Foreword: I believe that readers who love literature will certainly not be unfamiliar with Faulkner and Joyce, who have been worshipped by the world with several unfathomable works, the most representative work is "Ulysses", although today we all recognize the value of this work, but the publication of this work is actually tortuous, and it has been said to be "difficult to understand" after publication. Faulkner's most representative work is "Noise and Commotion", and he is regarded as a literary leader by many writers in our country. Although the two writers are somewhat misplaced in their lifetime, there are many similarities in their creative philosophy. Now we will use the representative works of the two to analyze the aesthetic similarities and differences between the two.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, the two writers are the peak representatives of "stream of consciousness", but the similarities in creative ideas are not limited to this</h1>
1. They all like to use parallel corresponding artistic structures to make their works have irony and tension
To understand Ulysses, the first step is to study the structure of the work, grasp the main trunk of the work, and understand it naturally much easier. In writing Ulysses, the author clearly embedded the characters in Homer's epic poem "Othide" in his own character structure, because "Ulysses" is a heroic character in "Osed", which corresponds to Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses", his son corresponds to Stephen de Dillus in "Ulysses", and his wife corresponds to Morly in "Ulysses". "Ulysses" is based on the comparative activities of these characters.
To understand the underlying structure of The Hustle and the Commotion, we must have some understanding of Western Christian culture. In the West there is a very important day for Christians, that is, Easter, the date of this festival is the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox every year, and the Friday before Easter is called Good Friday, the fiftieth day of Easter is called Pentecost, and the second Thursday of Pentecost is the Day of The Eucharist of Christ.
The time of the story is clearly marked in the titles of the chapters of The Hustle and the Commotion, which is mainly in April 1928, but the second chapter is in June 1910. Based on the above Christian culture, it is not difficult to calculate that the dates in the fourth, first, and third chapters of the work correspond to the Christian Easter to Good Friday, and the second chapter is related to the Corpus Christ Day in 1910. Thus it can be seen that Faulkner's work corresponds to the biblical figure Jesus, thus completing the basic structure of the text.
Both "stream-of-consciousness" masters like to use parallel corresponding infrastructure construction techniques, with the purpose of contrasting the characters they create with the heroes in other works, so as to reflect the decadence and cowardice of the characters in their works, and the characters in their works have the contrast of "idol" characters, so that the "individuals" in their works have group representation.
2. Both can skillfully use the avant-garde artistic creation technique of "stream of consciousness"
Now that both masters have been labeled "stream-of-consciousness" masters, it is natural that we will introduce this artistic technique in more detail and how these two masters skillfully applied this artistic technique.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >a. Origins of "stream-of-consciousness" fiction</h1>
In fact, "stream of consciousness" first appeared in front of everyone as a psychological term:
Man's conscious activity is not carried out in a fragmented method in which the parts are not related to each other, but by a stream of thought, a stream of subjective life, a stream of consciousness. —William James
The first to apply this psychological term to literary criticism was the British novelist May Sinclair, and since then, this term related to literary aesthetics has also been used since the "stream of consciousness" novel became a creative trend.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >b. The difference between traditional fiction and "stream of consciousness" fiction</h1>
The shift from traditional fiction to "stream-of-consciousness" fiction is a shift from outside to in. Whether it is an Eastern novel or a Western novel, the basic elements are actually the same. Literary common sense tells us that the three elements that make up a novel are character image, environmental description, and storyline, so when we read "non-stream of consciousness" novels, we often see elements such as environmental setting, appearance description, demeanor description, and plot setting in the novel. So, when it comes to the "stream of consciousness" novel, is it not necessary to follow the three-element rule of the novel? Not really. The "stream of consciousness" novel also has these three elements, but it uses the "flow of consciousness" to express these three elements.
Each character image due to his age, personality, past experience, the difference in the external environment, the psychological consciousness he flows out is also different, so when the reader reads the "stream of consciousness" novel, he can also distinguish different character images and environments from the different "flow of consciousness" of the characters in the work, and the flow of consciousness can also promote the development of the storyline. For example, Stephen in Ulysses is a teacher and poet, so his "flow of consciousness" has a romantic sadness, often flowing out of the golden sentences in the books he has read in the past. For example, the brother Quentin in "Noise and Commotion" has a sense of defending the values of traditional religions.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >c. The difference between "stream of consciousness" fiction and traditional psychological depictions</h1>
What is the difference between "stream of consciousness" and traditional psychological depictions? In order to illustrate the image, I decided to introduce the theory in the "poetic creation technique" to express the aesthetic essence of "stream of consciousness". In the aesthetics of poetry creation, there are two most common creative methods, that is, direct lyricism and indirect lyricism.
