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英美女性乌托邦小说研究
中文摘要

乌托邦文学记载了不同时期人们对美好生活的向往,长久以来备受关注。传统乌托邦文学主要以男性为中心,虚构男性心目中的理想社会,但这个社会在两性关系等方面仍继续沿用现实社会中的行为准则,没有关注实际生活中女性所面临的种种问题。直到女性作家被重新挖掘出来,人们才开始回过头去审视遥远的女性乌托邦小说。玛琳·巴尔(Marleen Barr,1953-)在《女性与乌托邦》(Women and Utopia)中曾指出,乌托邦主义所倡导的重构人类文化正是女性主义写作的目标。乌托邦主义对现实的批判和对理想的追求成为女性主义诉诸乌托邦文类的原因之一。此外,乌托邦小说作为通俗小说的一种,拥有一定的读者群,借助乌托邦小说可以更好地传播女性主义思想。因此,女性乌托邦小说是女性主义思潮的阵地,两者密不可分。 从根本上讲,乌托邦小说是一种政治文学,与意识形态密切相关,女性乌托邦文学一开始就带有自己独特的政治性。乌托邦精神和女性主义思想都具有批判性,力求改变社会的不完美,基于这点,可以说女性主义同乌托邦紧密相连。国内对女性乌托邦小说的研究主要集中于单一的主题分析,相比国外研究而言,少有从政治哲学方面切入。因此,本论文拟以乌托邦的政治性以及社会文化为基础,从女性主义思想的发展和女性乌托邦小说的内在关系出发,试图揭露女性乌托邦小说如何融入乌托邦批判性、如何吸收女性主义思想以对抗父权制,消除长期对女性乌托邦小说的误解——认为女性乌托邦小说是一种空想,而突出其政治批判性和社会正义性。同时论文还通过对具体女性乌托邦文本的分析强调其实践意义:女性乌托邦作家在一定程度上改变了文学场中的权力关系,揭露女性在社会中的边缘地位,表达实现两性平等的美好意愿,她们的写作策略实现了女性乌托邦作品的政治批判功能,从而颠覆了男权话语模式。 乌托邦(utopia)一词来自托马斯·莫尔(Thomas More,1478-1535)的《乌托邦》(Utopia),指美好而并不存在的地方。早期研究乌托邦的学者以此作为乌托邦的定义,认为乌托邦就是对理想然而并不存在的世界的描绘。德国哲学家恩斯特·布洛赫(Ernst Bloch,1885-1977)首次从哲学层面思考乌托邦,在《希望的原理》(The Principle of Hope)中,他概述了有关人类愿望的景象,以及一种向往更好生活的白日梦。本文基于布洛赫的“希望原理”,抛弃传统对乌托邦社会完美性的关注,转而强调乌托邦所蕴含的希望。乌托邦精神远在乌托邦文学出现之前就已经存在于希伯来先知的思想中。之后乌托邦文学作为载体体现了不同时代人们的乌托邦思想,因此论文的绪论部分从乌托邦的概念和定义出发梳理乌托邦的发展轨迹。论文作者认为,首先女性乌托邦小说是女性主义思想同乌托邦的结合体,因此将各章与历史发展进程并置。第一章主要关于女性乌托邦的性别书写和其政治哲学基础。根据女性乌托邦小说的线性发展,论文的二、三、四、五章分别对应女性乌托邦小说的四个发展期:17、18世纪的萌芽期、19世纪到20世纪初的发展期、20世纪下半叶的繁荣期,以及20世纪80年代之后的恶托邦时期。同时论文选取该时代最具代表性的女性乌托邦小说进行文本细读,以期展现女性主义如何借助乌托邦这个载体传播思想,揭示以批判父权制。 具体而言,论文第一章阐述了女性乌托邦写作和性别书写。论文对女性乌托邦小说和女性主义思想的出现进行大致的描绘,列举具有代表性的女性主义流派,着重论述女性乌托邦小说是女性主义的天然阵地。女性主义思想为女性乌托邦小说提供了肥沃的土壤,使其茁壮成长,同时女性乌托邦小说成为女性主义表达其思想的重要载体。正是二者之间紧密的内在联系,使二者结合进发出巨大的能量。通过阐述乌托邦文类的政治哲学性,第一章旨在说明乌托邦文类的批判性为女性作家提供写作策略,改写了传统的男性乌托邦文类,所以乌托邦文类和女性主义的结合必然有其政治维度:乌托邦小说深厚的哲学内涵和政治基础成为女性主义者反抗男性话语的武器。在充满敌意的男权社会中,女性作家只有诉诸乌托邦文类来表达对美好生活的向往。 从第二章起,本文选取具有代表性的9部英美女性乌托邦小说进行文本分析。17世纪是新旧思想交织的时代,也是女性乌托邦开始同女性主义结合的时代。受早期零星女性思想的影响,玛格丽特·卡文迪什(Margaret Cavendish, 1623-1673)于1666年创作了第一部有记载的女性乌托邦小说《光荣世界》(The Descriptions of a New World,Called the Brazing World)。在小说中,卡文迪什通过解构家庭-国家类比,以此削弱父权力量。萨拉·司各特(Sarah Scott, 1720-1795)于1762年创作了《千年圣殿》(A Description of Millenium Hall)。作为“蓝袜子女性主义”(Bluestocking Feminism)的产物,小说主要关注阶级和性别问题,虚构出一个具有女性乌托邦性质的乡绅资本主义,用以对抗凡事以利益为先的男性资本主义社会。第二章通过细读两部萌芽时期的女性乌托邦小说,指出不管是《光荣世界》中卡文迪什对父权制的削弱,还是司各特经过改良、融合女性特质的资本主义经济,都体现了女性意识的觉醒,表现她们追求理想女性社会的美好愿望。这两部承载着一定女性主义思想的小说不仅有助于女性思想的传播,更激励着后续大量女性乌托邦小说的出现。 第三章论述了从19世纪到20世纪初女性乌托邦小说的发展。这段时期女性主义者有了明确的诉求,要求在选举、受教育和就业方面享有同男性同样的权利。女性运动第一次浪潮期间出现了更多的女性乌托邦小说,本章以伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔(Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,1810-1865)的《克兰福德镇》 (Cranford)和夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼(Charlotte Perkins Gilman,1860-1935)的《她乡》(Herland)为代表。《克兰福德镇》描绘了主要由女性构成、自给自足的小型社会,这里的女性具有强烈的自我意识,愿意为此牺牲婚姻家庭生活,这使克兰福德镇的女性不同于现实生活中婚姻至上的女性。她们形成了区别于主流男性文化的女性亚文化圈,用以抵抗可能会侵扰女性生活秩序的男性资本主义社会。在《她乡》中,吉尔曼明确意识到两性之间的不平等并非与生俱来,而是父权社会的必然产物。因此,作者构想出同莫尔《乌托邦》相似的理想社会,针对女性工作、教育和生育等具体问题,吉尔曼在小说中给出了相应的解决方案。女性运动第一次浪潮影响下的女性乌托邦作品表现温和。同时受其影响,女性乌托邦小说将女性主义关心的议题融入小说。本章通过分析过渡性的《克兰福德镇》和女性乌托邦小说代表作《她乡》,表现出两位作者虽然都不赞同某些男性特质,但仍然认为两性融合、和谐相处的模式最值得推崇,这表达了那个时期女性期待改良社会以实现美好社会的愿望。 本文第四章的分析对象为20世纪融入科技元素的女性乌托邦小说。在科幻小说的影响下,女性乌托邦小说借助科技元素和恶托邦写作形式,批判了父权制中的性别歧视。女性运动第二次浪潮的主要目标是批判性别主义、性别歧视和男性权力,认为虽然女性主义取得了一定的进步,但是性别歧视仍隐性地存在于社会生活的方方面面。科幻小说自20世纪以来,经历了从排斥女性到融合女性的过程,科幻文学的发展为女性乌托邦小说注入了新的血液。