An Existential Reading of Carson McCullers’ Clock Without Hands 卡森.麦卡勒斯《没有指针的钟》的存在主义解读文献综述

 2023-04-22 04:04

文献综述

1.Introduction1.1Research backgroundThe novel connects the characters of the young groups through four main stories.(Cullers, 2017)Those several main storylines described at the same time fully echo and confirm Sartres existential theory: on the one hand, it reflects the coexistence between black and white races, as well as the absurdity and alienation among the same race; on the other hand, it also reveals the choices, efforts and sacrifices they made to eliminate this absurdity. These all reflect the pain and harm caused by racial discrimination.Existentialism is a philosophical school that emerged in the early twenties of the twentieth century. Existential philosophy highly emphasizes the individual and the uniqueness of the individual.Sartre (1847) believes: 'The external world is an irrational and extremely unreal world. Futhermore it is absurd and illusory, so people living in it are destined to be painful, lonely and empty.' The novel has two main storylines running through it. From the first page, Mr. Malone, the pharmacy owner, was diagnosed with leukemia in the hospital. From then on, his life became a clock without hands. On the last page, he closed his eyes calmly and forever, ending his dramatic life. Enming Wang once said that the western United States was slightly inferior to the eastern part due to the terrain and environment, so the products and resources of the western United States are not as rich as the eastern part. The environment affects people, and the discrimination gradually has begun to appear in the United States, which was gradually promoted to the discrimination of whites against blacks (2004). In the late 1990s, there was a marked shift in the paradigm of McCullers research. The reason for the shift in research paradigm is that the United States during the Cold War needed to find an important American nationalist writer culturally, and the main force of the American New Criticism is mostly from the South. And the racism of our story took place in a small town called Milan in the southern United States. From the spring of 1953 to the hot summer of 1954, for more than a year, the protagonists process of finding his identity was recorded in various ways (Emersons, 1962). Loneliness, under Carsons pen, is an absolute existence. Carson did not believe that the individual can break through the hard shell of loneliness (2013). Even with love, family, or religion, people still cannot truly get rid of the loneliness. And each of his novels hid loneliness, which was also a kind of existentialism。

