中国地质大学江城学院

    毕业论文综述报告

    从弗洛伊德人格结构解读《金色笔记》中安娜的困境与出路

    姓 名？ 樊荔枝

    专 业？ 英 语

    班 级？ 41300804

    学 号？ 4130080413

    指导教师？ 冯光华 教授

    摘 要

    2007年度诺贝尔文学奖得主多丽丝?莱辛(Doris Lessing~1919一)是当代英国最重要的作家之一。莱辛的代表作《金色笔记》问世~这部小说因其在结构上的创新和对五十年代英国社会的精神状态和道德状况的反映而成为二十世纪英国文学的一部经典之作~并奠定了莱辛在当代英国文坛的重要地位。

    本文以精神分析理论分析当代英国作家多丽思?莱辛的作品《金色笔记》~ 尝试利用弗洛伊德的人格结构理论的角度和视野诠释其创作的意义。通过对文本的具体分析~对小说安娜对迈克尔的情感冲突进行分析~深入研究安娜的内心世界和精神面貌~能够为解读作品提供一个人格结构的视角~分析主人公安娜从分裂到整合的心路历程,即在分裂的状态下认识自我、重新建构健康的新自我的曲折道路~揭示其在现代社会的精神世界中自我的迷失和自我的寻找的实质,探讨了安娜在感情分裂后如何保持心理上的完整~如何理解个人本质与人生意义的问题。

    关键词;金色笔记 精神分析 人格结构理论 情感冲突

    ABSTRACT

    The winner of Nobel Prize for Literature of 2007 Doris Lessing(Doris Lessing~1919一)is

    one of the most famous writers in contemporary English literature . Lessing’s masterpiece The

    Golden Notebook was published?Because of its successful reflection of people’s ethical and

    spiritual states in the 1950s’British society~the novel is considered as a masterpiece in

    contemporary English literature and settled Lessing’s important status in contemporary English

    literature world?

    The thesis applies psychoanalytical theories to analyzing the modern British writer Doris Lessing‟s The Golden Notebook, attempting to explore the significance from Freudian

    personality structure perspective. By presenting Ann’s emotional conflict to Michael ~this

    thesis pictures a general personality structure overview of the minds and hearts to understand Anna‟s spiritual process from fragmentation to unity, namely, her self-saving from the self-struggling state through pursuit of healthy self. It aims to explore the process and the significance of the self-discovery and reveal the loss of self in spiritual world and the essence of self-discovery and how to understand the problem between individual essence and living significance in a disordered world.

    Key Words?The Golden Notebook Psychoanalysis personality structure free woman

    emotional conflict

1Introduction

    Doris Lessing was born in a British family in Persia on October 22~1919?When she was

    five years old~her family moved to Southern Rhodesia with the hope to make a fortune through farming?So Lessing spent her solitary but unconfined childhood on the Rhodesian veldt?It Was

    also the free and unconfined life in her childhood made her independent in the mind in her whole life and her writing often goes beyond the literary convention both in content and style?Doris

    Lessing’s works are complicated and formidable for most readers~but her own life experiences

    may give US a hint about the understanding of her novels and herself?

    The Golden Notebook depicts Anna’s strenuous struggle for spiritual tranquility and

    freedom in the chaotic mid—twentieth century English society?Anna Woolf is the protagonist of

    the novel?She is a divorced woman bringing up her little daughter, Janet alone in London~a

    mistress keeping close relationship with Michael~a married man~for five years but abandoned

    by him~a political activist yet in face of the disillusion of communism~and a writer caught in a

    personal and artistic crisis?Anna has published a novel named Frontiers of War~which is highly

    successful and a best seller?

    There is no exception with Doris Lessing‟s creation of The Golden Notebook. In this novel,

    with the subject matter based on the female emotional life, Lessing depicts the society and life from the perspective of the intellectual women, and gives special and careful concern to the characters‟ psychological description. Lessing writes in the introduction of the novel: “This theme of „breakdown‟, that sometimes when people „crack up‟ it is a way of self-healing, of the

    inner self‟s dismissing false dichotomies and divisions, has of course been written about by other people, as well as by me, since then.” (Lessing, 2008) The novel depicts the protagonist Anna

    Woolf‟s psychological experience with Michael and after that how to overcome a “writer‟s

    block”, defeat spiritual fragmentation and integrate a divided self. According to Eagleton,

    psychoanalysis is not only a theory of the human mind, but a practice for curing those who are considered mentally ill or disturbed (Teng, 2006). The theme reflected in this novel finds convincing evidence for applying psychoanalytical approach to it.

