Acknowledgments
One of the greatest joys during the writing of this thesis is discussing with people who have given not just their time and attention, but their hearts and souls as well. I would like to thank the following people for their dedication and contribution, without which the path to the finishing line would have been a whole lot more bumpy. 3747
My profound gratitude first goes to Associate Professor Yu Jing, my supervisor, who has generously shared her inspirational and provocative ideas during many of our face-to-face discussion sessions. I will never forget her valuable opinions and suggestions, earnest attitude towards the work and the precious time she has spared for me, reading and revising my paper—paragraph by paragraph. I am also deeply indebted to my teachers and professors at the School of Foreign Languages: Associate Professor Yuan Bin, Associate Professor Liao Jing, Associate Professor Huai Peixin, Associate Professor Chen Zhihong, and Associate Professor Lin Xiaojun, who have instructed me a lot during the college years.
At last, I should thank my family for their consideration and great confidence in me during my school life. I also would like to give my sincere gratitude to my friends and classmates who used to help me and give their time to listen to me and help me out at the difficult time of the thesis writing.
Abstract
Naturalism is one of the most important literary schools in world literary field. It was born in France, by the French novelist Emile Zola and was first introduced to America by Frank Norris. The term naturalism describes a type of literalism that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. It is based on an outgrowth of the biological determinism of Darwin’s theory “the survival of the fittest”. Its birthplace was France with Zola and Flaubert as its early representatives. Later on, it begins to flourish in other parts of the world such as Russia and the United States. Presently it has becomes a universally-accepted term by modern and contemporary critics, readers as well as novelists.
Jack London was an outstanding representative of American naturalist writer. He adopted Darwin’s theory of evolution, Spencer’s social Darwinism, Nietzsche’s superman philosophy and Marxism. Jack London’s view of naturalism was now and then expressed in The Call of the Wild, a very successful novel among his early works. Through the image of Buck, readers can clearly see Darwin’s theory “the survival of the fittest” and the human society at that time. With the storm of Gold Rush in the late 19th century, the protagonist, Buck, once a home dog living in the warm and sunny south, was kidnapped and then sold to the deserted and icy-cold north to help human beings pull sleds. The climate and severely low temperature in the north brought the sled dogs sufferings as well as endless new challenges anywhere at any time. Everyone must keep nerve straight and be ready to struggle against possible dangers and threats.
In a deeper sense, the short story about dogs is a vivid reflection of human society at that time. This paper focuses on analyzing naturalism from different perspectives presented in Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, through which we can achieve a better understanding of naturalism and a deeper review of human society at Jack London’s time.
Key Words: naturalism, heredity, environment, human being
摘要
自然主义是世界文学的一个重要文学流派。孕育于法国,由法国作家左拉首先提出,弗兰克诺里斯介绍到美国。自然主义是运用客观和公正的科学原则来研究人类的一种文学。它是基于达尔文“适者生存”理论的生物决定论的结果。它诞生于法国,后来开始在世界其它地区如俄罗斯和美国蓬勃发展。目前,现当代评论家,读者以及小说家都已普遍接受这一术语。 自然主义在《野性的呼唤》中的体现:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_132.html