Each of them illustrates the writers life in microcosm, and I would read the character of the most loneliness from The Clock Without Hands, as his final work. Not all existence should exist, but we have no way to decide whether everything should exist, so we can only accept it or try to change it. I believe that most people will choose the later one. In fact, this is also the point I want to convey the most. In the face of existing concepts, this novel specifically refers to racial discrimination. However, each protagonist in the novel shows hard struggles against life,, from the obvious Malone fighting leukemia, to the black man looking for his mother.......1.2 Need of the studyMy purpose is actually to highlight the part of the meaning of existentialism with the help of the book The Clock Without Hands. Philosophy has been a very old topic since ancient times. It seems that philosophy is only set up for some specific groups of people. However, with the progress of the times, various disciplines pay more and more attention to humanistic care, that is, to solve the problems related to human survival and development. Contradiction between spiritual and material aspects. Existentialism can be found in this book as well as in the authors other novels.The guiding significance of existentialism for life lies in the understanding of 'existence and nothingness'. Existence is not the ultimate destination of nothingness, nor is the opposite of nothingness. On the contrary, existence is based on nothingness and is the result of our own choices. In fact, 'existence and nothingness' have given us a very big message in real life. In turn, when we recall the pain in our own life, it is often that we choose the wrong way of behavior or thinking on the basis of nothingness, resulting in Painful 'existence'. Therefore, for us, it is necessary to face up to the fact that the pain is caused by our own choices, and even if the pain has occurred, we can still get rid of it by changing our choices. Of course, getting rid of pain is not to be content with the pleasures in real life, but to make us realize that the purpose of getting rid of pain is to pursue the most fundamental existence or nothingness in life - 'happiness'. Therefore, we can simply understand that, on the basis of nothingness, we choose to stay away from pain in order to realize the existence of life - to pursue happiness.Therefore, existentialism points out the direction for life: we must choose to stay away from pain, have the courage to pursue happiness, and take the initiative to create all happy things.1.3 Research purposesThe paper revolves around the survival dilemma of black Sherman: in the context of racism, Sherman struggles， wanders in a marginalized situation, and finally chooses to prove the meaning of his existence through resistance. On the other side, the young Jester accepts and discovers that she is in crisis and gradually facing up to his differences and expressing his true self. Faced with absurd situation, Malone and the judge react differently, that is, the former chose to fight and the other chooses to escape. In the novel, the characters inquire about their own existence and explore their self-worth in confusion, loneliness, and helplessness, reflecting the authors thinking on the human nature propositions such as the relationship between people, freedom, and the value of human existence. Using existentialism to interpret A Clock Without Hands will help to understand the authors concern for social changes in the South and his reflection on the living conditions of human beings, and also has a positive guiding role in helping to appreciate the authors other works.Existentialism has actually been around us all the time. Anytime we encounter the problem of confronting existentialism. The significance and purpose of this paper are actually to want everyone to have a deep understanding of existentialism and to be able to deal with problems calmly and solve difficulties when confronted with it.2.Literature review2.1Researches on the theory of ExistentialismFirst, existential literature is a typical grand narrative. This grand narrative is the philosophy of existentialism, or 'anthropology'. Because Sartre said that his existentialism 'is a kind of humanism', 'the only theory that gives dignity'. Sartres most influential concept of 'anthropology' is his firm belief that man is absolutely free. He said: 'There is no determinism. Man is free. Man is free.' (1998). But, as George Ritzer said: 'It is out of opposition to this kind of humanism... They tried to decentralize social thought, moving it away from the people focus.' (1998). Sartre was of course unpredictable what would happen after this 'post' study. Starting from this humanitarianism and existentialism, he thought about literature, linked the essence of literature with freedom and existence, and proposed: 'Writing is a certain way of demanding freedom.' (1998) 'The writer, as a free man, resorts to Other free men, he has only one subject: freedom.' (1998).Second, existential literature is the literature that most consciously pursues depth. This depth is to ask the truth of existence through literature and art. This comes from Heidegger. By interpreting Van Goghs 'The Peasant Womans Shoes, Heidegger concluded that 'in the work of art, the truth of being has been set into the work itself'. In the work of art, the truth of beings sets itself up in the work. It can be seen that existentialism has always had a great influence on our modern life.2.2 Researches on Carson McCullers in ChinaThere are some researches from the perspective of narrative art. By exploring the Gothic theme and plot of McCullers works, Shi Hong (2009) argues that McCullers makes her closed art of conceptive processing perfectly match the theme of loneliness and use a variety of artistic means to make the novel more vivid and moving. With further studies of McCullersinheritanceanddevelopment of the Gothic style, Dai Bojun (2015) believes that instead of simply copying the Gothic elements, McCullers incorporates his own unique creative art on the basis of drawing on traditional Gothic novels. At the same time, the gothic is also innovated and developed. In addition, Lu Yao and Ding Yin (2010) used the theory of narratology to study McCullers novel Song of the Sad Cafe, from the perspective of narrative time, rhythm, focus and non-narrative. The study explains the characteristics of the speed and time that the text interlaces the story. Others analyze from the perspective of space. Starting from the perspective of painting space and music space, Li Chunhua (2016) discusses the loneliness of McCullers novels expressed by painting elements and music images and aims to highlight the characters in the novel. The paper states that the loneliness is caused by the depression and spiritual isolation of the space in which those characters live. In Carson McCullers first novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, a sense of space runs through. Starting from the tradition of American Southern Gothic novels, most critics regard the spatial imagery in the works as a claustrophobic and isolated place, thus ignoring the social connotation. Tian Ying (2015) started with the relationship between space and power, focusing on the typical spatial images of the unnamed southern town, such as New York cafe, and Sunshine South playground in the novel. At the same time, it explores those, hidden behind the social and alternative space, are the power mechanism, cultural identity and various social relations. Thus, they constitute a