这段时期出现的女性乌托邦小说大多可以归为女性科幻小说,本章以《女男人》(The Female Man)、《时间边缘上的女人》(Woman on the Edge of Time)和《黑暗的左手》(The Left Hand of Darkness)为代表。三部小说融入科学元素,深入思考了女性主体性等问题。如在乔安娜·拉斯(Joanna Russ,1937-2011)的《女男人》中,四个女主人公可以看作一个女性主体分裂出的四个层面,在小说结尾重新获得了身份认同。而在《时间边缘上的女人》中,作者玛吉·皮尔斯(Marge Piercy, 1936-)通过让女主人公康妮穿梭于现实社会和乌托邦社会来表现城市恶托邦和乡村乌托邦之间的对立。厄休拉·勒·奎恩(Ursula K.Le Guin,1929-)在《黑暗的左手》中将格森星球描绘成没有性别歧视的乌托邦社会。作者在这部女性思想实验小说中塑造了雌雄同体的格森人,有助于去除性别因素后思考人类最本质的东西。不管是拉斯对女性主体性的探讨,皮尔斯对男性恶托邦世界和女性乌托邦世界的并置,还是勒·奎恩通过雌雄同体模式对性别本质的反思,都表现出受第二次浪潮的影响,女性作家开始思考性别关系背后更深刻的东西,以及女性作家对理想女性社会模式的尝试。 1960-1980年是乌托邦发展的繁荣期,而80年代后则被恶托邦这片乌云笼罩,论文的第五章描述了女性恶托邦小说的发展。如果说乌托邦描绘的是美好世界,那么恶托邦则描绘了邪恶之地。乌托邦中推崇的自由和谐在恶托邦小说中转化成了压制;乌托邦所倡导的无政府状态在恶托邦中由极权统治取代。恶托邦小说具有现实批判性,旨在揭露现实生活中的弊端,以此警示人们。70年代女性乌托邦小说鼎盛一时,恶托邦小说传统也出现了女性主义转向,由“性政治”立场发出的挑战,既有针对父权制军事统治与污染问题(核战)的,也有对同期女性主义过激倾向的警觉和反思。本章以《使女的故事》(The Handmaid's Tale)和《新夏娃的激情》(The Passion of New Eve)两部女性恶托邦代表小说为例解读女性恶托邦小说对父权社会的批判。《使女的故事》被誉为女版《一九八四》(Nineteen Eighty-Four),描述了极权社会基列国中作为生育容器的使女的悲惨命运。作者阿特伍德(Margaret Atwood,1939-)通过恶托邦小说对女性主义进行深刻反思,并且批判了宗教原教旨主义。在《新夏娃的激情》中,安吉拉·卡特(Angela Carter,1940-1992)通过怪诞的写作手法,表达出作者对现实社会中女性生存处境的思考,以及对性别问题的关注。同时卡特在小说中解构了母权神话,运用恶托邦的策略打破了母权制下的女性幻想。从乌托邦发展到恶托邦,女性作家采取越来越激进的策略描写父权社会可能带来的破坏性影响。本章通过对两部具有代表性的女性恶托邦小说的分析,指出恶托邦作为乌托邦的一个分支,内含有乌托邦希望。通过对未来的警示,恶托邦暗含人类有能力改变现实中的种种弊端。作为女性主义的武器之一,女性恶托邦小说批判了以父权为中心的社会,呈现多种可能性。 从17世纪的《光荣世界》到20世纪的女性恶托邦小说,女性乌托邦小说的发展折射出其对应时代女性主义思想的发展。从朦胧的女性主义思想,到明确的女性诉求,再到对女性主体性的追求以及最后的恶托邦写作,女性乌托邦小说同女性主义思想同步发展。传统的男性乌托邦照搬了现实社会中的男女等级关系,视其为理所当然。而女性作家意识到这种行为本身是父权制的产物,因此她们在女性乌托邦小说中直接或间接地批判父权制。女性乌托邦作品将父权制视为一种不合理的存在,它没能为女性的发展提供良好的环境,反而限制了女性能力的发展。要建立一个性别平等的社会,女性乌托邦作者倡导回归一种自然和谐、释放天性的原初环境。 女性乌托邦的种种特点使其成为女性主义者手中的武器,用来表达女性主义思想,捍卫女性的权益。同时女性乌托邦从传统哲学和女性主义那里汲取营养,使自己枝繁叶茂。女性乌托邦和女性主义思想的亲缘性使二者一拍即合,结成联盟。一方面女性乌托邦吸收不同女性主义流派的思想,并且反映在作品中;另一方面,乌托邦小说这一文类为女性主义提供了绝佳的场地,让女性主义可以尽情发挥。女性乌托邦属于乌托邦文学的亚类,呈现出女性对美好社会和合理政治制度的设计。女性乌托邦最大的特点是对两性关系的关注,虽然女性乌托邦社会表现出不同的社会模式,但她们的共同目标都是解构男女二元对立,改变女性在男权社会中的“第二性”地位。因此,本文以乌托邦的“希望”内涵为基础,从乌托邦的政治性以及社会文化出发,指出乌托邦小说并非空想,它是连接过去、现在和将来的纽带。乌托邦的群众基础有助于女性主义思想的传播,其政治批判性和社会正义性有助于改变文学场中的权力关系,从而颠覆男权话语模式。乌托邦文学同女性主义相辅相成,所形成的张力构成女性乌托邦小说的独特魅力,使其成为文学史上一道独特的风景线。 关键词:女性乌托邦;小说;父权制;女性主义;恶托邦

英文摘要

For a long time, Utopian literature has attracted considerable attention, for it records the wish for a better life in different times by different people. Traditional utopian literature is mainly created by male writers, fabricating an ideal society for themselves. This ideal society continues to implement extant sexually biased rules and regulations, instead of taking women into consideration. Comparatively, feminist utopian literature has long been ignored, until the importance of female writers was rediscovered. Marleen Barr, in Women and Utopia, points out that utopia proposes to reconstruct culture, which is also a target of feminist writing. Utopia criticizes reality and pursues ideal life, which become one of the reasons that feminism resorts to utopia as a genre. As a part of popular novels, utopian novels enjoy considerable readers, so they can stimulate the spread of feminist thought. Thus, as the natural battleground of feminism, feminist utopia and feminism are closely entangled. Basically speaking, feminist utopian literature is a kind of political literature, because it is closely related with dominant