“I Would Prefer Not to”- Reasons Behind Bartlebys Death in Bartleby, the Scrivener开题报告

 2022-07-30 14:59:51

1. 研究目的与意义

Bartleby''s demotivation and consequent demise in Bartleby, the Scrivener has been an enigma in the literary world, which cannot be fully understood from a single perspective of current study, be it social or psychological. Efforts have been made by critics, sociologists and even psychologists, who probed into this eccentric figure with their expertise, but their research was largely confined to their own fields. This paper investigates into the inscrutable Bartleby by illustrating the mutual effects external and internal factors have on each other, and finally on Bartleby, which led to death. Apart from offering a panoramic view of America, especially of Wall Street in 1850s, deciphering Bartleby in such an all-round way provides an insight into the relation between society and individual, and sheds some light on how we can tactfully deal with such relation.

2. 研究内容和预期目标

This paper focuses on the enigmatic figure of Bartleby in Bartleby, the Scrivener, who first worked meticulously as a copyist in a lawyer#8217;s office, but soon rejected every task assigned to him. Odder still, in spite of the lawyer#8217;s persistent efforts to drive Bartleby away, he insisted to stay in the office, wandering like a ghost, which shocked not only the lawyer, but readers. Finally, Bartleby#8217;s death due to starvation in the prison amplified such shock to its peak. To better interpret Bartleby#8217;s seemingly uninterpretable behavior, this paper illustrates former interpretations of Bartleby from two major perspectives: social and psychological, and by combining them together, explains how social and psychological factors affect each other and further alienate the protagonist. With deep exploration into the US, into New York, and into Wall Street in 1850s, and knowledge in psychology, the author wants to solve this mystery in a more convincible way.

3. 国内外研究现状

I.Social PerspectivesMost scholars interpreted Bartleby#8217;s death from social perspectives, especially from political, economic and ethical environment of America in 1850s.Graham Thompson (2000) viewed Bartleby#8217;s demise as the result of ethical shackles on homosexuality. Comparing dead letters to dead men, both of which are misread in false contexts, he pointed out that it was Bartleby#8217;s inappropriate behavior at the office, which would be appropriate in a male-male relation, that made him eccentric and later terrifying. The lawyer clearly recognized that his identity or status relied upon the disapproval of such indecent male-male relation, and as a result, #8220;Bartleby died as a direct consequence of the lawyer-narrator''s quest to be rid of that which is proximate and which is made radically other#8221;.Yang Zhe (2015) put Bartleby#8217;s tragedy in the context of money-oriented capitalist society. Based on Marxist theory of alienation, he attributed the death of Bartleby to his transformation from an unawakened and alienated scrivener to #8220;a real man with his own agency and subjectivity#8221; who voiced his dissatisfaction with his work and society. Such transformation, in sharp contrast to the deep, unconscious entrapment of his colleagues and employer, gained little support but ended up being suppressed by the capitalist society which was gaining momentum.II.Psychological PerspectivesRecently, the figure of Bartleby has received renewed attention from medical researchers, who explained Bartleby#8217;s enigmatic behavior in pathological ways, and literary and cultural critics began to follow suit.Gertrude Mander (2005) described Bartleby as #8220;a rigid and highly defended narcissistic character whose physical and emotional survival depended on having everything his way#8221;. He believed that Bartleby developed a kind of defiant resistance which was so strong that he #8220;preferred to die rather than took the friendly hand offered him by his employer#8221;.Amit Pinchevski (2011) concluded that shifting from schizophrenia, which used to be a commonly recognized account for Bartleby#8217;s eccentricity in psychological regard, the common diagnosis nowadays was autism, which led to constant failure in communication. Including escape from authority, Bartleby#8217;s solitary acts were actually teetering #8220;on the verge of social suicide#8221;, eventually resulting in his slipping into destruction.

4. 计划与进度安排

1. America in the Mid-19th Century1.1 Unprecedented economic prosperity 1.1.1 Formation of social stratification1.1.2 Ever-increasing demand for workforce 1.2 Reverence for pragmatism1.2.1 Extreme pursuit of utility1.2.2 Repulsion of the useless1.3 Influence of Puritanism1.3.1 Common belief in Providence1.3.2 Confrontation between Puritanism and Pragmatism2. Bartleby#8217;s Position in Wall Street2.1 Physical separation from the surroundings2.2 Alienation from nearby people2.2.1 Exploitation from the lawyer2.2.2 Hostility from colleagues3. Psychological Disorders in Bartleby3.1 Deep pessimism- overly frustrated at futile communication3.2 Autism- constant failures in communication3.3 Defiant resistance- lack of motive for communication4. Correlation Between Social Environment and Psychological Disorders4.1 External impacts on internal disorders4.1.1 Pre-existing autism aggravated by enduring physical separation4.1.2 Increasing depression in the dead letter office 4.2 Individual counter-influence aggravating external impacts4.2.1 From sympathy to fear - the shift in attitude of the lawyer4.2.2 External oppression worsen by Bartleby#8217;s ghostly haunting5. Conclusion

5. 参考文献

1.Abrams, R, E. (1978). #8220;Bartleby#8221; and the fragile pageantry of the ego. ELH, 45(3), 488-500.2.Beja, M. (1978). Bartleby Schizophrenia. The Massachusetts Review, 19(3), 555-568.3.Edelman, L. (2013). Occupy Wall Street: #8220;Bartleby#8221; against the humanities. History of the Present, 3(1), 99-118.4.Mander, G. (2005). Defiant resistance in the service of the impoverished self: Herman Melville#8217;s Bartleby: An illustration of clinical casework. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 22(2), 217-226.5.Melville, H. (1991). Fiction 100. In James H. Pickering (Ed.), Bartleby, the Scrivener. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.. 6.Pinchevski, A. (2011). Bartleby#8217;s autism: Wandering along incommunicability. Cultural Critique, 78, 27-59.7.Smith, P, A. (1988). Entropy in Melville#8217;s Bartleby, the Scrivener. The Centennial Review, 32(2), 155-1628.Thompson, G. (2000). #8220;Dead letters! #8230; dead Men?#8221;: The rhetoric of the office in Melville''s #8220;Bartleby, the Scrivener#8221;. Journal of American Studies, 34(3), 395-411.9.West, R. (1996). Invisible victims: A comparison of Susan Glaspell''s Jury of Her Peers, and Herman Melville''s Bartleby the Scrivener. Law Literature, 8(1), 203-249.10.Yang Zhe. (2015). Marxist interpretation of alienation of Melville#8217; s Bartleby, the Scrivener. 语言文字学, 9, 78-84.11.陈榕. (2002). #8220;异者#8221;与意识形态之墙--评赫曼#183;麦尔维尔的《抄写员巴特比：一个华尔街的故事》. 解放军外国语学院学报, 25(5), 76-80.12.但汉松. (2016). 重读《抄写员巴特尔比》：一个#8220;后9#183;11#8221;的视角. 外国文学评论, (1), 5-21.13.时佳. (2008). 缮写员巴特比的悲剧--社会属性缺失的产物. 文教资料, (8), 24-26.14.威廉#183;巴雷特. (1999). 非理性的人(杨照艾平, 译). 北京: 商务印书馆.15.吴格非. (2004). 荒谬境遇中的生命抗争--麦尔维尔小说《誊写员巴特比》的存在主义解读. 解放军外国语学院学报, 27(2), 81-86.16. 赵雅芳. (2016). 以人格发展理论解读录事巴托比之死. 开封教育学院学报, 36(7), 45-46.

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