field of power struggle. In the context of the social transition in the American South, Lin Bin (2019) uses Foucaults concept of heterogeneous space and Habermass public sphere theory to interpret the evolution of McCullers cafe, an alternative space..The inherent contradictions, contained in the authors critical perspectives, are revealed. These studies all well illustrate how McCullers deeply explores social issues in the concept of space.In addition, some scholars have conducted research from the perspective of theme. Han Xiaoli and Li Yang (2016) used Butlers Gender Performance Theory to excavate the deep reasons, hidden behind McCullers unique gender concept. The gender identity fundamentally eliminates the mandatory logic of the southern hegemonic culture on binary gender norms, and truly achieves the requirement of Dissolving Gende.Hence, more diverse value of individual existence for women are discoved. For this, there are many studies from the perspective of gender relations, for instance,Jing Xingmei (2016), analyzed the gender political connotation in the novel The Reflection of Golden Eyes and so on. In addition to the relationship between the sexes, Jing Xingmei and Zhu Xinfu (2015) explored the issues of body politics and historical writing in The Clock Without Hands and it is also the main research result of the novel in rent yaers. Other scholars have discussed the issue of race in the writers novels. For example, Xiao Zhiqun (2011) analyzed the images of black people in McCullers novels such as The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Clock Without Hands.In view of the lack of academic researches on The Clock Without Hands, the analysis of the novel from the perspective of existentialism in this paper will undoubtedly make up for the lack of academic circles in this aspect.2.3 Researches on Carson McCullers abroadThe study of McCullers abroad reached the peak in the 1940swhen the New Criticism in Britain and the United States became popular. The backbone of the American New Critic group is a group of critics and writers from the South. Therefore, the symbiotic relationship between the American New Critic group and McCullers research can be said to be in line with the right time, the right place, and the people, for the future related research sets the tone. Although at the end of the 1950s, the New Criticism was strongly impacted by Structuralism, its influence cannot be underestimated today.In the late 1990s, there was a marked shift in the paradigm of McCullers research. In Child Prodigy: The Fame of Carson McCullers, 1940-1990, James notes that the influence of the New Criticism has inspired several formative trends in McCullers research known as Ontological Criticism, Poetic Characteristics an Southern Literary Types. Specifically, Ontological Criticism and Poetic Characteristics are internal studies of the text, while the issue of Southern Literary Genres is an external study of the text. In James view, the reason for the shift in research paradigm is that the United States is during the Cold War. And the main force of the New Criticism in the United States was mostly from the South. Therefore, the study of McCullers is combined with the external factors such as the southern region, society, and culture.At the beginning of the new century, foreign researches on McCullers basically continued the trend mentioned by James: on the one hand, most of the relevant papers were published abroad in recent years, involving issues such as the internal texture and formal aesthetics of works, and discussing some topics like irony art, text tension, grotesque and other themes. For an instance, Starting from the tradition of Gothic American Southern literature and the combination with Bakhtins grotesque theory, Sarah Gleeson-White (2001) analyzes the 'freakish characters' in McCullers novels, such as giants, dwarfs, mute and bisexuals. When explaining the theme of 'grotesque', Sarah Gleeson white is no longer limitedly focusing on the images, metaphors and symbolic meanings inside the text, but she examines the characteristics of the times of the authors novels by taking the 'New South' after the civil war as an important reference for the external researches. Larry Hershon(2008) also pays attention to characteristics of the southern region in McCullers works. Instead of starting from the racial contradiction between black-and-white, he takes characters of the Jewish in the novel as his study object. Against the political context of fascism and anti Semitism from the 1930s to 1940s, he excavated the historical significance of the novel by analyzing the Jewish characters full of tensions.On the other hand, some other papers broke through the limitations of the internal research of the text in the research of the New Criticis in the 1940s, extended the research beyond the text, and placed the interpretation of the works in the field of literature in the southern region of the United States. With regard to the research paradigm, the combination of internal and external is achieved. By analyzing The Member of the Wedding (1946),Patricia Yaeger (2001) takes the 'kitchen scene' as the starting point and discusses the history of racial politics and surrealism contained in this home space. By combing the south, modernity and nationality, Leigh Anne Duck (2001) investigate the southern towns in her works from a broader national and global spatial level. He believes that as one of the progressive writers of the south, the author expressed and promoted the cosmopolitanism of the South. These studies are deservingreference for this paper.ReferencesBraudy, L. (2005). From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and Changing Nature of Masculinity. New York: Random.Emersons, D. (1962). The Ambiguities of Clock without Hands, Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, 3(3), 15-28.Enming, W. (2004). American Culture and Society. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Guignon, C. B. (2006), The Cambridge Companion to Heideggar. Cambridge: Cambridge University of Virginia Press. Abelove, H. (2016). Freud, Male Homosexuality, and the Americans. Studies in Gender amp; Sexuality, 17(2), 80-85.Cobb J. C. (2005). Away down South: A History of Southern Identity. New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.Eagleton, T. (1990). The Ideology of the Aesthetic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.Earnshaw, S.(2006). Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.Gleeson-White, Sarah. (2001). Revisiting the Southern Grotesque: Mikhail Bakhtin and the Case of Carson McCullers. The Southern Literary Journal. Hershon, Larry. (2008). Tension and Transcendence: The Jew in the Fiction of Carson McCullers. The Southern Literary Journal 41.1: 5272Whitt, Jan. (2008). The Exiled Heir: An Introduction to Carson McCullers and Her Work. Reflections in a Critical Eye: Essays on Carson McCullers. Ed. Jan Whitt. Lanham: UP of America, xiiixxxi.Yaeger, Patricia. (2000). Dirt and Desire: Reconstructing Southern Womens Writing, 1930 1990. Chicago and London: U of Chicago P.Proehl, Kristen. (2016) Coming of Age in the Queer South: Friendship and Social Difference in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Carson McCullers in the Twenty-First Century. Ed. Alison Graham-Bertolini and Casey Kayser. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan: 14356.Richards, Gary.(2005). Lovers and Beloveds: Sexual Otherness in Southern Fiction, 19361961. Baton Rouge: Louisianan State UP.车文博（2003），《人本主义心理学》。

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