ideology. In the beginning, feminist utopian literature is endowed with political characteristics. Utopianism and feminism are both critical and strive for change of imperfection, therefore feminism is naturally utopian. Traditional researches on feminist utopian novels are mainly thematic analyses, only a small part of which is based on profound political and philosophical foundation. Based on political characteristics, therefore, this dissertation exposes how feminist utopian novels combine with utopian criticism and absorb feminism to fight against patriarchy. It is helpful to get rid of the long-term misunderstanding-feminist utopian novels are only a fantasy, and to emphasize its political meaning. Meanwhile through analysis of typical and representative texts, this dissertation puts stress on practical meaning of feminist utopian novels: feminist utopian writers, to a certain degree, have changed power relationship in the field of literary production, disclosed the marginal position of women, and conveyed their good wishes for sexual equality. The writing strategy in feminist utopian novels can embody their political and critical function, and finally disturbs patriarchal discourse pattern. The term “utopia” comes from Utopia of Thomas More, and it means good but non-existent society. Early scholars researching on utopia take “good but non-existent society” as its definition. Ernst Bloch, a German philosopher, is the first person that does research on utopia from the perspective of philosophy. In his masterpiece The Principle of Hope, Bloch describes the hope of human being for a better life. This dissertation, therefore, discards perfection of utopia, and shifts its attention to the inner hope contained in utopian spirit. Utopianism exists as far as Hebrew prophets' times. From then on, taking utopian literature as a carrier, people of different times can fully express their utopianism. Therefore, this dissertation starts from the concept and definition of utopia, in an effort to present its development track. Then Chapter One expounds feminist writing in feminist utopian novels and their political and philosophical foundation. According to liner development of feminist utopian novels, Chapter Two to Chapter Five correspond to four phases respectively: initial stage from 1600 to 1800; the phase of rapid development from 1840 to 1925; the period of prosperity from 1960 to 1980; and dystopian times after 1980s. This dissertation selects the most typical and representative feminist utopian novels to analyze through close reading, in order to illustrate how feminism criticizes patriarchy with the help of utopia as a genre. Feminist utopian novels are products of feminism and utopianism, thus Chapter One expounds feminist utopian writing and its political and philosophical foundation. This chapter presents a general description of feminist utopian novels and feminism, illustrating different schools of feminism and putting stress on the point that feminist utopian novels are natural battleground of feminism. On the one hand, feminism provides nourishment for development and growth of feminism utopian novels. On the other hand, feminist utopian novels become an important carrier for the