"Body" Theory In Western Modern Literary Criticism

Body, being the foundation of human existence, becomes prominent in modern theories and everyday life after a long history of condemnation, suppression and ignorance. This dissertation is to research "body" as a subject of literature criticism. It is to outline and study the historical evolution of body theories in the west. By revealing body’s different fates in various historical periods and theories, this dissertation aims at a clarification of multiple and dynamic connotation and denotation of body in modern literary criticism.Consisting of an introduction, a conclusion and five body chapters, this dissertation goes as follows:The introduction begins with etymological studies of "body" both in English and Chinese in an effort to clarify their basic meanings and implied cultural concepts. Then foreign studies are reviewed based on John O’Neill’s classification of five bodies of communicative body. Afterwards, domestic studies in translating and introducing, philosophical study, and literature criticism are surveyed and questions are mentioned. This part ends with an illustration of research subject, methods, purposes and significance.Chapter One reveals the historical background of modern body theories by tracing back to the five periods which body has gone through along the evolution of western civilization. In the Gold Age when ancient Greeks believed in Greek mythology, bodily beauty, harmony between body and soul, and natural humanness were valued. Body was described as the prison of soul and the spokesman of fallacy in the Silver Age when Socrates and Plato developed a solid dualism. Christian philosophy led body into the Bronze Age and imposed double roles on it. On one hand, body was good as God’s creation and serves as a necessity of salvation. On the other hand, it is labelled as the source of sin and evil and was to face asceticism. Later on, body rose and fell in much disputation between empiricism and rationalism until it was considered useless in cognitive domain. Being a merely biological matter, body was silenced in the Iron Age which was dominated by rationalism. In the Heroic Age, Nietzsche declared the death of God and rebuilt value system via body in poetic terms after he criticized harshly Christianity and traditional metaphysics. The modern corner of body, instead of a whim, is in fact a historical continuity and a rebel.Chapter Two focuses on Freud’s libido body. Both the theory of unconsciousness and the theory of libido highlight irrational elements, refusing supremacy of consciousness and reason. Freud relies on them to explain the development of personality and the formation of civilization and to describe the evolution of ideological system and the nature of artistic creation, revealing his preference of bodily thinking. This chapter attempts to understand and evaluate its significance within a historical and social context while elaborating on libido body. Its proposal beats the battle drum for irrationalism, paving the way of the future development, and works out new directions for artistic creation and criticism. Meanwhile, there is ambiguity in Freud’s attitude toward body when he stretches over rationalism and irrationalism.Chapter Three explores body theories of two French philosophers, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Michel Foucault. The former thinker, based on the study of body behaviors and perception, believes that body is an entity of sensory pseudesthesia, and an entity of body and soul. He coins the term of "body-subject" which is a combination of subject and object. In his opinion, body, having a bodily intentionality, vigorously extends its spatiality of situation and thus establishes a rapport with the world. In later period, Merleau-Ponty moves from ambiguous body phenomenology on to ontology of "flesh", taking effort to remove the remaining of dualism in body-and-world structure. Different from the former, Foucault is more concerned about passive disciplined body. Via genealogy, he surveys how body is reduced into a silenced object and tamed productivity by the political manipulation of power and knowledge. He also displays that modern bodies are characterized by fragmentation, time and space. Similar to Merleau-Ponty, Foucault has a theoretical reflection which results in a discussion about body resistance and a proposal of aesthetics of existence.Chapter Four studies different voices of feminism and sorts out three major body views. In the first place, some feminists are subject to dualistic mode. Though they strive for fundamental human rights and body rights, they seek for uniformity and equality based on man-centered norms and hold a negative attitude towards their bodily features and functions. Secondly, feminists who unearth the cultural factors for being Others view body as creation of patriarchy. Beauvoir flings herself into the breach and exposes how a woman is made and how women’s phenomenal bodies are chained in an alienated space for a slim chance of freedom. Kate Millette elaborates on "sexual politics". Judith Butler goes much farther, deconstructing naturalness of "sex". Finally, in order to restore women’s discourse, Helene Cixous and other proponents criticize Freud’s theories about gender and believe in body’s beauty and libido’s power. Using body as a metaphor, they welcome gender differences and encourage feminine writing.Chapter Five deals with body and its aesthetic activities on two levels. Cultural study thinks of body in consumer culture as the most beautiful goods which is reduced into an objectified sign. Body is maintained inside and outside in daily life so as to shape and perform its self of greater market value. Meanwhile, Eagleton and Shusterman try to construct body aesthetics. The former explores the complicated relationship between body, aesthetics and ideology while the latter positively defends body’s aesthetic role, discusses body consciousness and its four levels, and systematically establishes a three-dimension structure of Somaesthetics.Chapter Six probes into the introduction of body theories into China and its application and changes. That Chinese culture values body, the spirit of specific times and the inner demand of discipline development all contributed to the embracement. After four periods of different features, western body theories grew popular in Chinese literary circle. The borrowed thoughts brought immediate influence upon literary creation and criticism, resulting in a flourishing scene. At the same time, body reveals Chinese characteristics, such as the emphasis on body politic, carnality and integrality.Conclusion attempts to make a summary of various connotations of body. It also proposes a further question:what is the significance of China’s borrowing western body theories? It doesn’t mean hegemony of western academic discourse since Chinese culture has a bodily thinking, Chinese scholars make active choices and adoptions with reflection arid a critical attitude, and employ it in multiple fields and approaches. Presently, the employment does reveal many problems but they can be considered as space for future improvement and innovation. The end points out that body study is still unfinished as a global issue and may be an opportunity for a mutual dialogue between China and the...