【About the Author】
Wang Lan, female, is a professor at the School of English, Shanghai Wai Chinese University, with a Ph.D. and doctoral supervisor, mainly engaged in British and Canadian literature research.
Huang Chuan, male, is a lecturer in the Department of European and American Affairs of the Luoyang Campus of the Strategic Support Force Information Engineering University, Ph.D., mainly engaged in Canadian literature research.
Prof. Lan Wang
The desires and pleasures of the other
—"New Realism" in Monroe's novel "Passion."
This article was originally published in the 13th volume of English Studies in 2021, and was pushed by the official account of "Foreign Literature and Art Research" with the author's authorization.
This paper is the result of the 2019 National Social Science Foundation of China Key Project "Contemporary Scottish Drama Research" (19AWW008) and the 2019 China Postdoctoral Science Foundation General Funded Project "Avant-garde Research on Contemporary Canadian English Fiction" (2019M651555).
Journal Inquiry:
"English Studies" CNKI Portal:
http://navi.cnki.net/knavi/JournalDetail?pcode=CJFD&pykm=ENYJ
English Studies Official Website:
http://column.sisu.edu.cn/engstudy/
English Studies VIP Entry:
http://qikan.cqvip.com/Qikan/Journal/Summary?kind=1&gch=88755X&from=Qikan_Search_Index
Abstract: Canadian short story writer Alice Munro is not only good at portraying ordinary characters, but also can flexibly borrow from various genres such as realism, modernism and postmodernism, and can be regarded as a pioneer of "neorealism" that emerged in the late 20th century. In Monroe's Passion, the realist theme of love triangle presents a realist and illusory effect in neorealist writing, revealing the material and spiritual worlds where the real and the absurd coexist. From the perspective of Lacanian psychoanalysis, the desires and pleasures of the female other in the novel are satisfied and realized in the process of escaping and returning to reality, and the understanding of the construction of the subject's identity is also clearer. Through neorealist representation of the desires and pleasures of the other, Monroe injects a new connotation into the act of women's "escape", expressing her unique view of women's pursuit of independence and freedom.
Keywords: Monroe; neorealism; the other; Desire; Joy
0. Introduction
"Neorealism" emerged in the American literary scene in the 70s of the 20th century. Dissatisfied with the tendency of modernism and postmodernism to emphasize language over plot and downplay character building, writers re-examined the creation of novels, combined the strengths of their predecessors in writing techniques, and shifted their focus back to the storytelling and the reality of the characters. The earliest use of the term "neorealist fiction" was by the British scholar Malcolm Bradbury (She Jun, 2012:83). Neorealist fiction reverses the practice of postmodern experimental fiction to weaken character building, and focuses on portraying characters with obvious external characteristics and rich inner worlds, aiming to surpass the image of "external person" in traditional realist novels, the image of "inner person" in modernist novels, and the image of "flat person" in postmodern experimental novels (She Jun et al., 2013:129-131). From traditional realist novels to modernist novels, postmodern experimental novels to neorealist novels, the development trajectory of novel art shows that narrative techniques and language art can enhance the expression effect of works reflecting reality, but literary works need to reform and innovate on the basis of realism, closely connect with social reality, and explore the multiplicity of human nature in order to maintain vigorous vitality.
Neorealism is not confined to the American literary scene, and in neighboring Canada, the short story writer and Nobel laureate Alice Munro (1931- ) is a pioneer of neorealist fiction. Monroe does not try to be unconventional, but "integrated innovation", widely absorbing a variety of nutrients from the English novel tradition, and borrowing creative methods used by various genres such as realism, modernism, and postmodernism, such as regional culture, Gothic situations, women's writing, psychological consciousness, and time and space transformation, etc., to convey the complex emotions and ideological veins of the characters in the novel in a multi-faceted and authentic way. She has a broad perspective and depicts ordinary Canadian women, including girls, adolescent girls, adult women and elderly women, largely reflecting their state of existence. In Monroe's work, "neorealism", which highlights reality and grotesqueness, objectivity and stream of consciousness, is one of the more unique writing styles (Geng Liping, 2014:70).
