AnExistentialAnalysisofCatch-22第二十二條軍規(guī)賞析

1、An Existential Analysis of Catch-22ContentsAcknowledgementsi.Abstract(English)ii.Abstract(Chinese)i.ii.1. Introduction11.1 Catch-22 11.2 Writing Background 12. The Existe ntialism 22.1 “I think, so I ma” and x“isteence before essence”22.2 The initiative of the soldiers33. Free Choice 43.1 Orr53.2 Yo

2、ssarian64. The Absurdity of the World74.1 The Absolute power of the Bureaucracy74.2 The Moral Insanity84.3 The Inevitability of Death95. Conclusion 10Work Cited12AbstractThis paper is going to talk about the existentialism in Joseph Heller's masterpiece Catch-22. As regards to the influence of e

3、xistentialism on literature, Jean Paul Sartre's theories are the one of the great significance, which is the main concern in this thesis.Joseph Heller (1923-1999) is one of the most representative writers of Black Humor, which forecasts the dominating of American post-modernism literature. The h

4、eart of Black Humor is the description of the absurdity of the world, which is also a doctrine of existentialism. So it is said that existentialism is one of the origins of Black Humor.In Catch-22, there are bounds of freedom and the struggles to get off from them, which is a main theme of the book.

5、 And as regard to Sartre's existentialism, the central thought is the freedom to choose what one wants to be or to do, which agrees with the theme of Catch-22 above I have mentioned. So in this paper I just choose Sartre's existentialist thoughts to analyze it, despite other existentialists.

6、 Existentialism is a different point of view to look at the traditional war-novel, from which I think a deeper and more theoretical criticism of the war as well as that of the world can be obtained.For the value of this paper, first of all, it will prove Catch-22 an existential novel. Both centered

7、on the theme of freedom, this novel and existentialism share the same basis, so it's natural to connect them together. Also, there is chapter four on absurdity to illustrate this point. Thirdly, I want to stress the subjectivity and advantages of existentialism. Although many people think it as

8、superficial and spiritual, it stresseson humanism, paying attention to initiative and subjectivity, which are still hot centers of discussion till now.Key words: Catch-22; Existentialism; Free choice; Absurdity內(nèi)容摘要約瑟夫海勒的代表作二十二條軍規(guī)中滲透著存在主義的思想，這也是本論文討論的主旨所在。在存在主義理論，特別是其對文學(xué)有影響的存在主義理論中，薩特的理 論是有著重要的地位。雖然他

9、的理論觀點(diǎn)看法總是在不斷地改進(jìn)中，自由問題始終是他 所重點(diǎn)關(guān)注的問題。薩特的哲學(xué)被稱為“自由哲學(xué)”的原因，就是因?yàn)樗麑θ祟愖杂蓡?題的關(guān)注和闡釋。根據(jù)薩特的重要理論“存在先于本質(zhì)”，人必須得先發(fā)揮主動(dòng)性積極 為自己思考，然后去做自由的選擇，這些也是本論文中要涉及的內(nèi)容。雖然薩特本體論為 徹底完善，但使用它分析小說 , 可以從宏觀上看到海勒對軍隊(duì)，對戰(zhàn)爭的厭惡 , 以及對社會(huì) 的批判。約瑟夫海勒是黑色幽默小說的代表作家之一， 而黑色幽默小說預(yù)示著美國后現(xiàn)代文 學(xué)將在美國文壇占有重要的地位。 黑色幽默理論的核心是世界的荒誕性，而這也是存在主 義所堅(jiān)持的信條。本論文通過存在主義，特別是薩特的存在主義

