摘 要

索尔·贝娄作为美国20世纪最杰出的小说家之一，是第一位荣获诺贝尔文学奖（1976年）的当代美国犹太作家。贝娄以长篇小说闻名，但其短篇小说也深刻反映了当下社会的现状，具有明显的启示意义。《准父亲》作为贝娄出名的短篇小说之一，形象地刻画了战后城市知识分子在物质社会中挣扎并为此焦虑困惑的现象。

本文旨在从现实世界和精神世界两个方面解读《准父亲》，即通过分别分析这两个世界更好地了解主人公罗金的性格以及一系列心理活动背后的原因。本文通过研究发现知识分子罗金常常陷入对于当今社会现状以及身边事物的思考中，尤其是人际关系，而又郁郁不得其终，表现了贝娄文学创作中常涉及的主题：自我的探索。

本文分为四章，第一章简要介绍作家贝娄的生平和他的作品以及文献综述。第二章侧重分析主人公罗金所处的现实世界，分析他所面对的现实因素，有助于理解其精神状态。第三章主要剖析罗金的精神世界，他内心的活动影射了其纠结复杂的心理。第四章总结全文，指出了论文的局限性同时也展望对于未来研究的可能性。

关键词：索尔·贝娄；《准父亲》；现实世界；精神世界

Abstract

Saul Bellow, as one of the most outstanding novelists of the 20th century, was the first contemporary American Jewish writer who awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1976). Bellow is known for his novels, but his short stories also have considerable significance. A Father-to-be , one of Bellow's famous short stories, vividly portrays the post-war urban intellectual’s struggles in the material society and their anxiety and confusion.

This paper aims at interpreting A Father-to-be from two worlds: the physical world and the spiritual world, making it better to understand the character of the protagonist Rogin, and the causes behind his thoughtful speculations. The research finds that the intellectual Rogin often falls into self-meditation, especially interpersonal relationships, but all in vain at last. Identity-exploration is the theme often involved in Bellow's literary works.

This paper consists of four chapters. The first chapter includes an introduction to Saul Bellow, his works and literature review. Chapter Two focuses on the physical world, analyzing his life, which helps to understand his mental state later. Chapter Three mainly pays attention to Rogin’s spiritual world, and his mental activities reflect his complex psychology. Chapter Four summarizes the paper by pointing out the limitations and proposing the further study of the story.

Key Words: Saul Bellow; A Father-to-be; the physical world; the spiritual world

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Saul Bellow and his Works 1

1.2 Literature Review 2

1.3 Structure of the Paper 3

2 Analysis of the Physical World 5

2.1 Materialism and Consumerism in Society 5

2.1.1 Money-oriented Social Background 5

2.1.2 Joan’s Attitude towards Money 6

2.1.3 Economic Pressure of Rogin 7

2.2 Disharmony of Family and Social Relationships 8

2.2.1 Relations among Family Members 8

2.2.2 Relation with Joan 9

2.2.3 Relation with Strangers 9

3 Analysis of the Spiritual World 11

3.1 Rogin’s Fear of the Present and the Future 11

3.1.1 Rogin’s Suffering and Confusion at Present 11

3.1.2 Rogin’s Doubt and Uncertainty of the Future 12

3.2 Transformation of Rebellion to Tolerance 13

3.2.1 Ideal Living State in Rogin’s Mind 13

3.2.2 Reconciliation with Society 14

4 Conclusion 16

4.1 Summary 16

4.2 Limitations and Further study 17

References 18

Acknowledgements 20

Two worlds in Saul Bellow’s short story A Father-to-be

1 Introduction

Saul Bellow and his Works

Saul Bellow, as a Nobel laureate in 1976, won three National Book Awards, two Guggenheim Fellowships and one Pulitzer Prize. He was undoubtedly one of the most famous Jewish writers after WWⅡ, who combines his old-world heritage and complicated new-world fate without constraint to his horizon (Hassan, 2016: 1). Swedish Academy praised his “all developed by a commentator with a witty tongue and penetrating insight into the outer and inner complications that drives us to act, or prevent us from acting, and that can be called the dilemma of our age.”

