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Existentialism of “Man” in Light in August内 容 摘 要威廉福克纳（1897-1962）被西方评论家誉为20世纪最为 杰出的美国小说家之一。八月之光于1932年10月6日出版，被称作里程碑式的杰作。它远远不是或不仅仅是一部反映南方社会问题的作品，福克纳对人的存在，人的精神问题的深入关注以及他在作品中所展现的人物的存在主义倾向，使作品具有了深刻地存在主义意义。八月之光被美国著名的福克纳研究学者迈克尔.米尔格特评论为“一部远未被读懂的小说”。本文将从存在主义的角度分析人类生存面对的荒谬与异化，追求真实自我存在的痛苦过程，解读作品中人物在荒谬世界中的不同生存状态。福克纳不仅仅是美国南方文学的代言人，他也是一位具有独特哲学视角的作家，对作品中人物的存在主义倾向分析有助于对八月之光有一个全面的了解和评价。关键词：存在主义；荒谬；异化；自我发现AbstractWilliam Faulkner is acclaimed as one of the most outstanding American writers of the twentieth century. Published in October 6, 1932, l Light in August is considered as a masterpiece of Faulkners works. It is far from or not only a piece of works reflecting social or racial problems of the South. Faulkners deep concern to mans existence and spiritual problem and the existentialism of man Faulkner explores in his fiction make it have profound existential significance. Light in August is criticized as a” far from grasp” novel. This thesis will analyze the absurdity and alienation confronted by human and the anguished process in the pursuit of self from the angle of existentialism; interpret the different existential situation of the characters in an absurd world. William Faulkner is not only a spokesman of the American south literature, he is also a writer with unique philosophical colors. The existential analysis of the characters in Light in August helps us to have a general understanding of the novel. Key words: Existentialism; Absurdity; Alienation; Self-discoveryIntroduction:William Faulkner, Nobel Laureate, is today generally regarded as the greatest 20th century American writer. Light in August, the seventh novel of Faulkner is the longest one among his works. It was published in 1932 and then received positive reviews from critics. George ODonnell claimed that Light in August was more outstanding than any other works of Faulkner. Another critic Henry Canby announced that this book was a masterpiece whatever the evaluative criteria were. The several decades of interpretation of Light in August are still confused with the following questions: What is Joe Christmass real identity? Is Joanna Burden as a white racist or a black anti-racist? Is Gail Hightower dead in the end? As Millgate Michael announce that Light in August is a novel “far from grasp”. 1This thesis analyzes the characters of Light in August in the angle of existentialism. The paper is mainly divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the background information of existentialism. This chapter includes two parts. The first part introduces the political and economic background of existentialism. The second part provides a brief introduction to existentialism, focusing on the notions and terms to be used in the thesis. Chapter 2 analyzes the existentialism color of man embodied in the novel: section one is about the absurd world in which man try every way to escape but never made it. Thus the characters in the novel mostly live an agony life. Section two concerns the alienation that is induced by the indifferent and absurd world. The alienated behaviors of different characters in the novel shows man can not escape the alienating forces from the world. Section three analyzes the characters self-discovery and states the achievements of mans authentic selves. Chapter 3 focuses on the significance of existentialism to William Faulkners writing, especially Light in August.1. Background information of existentialismExistentialism is a term applied to the work of 19th and 20th century philosophers who despite of profound doctrinal differences, generally held that the focus of philosophical thought should be dealt with the conditions of existence of the individual person and their emotions, actions, responsibilities and thoughts. Existentialism arose in the western world in the early twentieth century. Its flourishment closely related to the social background. Two world wars and the great depression destroyed the peace of the world as well as humans life. People became homeless both physically and mentally. They needed a theory to release their dissatisfaction to the absurd reality to explain their profound feeling of alienation. Thus, existentialism came into being. As a philosophical trend, existentialism has its own origin and history as well as some basic thought which shared by almost all the existentialists.Existentialism arose when the western countries experienced a general crisis in every field. The two world wars and the great depression broke the peace of the world. Many people became homeless. People began to lose their sense of security. They saw themselves living a lonely helpless and unstable life. The no longer believed in the political, religious and ethical theories and rules that had been dominating peoples thinking for centuries. The coming of modern times made people own more money, more science and technology, more cultivation and more human rights. The great damages of the two world wars and the great depression hurt people badly to every sense. This great change in human history give rise to existentialism which expresses in a striking way the result of that crisis. Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, “despite profound doctrinal differences”, 2 generally held that the focus of philosophical thought should be“to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and their emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts”. 3 This is a reaction to the unrest world where people can not find the meaning of life, can not realize his authentic self, even they dont know who himself is. Though differing a lot in their specific views, these thinkers are unanimous in their opposition to the traditional main cultureEssentialism. At the same time it challenges essentialism and emphasize the question “Who am I?” instead of the questions “what am I?” and “what it is to be human?”Following the Second World War, existentialism became a well-known and significant philosophical and cultural movement, mainly through the public prominence of two French writers, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, who wrote best-selling novels, plays and widely-read journalism as well as theoretical texts. These years also saw the growing reputation outside Germany of Heideggers book Being and Time. When Sartres massive philosophical work Being and Nothingness appeared in 1943, it was instantly heralded as a new philosophical classic. By wars end, he became the famous proponent of his atheistic brand of existentialism. All through his life, Sartre was concerned with such things as freedom, choice, personal authenticity, relationship with the world and the other people, and about which meanings and values are generated by individuals. Sartre describes existentialism as being about human existence, as opposed to the existence of other beings. To be sure, it must take other beings into account, but man existence is its focus. Sartres morality and his view of humanism, his idea of the absurdity of universe, alienation or the loss of mans identity as human being, and the search for self as a result are several persistent and dominant ones among all the existential concepts and themes. Existentialism is made up of diversified theories of many thinkers. There are some general thought which was shared by those existentialists. As a leading exponent of existentialism, Sartres main concepts of existentialism are most popular and most acceptable among the philosophical trend. The first and most popularly shared by existentialists is the absurdity of the world. The notion of the “absurd” contains the idea that there is no meaning to be found in the world beyond what meaning we give to it. This meaninglessness also encompasses the “amorality” or unfairness of the world. To the world, metaphorically speaking, there is no such thing as a good person or a bad thing; what happens, and it may just as well happen to a good person as to a bad person. Because of the worlds absurdity, at any point in time, anything can happen to anyone, and a tragic event could plummet someone into direct confrontation with the Absurd world. The notion of the “absurd” has been prominent in literature throughout history. Sren Kierkegaard, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky and many of the literary works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus contain descriptions of people who encounter the absurdity of the world. Albert Camus studied the issue of the absurd in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus. Mans dilemma is the confrontation of intention and reality. Moreover, existence is a paradox, which cannot be precisely understood by rational thought. So there is no rational or human solution to the dilemma of human existence. Sartre maintains that “the universe is without purpose; it is neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral”5. Human life is absurd and there is nothing to justify human existing. Nothing in or beyond being can explain a conscious beings presence. Usually, the cosmic absurdity is presented through various things like chance, coincidence, and accident and so on. Another basic point of existentialism is that of mans alienation and estrangement from the existence. Existentialists consider man as a lonely figure, alienated from himself, from others and from the universe .Anguish and the sense of absurdity are experienced when man considers the contingency of our situation in the world. Gradually, isolation, alienation and sense of anxiety develop at times towards suicidal tendencies. Man is always overwhelmed by the dread of being, and is haunted by the feeling of being lost. The universe dominates us human beings. Therefore, the “self” falls into a state of divided selfhood in which one is distanced from ones true being and has to face the alienated being. We are bound to