    The paper is concerned with the psychoanalytic interpretation of the characters in the novel

    by employing a classical theory of Freudian personality structure. As will be argued by the thesis, from the protagonist Anna Woolf to other characters, their inner worlds will be exposed and analyzed in depth. It aims at a further exploration of the value and essence of the novel, which will be beneficial to the reader for a better and deeper appreciation of this outstanding work. 1.1 An Introduction to Doris Lessing and Her Literary Achievement

    Doris Lessing’s works are complicated and formidable for most readers~but her own life

    experiences may give US a hint about the understanding of her novels and herself?Doris Lessing

    1919?When she was five years old~her was born in a British family in Persia on October 22~

    family moved to Southern Rhodesia with the hope to make a fortune through farming?So

    Lessing spent her solitary but unconfined childhood on the Rhodesian veldt?It Was also the free

    and unconfined life in her childhood made her independent in the mind in her whole life and her writing often goes beyond the literary convention both in content and style?

    As a talented female author, Doris Lessing has published enormous significant works?She

    is one of the most comprehensive contemporary novelists whose has long straightforward prose has touched upon modem social~political~and psychological questions?The philosophical

    importance and the interweaving plots~characters and events form so large a maze that once it is entered?it is very hard for anyone to find the way out?Her intelligence and talent for writing

    bring her an international status~and attracted a large group of readers and numerous critics’

    attention?In 1 976?she was awarded with the“French Prix Medici for Foreigners”?In 1 996?she

    won the“Britain’s Writer’s Guild Award for Fiction?”and at the same year ,she was on the

    list of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature?In 2007?When she was 88 years old?Lessing

    won the Nobel Prize in literature and was described by the Swedish Academy as “that of the

    female experience~who with skepticism~fire and visionary power has subjected a divided

    civilization to scrutiny”?(The Swedish Academy 2007)Lessing is the eleventh woman to win the prize in its 1 06一year history, and also the oldest person ever to win the literature award?Her

    concern for man and his relationship to the society is shown in many aspects?Accordingly she

    was called“the great realist writer of our time”：Fahim 2007；when she published several novels

    in the style of‘realism’?

    1.2 A Brief Introduction to The Golden Notebook

    The Golden Notebook depicts Anna’s strenuous struggle for spiritual tranquility and freedom in the chaotic mid—twentieth century English society?Anna Woolf is the protagonist of

    the novel?She is a divorced woman bringing up her little daughter, Janet alone in London~a

    mistress keeping close relationship with Michael~a married man~for five years but abandoned

    by him~a political activist yet in face of the disillusion of communism~and a writer caught in a

    personal and artistic crisis?Anna has published a novel named Frontiers of War~which is highly

    successful and a best seller?It has earned her a reputation and in fact she lives off the income from it in the following years~but now she is suffering from a writer’s block and is unable to

    write anything?Therefore~Anna keeps four notebooks of different colors to record different aspects of her experience?Anna eventually suffers a mental breakdown and it is only through this disintegration that she is able to recreate a new “wholeness”which she writes about in the

    final notebook?the inner Golden Notebook?Actually, Doris Lessing is trying to discuss the theme of“breakdown”in The Golden Notebook?According to her words~“This theme of

    ‘breakdown~’that sometime when people‘crack up’it is a way of self-healing~of the inner

    self's dismissing false dichotomies and divisions~has of course been written about by other people~as well as by me~since then?”(Lessing 2007)

    1.3 Literature Review on The Golden Notebook

    There are so many perspectives and research achievements both in China and abroad concerning The Golden Notebook that only those by the prominent representatives are roughly mentioned here?The most prominent and controversial school of thematic studies on The Golden

    Notebook is feminism?Susan Lardner, one of the most typical feminist analysts~called the novel

    “a feminist gospel” and Margaret Drabble hailed it as “a document in the history of

    liberation?”(Lu,2007) It is reasonable for those people to treat The Golden Notebook as a

    feminist trumpet because it was published at a time when the international women‟s movement

    was prevailing?

