A Study On The Hybridity Of Ravelstein

Saul Bellow is a famous American Jewish writer.He is one of the most prestigious writers in contemporary America,and also one of the American writers who writes a long time,also the writer most commented.All his life he received numerous awards,winning three times National Book Award of the United States,other awards including the Nobel Literary Award,the Pulitzer Prize and the Knight's Cross of the French Literary Awards and so on.He has published 14 novels,4 collections of short stories,1 play,1 blog and 1 collection of essays.His works have a universal value,which mainly described American Jewish intellectuals suffering spiritual crisis under contemporary commercial material social.Bellow connects intellectuals'problems with modern people's problems,paying attention to the existence and destiny of the whole people.Ravelstein is the last novel of Saul Bellow published in 2000 when Bellow was at the age of 85.The study of Ravelstein in and out are mainly about the Jewishness,anti Semitism,identity recognition,narrative pattern,novel forms of and so on.However,as Bellow's last work,we can find that Ravelstein shows us the hybridity characteristics in theme,characters and technique of expression.At present,there are few researches using the theory of hybridity to analyze Bellow's works,not to mention the last work Ravelstein.Therefore,this paper will be based on a close reading of the text using the Homi K.Bhabha's hybridity theory of post-colonial criticism combined with postmodernist criticism for its specific analysis,and attempts to open a new perspective of studying hybridity characteristics of Bellow's novels through analyzing the one work.The thesis consists of three parts:introduction,text,and conclusion.Among them,the body part is divided into four chapters.The introduction mainly introduced the achievements of Saul Bellow,the main content of Ravelstein,proposed the research question,and combed the domestic and foreign research situation about Ravelstein,pointed out the significance and methods of this thesis,finally interpreted the main terms.And the interpretation of the main terms part,On the one hand,traced the origin of hybridity theory,and specific introduced the connotation and application of Homi Bhabha's hybridity theory;on the other hand,this part discussed the application of hybridity theory in America literature.The diversification of culture has led to the diversification American literature,which provides a good foundation for the use of mixed perspective in American literature writing and research.The first chapter analyzes the hybridity of theme of Ravelstein.This chapter is divided into three sections,which mainly talks about the hybridity of philosophical theme,ethics theme and cultural theme.The first section analyzes the hybridity of philosophical theme.This novel mixed the philosophy of life and death.Through the behavior of Ravelstein and Chick,we can find that they live in the present,embrace the reality of life and do not fear death.Also the Jewish view of death is reflected in this novel.In addition,the hybridity of nihilism and hedonism is analyzed.The second section analyzes the hybridity of ethics theme.The article points out that it is the sexual ethics of ancient Greek adored by Ravelstein that leads to his death,and it is the traditional marriage ethics of Jewish adhered by Chick that leads to his happiness.At the same time the hybridity of friendship ethics and family ethics is reflected.The novel shows a good relationship between Ravelstein and Chick.Meanwhile traditional family ethics and modern family ethics both reflected in this novel reveal the diversity value of modern people.The third section analyzes the hybridity of cultural theme.The paper shows not only the hybridity of elite culture and popular culture but also the hybridity of classical culture and modern culture.The second chapter analyzes the hybridity of characters' cultural identity of Ravelstein.This chapter is divided into three sections.The first section analyzes the identity of Ravelstein and Chick who both have cultural identity of American and Jewish.The second section studies two women:modern Vela and traditional Rosamund.The third section analyzes the cultural identity hybridity of self and the other,pointing out that by narrating the different attitude towards the other:eating the other and loving the other,Bellow shows the conflict and fusion of different culture under the background of multi-cultural society.At the same time,this paper shows the relationship of unity of opposites between self and the other through writing self and the other.This kind of relationship not only exists between Ravelstein and Chick in the novels but also between Bellow and Bloom in reality.The third chapter analyzes the hybridity of writing skills of Ravelstein.This chapter is divided into two sections.The first section analyzes the hybridity of language and genre.Ravelstein has mixed French,German,Italian,Yiddish and other languages in English text,we can see the Jewish writers' language confusion through the hybridity of language.And the novel has mixed diversity of genre,such as the biography,poetry and diary style,reflecting the anti-genre features of the post-modernism literature.The second section analyzes the hybridity of writing techniques.Ravelstein has mixed reliable narrative of realism and unreliable narrative of post-modernism.Also it has mixed modernism and post-modernism writing techniques,such as symbolism,stream of consciousness,irony,intertextuality and collage.The fourth chapter analyzes the reasons of hybridity of Ravelstein.This chapter is divided into two sections.The first section mainly talks about the reasons from the perspective of society and history,which conclude three aspects:the hybridity of post-modern society and culture,the diversity of American culture and the integration spirit of Jewish.The second section studies from Bellow for personal reasons,which conclude two aspects:the bicultural identity of American and Jewish and the comprehensive effects of various writing skills.End to summarize this thesis and sublimation.On the one hand,comparing the hybridity characteristics in Bellow's novels with other American minority writers' novels,we can find that all those minority writers' writing reflects the conflict and fusion of two cultures,or east culture and west culture,or local culture and exotic culture.The hybridity of cultures makes the hybridity of themes and writing techniques in novels,but different writers have different characteristics.And compared with other American Jewish writers,the hybridity of themes and writing skills of Bellow's novels is more obvious.On the other hand,from the hybridity of Saul Bellow's novels,we can see his absorbing view of literary and returning to Jewish traditional cultural position.