在虚无中生存-对《一个干净明亮的地方》的主题探讨_英语论文

Being in Nothingness ---A Thematic Study on Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-lighted Place

摘要

厄尔斯特.海明威（1899-1961），一位诺贝尔奖获得者，是二十世纪最著名的美国作家之一。他一向被认为是“迷惘的一代”的典型代表和领军人物。他的写作风格、与众不同的主人公形象以及作品中所展示的生活态度，历来受到众多读者的青睐，并在英语国家甚至世界范围内广为流传，被争相模仿。

几乎海明威所有的作品都有涉及虚无思想，引起国内外评论界的广泛热议。但是现有的研究往往倾向于把虚无思想理解为“绝望”“理想的幻灭”等。鲜有研究者试着从积极方面来探讨虚无主义，意识到虚无和存在在海明威小说中的相辅相成。

《一个干净明亮的地方》创作于1933年，是在所有作品中把海明威虚无思想贯彻得最透彻的短篇小说。作品中，海明威通过对一位老者和两位侍者的刻画，指出 “虚无”在人类生活中普遍存在，虚无的实质就是人们对存在的一种经历体会。唯有找到在人的意识中保留一寸干净明亮的地方，意识到虚无中存在的各种可能，才有驱逐虚无的可能。

海明威生存在一个被虚无掌控的世界。残酷的战争留给他的伤痛和梦想的幻灭，却也造就了他吃苦耐劳、不屈不挠的精神品质。他的一生历经坎坷，虽以“一枪”归于虚无，但他在充满暴力与死亡的现实世界中表现出来的勇气以及对于“在重压下保持优雅”的理性呼唤，都给当时和现今迷茫的人们带来极大的精神鼓舞。他本身便是“虚无中存在”的缩影。

关键词：海明威；一个干净明亮的地方；虚无；存在

Abstract 

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), a Nobel Prize winner, was one of the best-known American writers of the twentieth century. He was typically regarded as the spokesman for the Lost Generation. His writing style, the particular type of hero in his novels and his life attitudes have been recognized and imitated by English-speaking countries and the world as a whole.

Almost all of Hemingway’s stories follow the theme of nothingness. And many critics have come at his nothingness thought. But they tend to relate nothingness to the feelings of despair and disillusionment of ideals. Few researchers try to analyze the nothingness thoughts from the positive perspective and see the coincidence between nothingness and being in Hemingway’s works.

 “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is written in 1933, a story which best illustrates his thoughts of nothingness among all his masterpieces. The plot is based on the association between the old man and the two waiters. It points out that nothingness is ubiquitous in human’s life, and the essence of which is actually the experience of one’s own being and the only way to resist nothingness is to keep a clean and well-lighted place in the mind，to recognize the reasons for being in the nothingness. 

Hemingway lives in a world dominated by nothingness. The cruel war leaves him wound and disillusionment of dreams, but also trains him to be enduring and unbending. His life is full of ups and downs. Although he shot himself to being nothing, his rational call for “courage in the violent and dreadful world” and “grace under pressure" in his story is indeed an inspiration for all of the people at that time and nowadays. He himself is the miraculous epitome of being in the world of nothingness.

Keywords: Ernest Hemingway; A Clean, Well-lighted Place; Nothingness; Being 

Contents

1. Introduction 6

2. Nothingness as one part of the theme 7

2.1 Plot of the story 7

2.2 Life in nothingness 7

2.2.1 The Origin of Nada 8

2.3 Character’s attitudes towards nothingness 9

3. Being as another part of the theme 10

3.1 Struggle over nothingness 10

3.2 Life with being 11

4. Being in nothingness as the theme 12

5. The Background of the Author and the Novel 13

5.1 The General Introduction of Hemingway 13

5.2 The Lost Generation 15

5.3 Existentialism and Nihilism 16

6. Conclusion 17

Bibliography 18