"I want to paint the morning / draw the dew / the smile that can be seen / draw all the youngest / painless love / draw the imagination / my lover ...", the above verse is from Gu Cheng's "I am a wayward child", such a poem is used to express the chest, which is similar to the classic method of the "stream of consciousness" school, "inner monologue". In Joyce's "Ulysses" and Faulkner's "Noise and Commotion", we can see that the protagonist usually confesses, that is, directly pours out his consciousness in the form of an inner monologue in the work, but this monologue is not limited by time and space, and where it is to think of, just like Gu Cheng's poem above, suddenly from "dew" to "smile", there is no ordinary logic, and it follows the logic of art.
"Marigold flowers grow in the ditch / On the banks of the swamp, mosquitoes are as dense as veils / An egret flies up and is covered with cloud cloth / Because of this drizzle, like fog, like mica powder / A large piece of withered moss has returned to green..." These poems come from the famous foreign poet Mary Oliver, this is the indirect lyricism in poetry creation, we only see the laying of images in the above sentences, we do not see lyrical words, as for the emotions in them, we need to understand through imagery. This is the same as another classic technique of the "stream of consciousness" school, the art of "free flow of consciousness".
When we read "Ulysses" and "Noise and Commotion", we see that the protagonist's mind is a picture in his mind at this time, and the next moment he is another picture that is completely unrelated to it, such as Stephen, who is thinking about Adam and Eve at this moment, and the next moment it becomes a picture of the family eating together, such a seemingly illogical picture is actually an artistic creation.
In many "stream of consciousness" works, "inner monologue" and "free flow of consciousness" are not used alone, they are both mixed uses, and these two "stream of consciousness" expressions are also the core of the "stream of consciousness" school. However, although there are many similarities between the "stream of consciousness" creation method and the "poetry" creation method, there is also an essential difference between the two, that is, the creation of "poetry" only considers the conscious level, and the "stream of consciousness" will also have a natural outflow of the subconscious.
The traditional psychological depiction method is completely logical, and to put it bluntly, we can understand the meaning it expresses. From the above analysis, we can see that the difference between the "stream of consciousness" artistic creation method and the traditional psychological description is jumping, nonsense, and no logic, so that we can understand the meaning. Looking at the sentences written by traditional psychological depictions, we seem to be listening to friends, looking at the works of the "stream of consciousness" school, and we are like reading poetry, listening to pure music and watching dance.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >d. Why do Joyce and Faulkner like to write "stream of consciousness" instead of traditional?</h1>
Because whether it is "Ulysses" or "Noise and Commotion", these two works are to express the decadence and confusion of the mental state of the whole society at that time, expressing inner emotions, and natural "stream of consciousness" is the best choice. Both Joyce and Faulkner skillfully used the "inner monologue" and "free flow of consciousness" techniques in "stream of consciousness" to complete the text, which led to the peak of these two "stream of consciousness" works.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >2. Both are masters of the "stream of consciousness" school, the difference is in the construction of content. </h1>
"Ulysses" and "Noise and Commotion" are both "family" novels in terms of content, because both novels use the family as a fulcrum to allude to the whole society, expressing the loss and pain of Westerners. The difference is that "Ulysses" is the reshaping of the "family", and "Noise and Commotion" is the destruction of the family, because of the pain, so it is destroyed, because of the pain, so it is sought, and the two works can actually be passed back and forth to each other.
Readers who have read "Noise and Commotion" should know that this work is about the tragedy of a declining family, and there is little intimate interaction between the members of the family, and some are mutual incomprehension and resentment. The core character of the whole work is Katie, through Katie's fall to lead to the inner world of the family members, all members want to escape from this family, which shows the inevitability of the division of the family, but also shows the inevitable defeat and destruction of the South in the Civil War at that time. This is a "focus to divergence" approach to content creation.
Readers who have read "Ulysses" know that the plot of this work is actually very simple, that is, a young poet Stephen, because he can't find a home in his original family and society, so he wanders the streets, and then meets an ordinary man Bloom, Who wants to find a spiritual "son", Stephen wants to find a spiritual "father", so Bloom takes him home to live with his wife. This kind of content construction method of "from divergence to focus" is the reshaping and rebirth of the protagonists after the broken spiritual value.
These are the aesthetic similarities and differences that Joyce and Faulkner show in Ulysses and Hustle and Bustle, and since both are masters of the "stream of consciousness" school, our focus is on the analysis of "stream of consciousness". This can also be counted as a detailed analysis of the "stream of consciousness" as a method of artistic creation. Because in the Western literary circles of the twentieth century, one of the most remarkable achievements is the maturity of the "stream of consciousness" writers in the creation of works, and this artistic creation method has also greatly influenced our literary and artistic creation and literary aesthetics in the twenty-first century, which is a piece that we cannot avoid when analyzing Western aesthetics and grasping the aesthetic trends of the times.