| Eugene O'Neill is the pioneer of the American serious drama.He fully accepts the influence of Greek tragedy and Nietzsche's theory about the “Dionysian spirit”.O'Neill reinjects the tragic spirit into the United States,an optimistic country that respects scientific reason.After an overview of the O'Neill's study conducted from the theory of “Dionysian spirit” in China in the past two decades,it is found that the majority of the researchers focuses on influence study and textual close reading is far from enough,and the arguments are too decentralized to be grasped generally.This provides an academic space for an intensive discussion of the inner connections among the “Dionysian spirit”,O'Neill and his tragedies,based on the two principles of “emotion frist” and “primitive fun”.Modern western society blindly worships the “Socratesism”,which demands people to suppress their egos by reason.The “Apollonian spirit” leads to the prevalence of “Individual principle”,according to which everyone focuses themselves on economic interests and refuses to face up to their inner impulses.Thus the “Will to life” tends to be frail.As a result,material civilization alienates humanity,destroys the spiritual hometown of modern western people,deteriorates interpersonal relationship,and causes the social morality to decline.Considering all these,O'Neill interprets the “Dionysian spirit” with the help of the literary tradition from Greek tragedy and “Apollonian methods”,imitates the victimization and resurrection of Dionysus with the experiences of ordinary people,expels the superficial optimism prevailing in American society with his modern psychological tragedies.Finally,O'Neill sets up the new aesthetical “God” for the modern western society,which enables him to realize the three original intentions of his drama writing: the ultimate concern for the “Dionysian arts” over human living conditions,the transcendence of the “Will to life” over the realistic sufferings and the redemption of spiritual realms by the “Mythical thinking”.This thesis consists of six parts including introduction and conclusion,and the middle four chapters are the main contents.Based on theories of “Literary anthropology” “Psychology” “Stage narratology” and “Tragic poetics”,these four main chapters analyze O'Neill's amazing tragedies in terms of the source of the “Dionysian spirit”,the molding of the characters,the selection of expression methods and the aesthetic and cultural values in O'Neill's tragedies.Chapter One explains O'Neill's tragic spirit that is in compliance with the “Dionysian spirit”.The western tragedy originates from the ritual activity of worshiping Dionysus,the “god of wine” in ancient Greek mythology.Nietzsche names two different psychological experiences of the artistic impulse after “Apollo” and “Dionysus” in the Greek mythology.At the same time,two opposing art types emerge around them.In order to resist the mental agony in reality,early greek people absorbed “Metaphysical solace” from the tragedy,a kind of “Dionysian art”.O'Neill has strong tragic consciousness.He inherited the “Dionysian spirit” from Greek tragedy,advocating the free release of inner impulse,by using artic ways to observe human life experience.O'Neill's tragedies exclude reason rules,yearn for ecstasy and affirm the life ontology,presenting an obvious irrational value orientation.In effect,they are objectification of the “Dionysian state”.Chapter Two analyzes O'Neill's tragic characters with “Dionysian disposition” in detail.Characters shaped by O'Neill are generally autobiographical nature.He allows the people at the social bottom and female group to appear on the stage once dominanted by “Gods” and “Heroes”.These unconventional tragic characters who reappear the temperaments of primitive tragic heroes are always sensitive,emotional,act their own and uninhibited.In the modern society,they are forced to separate themselves from the nature and ego,falling into alienation.In order to return the “paradise”,they try to break prohibitions at any costs,even at the cost of life.In many cases,the characters are too weak to against the dissident force alone,and the only thing they can do is turning to the “Life noumenon” through the ecstasy.Rather than criticizing the society or proposing a solution directly,O'Neill prefers to place his thoughts on these tragic characters,let them to speak and act instead of him.Chapter Three demonstrates a deep association between O'Neill's methods of art and the “Dionysian spirit”.O'Neill is regarded as one of the representative writers of expressionist drama.Expressionism reflects the requirement of “Psychological truth” that is highly consistent with the irrational aesthetic principle of the “Dionysian spirit”.Both of them establishes the overall style of O'Neill's tragedies.He chooses people's spiritual world as object of expression.This introspective observation makes a new claim for dramatic methods of performance.With a guidance of the “Dionysian spirit”,O'Neill draws upon the strengths of others and develops lots of introverted verbal or non-verbal means.He successfully portrays the mental pain and psychological aberration caused by squeezing human reason against “Will to life”.Therefore,O'Neill's works are known as “modern people's psychological tragedy”.Chapter Four briefly discusses the aesthetic and cultural values given to O'Neill's tragedies by the “Dionysian spirit”.Nietzsche's aesthetic system takes the “Will to life” as the fundamental prerequisite,and the “Dionysian spirit” is the superlative manifestation of the “Will to life”.From the point of Nietzsche,the basic function of tragedy is guiding individuals to vent their “Will to life”,encouraging people to break through the appearances and returning to the noumenon.All of these endeavors tend to recognize the value of life.O'Neill adopts Nietzsche's views.On purpose,he introduces the concept of “Dionysian carnival” to describe the tragic characters' madness and ruin in the process of pursuing a lofty target,thereby smashing the “Individual principle” and purifying the hunman spirits at the aesthetic level,or transfers the external conflict to the inner world to awake humans' emotions and to eradicate materialism.O'Neill finds one route to salvation by art,which reconstructs a new mode of belief based on the “Life noumenon” for modern western people.If Nietzsche is a self-proclaimed “Dionysian philosopher”,we can treat O'Neill as a “Dionysian dramatist”.O'Neill writes nearly fifty dramas in his lifetime.These works are not only his exploration for a way out for westerners in the post-God era,but also his solicitude for a community of shared future.O'Neill provides opportunities for modern people to think outside the box,pursuing a free spirit and happiness from the aspect of life itself.His works are quite enlightening and instructional. |
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