suffer anguish and the sense of absurdity. With so much disappointment, man tends to withdraw into a state of secret life, and live in accordance with a potential self. From then on, man is continually alienated, opposing all the modes of life that deprive him of his true self. Sartre and many other existentialist thinkers all criticize such dehumanizing effects and claims that human need to liberate himself from the universality of mankind.Above all, the existential attitude is an attitude of self-consciousness: One feels oneself isolated, threatened, helpless, and meaningless. One feels oneself thrown into a threatening world. In isolation, one attacks the world and discovers that, the threats are without ultimate meaning and the human world is typically, even essentially, a hypocritical world. Then, one regards oneself as the creator of meaning, as absurd hero, as prophet, saint or buffoon. One becomes more self-conscious and feels impotent in the face of the world, which becomes increasingly indifferent and utterly absurd. In desperate loneliness, one seeks camaraderie through rebellion, art and existential philosophy while every tension increases his self-consciousness and every increase in self-consciousness exaggerates the irresolvable tension with the world. Self- consciousness in existential sense is the recognition that there is no self rather than the awareness of the self. Self-consciousness deprives the world of its authority, its given values and it deprives consciousness of its innocence.In the absurd world man lost his own identity, thus self-conscious is important in existentialists belief. They claimed that man is responsible for himself, and man is free to choose his own life in order to find his self-awareness and his authentic-self as well as meaning in life. Man is also has to be responsible to his own choice.The basic beliefs of Existentialists focus on the existence of each human being, especially on the whole being of each person. Jean-Paul Sartre carried further the human centered interpretation of existence. In 1940s, he announced, Existence precedes essence.4 Thus, rather than accepting an imposed, predefined image of human life and its meaning, existential thinkers insist upon the free choice of individual in the pursuit of self. Existentialists regard the person as a whole being as he or she exists in the world. From Heidegger to Sartre, Existentialists regard that the individual always exists with a situation, and situations are a universal fact of human existence, even though the particulars of any one situation are specific and constrained. The situation is absurd and man feel alienation in this situation, trying to pursuit their authentic self though in futile. In Light in August, Faulkner gave a full display of these existentialism ideals to “man”, which we will analyze in details. Existentialism of Man Embodied in Light in AugustWilliam Faulkner, a famous South American writer, he did not read many existential works. But his works are with existential color more or less. In Light in August Faulkner undertook the difficult task of dealing with many of complex and painful issues of that time, race relations in the American south, and the burdens of repressive cultural and religious traditions. And furthermore, the complex issues went deep into the modern theme of alienationthe loss of personal identity, of community, and of root. He dramatized, in a powerful way, an absurd southern world, and alienated and helpless individuals which were caused by the strong collision between the changing and potential transforming and the fixed and dogmatic system of belief in the south. This chapter will analyzes Light in august from the angle of existentialism, mainly the absurdity of the world, mans alienation and self-pursuit in the absurd world.1.1 Absurdity of the worldFaulkner depicts the absurdity, which as a pervasive sensation or a temporary one is induced by personal crisis in the fiction. In his Light in August, characters are living in the world of irrationality and absurdity. They are either confronting absurd events in an absurd environment, or doing absurd events, such as self-indulgence. Everything in such a world is unbalanced, anomalous and abnormal. However, they are incapable of changing the irrationality and absurdity of the world. In the existentialist writerSartres Nausea, in the protagonists eyes everything happens without reason, human life is absurd, the world has no structure, and history has no law. It is obvious that “the absurdity of the world existing in Faulkners Light in August echoes Sartres works.” 