| Saul Bellow,as one of the most representative contemporary American Jewish immigrant writers,has always been the focus of research on the identity of his works.Although he did not want to label his work "Jewish literature",he inevitably encountered questions about "Americanization" and "Jewish identity" in his writing.Deeply influenced by existentialism and humanism,Saul Bellow has explored the identity and belonging of Jewish immigrants in his works for many times with keen vision and compassion.In the existing studies,the discussion of identity in Saul Bellow’s works is mostly carried out from the perspectives of diaspora,alienation and post-colonization,but the analysis of identity in Bellow’s literature from the perspective of space is relatively rare.Since the rise of space theory in the 1960s and 1970s,it has extensively absorbed the theoretical essence of geography,politics,culture and other disciplines,providing a new entry Angle and a broader platform for the interpretation of identity in American Jewish literature from the perspective of"space".Therefore,combined with the social and cultural background of the works,this paper explores the three representative works Herzog,Humboldt’s Gift and Mr.Sammler’s Planet from the perspective of "space" aiming to explore the relationship between space writing and identity in Bellow’s mid-period novels.This paper is mainly divided into four parts.The first part firstly reviews the research status of Saul Bellow and his works at home and abroad,and explains the main themes and important achievements of Saul Bellow’s works at home and abroad through sorting and summarizing.Secondly,the theoretical methods used in this paper,namely Stuart Hall’s identity theory,Henri Lefebvre,Michel Foucault,Edward W.Soje and other people’s space theory system,are summarized and explained.Finally,the research value and significance of this paper are briefly described.The second part of the thesis focuses on the relationship between the geographic space and identity in Bellow’s novels.According to the definition of geographia space in spatial theory and Narrative Theory,as well as the specific content of space writing in Bellow’s novels,the relationship between geographia space and human identity is divided into two categories:one is objective environment,in which human beings are in a passive state,such as the urban space of human existence;One is the subjective environment,in which a person is a subjectively constructed status,such as a person’s residence.By exploring the construction of urban space and marginalized urban experience,I will analyze the identity confusion of American Jewish immigrants in the novel under the cultural cracks and the crisis of modern civilization,and reveal the subjective rejection of the existing identity of American Jewish immigrants in Bellow’s works as well as the contradiction between the space they live in and their self-perceived identity.At the same time,I will also discuss the self-shaping of identity of Jewish intellectuals through the analysis of the arrangement of the characters’ residences,which reflects the Jewish immigrants’ inner yearning for a harmonious and beautiful "Promised Land" and their incompatibility with urban culture.The third part of the thesis focuses on the analysis of the interpersonal space writing in the text and the identity anxiety of the American Jewish immigrant group in the face of the crisis of heterogeneous culture collision,marriage and family breakdown.The interpersonal space is divided into intergenerational relationship,marital relationship,sibling relationship and interracial communication according to the order of kinship.In family relationship,Bellow elaborated the identity crisis of the new generation of Jewish immigrants by describing the transformation and disintegration of the traditional Jewish family view.Whether it is the contradiction between the generations of the new and old Jewish immigrants or the conflict between different races in the marriage relationship,all reflect the identity confusion of the Jewish immigrants under the attack of the dual culture.In addition,the relationship between "self" and "the other" in the communication between Jewish immigrants and compatriots and other ethnic groups also reflects Bellow’s thinking on the issue of identity and reveals the "others" identity of Jewish immigrants in American society and their own cultural tradition.This chapter,based on the theory of "self" and "others" in Stuart Hall’s theory of identity,explores the anxiety and dilemma of American Jewish immigrants on identity in Bellow’s works in combination with the traditional views on family and marriage of Jews.The last part combines the theory of the third space with the identity problem in Bellow’s novels,so as to explore the efforts and self-redemption made by the hero to reshape his identity and get out of the predicament.Based on the interpretation of the third space by Edward W.Soje,Henri Lefebvre and Michel Foucault,this chapter explores how American Jewish intellectuals explore the new living space and open new identity symbols by writing texts,taking the initiative to "exile" and envisiving spiritual space.By seeking or actively establishing the "third space",American Jewish immigrant intellectuals finally find the balance point between self-identity and group identity,eliminate the opposition between identity and the environment,and thus complete the reconstruction of self-cultural identity.To sum up,Saul Bellow’s work on the coordination of Jewish immigrants’cultural identity has certain reference value for immigrants in two or more cultures,enabling marginalized groups suffering from identity problems to acquire the concept of multicultural symbiosis and find a place of self-habitation.At the same time,thevarious spiritual problems and survival dilemmas of human beings in the material society presented in his works not only brought enlightenment to the Jewish immigrants in the United States,but also had a universal warning significance for all ethnic groups. |
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