As a Jewish and intellectual writer, Bellow’s writing career undergoes changes. He considers his early novels such as Dangling Man (1944) and The Victim (1947) “errors – perhaps inevitable errors…” because of his timidity before the ruling models of his day. Then starting with The Adventure of Augie March (1953) which remains a generative work, he opens wide the forms of fiction. Subsequently Henderson the Rain King (1959) and Humboldt’s Gift (1975) were published. Bellow also writes numerous short stories which are collected in Mosby’s Memoir and Other stories (1968), Him with His Foot in His Mouth and Other stories (1984) and Something to Remember Me By (1993).

A Father-to-be (1956) is collected in Seize the Day. The protagonist Rogin, a chemist with strange thoughts in mind, is unsatisfied with the lavish way his fiancée Joan spending money. On his way to have supper with Joan, he finds a nearby passenger who assembles Joan’s father, which causes his horrible imagination about his son. He is likely to look like that ordinary, middle-aged man if he has a son. Finally he determines to show his protest to Joan. However when Joan washes his hair tenderly he soon puts all the prepared complaint out of mind. Bellow goods at depicting a highly cultured intellectual’s introspection consciousness and his search for a significant identity (Wu Dingbai, 2014: 253).

1.2 Literature Review

Studies on Saul Bellow abroad became a hot topic since he won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976, there are more than fifty English monographs, four biographies and more than three thousand papers. The International Saul Bellow Society holds seminars regularly, besides setting up Saul Bellow Journal providing the latest study achievement in 1981. According to the published papers, most of the writers are scholars of America and Europe, Indian researchers and Japanese researchers also follow their steps (Liu Wensong, 2003: 1). Critics abroad label Bellow like modernist, existentialist, romanticist and so on (Zhu Ping，2007: 2). However as a Jew by birth, Bellow has two key factors in his cultural context: his Jewish immigrant background and his early education in social anthropology. Psyche, History and Soul are centers in his fictions (Newman, 2011: 54). This is why foreign critics note Bellow’s use of the isolated, marginalized Jew as the representative of modern man, and focus on the modern people’s mentality, showing the conflicts between man and society, man and man, also their questioning self-identity and ignoring social corruptions. Besides, critics point out his mastery of romantic idealism and existentialist nihilism for his flat denial of modern historicism. The academic circle tries to interpret and appreciate Bellow’s works from diverse perspectives (Cronin, 2011: 102).

For some reasons, in China the studies on Saul Bellow started after 1976, at the same time many of his works were introduced into China and translated into Chinese. Entering the 20th century, the research on Bellow achieved great breakthroughs for more and more high qualified books and papers about himself and his works published and wider research perspectives. Domestic scholars pay much attention to the motif exploration. Under the influence of Flaubert, Dickens and Theodore Dreiser, Bellow keeps the conventional writing style, while he prefers the themes of alienation, self-identity crisis, and the use of stream-of-consciousness, his works reveal the characters of modern and realistic literature. For example, Liu Hongyi and Liu Xiying focus on the theme of father and son, they find out Bellow endows it with the deep philosophical connotation. Father and son are often placed on the opposite side. Jewishness is another important topic, Peng Tao and Li Manman delve into the collision between Jewish culture and American culture in Bellow’s works. Character analysis plays a vital role in the studies of Bellow, especially intellectuals and women. Although living in the conflict between reality and dream, they still keep seeking their egos. In terms of monographs, Che Fengcheng analyses the moral tendency in Bellow’s works and Zhou Nanyi gives a detailed discussion of Bellow’s masterpieces in plots, themes, writing techniques and so on (Zhang Jun, 2016: 2). It must be admitted that domestic studies on Bellow fall behind its counterpart, the research on short stories is quite limited in particular.