10、理論，嘗試著從一個(gè)全新的角度去闡 釋第二十二條軍規(guī)從存在主義關(guān)于自由，世界荒謬性，對人的主動(dòng)性的強(qiáng)調(diào)，我們可 以看到，小說中無處不滲透著存在主義的痕跡。在本文里我想強(qiáng)調(diào)存在主義的優(yōu)點(diǎn)之一， 注重人的主動(dòng)性。雖然很多人認(rèn)為它是迷信的精神的，但是它強(qiáng)調(diào)人道主義，注重人的主 動(dòng)性和主體性，而這些現(xiàn)在仍是被討論的重點(diǎn)。關(guān)鍵詞 ： 第二十二條軍規(guī) ； 存在主義；自由；荒誕性An Existential Analysis of Catch-22OutlineThesis Statement: This paper is meant to talk about the existentialism in J

11、oseph Heller 's masterpiece Catch-22. As regards to the influence of existentialism on literature, Jean Paul Sartre's theories are the one of the outstanding significance, which is the main concern in this thesis. In Catch-22, there are bounds of freedom as well as the struggles to get off f

12、rom them, which is a main theme of the book. And for Sartre's existentialism, the central thought is the freedom to choose what one wants to be or to do, which agrees with the theme of Catch-22 above I have mentioned. So here I just choose Sartre's existentialist thoughts to analyze it.I . I

13、ntroduction: Catch-22 and its writing backgroundn . The ExistentialismA. “I think, so I am” and x“isteence before essence ”B. The initiative of the soldiers川. Free ChoiceA. OrrB. YossarianIV . The Absurdity of the WorldA. The Absolute power of the BureaucracyB. The Moral InsanityC. The Inevitability

14、 of DeathV . Conclusion畢業(yè)論文開題報(bào)告1.結(jié)合畢業(yè)論文課題情況，根據(jù)所查閱的文獻(xiàn)資料，每人撰寫500字左右的文獻(xiàn)綜述，闡述當(dāng)前的研究現(xiàn)狀： « H H H BM H BM ：M H H HM ：M BIB ：M ofLiterature ReviewJoseph Heller, one of the most outsta nding America n no velists and the represe ntative Black Humor, His first and best known no vel Catch-22 is now widely r

15、ecog ni zed as one of the most importa nt books writte n by America ns since World War II. term "Catch-22" has en tered the America n vocabulary to express the frustrati on of encoun teri ng absurd obstacles Therefore a thorough existentialist reading of Joseph Heller 'Cstch-22 may giv

16、e us some en lighte nment and in spirati on.Accord ing to Bria n Czech in her essayA pote ntial catch-22 for a susta in able America n ideology, the history of America n ideology in cludes eleme nts of in creas ing susta in ability. Laissez-faire, racism, sexism, and an thropoce ntrism have bee n de

17、cli ning throughout the 20tt cen tury, as in dicated by various social moveme nts and in stituti onal developme nts. Economic growth has proceeded con curre ntly and the material sta ndard of livi ng has gen erally done likewise. Proponents of an environmental Kuznets curve posit that continued econ

18、omic growth and associatedincreases in the standard of living will have the effect of, and are required for, produci ng an in creas in gly susta in able ideology.In the paper of From Modernism to Postmodernism, the auther Zhao Guofan says it is widely accepted that the emerge nee of Black Humor was

19、un der the in flue nee of Existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophy which grew out of France around World War II, with Jea n-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus as its represe ntatives. The two world wars exerted great in flue nce on Existe ntialism and Black Humor, both of which share a com mon viewp

20、o int of the artistic dema nd of facing up an absurd uni verse without intrin sic values. Joseph Heller as a Black Humorist, was in evitably in flue need by the existe ntialist philosophy and prese nted it in his Catch-22There was a study by Gary w . Davis, in A detailed Summary of Catch 22 he criti

21、cized that through Catch-22 Joseph Heller permeates the idea that there is no single definitive truth that the world is the form of a continual clash of truths. Heller permeates his ideas of existentialism throughout the novel. Each character lives within his/her own world where each creates their i

