反抗与独立–从女性主义角度解读《纯真年代》 Resistance and Independence: A Feminist Study of The Age of Innocence文献综述

 2023-05-06 09:05

文献综述

2. Literature Review2.1Research on The Age of Innocence Abroad2.1.1 Research on Conventions of Upper-class SocietyWhen the novel was published, it has aroused great interests among critics. Nevertheless, their major concern was the restraint of human nature by varied suffocating social inhibitions of Old New York. They focused on the background of the novel--the social environment in the age of transformation to a new world from the old one. In such a society, the unwritten social conventions and prevalence of silence and signs dominated. People living in it should abide by the rules and they were forbidden to fight against the rules. They preferred keeping silence and figuring out the inner thought of each other. Some critics held that the life Newland Archer led was like the life the Protestants lived, which implied that such kind of life might hinder the healthy development of human nature.2.1.2 Research on Womans Experience in Old New York'In A Biography: Edith Wharton by famous literature critic R.B. Lewis (1975), he held the opinion that Wharton made great contribution to novel and poetry development. Her writing enabled us to become more familiar with the history of a certain period in America, which was the evidence of female experience in the late 1870s as well as the proof of the existence of seduction, betrayal and exclusion woman suffered at that times.As feminism became popular since 1970s feminists searched for marginal writers and their writings as materials for feministic research. As a result, Wharton and her novel were reconsidered from feministic perspective. Distinguished feministic critic Elizabeth Ammons（1982）delivered the claim that Ellen was a New Woman, compared with traditional woman, who was always beautiful, kind-hearted, gentile and fulfilled the perfect womanhood. With unconventional personality, individuality and the courage to pursue her right and freedom, Ellen was the representative of New Woman' who possessed both rationality and charming countenance.2.1.3 Research on Edith Wharton and Her WorksWhen Whartons first best seller The House of Mirth was published, critics began to pay more and more attention to her works. Her popularity had remained high by the end of 1930. However, from the 1930s to 1940s, critics did not take interest in Wharton and her works anymore and there were even negative criticisms on her. Some critics believed that Whartons novels were too pessimistic to find positive solutions. Some proposed that she received very good education, and her social outlook was so narrow that we hardly believed her sympathy was sincere or the readers really liked it (Pan Jian, 2002: 162).In the 1970s, the interest in Wharton and her works began to revive. Critics studied the relationship between Whartons personal experiences and her works, focusing on her autobiography and the analysis of her psychology. In 1975, the famous writer and critic R.B.Lewis published his book Edith Wharton: A Biography, which is a comprehensive and significant biography of Edith Wharton. Then with the development of women liberation movement and feminist criticism, feminists began to rediscover the women writers who had been long neglected and rewrite the literary history. Some critics found Wharton and began to study her fictions from the perspective of feminism. They made deep explorations into her childhood experiences, her tense relationship with her matriarchal mother, her unfortunate marriage with Edward Wharton, etc.Since the 1990s, studies on Wharton and her works have become more and more colorful. Some critics made comparisons between Wharton and other writers; some studied the gender, race, religion, language and some other elements touched in her works; some analyzed the gothic themes in her ghost stories. Whartons works are worth our permanent academic attention as she revealed the reality of the Old New York to which she belonged, showed her sincere concern for womens sufferings and fates at the end of 19th century and explored the conflict between social conventions and the inner self of female mentality. In terms of literary merits, her later works are as excellent as her earlier ones, one of which is The Age of Innocence. Since entering the 21th century, Wharton research has also appeared a new development direction. In The Figure of Consciousness: William James, Henry James and Edith Wharton, Jill D. Kress considers Ellen as a woman who embraces a self that carries its own light(Kress,2002: 172).The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, a childrens literary work published in 2010, portrays the image of a smart and intelligent girl who dares to break through the convention. It tells the story of the noble girl who bravely pursues her dreams and finally grows into a famous American female writer despite the constraints of her family and social discrimination. This work provides us with a new way to understand Wharton and breaks the long-standing prejudice against Wharton in American academic circles.2.2Research on The Age of Innocence in ChinaIn general, most of the thesis papers centered on the artistic features, the narrative techniques and the naturalistic inclination reflected in the novel, in which Whartons concern on moral issues in Old New York were involved. The paper The Burdens of Innocence--On the Moral Theme of The Age of Innocence by Liu Xiaojuan (2007) aimed to reveal the fact that Wharton is a writer with strong moral concerns; the paper-- Naturalism in The Age of Innocence by Mao Jing (2009) and A Tentative Exploration of Naturalism in Edith Whartons The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence by Liu Ling (2007) both made a naturalistic study of Whartons works; the paper A Study of Narrative Art in The Age of Innocence by Zhu Jing (2012)discussed the characteristics of narration from three aspects: narrative focuses, narrative time and narrative voices.There were also some papers which were dedicated to the characters in the novel by employment of Beauvoirs theories to exploitation of problems concerned with womans existence in the late 1800s. The paper: The Pilgrimage in Old New York--Analysis on the Two Types of Women in The Age of Innocence , is written by Ma Lei (2008), whose most important consulting source comes from Simone De Beauvior --The Second Sex, made analysis of womans existence and sufferings in the Old New York.Meanwhile, there were papers in which the female characters of Whartons works were analyzed so as to present the severe conditions of woman in the patriarchal society of New York. There are some papers, like: Females Dilemma, Awakening and Independence of the Old New York: On The Age of Innocence from the Perspective of Feminism by Lou Lin (2013); Resistance and Compromise--Feminist Analysis on The Age of Innocence by Cao Lili (2012); The Journey of Self-development--A Feminist Study of The Age of Innocence by Liu Jiaojiao (2009), etc. They all did research on the conditions of woman in Old New York and their consciousness of independence.The perspective of this paper is unique in that Ellen is the major concern, a representative of new type of woman struggling against the severe conditions women endured in Old New York'. Through the analysis of this pioneering female character, Whartons close attention to womens liberation could also be revealed.

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