying myth, initiation, return to tradition 南京航空航天大学硕士学位论文 i acknowledgements during the time that this thesis is written, i am indebted to quite a number of individuals who have offered their helpful criticism and invaluable advice. i fully acknowledge that this thesis would not have been possible without the efforts made by my supervisor, professor he jiangsheng, who has been instructing me with his professional knowledge in american literature and his good vision in literary criticism. it is professor he who advised me on this subject from its earliest stages. my thanks are also due to professor shi yunlong, doctor fan xiangtao and doctor guo chunjie whose editorial classes and critical eye inspired me in no small way. i would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to all the teachers in the english department of nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics for their instructive lectures and gracious kindness. last but not least, i would like to give my sincere thanks to my fellow students, my friends and my family for their unconditional support and timely encouragement. 南京航空航天大学硕士学位论文 1 chapter one introduction toni morrisons brilliant novels of the past three decades have accorded her a position in the front ranks of american writers. her first novel, the bluest eye, was published in 1970. it was followed by sula (1973), song of solomon (1977), tar baby (1981), beloved (1987), jazz (1992), paradise (1998) and love (2003). her novels have attracted both popular and critical attention for their inventive blend of realism and fantasy, unsparing social analysis, and passionate philosophical concerns. in 1993, she was awarded the nobel prize for literature, the first african american writer and the eighth woman to be so honored. in each of her acclaimed novels, toni morrison writes what she calls “village literature, fiction that is really for the village, for the tribe” (leclair ,1981:26). she has been compared to faulkner and marquez in her use of stream of consciousness and magic realism. as one of the most serious, important, and talented american authors now working, toni morrison is both a great novelist and the closest thing the country has to a national writer. she is part of the african american literary tradition that finds its full and complicated bloom in her art. before 1993, her works were only discussed in american literature classes. since she was awarded the nobel prize in 1993, her works have been given much more academic attention in the literary world. critics have done lots of research from several aspects. some have studied the characters in her novels by way of either psychological approach or feminist approach while many others have approached her works from the aspects of reader-response criticism and post-colonialism theories. in 1998, kimberly chabot davis published postmodern blackness: toni morrisons beloved and the end of history in twentieth century literature (davis,1998: 78).in 2001, lynda koolish published to be loved and cry shame: a psychological reading of toni morrisons beloved in melus(koolish, 2001:56). most of them focus their attention on “searching for root”. even so their study is limited to the topic return to the african traditionmythical studies of toni morrisons works 2 of the blacks searching for their own identities. actually, “root”, in a broader sense, refers to the blacks cultural heritage. some critics have studied morrison novels from this aspect. for example, in 2003, a. yemisi jimoh published black orpheus: music in african american fiction from the harlem renaissance to toni morrison in african american review (jimoh, 2003:42). in 1999, cat moses published the blues aesthetic in toni morrisons the bluest eye in african american review (moses, 1999:12). however, the study of african traditional heritage only stays within the scope of the african culture such as music, names, aesthetics and traditional religion. and we still need to research further into the african traditional myths, rituals, tales in toni morrisons works and apply the archetypal theories to probe into the african mythical archetypes in her works. among all these works, what interest me are the essays using the archetypal criticisms. people compare her works with the archetypes of cain, scapegoat, satan and noahs ark. for example, in 1998, carolyn m. jones published sula and beloved: images of cain in the novels of toni morrison in african american review (jones,1998:35); in 1996, deborah guth published wonder what god had in mind: beloveds dialogue with christianity in the journal of narrative technique (guth, 1996:86). therefore, we could easily find african mythical archetypes in morrisons works. but all these criticisms are limited to the connection between morrisons works and greek mythology, neglecting the study of the african mythical archetypes in her novels. however, a closer look at morrisons own comments and her historical roots necessitates more exploration in the rich complexity of her written works. although she wrote her masters thesis on faulkner and has acknowledged influence by marquez and other latin american writers, morrisons writings are deeply entrenched in her own black folk roots and the community in which she grew up. moreover, most of the stories in her novels are the ones told by her mother and her 南京航空航天大学硕士学位论文 3 black friends with either african or african-american backgrounds. in rootedness: the ancestor as foundation, morrison yearns for a closer identification of the black american artist with her community: there must have been a time when an artist could be genuinely representative of the tribe and in it; when an artist could have a tribal or racial sensibility and an individual expression of it. there were spaces and places in which a single person could enter and behave as an individual within the context of the community (morrison,2000:339). in order to reconstruct the blacks culture, morrison pays much attention to the use of the african traditional ritual, myth, tale and idioms. many of her characters have been influenced by these directly or indirectly. she believes that the truth of the human being is contained in those myth and tales with mutual contradiction. everyones behavior would be affected by all kinds of tensions. what interests her most is how these tensions affect african americans on the sub-consciousness level. morrison tries to express spiritual “truth”. she believes in peoples dream and illusion, and is fascinated by the collective legends. to her all those together can explain “the question appears everywhere: what makes the blacks do like that?”