spread of feminism. Once combining, they burst out tremendous strength because of the affinity between feminist utopian novels and feminism. Through expounding political and philosophical foundation of utopia as a genre, Chapter One aims to illustrate that utopian criticism works as a weapon for female writers to change traditional male utopian writing. Therefore, the combination of utopian genre and feminism are political: the profound philosophical essence and political foundation become a strong weapon for feminists to fight against patriarchal discourse. When in a patriarchal society full of hostility, female writers have to resort to utopian genre to express their desire for a better life without sexism. From Chapter Two to Chapter Five are detailed analyses of nine typical and representative English feminist utopian novels. 17〓 century witnesses various kinds of new thinking and the combination of feminist utopia and feminism. Influenced by early sporadic feminist thinking, Margaret Cavendish wrote the first recorded feminist utopian novel The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666). In this novel, Cavendish impairs patriarchy through deconstruction of family-state analogy. In 1762 Sarah Scott wrote another feminist utopian novel called Millennium Hall. As a product of “Bluestocking Feminism”, this novel is concerned with class and gender issues, and Scott imagined a society of gentry capitalism to defend the traditional male capitalism which takes profit as the top priority. Through close reading of these two feminist utopian novels, Chapter Two attempts to present the impairment of patriarchy in The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World, and the reformed capitalism with female virtues in Millennium Hall, in an effort to reflect the awakening of feminist consciousness. Two novels express women’s good wishes for an ideal and equal society. These two novels characterized with feminism are not only helpful to spread feminism, but also stimulate subsequent feminist utopian novels. Chapter Three covers the development of feminist utopian novels from late 19〓 century to early 20〓 century. With clear appeals, feminists claim that they should enjoy equal rights with men in the field of voting, education and employment. There are a lot of feminist utopian novels during the first wave of feminist movement, with Cranford and Herland as the representative. Cranford describes a small society mainly consisting of women. They are endowed with strong self-consciousness and willing to sacrifice their marriage for independence. These women form their cultural circle to prevent erosion of corrupt capitalism. In Herland, Gilman realizes that inequality between men and women is not inborn and natural, but a product of patriarchal society. Therefore, she created a society similar to More’s Utopia, and presented corresponding solutions to issues of female employment, education and birth. Feminist utopian novels during this period of time appear comparatively less radical, and under the influence of first wave of feminist movement they take the most concerned feminist issues into their works. Through analyzing these two novels, Chapter Three manifests that after