Walking Between The Ideal And The Reality

Since the previous Bellow critics have seldom applied the cultural critical therory, this thesis seeks to analyze Bellow's novels from the perspective of cultural criticism, discussing the realistic significance and unique value of the 5 novels written by Bellow in his mid-late writing career. This thesis attempts to study the existential dilemma of humanity in the post-industrial society represented in Bellow's novels. Setting his novels against the broad social background and in the the post-industial and post-modern context, this thesis applies the social theories of Daniel Bell, Baudrillard and Simmel, and the semiotic theory of Lacan to examine the representation of the social problems, especially the social origin of the money-worship phenomenon and consumerism, the contradiction between the pursiut of the material and that of the spirit in the consumer society represented in the the novels. Meanwhile, the present thesis applies the psycho-analytical theory to analyze Bellow's novels. For example, it applies the moral principle and the pleausure principle to analyze the psychology and deeds of the protagonists and find that, stimulated by money and pleasure, the "id" in human beings which is controlled by the pleausure principle takes upper hand, leading to the loss of the true self. The loss of self identity of the intellectuals in Bellow's novels signifies the loss of humanistic spirit in the waves of commodity economy.Three aspects of the dilemma of humanity in a post-industrial society are given prominent treatment in Bellow's novels.Firstly, the reification phenomenon. The novel More Die of Heartbreak depicts a picture of excessive consumption in the post-industrial society, represents the life of the " one-dimentional men " who " take consumption as their soul " and criticizes hedonism and the consumer ethics. The criticism of consumerism of Bellow attains a height of cultural dimension and humanistic concern.Secondly, the phenomenon of alienation. This is vividly represented in the novel Herzog. This novel delineates the alienated relationship between human beings and themselves, human beings and society, and human beings and nature. Bellow explains the relationship of human beings with society and nature in his own way. He suggests that industrilization and urbanization have turned the relationship between men and nature into one of consuming and being consumed. As for the interpersonal relationship, love and intimacy have been replaced by alienation and estrangement. In this sense, this novel is a lament for the never-more-harmonious relationship between men and nature, men and society.Thirdly, the tragedy caused by the blind pursuit of "success". The novel Humbolts' Gift tells "a tale of progress" of a realist and a story of the decline of an idealist, and describes the conflict between realistic values and idealistic values. The whole story is presented within a paradoxical narrative structure, which makes the novel more complex and profound. In this novel, Bellow tries to deconstruct the post-industrial society dominated by hedonism. He not only criticizes the blind pursuit of success of people, but also shows hatred for the world defined by rationality and " progress".The two novels Dean's December and Mr.Sammler's Planet reflect the writer Bellow's concern for civilization and culture, human spirit and soul, his anxiety over the decline of morality, his probe into the meaning of existence, and the special "emotional conviction" Bellow has. These two novels demonstrate his deconstruction as well as reconstruction of the post-industrial society. Here his response to the post-industrial society is manifest.Bellow attacks modern technology and civilization. He is against the emphasis of the development of sicence and technology at the cost of the neglect of spiritual construction. He thinks that the development of science and technology will not definitely bring happiness and joy to human kind. He doubts the specialists institution, ponders on the decline of humanistic spirit and laments the absence of the sense of happiness of modern men.Bellow reflects deeply on the relationship between the progress of science and technology and the degeneration of culture in the post-industrial society. In his novels, he investigates thoroughly the influence of the instrumental rationality, the development of science and technology and the social progress on culture and human sciences, as well as the evolution of human values. He is against the blind pursuit of technological development and the excessive worship for science. He is concerned about the fate of culture and hopes to restore humanities, such as literature and art to their deserved place.Bellow's novels are characterized by a humanistic concern. His protagonists represented by Herzog reflects Bellow's thoughts and perplexity. He has noticed the increasing decline of metaphisics and moral values in the post-industrial society. His novels concern some ultimate peoblems, such as self identity, morality and truth, individuality and community, etc. His philosophical reflections on these problems reveal his response to materialism and consumerism in the post-industrial society. This also shows his redemption of the postmodern problems such as the disappearance of feeling, the disintegration of communities, and the lack of depth.Bellow depicts a post-industrial wasteland world. However, in the face of the ruined civilization, he still maitains a conviction, optimistic and positive. His novels are penetrated with a Utopian complex and a literary idealism. He resists nihility and never says "no". He is confident of a promising future of human culture and civilization. His novels are helpful and have eternal value in diagnosing and curing the illness of the post-modern human society and saving the endangered beliefs of the human kind. His critical views sound extremely clear in the superficial and noisy contemporary world. However, he tries to evade to slip or fall into "the Utopian fantasy" and help the human being to find a way out of the postmodern dilemma. How to find a panacea to cure the sickness of contemporary metropolitans? How to help the lonely individual find a sense of belonging to community? How to save the modern men who have lost their spiritual homeland? Here, the importance of memory, spirit and conviction is stressed in Bellow's novels.Bellow's novels are permeated with a kind of lingering nostalgia of "the strangers" for their homeland, full of the memory of the past glories. What Bellow represents is not only their exile in the geographical sense, but also their banishment in the psychological sense. He describes the situation of the jewish immigrants who drift away from the mainstream American society, yet what he renders is not only a jewish identity crisis , but also a typical, trans-epochal universal problem of humanity.Bellow has found a therapy for the consumer society and the human kind who have lost their paradise and struggle in the post-industrial wasteland world. He helps the modern men to realize their spiritual redemption with the aid of art, nature and the jewish cultural tradition. To Bellow, art, poem (literature) and nature are the means of redemption. He resists consumersim, dislikes cities, but gets close to nature. Like Thoreau, Bellow experiences "the spiritual tranquility " in the simple cottage in a small town which is never polluted by the industrial civilization. For Bellow art and nature are sources of the aesthetic redemption, while the jewish tradition is the source of historical and philosophical redemption. Bellow antagonizes the absence of feeling with the humanistic sentiments. His protagonists obtain transcendence in their being "open" to others, that is, they try to get out of alienation through involving in brotherhood, community, thus making their life more meaningful. In other words, they learn to make their life more significant through universal fraternity------to love others and humanity.With his ideal and conviction, Bellow embarks on a psychological pilgrimage, passing through the sense of loss to the sense of belonging. He is always longing for a spiritual homeland. He illustrates the contradiction and confusion of the intellectuals whose inner world represent the conflict between the ideal and the reality. His novels expound the transcendental meaning of literarature and the redemption function of humanities. His novels express a "quest" theme, a sense of nostalgia for the homeland of a straying soul, a Utopian complex, a literary idealism, and a yeaning for the meaning of life.In an age when consumerism prevails and morality declines and when people are mad for recreation, Bellow's concen for human spirit and soul, his search for the eternal truth, his daring spirit to face squarely the existential problems and human folly, his trial to prescribe a therapy for the illness of the post-industrial society, all show the humanistic concern of a great master of literature. In a word, Bellow walks between the ideal and the reality.