52.11. Joes Anguished Life in the Absurd World Of all the characters, Joe is the typical representative who confronts numbers of crisis and tastes the absurdity of the world. The south racism spreads widely, invades the southerners life and poisons their minds. Owing to his possible blood relationship with black people, Joe lives in an absurd world. Joe Christmass life-long anguish is that he must but cannot identify himself as Negro or white. He must know what he can never know, and his life is a process of self-crucifixion. Joe thinks as he does because of the absolutism of his grandfather and his foster-father. His grandfather, Joe Hines, is perhaps the most obvious example in the novel of the escapee that Faulkner describes. Before his daughters escaped with the circus man, Hiness tensions are expressed through violence, and his violence is transformed into a blend of religious and racial fanaticism. He shot Joes father, put him to the door of orphanage and sit in the orphanage to watch his grandson. Joe should have a clear identity but totally destroyed by his grandfather since his birth. Growing up under Hiness fanaticism, Joe becomes the follower of Hine. It makes him a ghost.McEachern, Joes foster-father, is the victim of a religious concept that equates lifes pleasure with evil. Joe hates his foster-father, but the cold, almost impersonal punishment for wrong doing appeals to him more than the sympathy of his foster-mother. In resisting McEachern, Joe becomes as extreme and rigid as the man he hates. When he is beaten his “body might have been wood or stone; a post or a tower upon which the sentient part of him mused like a hermit, contemplative and remote with ecstasy and self-crucifixion.”6 These two extremists leave their ineradicable mark upon Joe Christmas. Faulkner provides only a summary of the formative influences upon Gail Hightower and Joanna Burden, he reveals the process of forming an escapee from life by depicting the crucial traumas of Joes early years. There are two incidents, which are soul-searing, occur at the orphanage in which Hines places his grandson on Christmas Eve. Over the years, by watching him constantly, Hines makes the child feel isolated from the other children:“Because he didnt play with the other children no more now. He stayed by himself.and Doc Hines said to him,Why dont you play with them other children like you used to? And he didnt say anything and old Doc Hines said, Is it because they call you nigger? and he didnt say nothing and old Doc Hines said, Do you think you are a nigger because God has marked your face? and he said, Is God a nigger too? and old Doc Hines said, He is the Lord God of wrathful hosts, His will be done.”7The troubled child asks the Negro gardener, “How come you are a nigger?” Angrily, the Negro says, “who told you I am a nigger, you little white trash bastard.You dont know what you are. And more than that, you wont never know. Youll live and youll die and you wont never know.”8The world is in such an absurd condition where racial division is so serious; where the black himself can not accept his own identity as a black. Thus Joes world becomes “a void, a nothing, a nada and his attitude toward humanity is indifference and denial.”9 Little Joe doesnt know why other child calls him “nigger”, yet he has no different appearance with other white orphans. The little child is ignorant of the word “nigger”, even so, the humiliating nickname roots in the little heart and finally takes his emotion away and excessively controls his fate when he gradually grows up. In McEachern home, he is still a foreigner, who couldnt either accept either the cruel taming from his foster father or the kindness from his foster mother. From the age of 8 to the later escaping, he has been “enjoying” his life under the whips and strict Puritanism. The embarrassing homely education and family relationship colors another kind of absurdity towards his life and minds.Joe encounters the double frustration of unclear identity and possible black blood, which paints the insecure and painful color in the canvas of his life. He couldnt escape the adverse circumstances of racism. In the result, he couldnt be accepted by any society: the white refuses him for his black blood, while the black isolates him for his white skin. Since no place situates in either of the two worlds, Joe has no choice but to struggle in agony with his own fate.In the impulse of his inner conflicts and contradiction, he kills his loved sweetheart Joanna. On Friday, the day Christ suffered calamity, Joe is also lynched by a white man as an ending of his painful life. 2.12 Hightowers Self-indulgence in the absurd reality As Joe, Hightower is also a victim of the absurd world. He is a slave of daydreams. The phantoms of the past memory have been harassing him from his childhood. He has trapped himself inside an old story of his grandfathers dubious heroics in the Civil War, and even develops the story into a tale of adventures and legends, which confuses him between reality and imagination. Young Hightower, at first, is a minister with good religious education and promising future. After graduating from the seminary, he tries every means to go to Jefferson as he
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