Monroe's collection of short stories, Runaway (2004), exemplifies the "neorealist" style of writing. The novel "Passion" is from this collection. Similar to the title novel, Escape, Passion is about the escape and return of the heroine, but Grace's behavior is more confusing, with an "almost irrational passion" (Li Guohua, 2013:49). "Passion" presents the realistic theme of "love triangle" to a real and illusory effect: why does Grace, who comes from a poor background, have an ambiguous attitude towards her well-to-do boyfriend, Maury? Why was he attracted by Neil, whom he met for the first time, to become a "captive" and a "vassal" (Monroe, 2009:196)? In addition, although the novel adopts a third-person limited perspective commonly used in realist narratives, because the main body of the novel is Grace's memories of the past in his sixties, the storyline is subject to both young and old Grace's scrutiny, making it difficult to distinguish between the inner and outer focused perspectives in the narrative, resulting in a judgment of the characters' behaviors and values that are no longer clear and intuitive" (Winther, 2012:200). The seemingly absurd plot of the novel, from the perspective of Jacques Lacan's psychoanalysis, is a realistic reflection close to life: Grace, as a female other who is on the margins of society but obsessed with self-pursuit and inner feelings, escapes and returns to reality, her desires are satisfied, joy (jouissance) (1) is realized, and her understanding of her self-identity is more clear. In addition, Neil and Maury's mother, Mrs. Travers. Travers has also played a key role in Grace's growth. Through imaginative identity, Grace takes steps in the pursuit of pleasure and the construction of a subject's identity. Through this neorealist writing that subverts readers' expectations and mobilizes readers' subjective initiative to understand the inner world of the characters, Monroe expresses a unique insight into women's pursuit of independence and freedom in the new era.
1. Grace & Mori:
Contradictory and opposing subjects of desire
Grace and Maury's initial acquaintance and love are somewhat similar to the "Cinderella model" in fairy tales and realist literature: Grace, who came from humble backgrounds, received the attention of Maury from a well-to-do family while working in a small hotel, and the relationship between the two gradually developed to the point of talking about marriage. However, instead of providing readers with a tortuous but happy ending, Monroe depicts the more real contradictions and conflicts between the sexes in the real world. One critic pointed out: "The greatest attraction of Monroe's works to readers is that the development of stories often runs counter to readers' expectations, and subverting traditional routines seems to have become Monroe's habitual method of creation." (McCaig, 2002:87) There is no shortage of romance between Grace and Murray in the love of young people, but there is always an inexplicable contradiction that cannot be reconciled. From a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, Murray compensates for Grace's attachment to the symbolic "name of the father" (le Nom-du-Père) (le Nom-du-Père), but the masculine gaze creates an anxiety in her. Her attitude towards Maury's rejection reflects the contradiction of her subjective consciousness in resisting this gaze. The emergence and intensification of this kind of discord stems from the expression of the opposing desires of the two, which is also the real reason for the breakdown of the love between the two.
In describing Grace's love affair with Maury, the novel rewrites the story of "Cinderella" in an intertextual and parody way, highlighting the inner desires of the female other. Grace's unfortunate childhood experiences had a profound impact on her self-understanding and growth. Her mother died when she was three years old, and her father left the country, leaving her to live with her aunt and uncle. Although the elderly took good care of Grace, Grace, who had a strong personality, still could not identify with them, and inwardly objected to her uncle letting her inherit the rattan chair weaving skills. By the end of high school, Grace had good grades, but she unexpectedly returned to school for another year, completing all of her high school classes except for foreign language subjects such as Greek and Italian. Although Grace explains that she is simply "trying to learn everything that compulsory education can provide for free" (Monroe, 2009: 179), her behavior deviates from the cultural conventions prescribed by society and is a sign of incompatibility with the symbolic order. Meeting Murray became an important turning point in Grace's life. From the first meeting, Grace seems to have been pandering to Murray: she did not refuse Murray's slightly reckless invitation, happily went to Murray's house to have dinner and chat with his family, and even gradually accepted Murray's arrangement for the two to get married. It has been commented that Grace's association with Murray was a manifestation of her love of vanity, in order to "escape the shadow of her family's poverty" (DeFalco, 2012:391). This material interpretation is a bit one-sided, because from a psychoanalytic point of view, the young, handsome, and well-spoken Maury satisfies Grace's desire to be recognized by others, and brings vitality and passion to Grace's life. Although Grace has said that she does not like girls being overdressed and spoiled, she puts herself under Mori's gaze by wearing a sexy and fashionable outfit when dating Murray (Monroe, 2009:177-178). According to Lacan's theory, the gaze of others subjects the subject to a certain constraint, and "from the moment the gaze appears, the subject tries its best to adapt itself to it, and shapes and expresses desires on the basis of self-reflection according to social norms" (Liu Ling, 2009: 64). The appearance of Murray to a certain extent makes up for the absence of the "father's name", which symbolizes power and order, in Grace's childhood. His gaze fueled the growth of Grace's subjective consciousness and stimulated Grace's desire to reveal himself.