22、n dividual ideas of right and wrong. Through this no sin gle truth rema ins a con sta nt. The prin cipal behi nd existe ntialism states that on eself is the on ly defi nitive refere nee to what may be perceived of the world. The on ly truths that rema in become those created by the in dividual. Each

23、 character withi nCatch-22 lives withi n the world perceived by their mind, the ideas of right and wrong perpetuated by the in dividual.Catch-22 is an extraord inary no vel whose basic assumpti on is that all men are equally mad in war. Many critics have properly identified the distinctive features

24、of Catch-22: its wild and truly hilarious humor, its broadly satiric portrait of the military, and its savage characterization of the modern social order. Since the publication of Catch-22, it has caused much discussion and argument. After a series of study on the critical works of Joseph Heller, I

25、have a clear understanding of the significance of existentialism in his works and give me in spirati on to have a deep kno wledge oCatch-22.Bibliography:Barrett, William. Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy . Garden City: Doubleday, 1958.Kaufma nn, Walter. Existe ntialism from Dostoevs

26、ky to Sartre New York: Meridia n, 1956. Kennard, Jean EWorld Literature Criticism . Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1997.Nagel, JamesCritical Essays on Joseph Heller Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1984. Seed, David.The Fiction of Joseph Heller: Against the Grain. London: Macmillan, 1989. Sartre, Jea n-Pa

27、ulBe ing and Noth ing. Beiji ng: China Social Scien ces Publish ing House, 1993. 湯永寬.第二十二條軍規(guī)譯本序.上海：上海譯文出版社，1981.吳曉東.20世紀(jì)外國文學(xué)專題.北京：北京大學(xué)出版社，2002. 潘利鋒.全球化語境與東西方文學(xué).長沙：湖南人民出版社，2004.錢滿素.美國當(dāng)代小說家論.北京：中國社會(huì)科學(xué)出版社，1987.畢業(yè)論文開題報(bào)告2 .本課題研究的主要內(nèi)容和擬解決的問題：主要內(nèi)容：20世紀(jì)60年代稱霸于西方劇壇的荒誕派戲劇以薩特的存在主義哲學(xué)為思 想基拙，強(qiáng)調(diào)人的分離與隔膜、存在的危機(jī)與友酷、人生

28、的無用以及世界的荒誕。本文 通過分析美國現(xiàn)代作家海勒的“黑色幽默”經(jīng)典之作第二十二條軍規(guī)中體現(xiàn)的人與 其生存的世界的隔離、人與宗教、人與人以及人與自然的隔離，以闡明在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)里人 類存在的荒誕與無奈。第二十二條軍規(guī)中通過尤索林的遭遇，反映了戰(zhàn)爭和官僚機(jī) 器的瘋狂、荒誕，并通過“第二十二條軍規(guī)”的象征，達(dá)到一種形而上的藝術(shù)境界。主 人公尤索林是一個(gè)浸透著存在主義意識的“反英雄”形象，身兼批判現(xiàn)實(shí)的積極因素和取消斗爭的消極因素。他是荒誕與瘋狂社會(huì)中的清醒者。親眼目睹的許多事實(shí)，促使他 進(jìn)行痛苦的思考。他有一定的社會(huì)意識和正義感。對于瘋狂的世界，他一直進(jìn)行著道義 的評判。尤索林信仰的喪失，理想的落空

29、，英雄氣概的消亡，都反映了西方資產(chǎn)階級的 日趨衰敗并漸漸走向衰亡擬解決的問題： 通過對作品中主要人物尤索林的遭遇的分析，體現(xiàn)第二十二條 軍規(guī)中人與其生存的世界的隔離、人與宗教、人與人以及人與自然的隔離。分析后現(xiàn) 代主義，充分論證闡明小說中體現(xiàn)的現(xiàn)代社會(huì)里人類存在的荒誕與無奈。1. Introduction1.1 Catch-22Before Catch-22, Joseph Heller has written several works, including many short stories, three plays and several novels. But it is after

