本文是一篇英语论文，本论文运用疾病叙事理论探究疾病与历史、社会和文学之间的相互塑造关系。从疾病叙事角度解读《复仇女神》，不仅有助于读者重新审视二战时期犹太人所经历的疾病故事，还为当前实现个人和社会健康福祉提供了历史启示。
Chapter OneINTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction to Philip Roth and Nemesis
Philip Roth,born on March 19,1933 in Newark,New Jersey,is an AmericanJewish writer.He first achieved prominence in 1959 with the publication of Goodbye,Columbus and Five Short Stories,for which he won the National Book Award.Duringhis over four-decade writing career,Roth has garnered every one of the importantAmerican accolades,including the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.He is well known for thecaustic humor with which he treats our age,the Jewish community,and himself.PhilipRoth once commented on his own works that“Sheer playfulness and deadly seriousnessare my closest friends”(Roth and Oates 18).This comment can equally apply to all hisworks.
Chapter OneINTRODUCTION1.1 Introduction to Philip Roth and NemesisPhilip Roth,born on March 19,1933 in Newark,New Jersey,is an AmericanJewish writer.He first achieved prominence in 1959 with the publication of Goodbye,Columbus and Five Short Stories,for which he won the National Book Award.Duringhis over four-decade writing career,Roth has garnered every one of the importantAmerican accolades,including the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.He is well known for thecaustic humor with which he treats our age,the Jewish community,and himself.PhilipRoth once commented on his own works that“Sheer playfulness and deadly seriousnessare my closest friends”(Roth and Oates 18).This comment can equally apply to all hisworks.
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1.2 Introduction to Illness Narrative
In literary history,illness has consistently been portrayed as a personal attribute ofcharacters or as the backdrop to a story,rather than being explored as the central themeof a work.For instance,in the Chinese classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber,theprotagonist Daiyu suffers from tuberculosis.This affliction renders Daiyu anexquisitely sensitive and romantic lady,making her more captivating than any otherfemale character in this novel.However,both the author and readers overlook Daiyu’sphysical pain and mental anguish,as well as how her illness shapes her personality andworldview.Similarly,in Western literature,diseases are often employed as either plotdevices or background elements within narratives rather than being subjected todetailed descriptions.For example,in Boccaccio’s Decameron,while black deathserves as the historical context for the story’s setting,it bears no direct relevance to itsplot.
Only when the 1918 flu took millions of lives away,and a lot of writers sufferedfrom this epidemic,then some writers began to realize illness’absence in the literaryfield.In the aftermath of the pandemic,modernists like Virginia Woolf started to focustheir artwork on everyday life,challenging the notion that illness is too commonplace tobe depicted.Since then,illness gradually becomes a preoccupation for many writers.With the growing of illness story,researches on illness narrative surges.
英语论文怎么写
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Chapter TwoLITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Studies on Nemesis at Home and Abroad
Scholars abroad discuss Nemesis from the perspective of narrative,theme,archetype,comparative literature,and woman.
First,Nemesis is analyzed from the perspective of narrative.Suzanne Kenn claimsin“A Theory of Narrative Empathy”that Nemesis has an almost incredible command oftechnique in the way the writing slides between narrative and speech(Kenn 210).In“Newark,1944,When Polio Disrupted the Playground”(Michiko 2010),Kakutanicommends Nemesis’s writing,comparing it less to a classic Roth and more to amasterfully rendered O.Henry tale with a purposefully sardonic narrative twist andpoignant conclusion.According to Leah Hager(Hager 2010),the story is bothcommunal and all-knowing,like a Greek chorus.
The themes of Nemesis are another research hotspot.Victoria Aarons wrote twoarticles about the themes of Nemesis published on Phillip Roth Studies.In“Not GettingIt:The Allure of the Counterlife in Early and Late Roth”(Aarons 2017),She points out that Roth’s works have been preoccupied with self-hood and identity in ways that lendthemselves to analysis with fundamental psychoanalytic concepts and issues,particularly as they relate to uncontrolled impulses,unconscious drives and desires,andsublimation and repression.Aarons engages her essay with the impulsive dialectics offlight and return and fantasy and sublimation in Nemesis.In“Expelled Once Again:TheFailure of the Fantasized Self in Philip Roth’s Nemesis”(Aarons 2013),Aarons tries toanalyze the determinism of this novel.The protagonist Bucky Cantor attempts to stepout of his life and reinvent himself,while the ending of the story reveals the tragicimpossibility of self-reinvention,exposing Bucky is an heir to history in the making.
