On The Tragic Sense And Return To Nature In Wieland; Or The Transformation. An American Tale

Charles Brockden Brown (1771—1810) was a forerunner of American novel. He first introduced American elements into novels and broke the deadlock of following the European literary tradition at the beginning period of American literature. His works are famous for their elusive themes and subtle psychoanalysis. As the representative of early American Gothic tradition, his writings influenced so many writers such as Poe, Faulkner, even modern American Gothic writers.His masterpiece, Wieland; or, The Transformation: An American Tale, is always famous for its grisly plot and the exploration of ethics and religion. Dionysian and Apollonian are two basic human spirits, together they form the tragic sense during the process of human development. The tragic sense lies within the opposition of the characteristics of its protagonists (Carwin and Wieland), and also these are all indications of their contradictions with will in nature, a concept proposed by Schopenhauer. Through observing everything in the universe, Schopenhauer reaches to the conclusion that will is behind everything and nature is no exception. But his will in nature is blind. Nietzsche advanced Schopenhauer's view. He thinks that human, rather than be content to the dependent state on the blind will of nature or just follow the corrupted social mores, should get their strength from the earth, make transvaluation, and develop them fully to be supermen through the will of power.Through the analysis of the tragic ends of the plot, the composition of tragic sense and its opposition of will in nature, this thesis intends to reach to such a conclusion that only through the combination of Dionysian and Apollonian spirit and the dissolution of tragic sense which is based on anthropocentrism, could human achieve the goal of return to nature. Only through converting human as one part of the entirety of nature rather than individual beings, at the same time setting the base on the earth and the people, could human freely act according to individual wills, get along with nature well and maintain the natural balance of human mental health.