However, as a symbol of order, Mori's gaze has a distinctly patriarchal character, which suppresses Grace and causes a rift in the relationship between the two. The contradiction between the two is clearly displayed when watching the movie "The Bride's Father". Grace was very disgusted with the heroine played by Elizabeth Taylor, believing it to be a "spoiled rich lady" (Monroe, 2009:177). Grace's revulsion may be tinged with jealousy, but her view speaks to the essence of the masculinity of consumer society: "...... Spending money shopping like that, dressing up like that. That's the man...... Think they're supposed to be. Pretty, like a baby, coaxed and petted, selfish and stupid. (Monroe, 2009:177) Grace would prefer to be on an equal footing with men rather than being treated as male pets or "angels in the home." Yet, instead of understanding what Grace meant, Murray dismisses his anger as "childish, feminine jealousy" (Monroe, 2009:177). This difference in understanding has become an undercurrent that threatens the relationship between the two.
Grace's resistance to a comfortable life and curiosity about foreign lands are an important manifestation of her sense of subjectivity, and one of the reasons why she is incompatible with Morley. While Murray took it for granted that they would get married, Grace preferred a trip to Peru, Iraq, or the Northwest rather than the words he proudly said "our own home" (Monroe, 2009:185). Not long after the relationship, Murray began to plan his and Grace's future life, making arrangements for his future residence and future work, but without consulting Grace, he assumed that he regarded himself as Grace's ideal partner, so that marriage "did not seem real at all" to Grace (Monroe, 2009: 185). He didn't really think about Grace's inner feelings, turning a blind eye to her desires or even denying them. He objected to Grace's entry into the bar on the grounds that Grace was under the legal age of 21; At a family gathering, when Grace guesses a charade, Morrie praises her family despite her embarrassment, because he wants his family to recognize his lover. Foucault (2007:215) argues that there is an implicit power of discourse in the gaze. Whoever holds the power to speak has priority in gazing at others. Mori's conservatism seems to be full of rationality, but it is actually a kind of power suppression of the emotional Grace, which leads to Grace's uneasiness and anxiety. This unbalanced relationship between the sexes affected Grace's expression of desire, causing her to gradually deviate from this emotion. Compared with the female characters with obvious essential and typological characteristics of traditional realist novels, Grace's sometimes strong desire and sometimes anxious female characters are more vivid and three-dimensional.
2. Grace & Neil:
"Pleasure" that attracts each other
Good realist works never shy away from the instinctive desires of man. Grace's attitude towards Murray wavered, and Neil's appearance was like a catalyst, making Grace completely abandon Murray and throw himself into Neil's arms. Grace's decision, which seemed to be made in a split second, is so strange that some commentators have suggested that Grace followed Neil on the escape because of his nervous stress after a bleeding foot scratch and because he was forced by the authority of the physician Neil (Trussler, 2012: 186). This interpretation is not unreasonable, because Grace does seem a little weak in front of the deep and slightly rude Neil, but her own psychological state is also one of the reasons why she is willing to flee with Neil. In fact, they have an important similarity in that they both put "pleasure" first in life. In Grace's view, love does require a handsome man like Murray, but even more so an exciting "intimacy" (Monroe, 2009:185). Murray sees this desire of Grace as a form of indiscretion (Monroe, 2009:186) and that women should be reserved and loyal. Grace had an imaginary identification with Neil before he met him, so it was not so much that Neil fled with him, but that Grace was attracted to Neil and took the initiative to embark on the road of realizing his desires driven by pleasure.