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2.2 Studies on Illness Narrative at Home and Abroad
The theory of illness narrative is a concept that explores the ways in whichindividuals construct and communicate their experiences with illness.It delves into thepersonal stories,emotions,and meanings attached to one’s health journey.This theoryrecognizes that illness is not just a physical condition but also encompassespsychological,social,and cultural dimensions.Illness narratives can take various formssuch as written accounts,oral storytelling,artwork,or fictional novels.They allowpatients to reclaim their agency by giving voice to their experiences and challengingdominant medical discourses.
The emergence of illness narrative can be traced back to the 1980s,during whichnumerous scholars from the fields of medicine,medical anthropology,and literature have dedicated their efforts to the development of narrative medicine.Notably,there areseveral monographs within this domain that deserve readers’attention.
Susan Sontag’s celebrated essay“Illness as Metaphor”begins the discussion aboutthe relations about illness and literature.Her eloquent lines“Illness is the night-side oflife,a more onerous citizenship.Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship,in thekingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick”(Sontag 3)evoke both literaryscholars and medical professors’attention to the function of narrative in medicine.
The American sociologist Erving Goffman published his book Stigma:Notes onthe Management of Spoiled Identity in 1963.This book is about the idea of stigma andwhat it is like to be a stigmatized person.Stigmatized people are those that do not havefull social acceptance and are constantly striving to adjust their social identities:physically deformed people,mental patients,drug addicts,prostitutes,etc.(Goffman25).He points out those who suffered chronic ills are always the victims ofstigmatization.Goffman defines three types of stigma:stigma of character traits,physical stigma,and stigma of group identity.The simultaneous occurrence of thesethree types of stigma is commonly observed in the patients.
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Chapter Three ILLNESS NARRATIVE OF THE SICK BODIES.18
3.1 The Stigma of Illness:The Outcast Horace................19
3.1.1 The stigmatization of Horace...................................20
3.1.2 The stigma of illness and Roth’s intention..........................22
Chapter Four ILLNESS NARRATIVE AS METHPHORS............34
4.1 Illness as Metaphor for Identity Crisis...................................35
4.1.1 From“inferiority complex”to“Jewish self-hatred”.............................35
4.1.2 Diaspora and Promise Land...................................37
Chapter Five ILLNESS NARRARIVE AS QUEST FOR HEALING.............52
5.1 Testimony of Suffering...........................53
5.1.1 Acceptance of divine authorship.......................54
5.1.2 Pedagogy of suffering...............................57
Chapter FiveILLNESS NARRATIVE AS QUEST FOR HEALING
5.1 Testimony of SufferingIl
lnesses not only constitute an inseparable aspect of human life and existence,buttheir emergence and decline also exhibit a profound and intricate interplay with theprogress of human society and the evolution of civilization.The Swedish pathologistFolke Henschen once proclaimed,“The history of mankind is the history of itsdiseases”(Lin 88).The study of illness narrative thus offers a profound exploration intothe fabric of human society as a whole.The resilience exhibited by humans in the faceof diseases is a testament to their unwavering pursuit of survival throughout history.The sick bodies,far from being mere recipients of medical treatment,serve as thecarriers of historical culture.For the sick bodies,they provide a service for the wholesociety:to tell their illness story as a witness.As storytellers,they not only share theirexperience of illness,but also offer their testimony that“you can be sick and remain notjust in love with yourself but in love with the humanity that shares sickness as its mostfundamental commonality”(Frank 6).
In Nemesis,Roth asserts that the sick body should be cured by admitting his ownillness.Sharing one’s suffering to others is an effective way of healing.He also use hisimaginary plague story to teach how Jews heal their trauma by accepting their sufferingand by telling their stories as a victim.
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Chapter SixCONCLUSION
Philip Roth is one of the writers who delve into the story of physical suffering andillness.Nemesis is Roth’s last novel which brings his understanding of illness into thetext.The theory of illness narrative is a theoretical framework about disease and health,aiming to explore how individuals construct identity and meaning through narratingtheir experiences with illness.
This thesis explores the illness narrative in Nemesis by employing the theoreticalframework of illness narrative proposed by Auther W.Frank in The Wounded Storyteller.Roth’s narratives of the sick bodies in Nemesis can be interpreted as the stigma andshame of illness,the wounded storyteller in chaos and the wounded storyteller in quest.The stigma of illness reveals the harm caused by the stigmatization.The chaos narrativeof Cantor Bucky serves as the pivotal event in the novel,effectively reinforcing theprogression of the plot and stimulating profound contemplation throughout its entirety.Arnie’s quest story showcases an ideal form of illness narrative—becoming acommunicative body who always conceive the hope for future and have the courage toremake his life.
The portrayal of illness in Nemesis is not merely a depiction of symptoms,butrather carries certain political or cultural meanings.Roth also effectively employsmetaphors to enhance the persuasive power and stylistic richness of the novel.InNemesis,illness not only refers to physical abnormalities and related issues but alsocarries a broader and profound metaphorical significance that is worth exploring anddiscussing.
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