Part 4 Jack London (2) 杰克伦敦

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time"
The Coming of American Naturalism: Industrialism produced financial giants, but at the same time created an industrial proletariat entirely at the mercy of external forces beyond their control. Slums appeared in great numbers where conditions became steadily worse. 美国文学自然主义的到来 工业的发展带来来了财富上的成功，与此同时，任由外在 的，人们无法控制的力量的摆布，工人无产阶级也出现了。 城市里出现了大量的贫民窟。
自然主义是19世纪末新的，更严厉的自然主义。它驳斥了道 德法则的安慰作用，尝试着去实现一种客观和直白，把社会 底层角色任由他们的环境和出身摆布的命运呈现出来。
Naturalism
In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, but unlike their romantic predecessors, the naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. In American literature, Jack London , Stephen Crane, Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser are representatives of naturalism. 为呈现生活的各种极端，自然主义者有时候也会和早期煽情 的浪漫主义有一定的相似性。但与浪漫主义先驱不同的是， 自然主义者强调世界是没有道德的，男人和女人无自由可言， 故事的主人公都是被出身及社会环境所禁锢，所以活着的悲 惨，死了后被淹没。美国文学的自然主义以 Jack London , Stephen Crane, Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser 为代表 作家。
Naturalism Significance
(1) Breaking through some forbidden area in literature (violence, death, sex etc.) (2) Greatly influencing the 20th century writers such as Hemingway and Faulkner 自然主义的影响 1）打破了文学领域的某些禁忌，出现了暴力，死亡， 性等领域的探讨。 2）深刻地影响了20世纪的作家，如 海明威，福克纳。
Part 4 Naturalism，Jack London
Naturalism Jack London’s Life His literary Career Represented Works
Naturalism
Naturalism--- a more deliberate kind of realism in novels, stories, and plays, usually involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. The most significant of naturalism in English being Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (1900) 自然主义，文学创作中现实主义中更明显的一种，通常 都是表现人成为自然和社会环境中的消极的牺牲品。英 语文学中自然主义的最有影响力的作品就是 Theodore Dreiser 的《嘉莉妹妹》。
The Coming of American Naturalism: Darwinism’s essential point: evolution, the survival of the fittest, natural selection. Based on this biological thesis, Herbert Spencer developed the theory of social Darwinism--the weak & stupid would fall victim to economic forces in the natural course of events. This idea became a metaphor for all existence. The writers found a way to explain human behavior according to Darwin’s natural selection. 达尔文主义最核心的观点：进化论– 适者生存，自然选择。 基于这个生物理论，Herbert Spenser 发展了社会达尔文主 义的理论--- 即弱小的和愚蠢的会成为自然界的经济力量的牺 牲品。 这一理论成了所有存在物的比喻。作家们根据达尔文 的自然选择法则用不同的方式来解释人类的行为。
The Coming of American Naturalism:
New ideas about man and man’s place in the universe began to take root in America. Living in a cold, indifferent, and essentially Godless world, man was no longer free in any sense of the word. Darwinian concepts like ―the survival of the fittest‖ and ―the human beast‖ became popular catchwords and standards of moral reference in an amoral world. Howell’s ―smiling aspect‖ realism seems too gentel and even false. Thus the influence of French naturalism, Tolstoy and Turgenev came to American literature. Therefore, naturalism came into being in American literature
彼时的美国，关于人类，关于人类在宇宙的地位的新的观点不断地涌现。 生活在一个冷酷，冷漠没有上帝的世界，人们不再有自由可言。达尔文 主义者的观点--- 适者生存，人类野兽等词变成了没有道德的世界的流行 语和道德参照体。 艾森豪威尔的“微笑的一面”在自然主义看来太温柔了，甚至是错的。 于是，在法国自然主义和托尔斯泰及屠格涅夫的影响下，美国的自然主 义出现了。 Smiling Aspects他主张美国的小说应当描绘出生活中“微笑的一面” （smiling aspects），因此他的小说基本对美国的现实生活做乐观的处理， 作品也往往在妥协、圆满的气氛中结束。
Naturalism
Naturalism was a new and harsher realism in the late 19th century . Naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity.
Jack London Jack London, whose life symbolized the power of will, was the most successful writer in American in the early 20th century. His vigorous stories of men and animals against the environment, and survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his ow16 )
Jack London