Grace's ambiguous relationship with Neil shows the ingenious combination of the real and the unreal in neorealist writing. Grace is attracted to Neil, both because she imagines what she has not seen and heard, and because Neil replaces Maury as the object of her identity. In the Murray family, the last person Grace met was Neil, Murray's half-brother. From Mrs. Travers's words, Grace has some insight into Neil's background: compared to Maury's cuteness and simplicity, Neil is smarter and more deeply melancholy. Mrs. Travers also quoted the verses of the 18th-century English "cemetery" poet Thomas Gray to describe her eldest son, "an unfathomable underwater cavern" (3) (Monroe, 2009:187). This quote is symbolic, "because the image of Neil drawn up in this elegiac verse has a natural attraction to Grace, who loves literature" (May, 2012:178). When Grace was a guest at Maury's house, the sole of his foot was scratched by a shell, and while everyone was scrambling, Neil came out. He asked his two nieces to "get out of the way" (Monroe, 2009:192) and his mother and sister to "get out of the way" (Monroe, 2009:193), as if he were the head of the family. Neil examines Grace's wounds and "looks her face exploratory" (Monroe, 2009:192). It is in this gaze that Neil replaces Maury's role as "Father's Name" in Grace's life. Compared to Maury, who stood on the sidelines and was overwhelmed, Neil was more capable and majestic. In close contact with Neil, she not only smelled the scent of a very familiar small inn, but also took a closer look at him (Monroe, 2009:192-193). This curious gaze once again reflects the psychological impact of the absence of her biological father on Grace, because Neil, who is fifteen or sixteen years older than her, is more in line with the image of "father's name" than Mori, and the mystery that Neil brings also seduces her. Even though she knew her injuries were not serious, she did not refuse Neil's request to take her to the hospital, because deep down in her heart, the pursuit of pleasure had begun to sprout and could burst out at any moment.
Monroe's novels often incorporate stream-of-consciousness descriptions into stories that are generally realistic, and this kind of neorealist writing can show the subtle changes in the characters' inner emotions in special circumstances. Grace and Neil in "Passion" do not have sex, and the author focuses on the pleasure she experiences and the life insights she gains from it. It was both a sweet and subtle mystical experience, but it also brought her unethical pain and guilt. After the hospital examination, Grace did not return to Mori, but drove around the countryside with Neil. Sitting in Neil's convertible, she began to enjoy the thrill of the speed, not feeling frightened, but feeling "miraculously peaceful" and "with nothing but lust flowing through her body" (Monroe, 2009: 196). It was because of this joyful experience that Neil began to willingly become Neil's "female captive" (Monroe, 2009:196). However, after an afternoon of escaping, when Neil was drunk and asleep, Grace went to the river on the outskirts of town and suddenly experienced an epiphany after a happy experience. She realizes that this escape is not only a betrayal of Maury but also of herself, because she has foreseen the end of her relationship with Neil: the joy she experiences stems from her interest in Neil's mysterious character; Neil's pleasure lies in a relief from the anesthesia of alcohol. Although the two are attracted to each other, Neil is unable to truly construct her own subjective identity in a "nihilistic world" (Lohafer, 2012: 231). The relationship between the two was not a passion as she imagined, but "a child's play" (Monroe, 2009:206). Therefore, her resolute return shows that she has gained a new understanding of her subjective identity and has more expectations for real life.
