A Study on “Image of China” in The Painted Veil_英语论文

摘要

作为英国杰出小说家W.S. 毛姆的一部经典佳作，《面纱》在讲述一对英国情侣在中国小镇上所发生的爱恨纠葛的同时，也表达了毛姆对中国的矛盾情感。作为一部以远东题材为主题的作品，小说从外国作家的角度展示了一个不同的中国形象。通过分析小说中的中国的东方国家形象，中国人的他者形象和中国女性的异类形象，本文探究了毛姆产生有失偏颇的中国印象的深层原因。通过小说中东西方人物的描写对比以及对有失偏颇的中国形象形成原因的深层探究，本文从东方主义的角度揭示了毛姆的文化霸权观,以及在中西方交流过程中仍需做出更多努力以改善甚至消除被误读的中国形象。

关键词： W.S. 毛姆；面纱；中国形象；东方主义；误读

Abstract

The Painted Veil, the famous novel of British outstanding novelist W.S. Maugham, expresses a paradoxical attitude toward China by narrating the romantic dispute between two English lovers at a Chinese town. As a Far East theme work, the story presents a different image of China from the perspective of a foreign writer.  This thesis, with the analysis of the complicated image of China as an orientalized nation, the image of Chinese as the other, and the image of Chinese women as the alien, probes into the factors accountable to Maugham’s biased impression of the image of China. By contrasting the depictions to western characters with those to eastern characters and by investigating the deep causes of such a biased image of China in this novel, this paper discloses Maugham’s conception of cultural hegemony from the perspective of Orientalism and reveals that great efforts still need to be made so as to improve and even eliminate the misinterpreted image of China in Sino-West communication.

Key words: W.S. Maugham, The Painted Veil, image of China, Orientalism, misinterpretation   

Contents

1. Introduction.1 2. Demonstration.3

2.1. Cultural stereotype and Maugham’s oriental writing. .3

2.1.1. The theory of cultural stereotype3

2.1.2. Maugham’s oriental writing5

2.2. Image of China as an orientalized nation in The Painted Veil6

2.2.1. Definition of “Image of China” .6

2.2.2. Embodiment of “Image of China” .7

2.2.2.1. Barbaric China.7

2.2.2.2. Exotic China.9

2.3. Image of Chinese as the other in The Painted Veil.12

2.3.1. Marginalized Chinese12

2.3.2. Savage Chinese15

2.3.3. Saved Chinese17

2.4. Image of Chinese women as the alien in The Painted Veil.20

2.4.1. The Manchu princess.20

2.4.2. The foot-binding Chinese women22

3. Conclusion23

Notes25.

Works Cited26

Bibliography.27