| Doris Lessing(1919-2013),is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished female writer since Virginia Woolf in contemporary English literature.Her life is full of thinking and pursuit of fairness,justice and human harmony.The Golden Notebook,which was completed in 1962,became Lessing’s masterpiece for its unique narrative form and rich connotations,and was the strongest argument for her to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007.The novel reflects Lessing’s disgust with the world of that time through the creation of the passionate and diffused soul a modern woman who strives to the integration of her fragmented personality in the fractured civilization,and her intention of saving such a society that is dominated by interests and corroded by money and capital,which is consistent with the religious belief of eternal aspiration for paradise in the Holy Bible.Therefore,this thesis is going to interpret The Golden Notebook from the perspective of Northrop Frye’s myth-archetypal criticism,and explains the theme about the true existential meaning of human life.The thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter one is a brief introduction to Doris Lessing and the latest research of The Golden Notebook,making a brief summary to myth and archetypal criticism and tracing its development process and main viewpoints.From Chapter two to Chapter four is the main portion of the thesis.Chapter two analyzes two archetypal situations highlighted in The Golden Notebook — Mashopi Hotel and London,and reveals the causes of the female protagonist’s spiritual fragmentation.Chapter three,starting from the correspondence between main characters in the novel and western mythological figures,discusses that Tommy and Anna can be regarded as the displacement and transformation of scapegoat and Medea.Chapter four,focusing on two archetypal themes of quest and baptism,explores the female protagonist’s quest for freedom in traditional conception and how she successfully realizes self-integration from various breakdowns,including herself-redemption and Saul’s help and support,which is intended to reflect Lessing’s wise thoughts on the philosophical significance of human existence,and to provide a solution for modern women how to live in coexistence with men in this world on the basis of gaining true freedom and independence.Chapter five comes to the conclusion: in spite of the absurdity and emptiness of our existence,the only way out is through self-integration and choices to assume the cursed fate and make desperate resistances.The world is inherently imperfect,only with the joint efforts of male and female can human find a way to their new birth and establish a better world. |
