| Edith Wharton (1862-1937), born into a wealthy and well-connected New York familyin1862, was one of the American greatest writers at the turn of20th century. During herfifty years of writing, she has composed more than40works in various genres rangingfrom novels, short stories, poems to travel books, literal critiques and autobiography etc.Due to her undeniable success, Wharton and her novels have attracted great attention of theAmerican literati from different perspectives.The introduction of this thesis embarks with the review on previous studies onWharton’s works in chronological sequence, illustrating diverse perspectives of evaluatingher novels including feminism, naturalism as well as pessimism etc. On the basis ofprevious studies, this thesis is in an effort to interpret Wharton’s tragedy writing byemploying the new paradigm proposed by Ren Shengming, a Chinese scholar on tragedy,combined with textual analysis and historical study. In order to reach this goal, this thesisintends to examine two representative novels of Wharton——The House of Mirth (1905)and The Age of Innocence (1920).Chapter two serves as the theoretical support of Wharton’s tragic awareness byintroducing the features of modern tragedy of the west. The distinctions between ModernTragedy and Classical tragedy are firstly listed to provide testimony that Wharton’s twomajor novels belong to the former category. Then, the new paradigm named the tensility ofhumanity in predicaments and triple spaces of world of modern tragedy including socialtragedy, spiritual tragedy and noumenon tragedy are introduced as the study approach ofthis thesis.Based on the conclusion that Wharton’s novels should be included in modern tragedy,chapter three provides detailed analysis on the tragic spirit reflected through her two majornovels with Nietzsche’s Dionysian spirit put firstly, proving Wharton’s heredity of typicalfeatures of modern tragedy. Wharton’s heroines Lily and Ellen were both trapped bypredicaments. Lily bid her fate on marrying into the noble, due to which she came closelyto the heel of the upper class. Nevertheless, she aspired to reach “The Republic of Spirit”deep down, despising what she pursued in earthly world. Such incongruousness twisted herlife going from bad to worse. Ellen was born as a member in the noble, while too independent in deeds and minds, which was largely diverged with the value cherished inher class. She fearlessly pursued individual happiness, divorcing her husband and falling inlove with Archer, which were all scolded by her relatives. Lily and Ellen used to makecompromises, but eventually deserted the world they disdained gaining the growth ofmentality and the real sense of existence. Therefore, Lily’s death and Ellen’s self-exilesymbolized the nobility of humanity and significant tragic spirit.Chapter four put emphasis on her distinctive approaches of manipulating tragedy,which is featured by the incomplete love of protagonists---Lily and Selden’s crash wasfinally separated by life and death; Ellen and Archer’s romance was dissipated by thelifelong departure; and the interpretation of female characters in male voices---Lily’sdouble characters were displayed vividly in close observation of Selden; Archer’sobsession for Ellen also served as a mirror reflecting her spiritual power and psychologicalcharm.In conclusion part, the author of this thesis reiterates the arguments proposed inprevious chapters, thereby drawing the conclusion that what penetrates into Wharton’stragedy writing is her tragic spirit with affirmative attitude towards life instead of herindividual pessimism. Moreover, Wharton’s manipulation on writing as well as heradvanced ideology is recognized throughout the whole analysis, indirectly awardingWharton’s excellence in writing and her great contribution to modern literature. |
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