(braxton, 1990:323). this visionary approach is apparent in all of morrisons literary works, which shows her deep concern for validating and enriching the african american culture that has long been under attack by both external and internal forces. in her novels, morrison deliberately works to counteract the loss of the folklore tradition that constitutes one of the basic elements of african american culture. cynthia davis noticed that morrisons skillful combination of social observation with broadening and allusive commentary gives her fictions the symbolic quality of myth, further adding that the search for a myth adequate to experience is one of morrisons central themes (davis ,1982:323). as morrison explains: let me give you an example: the flying myth in song of solomon. if it means return to the african traditionmythical studies of toni morrisons works 4 icarus to some readers, fine; i want to take credit for that. but my meaning is specific: it is about black people who could fly. that was always part of the folklore of my life; flying was one of our gifts. i dont care how silly it may seem. it is everywhere - people used to talk about it, its in the spirituals and gospels. perhaps it was wishful thinking - escape, death, and all that. but suppose it wasnt. what might it mean? i tried to find out in song of solomon (leclair ,1993:122). therefore, to understand the themes of her novels, we should connect them with the african traditional myth and try to find out the african mythical archetypes in them. in “mytharchetypal criticism”, ye shuxian states that “the spirit of archetypal criticism is that, myth and religion rituals which reflect the common experience and psychological characteristics, exceed the time limit and have become a kind of psychological deposits or characteristics .they conserve in the sub-consciousness of this nation. when the authors are writing, they would express them unconsciously”(ye, 1987: 45) .therefore, by combining literature creativity and mythical archetypes which symbolize the nations common psychological characteristics, can we understand morrisons works better. the thesis seeks to apply the myth theories to toni morrisons works. it focuses on the african traditional myths, religious myths, rituals and traditional tales. it explores how morrison makes use of the african culture in her works to ensure the blacks return to the african tradition. the thesis is divided into seven parts. the first part is the introduction and the last one is the conclusion. the second part interprets african myths, the spiritual world of the blacks and the close relationship of myth and tradition, the theory of archetypal criticism and morrisons african mythical background. the third part analyzes the myth of spirit child in sula; the fourth part studies the flying myth and african traditional initiation in song of solomon; the fifth part interprets the archetype of tree in beloved while the sixth part studies sula from the aspect of “river priest/priestess”. 南京航空航天大学硕士学位论文 5 this intentional examination of cultural myths in order to explain and broaden reality calls for a distinctly afro-centric literary approach. morrisons style contains key elements of african modes of storytelling which provide a way of bridging gaps between the black communitys folk roots and the black american literary tradition (wilentz, 1992: 61). in her writing, toni morrison suggests that living with unexamined roots as much as living with no roots . . . creates a stunted and deformed tree (schultz,1980: 143) and she has clearly taken this lesson to heart in the creation of her own storytelling style. morrisons writing, then, is an ongoing attempt to reclaim the collective past of african americans in order to allow the definition and maintenance of a personal and cultural identity. this thesis, in the light of the black peoples own cultural tradition, tries to prompt those who embrace their own culture to keep on their belief for the purpose of retaining their black identity, or their blackness and getting survived in the white society to live a better life; on the other hand, it also intends to point out a way for those immersed in the white culture and getting totally assimilated by the mainstream culture and losing their black individuality. morrisons deliberate return to the african tradition serves as a quest not only to decenter the white logos, but finally to rebuild the center and to discover the powers which lie hidden in the black logos. return to the african traditionmythical studies of toni morrisons works 6 chapter two african myths and tradition 2.1 myth and archetypal criticism archetypal criticism is a powerful movement in the history of recent literary theory. the word archetype originates from a greek word archetypos. arche means original or primitive; typos means form. in literary criticism, an archetype may be defined as a symbol, theme, setting, or character-type that recurs in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and rituals so frequently or prominently as to suggest that it embodies some essential element of universal human experience (baldick, 2001: 16). archetypal criticism, prevalent in the west in the 1950s and 1960s, originated in britain at the beginning of the twentieth century and culminated in northrop frys anatomy of criticism (1957). at its earlier stage, it was called myth criticism or myth and archetypal criticism, which tried to seek the origin of literature from religious phenomena, such as rituals, myths and totems(ye, 1987:2). as archetypes usually include myths (tales, rituals, totems, taboos, etc.), the term archetypal criticism is often used instead of myth criticism and myth and archetypal criticism. archetypal criticism owes especially to three people for their separate contributions: frazer in the late nineteenth century revealed the recurring mythical patterns in tales and rituals; jung in the 1930s and 1940s developed a theory of archetype; and frye proposed, based on the studies of the previous two, a whole system of literary archetypal criticism in the 1950s (zhu ,2003:129). frazerian anthropology, and jungian collective unconscious and archetypes exerted a strong influence upon modern writers and laid the theoretical foundation of archetypal criticism. in critical practice, archetypal criticism attempts to identify the various images, narrative structures, and characters that repeatedly occur in literary works, to find the fundamental forms (especially myth archetypes) behind them, and 南京航空航天大学硕士学位论文 7 to apply such archetypes to the analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works. in this way, it offers a fresh approach and opens up a new space for literary research. the power and significance of literary works is explained, with its critical strategy to find the underlying correspondences or analogues in literature so as to apprehend the recurrences of certain archetypal themes, figures, images and narrative patterns. 2.2 morrisons african mythical background the feature of african americans literature is that it is based on the blacks oral culture and characters. it absorbs and utilizes the western culture which then develops into symbolic cultural activity which shows the african americans searching for identity, status and power in america. bernard states that “this archetypal social cultural consciousness roots in american blacks collective experience, the power to create myth roots in the interaction of two mythical systems which are eurocentric and afro-centric respectively.”(bell, 1987: 341).those african american authors transfuse new blood to the black literature continuously from different aspects while basing on the traditional black culture and further develop it into todays african american culture which has entered into college classes. morrison is no exce