30、 the publication of Catch-22 that Heller as a specialized writer is remembered by the world. This work is called the epic in the 1960s.By describing a apparently crazy world, he exposes the corruption of American society, where the social bureaucrats, related to capital power, brought suffering and

31、death to the ordinary people.The novel Catch-22 mainly tells a story about a pilot soldier named Yossarian. This story happens in World War II. Serving in the army for a long time, he gets tired of it, and wants to go back home away from the war and from the threat to be killed. After the death of h

32、is friend Snowden, Yossarian begins to try to be grounded, to be an ordinary person away from the cruel world. In order to accomplish his dream, he pretends to be insane; to be ill and even behaves in insane manners. At last, he, obeying his own authentic self, refuses to work together with the uppe

33、r officials and deserts from the army. Also there are some sub-stories about other soldiers beside Yossarian, such as his co-pilot Orr, who deserts successfully at last, another one, Nately, who falls in love with a whore, etc.1.2 Writing BackgroundJoseph Heller was born in Brooklyn, New York, as th

34、e son of poor Jewish parents. His father, who was a bakery truck driver, died in 1927. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller joined the Twelfth Air Force. He was posted in Corsica, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. In 1949 Heller received his M.A. fro

35、m Columbia University. He was a Fulbright scholar at Oxford in 1949-1950. Heller worked as a teacher at Pennsylvania State University (1950-1952), copywriter for the magazines Time (1952-56), Look (1956-58), and promotion manager for McCall 's. He left McCall s'in 1961 to teach fiction and d

36、ramatic writing at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. All those experiences contribute to Helle'rs writing.After WW n , American government didn' pay much attention to social reforms, and instead it lent much money to Europe and carried out commercialism, which dissatisfied

37、the people deeply. In politics, the horror of McCarthyism swept every corner of America. Those conditions mentioned above are the writing background of Catch-22. At the very beginning of the story, Heller told that it is not just an anti-war story. Wayne Charles Miller, in his An Armed American: Its

38、 Face in Fiction , said that Pianosa, where the storyCatch-22 happened, is a mirror of America, a tool that allowed Heller to criticize justice, romantic love, heroism, the military, and capitalism. People in this background are calling for true freedom and responsibility of the government as well a

39、s themselves. So Sartre's theories just pleased what those people needed. All those above mentioned are the background reasons why I choose existentialism to analyze Catch-22.2. ExistentialismExistentialists tend, for example, to highlight the unique and particular in human experience; they put

40、the individual person at the centre of their pictures of the world, and are suspicious of philosophical or psychological doctrines that obscure this existential individuality by speaking as if there were some abstract “human nature ”so,me set of general laws or principles, to which men are determine

41、d or required, by their common humanity, and to conform that each man is what he chooses to be or make himself to be, and he cannot escape responsibility for his character or his deeds by claiming that they are the pre-determined consequenceof factors beyond his power to control resist, nor can he j

42、ustify what he does in terms upon him from without.For the relationship of existentialism with the literature, Sartre 's theories are much more powerful than the others 'S.artre s'theory “ Existencebefore essence ”stressesthe initiative of human being, for which it is called “the philoso

43、phy ofaction ”In.this chapter, focusing on the Catch-22, I 'll have a discussion about soldiersfferent resp'ondsies to the war according to their different initiative.2.1 “Ithink, so I am” and “eixstence before essence ”“ Coigto ergo sum”is the slogan of a French philosopher, Decarte, which

44、means in English “Ithink before I am.”, whichis almost the equation of Sarter's “ existence beforessence. ” Both of them tell us that we should be suspicious to everything in the world except that “I 'm suspecting o”r “I 'tmhinking ”in,spite of which I have nothing. This suspicion I have

45、 proves the existence of myself as well as the initiative of the very person, I. As I have mentioned, “ exsitence before essencemea”ns “we ausmhan beings have no given essence or nature but must forge our own values and meanings in an inherently meaningless or absurd world of existence”. Man was not