    Many critics analyzed the psychological and philosophical elements in The Golden

    Notebook, among whom Evelyn J?Hinz and John J?Teunissen are probably the earliest

    ones?They studied the Jungian theories embodied in the The Golden Notebook ,claiming that the

    protagonist Alma Freeman Woolf is closely related to Otto Rank in his insistence upon the positive and life-productive nature of irrationality?(Ye,2008)Besides the studies mentioned

above, there are some critics who assumed that Lessing had been influenced by R?D?Laing,

    indicating that the heroine Anna Woolf‟s fragmentation and her experience of breakdown and breakthrough is obviously close to the Laing’s ideas on the fragmented self?Lois A?Marchino

    is probably the earliest scholar who invested the search of self in Doffs Lessing’s works

    (Lu,2007) Michael Thorpe thinks highly of Doris Lessing who including The Golden Notebook?

    is “the most accomplished?versatile and illuminating white African writer in English we have seen or are likely to see and her African writing is not limited by the word „African‟-whose work

    transcends the relatively brief episode of white settlement and places it in firm perspective as one

    of the seemingly tragic histories of universal distrust and hostility between races~creeds and

    classes?”(Teng, 2009)

    The Golden Notebook also shows the doctrines of Sufism ,a philosophy or rather mysticism?Nancy Shields Hardin studied the Sufism in Lessing’s works~holding that “for more

    than ten years Dons Lessing has been a student of Sufism and its impact on her fiction is evident”?(Fahim,2006) Fahim argued that Anna tried to find out the way to balance her experiences in writing, psychotherapy and Sufism. (Ye,2008)Some critics labeled The Golden

    Notebook a realistic novel while some regarded the book as a modern novel?For instance~Ruth

    Whittaker summarized the modernity of Lessing’s works in his Modem Novelist Doris

    Lessing?(Lu,2007) In addition ,the novel is also defined as a postmodern novel?Patricia Waugh

    discussed the meta-fictional features of The Golden Notebook?(Lu,2007)

    2 The Application of The Theory of Freud’s Personality

    Structure

    Freud’s observation of his patients revealed all unending series of psychic conflicts and compromises?He attempted to order this seeming chaos by proposing three basic structural components of psyche?the id~the ego~and the superego?This theory was rather late product of

    his thought?Not until 1 923 with the publication of the Ego and ld did Freud’s final theory of a

    threefold structure of personality emerge?

    The id is the reservoir of libido~the primary source of all psychic energy?It functions to

    fulfill the primordial life principle~which Freud considers to be the pleasure principle?Without

    consciousness or semblance of rational order~the id is characterized by a tremendous and

amorphous vitality? It represents our basic drives~needs~ and wishes?Further it is the reservoir

    of psychic energy that provides the power for all psychological functioning?Although the other

    parts of consciousness develop out of the id~the id itself is formless and unorganized?“The

    logical laws of thought do not apply in the id”?(Geng,2009)

    The ego serves judge as intermediary between the external world and the id?It takes the task

    of self-preservation and operates according to the reality principle?its aim is to prevent the

    discharge of tension from the id until an object that is appropriate for the need is found in the

    world?As regards external events~the ego becomes aware of stimuli~stores up experiences about

    them(in the memory)~avoids strong stimuli(through flight)~deals with moderate stimuli (through excessively adaptation)and learns to bring about expedient changes in the external world to its

    own advantage(through activity)?

    The superego is the last part of the structure?It develops not from the id but from the ego?It

    serves as or censor over the activities and thoughts of the ego?It is the repository of moral

    codes and standards of conduct?Freud describes three functions of superego?conscience~

    self-observation~and the formation of ideals?As conscience~the superego acts both to restrict~

    prohibit~or judge conscious activity?but it also acts unconsciously?“The unconscious

    restrictions are indirect~dominated by a sense of guilt~of which he knows nothing’.(Freud,2007)

    Freud’s description of the interaction of the id~ego~ and superego tries to give us a

    comprehensive picture of the person as whole?So the relationships between the three subsystems are compact?The specific roles played by the id~ego~and superego are not always clear?they

    mingle at too many levels?Moreover~the goal of the psyche is to maintain--and when that is lost~to regain-一all acceptable level of dynamic equilibrium that maximizes pleasure and minimizes tension?The energy that used originates in the id~which has a primitive~instinctual

    nature?The ego~arising from the id~exists to deal realistically with the basic drives of the id?It

    also mediates between the forces that operate on the id~the superego~and the demands of

    external reality?The superego arises from the ego and acts as a moral brake or counterforce to the practical concerns of the ego?It sets out a series of guidelines that define and limit the flexibility of the ego?In other words~we can simply say that the id asserts our raw untempered desires and wishes?the superego places authoritarian and moralistic strictures on Our behaviors?Meanwhile~the ego seeks a realistic solution that fulfills the id’s demands within

the limitations and customs of society?

