Understanding of the Story.doc
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1、如有侵权,请联系网站删除,仅供学习与交流Understanding of the Story【精品文档】第 9 页Understanding of the Story “Love Is a Fallacy”Objective: Understand the story “Love Is a Fallacy” from the perspective of Marxist criticism. Method: Lecture and Discussion (Questions and Answers)Step 1: ReviewLast week, John Updikes short stor
2、y “Unstuck” was studied from the perspective of feminist approach. The story tells the reader how Mark, the protagonist, and his wife work together to drive their car out of the gutter (the back tires get stuck in it) by the roadside after a night of heavy snow. The story depicts family life under t
3、he “male gaze” in that when the husband experiences “lack” in marriage, he can bury the bitter “after taste” in a harmonious sex act fantasized in their effort to push the car out of the gutter. This fantasy reveals “history” in the making, where male memory (time) invades the female body (space), a
4、nd the male narrative silences the female voice. The reader, together with the heroine, is also forced to share with Mark his illusive sense of sexual gratification and join him in flaunting the inflated male ego symbolized by their huge V-8 car. So the feminist approach can support the argument tha
5、t woman has no fault herself, but the fault lies in the identity of woman. (女人本身没有错,错就错在你是女人。)Step 2: Lead-in Last week, John Updikes short story “Unstuck” was studied from the perspective of feminist approach. As you know, the feminist approach is concerned with the political, social and economical
6、 status of all women. However, it is not only feminist approach that has a focus on these status of women, but also the problems about politics, society and economy in a text are stressed by the Marxist criticism, which will be used to understand the story “Love Is a Fallacy” today. Surely, the foll
7、owing questions will help you understand the short story. Now please have a look at the questions. Step 3: Class-inQuestions:1. As you see, any canon can be understood from many perspectives, such as traditional approach, feminist approach, cultural study including New Historicism and Marxist critic
8、ism. The story “Love Is a Fallacy” is about the theme of Love, so you can certainly understand it from the perspective of feminist approach, but why is it placed in the chapter of Capital and Commodity?2. Since it is placed the chapter of Capital and Commodity, but it seems that it has no any relati
9、onship between the theme and capital or commodity, why or what is the true intention of the author?3. Love can be judged be the criteria of the right or wrong? If no, how do understand the title of “Love Is a Fallacy”?4. How does the author rope the readers fall into his trap?5. According to the nar
10、rator, what are the common fallacies of logic?6. Why does Polly refuse the proposal of the narrator?7. Why does Polly prefer to Petey?8. Can we say the love between Polly and Petey is a true one?9. How does the author support his argument that “Love Is a Fallacy”?10. According to the text, what fall
11、acy does the title “Love Is a Fallacy” make logically?11. How would you characterize the narrator?12. What are his standards of an ideal woman? Would you agree with such standards? Why or why not?13. Are there any fundamental differences between Polly and the narrator? Explain.14. Does Polly treat h
12、erself as a commodity, despite her argument against it (“Im not a cake. Im a girl.”) Why or why not?If you want to have a better understanding of these questions, it is necessary to have some information of Marxist criticism. Marxist Literary CriticismMarxist literary criticism is a loose term descr
13、ibing based on socialist and dialectic theories. Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which they originate. According to Marxists, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideo
14、logy of the author.The English literary critic and cultural theorist, Terry Eagleton, defines Marxist criticism this way:Marxist criticism is not merely a sociology of literature, concerned with how novels get published and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary w
15、ork more fully; and this means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles and meanings. But it also means grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the product of a particular history.The simplest goals of Marxist literary criticism can include an assessment of the political tendency of a literar
16、y work, determining whether its social content or its literary form are progressive. It also includes analysing the class constructs demonstrated in the literature.According to Marxists, and to other scholars in fact, literature reflects those social institutions out of which it emerges and is itsel
17、f a social institution with a particular ideological function. Literature reflects class struggle and materialism: think how often the quest for wealth traditionally defines characters. So Marxists generally view literature “not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic criteria, but as
18、products of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era” . Literature reflects an authors own class or analysis of class relations, however piercing or shallow that analysis may be. The Marxist critic simply is a careful reader or viewer who keeps in mind issues of power and money
19、, and any of the following kinds of questions: What role does class play in the work; what is the authors analysis of class relations? How do characters overcome oppression? In what ways does the work serve as propaganda for the status quo; or does it try to undermine it? What does the work say abou
20、t oppression; or are social conflicts ignored or blamed elsewhere? Does the work propose some form of utopian vision as a solution to the problems encountered in the work? HistoryKarl Marx is often heralded as a founder of and his studies have provided a basis for much in socialist theory and resear
21、ch. Marx and collaborated to produce a range of publications based on capitalism, class struggles and socialist movements.These theories and ideologies can be found within three published works: The (1848) (1859) or Capital (1867)The first publication Communist Manifesto (1848) argues that the histo
22、ry of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle. As class struggle is the engine room of history, to understand the course of history, one must analyse the class relations that typify different historical epochs, the antagonisms and forms of class struggle embodied in such cla
23、ss relations. This involves the development of class consciousness and follows the revolutionary movements that challenge the dominant classes. It extends to rating the success of these revolutions in developing new modes of production and forms of social organization.In contrast to the Manifesto, P
24、reface to the Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859), and Das Capital (1867) focus on the unfolding logic of a system, rather than class struggle. These provide an alternative account of historical development and emphasize the self-destructive contradictions and law of motion of s
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