46、 created according to a certain style or pattern. Man has no pre-existing essence, as a result of which he is what he conceives himself to be and what he makes of himself. He sets up his own ethics and creates his own human nature. Man is thrown into the world and he must accept himself and look for

47、wards to the future.For all the existentialists, Sartre defers from others most by his human-centered thinking. “Sartre appreciated Decarte'sIthink'a, nd thought that any truth in the world can not depart with tIhink before I am'o,nly from which we can get an absolutreeal self-consciousn

48、ess. '” Of course, there are differences between them. In Sartre's opinion, “ Before Decarte's reflective cogito, i.e., Ithink 'th,ere should and must be the pre-reflective thought, which should be the subject of philosophy and the starting line of the phonology.”There are shortcomin

49、gs in Decarte's thinking. For example, “ fromthe pre-reflective cogito, Decarte sets up Ia's the instinctive structure of ideology, and as the subject of thinking dominating ideology ”, and consequently he went into dumal,iswhich separatessubject from object. Also in “ Cogitoergo sum”D,ecart

50、e defines “I a”s a real and tangible person, which in “Ithink before I am”,Sartre thinks that “I”is a general theoretical definition, not a real one. What's more, Sartre pays more attention to the authenticity and creativity of individuals, i.e., he focuses on the initiative of human beings. We

51、choose to be what we want ourselves to be, and we must think first, not behaving in bad faith.In spite of those detailed differences, the two theories, no matter Sartr'e s “ Exniscteebefore essence”or its origin “Ithink, so I am”,both stress the initiative of people. With the aim of discussing t

52、he initiative of those pilots, let 's see how they respond differently to the paradoxical Catch-22.2.2 The initiative of the soldiers“Th existence of reality is always surrounded and penetrated by ma'ns subjectivity.”For a soldier, the immediate rules from the upper officials of the army whe

53、re he serves are essential and impetuous for his daily life, although here, in this squadron, the dominating rule, Catch-22, even doesn't exist at all, while all the enlisted men following it blindly. Sartre holds that “ existencbeefore essence ”m,an is free to choose himself to be a certain kin

54、d of person, who at the same time has the liability for himself as well as for the others, if not, he is said to be in a “ badfaith ”, whicish a kind of escapefrom the responsibility he should take. And that's why Sartre's theories are called “ thephilosophy of action ”H.is theory encourages

55、 people to make their own choices, and to realize their authentic self. So initiative is important in Sartre's theories of existence, while without which you can be called in inertia, or bad faith.For the squadron of soldiers, some of them just act themselvesin relation to the orders from the mi

56、litary system; some begin to think about the absurdity of the rule Catch-22 and the war; while others really start to desert. In this special situation, the soldiers of the third group is those of self-consciousness,they think more about themselves, more about the war and even more about the world t

57、han others do, which is accordant with Decarte's “ Cogito rego sum”T.he most representative figure of this group, besides Yossarian, is Orr.Under the control of Catch-22, Yossarian and Orr are brave enough to show their initiative in seeking their “ authenticself ”C.ompared with Yossarian and Or

58、r, most of the soldiers are lack of initiative, i.e., living in “abd faith”.Under the rule of Catch-22, they aren 'intauthentic existence, and just as above I have mentioned, they are only puppets.“ Bad faith ” is one of famthoeusmes of existentialism. If you act in “ badfaith ”yo,u are trying t

59、o force away from the anguish of realizing that you are absolutely free, and you do not choose your being on the basis of this or that matter, but out of nothing. As said by Sartre's theory, “ bad faith ”mahnaysforms. One manifestation of it occurs in the person who lives as a role that is mere stereotype. In order to escape on'es responsibility of choosing a meaning and a value for his life, one adopts a ready-made role, which provides him with a meaning he does not have to head for himself. I will mention several soldiers as examp