    3 Freud’s Personality Structure to Emotional Conflict on

    Anna to Michael

    3.1 Anna’s Disappointment as a Woman

    In The Golden Notebook, Anna is a typical woman who meets the contradiction of id and

    superego when she plays her roles as woman including as a lover and as a mother. In the novel, as a lover, Anna‟s id has been enjoying the sex pleasure, while her superego is pursuing her Mr. Right or her perfect lover. So she becomes involved in a series of self-destructive affairs with men in her seeking for a wonderful relationship with them . After Anna‟s enjoying the sexual

    pleasure, she involves the disappointed mental state for failing to find her perfect lover. As a mother, Anna tends her child carefully, at the same time, she is eager to free from the responsibility for her child.(Song,2009)

    In The Golden Notebook, Anna experiences many affairs with men, after her failed marriage with Max Woolf, with whom she did not love. While Anna is bringing up her daughter, Janet, the fruit of the disastrous marriage by herself, she has been going after her completed love with great passion. Only because she believes that her perfect true love can prevent her from being threatened chaos. Of course it is essential to a balanced personality in Freud‟s view. In the novel,

    Anna is described as a passionate woman who extremely needs and longs for love. Her need to love and to be loved belongs to the primitive impulse of her inner heart. In other words, her instinctive nature is the need to love and to be loved. According to Freudian theory, the love between woman and man, even in the perfect form, remains the sexual love. It is one of the representative sexual instincts. As an intellectual woman, Anna‟s love to man exists the

    discrepancy between the instinct physical pleasure and spiritual empty.

    3.2 Anna’s Unbalance Id and Superego to Michael

    Michael is the only man that Anna loves after Paul Blacken Hurst, She thinks that Michael is her completed love because she not only gets physical pleasure from him but also loves him deeply. Anna lives with Michael for five years; this love affair affects her life to a large extent. She arranges her life all around his needs and loves him heart and soul. It is her id that directs her to do so. Because Anna naively thinks if she can live with a man that she really loves, and then

    she could form a whole personality. Even when Janet interrupts her being together with Michael, Anna, as a mother, cannot prevent her upset feeling to Janet and show her scorn towards Janet. Anna‟s dependence on Michael is just like the traditional women, which was her role that she

    wants to get away now. In fact, it is her id in love that leads her to the dependent roles while her superego is to be an independent one. But she never realizes that it is her over-emphasis on the essence of true love and her wholeheartedly clinging to it that make her lose her self and the balance of her judgment step by step.

    While Anna depends on Michael utterly and she calls her life “a fulfilled life”, Michael,

    who was an enthusiastic Party member and now is an empty soul without hope for life, is not willing to love her. When Anna does her work of writing letters to the women who need to comfort, he always remarks ironically, “How is your welfare work going, Anna? Saved any more

    souls recently?”(Lessing,2008) Attacked often by his sarcastic comments, Anna reaches a conclusion that women are driven to need security, support and protection from men, but men are not willing to play the role of provider. Instead of thinking it more, she soon gives up the thought by describing the emotion as self-pity. In Freud‟s theory, Anna now knows that there is

    something wrong with her “fulfilled love” to Michael unconsciously, but her superego in love

    stops her from realizing it more clearly.

    In Anna‟s strong clinging to her “love” to Michael, she tries to ignore the negative things in

    Michael‟s attitudes to her and never dares to accept the reality. Her imaginary superego for love

    overwhelms the true reality. Sometimes she feels that Michael will desert her to have another woman from his words, however, when she sees the warm smiles on his face, she denies herself at once, “I felt „nonsense‟, of course, and he won‟t leave me. He can‟t smile at me like that, and

    mean to leave me.”(Ye,2008) In order to neglect the feeling that Michael is about to leave her, she resorts to practice of story-making and starts to imagine his past and future:

    I could see him as a child, fearless, cocky, with a clear candid, alert smile. And I could see him old he will be an irascible, intelligent, energetic old man, locked in a bitter, intelligent loneliness. (Zhao,2009)