tentative attempts in novels, Gaskell and Gilman hold a belief that a reformed society consisting of both men and women is desirable, which clearly expresses their longing for a sexually equal and harmonious society. The objects of Chapter Four are feminist utopian novels with scientific features in 20〓 century. Under the influence of science fiction, feminist utopian novels criticize patriarchal sexism by taking good advantage of scientific factors and dystopian narrative strategy. The goal of second wave of feminist movement is to criticize sexism, prejudice and patriarchy. It maintains that although feminism has achieved certain progress, gender discrimination still exists everywhere. In 20〓 century, science fiction experiences exclusion and inclusion of women, and then brings vigor into feminist utopian novels. Feminist utopian novels appearing in this period of time can also be categorized as science fiction, with The Female Man, Women on the Edge of Time, and The Left Hand of Darkness being the masterpieces. With the help of scientific features, these female writers can explore some profound issues concerning female subjectivity. In the novel of The Female Man, four female heroines are seen as four parts of the same subject, and they regain their identity at the end of the novel. In Women on the Edge of Time, Percy presents the opposition between urban dystopia and rural utopia through Connie the heroin shuttling between real society and an imaginary place. In The Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin describes Gethen as a utopian society without discrimination and portrays the Gethnians as androgyny. In Le Guin’s own words, androgyny is a thought experiment which is helpful to explore the essence of human being without sex or sexism. From female subjectivity, to contrast between male dystopia and female utopia, and finally to the reflection of sex essence, all of these novels reflect that feminist writers strive to probe into what is behind sex, and their attempt to reconstruct a new society without sexism. Years from late 19〓 century to the first part of 20〓 century are prolific of feminist utopian writing, while later part of 20〓 century is shadowed with dystopia, thus Chapter Five explores feminist utopian novels appearing in flourishing period. Utopia is about an ideal world, while dystopia is about an evil world. Freedom and harmony upheld in utopian novels are transformed into repression, and anarchy in utopian society is replaced by totalitarianism in dystopian society. Dystopian novels are critical to reveal the defects existing in society, with the target to warn people. In 1970s, feminist utopian novels enter a period of great prosperity, and dystopian novels encounter a “feminist turning”, challenging “sex politics”. Dystopian novels not only fight against patriarchal militarism and pollution issues (nuclear), but also rethink about radical feminism. This dissertation mainly analyses two typical feminist dystopian novels -Handmaid's Tale and The Passion of New Eve -to criticize patriarchal society. Handmaid's Tale is referred to as feminist version of Nineteen Eighty-Four, describing a totalitarian society treating handmaids as walking machines, with the