3. Mrs. Travers:
Grace looks at the self-other
One of the charms of realist fiction is the realism and complexity of the characters, especially the psychological growth. Grace has chosen to return after a brief love adventure, but her perception of herself and others has undergone profound changes. After learning that Neil had been killed in a car accident, she informed Murray that she had not been coerced by Neil. Her distance from the Travers family does not mean a total rejection of them, as one of the characters played an important role in the growth of her subjective consciousness - the wise and kind Mrs. Travers. As Lacan said, "The self is constructed on the basis of an image outside of ourselves." (Riddle, 2013:26) In the few exchanges between the two, Mrs. Travers has become Grace's mirror image of herself. Her maverick attitude inspired Grace to think and explore life and love. Although Grace did not heed Mrs. Travers's admonition to stop Neil from drinking, which led to the tragedy, she has experienced inner growth, determined to find freedom and independence, and embarked on the path of rebuilding her identity.
Mrs. Traverse was an ideal woman portrayed by Monroe. She is petite but hospitable and full of maternal love, and Grace has developed a crush on her from the first meeting. In contrast to Grace's aunt and uncle, who were "not very communicative" (Monroe, 2009:178), Mrs. Travers was elegant and thoughtful, and was adept at creating a harmonious and pleasant family atmosphere, "taking the lead in making up some particularly interesting riddles so that the game would not be too dull and the guessers would not be too anxious" (Monroe, 2009: 182). Driven by this atmosphere, Grace felt the joy of family, the warmth of attention, and a strong sense of identity—"so dizzy and captivated to become a spiritual captive" (Monroe, 2009:178). In the process of communicating with Mrs. Travers, Grace received the approval of the other party, and also received encouragement and confidence from it.
In addition, Mrs. Travers also introduced Grace into the world of literature, allowing her to clarify the direction of self-identity construction in her imagination. In the family, Mrs. Travers was the only one who supported Grace's decision to return to high school for a year, believing that reading and learning could enrich one's spiritual world in addition to earning a living. In the spacious, bright living room, Grace is almost fascinated by the pleasure of reading (Monroe, 2009:184). Grace often imagines herself as a heroine, and this "imagination" (4) has a certain positive significance, as a means for individuals to maintain inner balance and self-examination. It is worth noting that Grace reads the novel "Anna Karenina", and her later behavior in leaving Murray to follow Neil is very similar to Anna's behavior in the novel. While talking to Grace about the novel, Mrs. Travers mentions her identification with Anna, which undoubtedly brings her and Grace closer. Mrs. Travers worked on her own to support her family after her first husband committed suicide. When Mr. Travers offered her a living allowance, she did not grovel in front of her. She said to Grace, "Women always have the inner strength to keep themselves alive...... Not necessarily for men. (Monroe, 2009:187) This attitude of self-reliance and inner strength deeply influenced Grace, allowing her to survive strongly, pointing out the direction for her on the road of constructing her subjective identity, and making her image more vivid and three-dimensional.
Grace connects with others through conversation and imagination, and gains insights into life. In Lacan's view, "in the imaginary world, the relationship between the subject and the other is extremely crucial, and the subject without a connection with the other is equal to nothingness" (Ma Yuanlong, 2006:76). It is through contact with the other that Grace's subjective consciousness breaks away from the previous state of emptiness and takes the first step towards self-discovery. Her sense of self becomes clearer in her identification with Mrs. Travers's outward image; Her emphasis on bodily sensual experience reflects not only her romantic feelings, but also her yearning for an alternative space that is different from the ordinary world.
4. Conclusion
Neorealist novels depict characters ranging from low-class civilians on the verge of despair to middle-class people in deep crisis of family and faith (Jiang Tao, 2007:118). By skillfully combining external reality and psychological reality, "Passion" rationally juxtaposes the absurdity and authenticity of the plot to show the reader the rich spiritual world of the female "other": Grace resists Maury's masculine gaze, experiences the pleasure of pleasure in the escape with Neil, but also realizes that the escape without direction and purpose is only nothingness and delusion, and gains subjective awareness in the epiphany. As the review pointed out, "Mere escape is just a gesture, an act." It has real meaning only if it is based on a real basis" (Zhang Lei, 2014:192). Through her deep reflection on the desires of female subjects, Monroe injects a new connotation into the act of "escape", reveals the deep meaning of Monroe's "escape", expresses her unique insight on women's pursuit of a free way out, and prompts readers to reflect on themselves.
illustrate
This article is not annotated when pushed, and you can refer to the original text when quoting.