Symphony Of Dionysus And Apollo

Ernest Hemingway is charismatic, enigmatic and peculiar. Rarely any writers in literary history possessed so many ardent admirers as well as the same many severe accusers. In modernist era, he writes against the trend and focuses upon the people, the society and the world just as the realist writers did in the 19^th century, but obviously having broader concern and on a more philosophical height. His prestigious "style", his "Hemingway hero" along with his glorious public image as the epitome of masculinity has conquered the literary world. As for Hemingway the writer, due to his complicated personality, remains as an enigma for even his most intimates; what's more, his actual self always goes against the public image. Hemingway is a "dead" writer, and even in the last century, critical works have already greatly surpassed the number of novels he has written; while there are still prejudiced impressions and controversial opinions upon him left in need of clarification and re-evaluation. Besides, Hemingway study itself needs furthering as time develops, by discovering new method of analysis and new angle of exploration. The dichotomic duality is such a new approach and a totally untrod field of research.Hemingway's works and thoughts are guided by dichotomic duality, which result in the complexity of Hemingway's personality and the divergence of the critical assertions on him. Accumulations have reached the state that research should and can go beyond the fetter and boundary of one single side to a comprehensive and dialectical concern of the duality itself; and this thesis makes an analysis from the perspective of the duality. It endows the duality with the terms of Apollonian and Dionysian, which are originally put forward by Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy; and proposes that the Apollonian and Dionysian duality is the guiding principle for Hemingway the author as well as his novels.This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is the explication of the concept of Apollonian and Dionysian and the division of the dichotomic units from different respects. It begins by the discussion of the archetype of Apollo and Dionysusin Greek mythology and Nietzsche's elaboration; then, it summarizes and re-evaluates the various attributes that Apollo and Dionysus connote. It anatomizes and brings forward the dichotomy in the general aspects of character, representation and aesthetic thought. Nietzsche maintains that Greek tragedy originates from the duality of Apollonian and Dionysian and at last, it proposes the reason why Hemingway's works are mostly tragic.The second chapter discusses the dichotomic duality in Hemingway's character, which is separated into two sections. The first section explores the duality in gender characterization. The male character accords with the Apollonian spirit and the female is the expression of the Dionysian. The power to penetrate engenders their love and even the tendency of "androgyny"; and the force of opposition triggers the imperfect and tragic ending. The second one classifies the action of the character into two types of Apollonian and Dionysian; and fishing, hunting, boxing and narcotic drinking are endowed with the Dionysian feature and working with the property of Apollonian.The third chapter elucidates the dichotomic duality in representation in two sections. The first section focuses on the subject of representation, in which the unit of nature and culture is set forth. Nature is endowed with the Apollonian characteristic and culture with the Dionysian peculiarity. The second section analyzes the means of representation. It distinguishes the dual technique of omission and repetition in Hemingway's style and then, expounds the dichotomic unit of the represented and the means of representation.The fourth chapter explores Hemingway's aesthetic thought and his view towards life. His life is propped up by the dual perspective of Apollonian and Dionysian. It analyzes the imperfectness and the Dionysian pain in his life and illuminates the activities of Apollonian and Dionysian to survive life. Apollonian activity indicates his work of writing, which is the means to attain peace and serenity to dispel the distress of life; and the Dionysian one includes eating, narcotic drinking, fishing, hunting and so on to bear existence through intoxication.Apollonian and Dionysian duality ushers in a new field of research that fewscholars have worked upon before. Because of the oppositional interpenetration, Hemingway heroes always face dilemmatic choice, the temper of fate, the division of spirit and flesh, the intergrowth of hope and agony, which always make their life tragic. For his tough appearance and changeful personal life, Hemingway is always prejudicially interpreted as a female-discriminated writer; while actually he handles the gender issue in his peculiar way. He characterizes the female with Dionysian idiosyncrasy while endows the male with Apollonian spirit; and thus there forms the "ameba" and "bitch" type of female characters, who can generate madness and pleasure as what Dionysus does, and also shapes the "code hero" sensible, controlled and in conformity to a set of codes. Critics more often than not hold censure towards Hemingway people's action of fishing, boxing, bull-fighting and narcotic drinking, evaluating them as insignificant. With a new perspective, this thesis classifies them into Apollonian and Dionysian type and proposes that the seemingly petty behavior reflects their mode of existence and state of life. Carlos Baker and E. M. Halliday once had a debate, which resulted from the analytical mode of "mountain" and "plain" to the novel A Farewell to Arms advanced by Baker; and this thesis attempts to reassess the issue with the dichotomic unit of "Apollonian nature" and "Dionysian culture". Happy to set a public image against his real self, Hemingway, who is not as tough as he appears to be, possesses a complex personality and an unmanly sensitive mind, which can easily feel the pain and torture of existence obsessed with him all along. Actually, he tastes more bitterly the distress of life than ordinary persons; otherwise, he would not be that famous. In reliance upon words and fictions he creates to escape and conceal the suffering, he engages himself in the activity of writing; and constantly depending on the Dionysian intoxication of hunting and fishing to forget temporarily the agony of being, he becomes the legendary and brave tough figure among public impressions.