英语专业毕业论文(3)

Abstract (Chinese & English)

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1

Chapter One: Forms in Novel ................................................................................... 7

1.1 What Is Form?.................................................................................................... 7

1.2 The Evolution of Novel Forms .......................................................................... 8

1.3 What Is New in the Form of The Golden Notebook ........................................ 11

Chapter Two: Novel and Painting .......................................................................... 15

2.1 Novel and Painting........................................................................................... 15

2.2 What Is Cubism? .............................................................................................. 18

Chapter Three: Cubism in the Form of The Golden Notebook ............................ 20

3.1 Simultaneity: The Union of Time and Space ................................................... 20

3.1.1 Temporal Form in The Golden Notebook ................................................. 22

3.1.2 Spatial Form in The Golden Notebook ..................................................... 24

3.2 Multiplicity: Fragments and Unity................................................................... 26

3.2.1 Breaking into Fragments: Divided Selves in the Four Notebooks........... 28

3.2.2 Parts into Whole: the Golden Notebook .................................................. 31

3.2.3 An Irony: Free Women............................................................................. 31

3.3 Reflexivity: From Reality to Observation........................................................ 34

Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 39

Bibliography............................................................................................................... 44

Acknowledgements

学位论文独创性声明

学位论文知识产权权属声明

Introduction

Literary Review of Doris Lessing and The Golden Notebook

After many years of toiling in writing, Doris Lessing has now safely established herself as being “the most extraordinary woman writer” (Greene, 1994: 1) and “very much a representative writer for our time” (Bloom, 1986: 7). Her major work The Golden Notebook has been ranked by many critics as “one of the most powerful of post-war British novels” and “the most remarkable work by a woman to appear in Britain since Virginia Woolf’s” (Bradbury, 2004: 381).

Doris Lessing’s critical reputation is remarkable from the very beginning of her literary career. Her success as a professional writer began with the publication of her first novel The Grass Is Singing. It was accepted by Michael Joseph in London in 1950 and was an instant success, being immediately recognized as an exceptional novel on colonialism. “I had very good reviews, and I had enough money to keep me going for a bit” (Bookshelf, 1992), as Doris Lessing recalled her early success in an interview by BBC Radio. Her fame has gained steadily ever since.

It took Lessing nearly two decades following her first novel to write her next important work, the series of Children of Violence, between 1952, when Martha Quest was published, and 1969, when The Four-Gated City appeared. In the context of postwar retreat to the conventional and the conservative, The Children of Violence was “something new” (Greene, 1994: 15) indeed. It focuses on Martha Quest’s difficult, painful process of educating herself in search of true identity. Despite its conventional form, the vivid depiction of Martha’s growth in consciousness evokes the warm sympathy from many readers, especially young women who seemed to have undergone similar frustration. True to what Jenny Taylor observes, “Martha’s quest became the epic, archetypal story of our times” (Taylor, 1982: 5).

With the publication of The Golden Notebook, Lessing seems to have reached the peak of her literary fame. The impact it brought to readers as well as critics is tremendous. Gayle Greene frankly evaluates it as “a transformative work and touchstone for a generation” (Greene, 1994: 17).

Despite her intention of minimizing feminism both as a historical and a contemporary influence on her writing, Lessing is regarded as one of the early voices of the feminist movement, and The Golden Notebook one of its key texts. Margaret Drabble hails The Golden Notebook as “a document in the history of (women’s) liberation”(Showalter, 2004: 311). “It was the first book I’ve read, apart from Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex, which seemed to be really addressing the problems of women in the contemporary world,” says Margaret Drabble, “Nobody seemed to have written about them in the way that we were experiencing them” (Bookshelf, 1992). Showalter uses the word “monumental” to highlight it among the works of twentieth-century women writers. She interprets the novel as “the work of essential feminist implications” (Showalter, 2004: 311). Elizabeth Wilson describes it as “a manual of woman experience” (Wilson, 1982: 71). Susan Lardner calls it “a feminist gospel, a representative of Modern Woman” (Lardner, 1983: 144). Susan Lyndon describes it as “almost a Little Red Book of women’s liberationists,” “probably the most widely read and deeply appreciated book on the women’s liberation reading list, Simone de …… 此处隐藏：3523字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……