only function of giving birth. Margaret Atwood rethinks about feminism through dystopian novels, and criticizes religious fundamentalism. In The Passion of New Eve, with Gothic features, Angela Carter expresses her views on living condition of women in real society, and her concern about gender issues. She deconstructs matriarchal myth and breaks the fantasy under matriarchy with dystopian tactics. This chapter points out that as a branch of utopian novels, dystopian novels embody utopian desire and suggest that people can change real society. As a weapon for feminism, feminist dystopian novels criticize patriarchal society and present various possibilities. From the first feminist utopian novel in 17〓 century to later feminist dystopian novels in 20〓 century, the development of feminist utopian novels reflects corresponding feminist thought. From early feminist ideas to women’s clear appeals and to female pursuit of subjectivity, feminist utopian novels go side by side with feminism. In traditional male utopian novels, male writers copy hierarchy of actual society without any change, and take it for granted. Female writers, however, realize that this behavior itself is a product of patriarchy, thus they criticize patriarchy directly or indirectly in feminist utopian novels. Feminist utopian works take patriarchy as an unreasonable existence, for it not only fails to provide good circumstances for women’s development, but also restricts their development. To create an equal society without sexism, feminist utopia writers propose to return to a natural, harmonious and initial environment. Feminist utopian novels, with its distinguishing features, become a strong weapon for feminists to propagate their ideas and safeguard their rights and interests. Meanwhile feminist utopia absorbs knowledge from traditional philosophy and feminism, so that it becomes solider and stronger day by day. The affinity between feminist utopia and feminism stimulates them to form an alliance. On the one hand, feminist utopia takes in thoughts of various feminisms and reflects them in works; on the other hand, utopia as a genre is a perfect battleground for feminists to fight against patriarchy. Feminist utopia belongs to utopian literature, presenting women’s desire for a better society. The most distinguished characteristics of feminist utopia is its concern about gender issues. Despite the fact that feminist utopia displays different social modes, they share the same target—deconstruct hierarchical binary opposition and change “the second sex” position of women in patriarchal society. Based on “principle of hope”, this dissertation starts from political foundation and social culture to point out that utopian novels are not a fantasy, but a link connecting past, present and future. The mass base of utopian novels is beneficial to spread feminism, and their political criticism is helpful to change power relation in the field of literary production. The supplement between utopian literature and feminism produces specific tension which becomes the distinctive charm of feminist utopian novels. Key Words: feminist utopia; novel; patriarchy; feminism; dystopia

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