Most major western countries are maritime countries. The rise and fall of their country and the changes of the times are inextricably linked with the ocean. The ocean has forged the spiritual character of the marine nation, and the marine spirit is deeply rooted in western history and culture. In the history of western literature, a large number of writers and poets have a lingering marine complex, and their marine literature works have become a valuable legacy for us to study human marine culture and marine humanistic spirit. In the history of western literature, the sea presents different images in different times. Human beings have different feelings, injected different ideas and held different attitudes towards it, thus showing different humanistic spirit. Before 12 century BC, in the ancient Greek concept, the sea was awesome, and it contained great destructive power. The mythical Poseidon is a grumpy, narrow-minded and vengeful guy. This image reflects the hardships of ancient sailors and their resentment against the sea. In the later ancient Greek literature, the sea is still a changeable and destructive image, such as the poet Alcaeus (? -570) In the storm at sea. In Homer's epic Odyssey, those monsters that confuse people, turn into pigs and eat people are actually the visualization of the treacherous and dangerous sea. They made Odysseus lose all his soldiers and suffered great pain. This understanding of the ocean has been accompanied by human beings entering modern civilization. However, it was from ancient Greece that human beings tried to understand and control the ocean and were full of confidence in it. In more than five hundred years BC, Alcaeus wrote:
The front wave has passed, and the back wave has come again.
We must struggle desperately.
Close the ship's wall,
Sail into a safe harbor.
We can't lose our minds,
There is still a big struggle ahead.
Don't forget what you have suffered before.
This time, we must regard men as heroes. ①
With extraordinary wisdom and willpower, Odysseus broke free from fetters and obstacles and returned to his hometown. This shows some self-confidence of human beings in front of the sea.
The sinister, violent, mysterious and fickle nature of the ocean makes it a great challenge to mankind, and the ocean becomes an ideal place to spread the wings of imagination, test and show the strength of human will. After centuries of exploration of the ocean in history, human beings arrived at Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (17 19). The image of the ocean remains the same, but the self-confidence of human beings to accept challenges and survive tenaciously is increasing day by day. Robinson has the courage of an adventurer and the survival skills of a doer. With his tenacious will, understanding of the ocean and hard-working hands, he lived tenaciously on a deserted island after sinking into the water for 28 years and established his own home. Robinson Crusoe is the first realistic marine literature. Later, in Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), the ocean became an ideal space for the author to gallop his imagination because of its mystery. Swift satirized reality with several fictional kingdoms in the sea. The sea in Coleridge's Ode to an Ancient Ship (1798) is still the place where the poet creates an imaginary kingdom with beautiful poems, and the poet interprets a fable that good and evil are rewarded. Man is so small and helpless in nature (at sea) that only God's blessing can turn him into a hero.
19th century, a stormy century, a century in which free thoughts hit the door of a new era, and a century in which the new world is ready to go, the ocean itself has received unprecedented attention, and the ocean has entered literature as an aesthetic image, and the marine spirit has been unprecedentedly publicized, and marine literature has reached the peak of prosperity. Byron, an English poet, was called the embodiment of free thought by Japanese biographer Tsunami Yusuke, and said that the national democratic movement in the middle of19th century "almost gushed out from the enthusiasm inspired by his advocacy" (2). Pushkin also praised Byron in his To the Sea:
……
Make a hullabaloo about, angry at the bad weather,
Ah, the sea! He used to be in song for you.
He is shaped by your essence,
Sea, he is your reflection;
He is as deep, powerful and gloomy as you,
He is as stubborn as you. ③
Byron wrote in the fourth chapter of Childe Haller's Travels (1890- 19 17): "I have always loved you, Hai! When I was a teenager,/my favorite game was to jump into your arms ... "In his works, the sea is magnificent, magnificent and choppy, and it is a place with" huge waves "and" storms ". This kind of sea is partly the spiritual projection of "Byronic hero". Their arrogance and courage, their anger and resistance to tyranny are all integrated with the spirit of the ocean. Conrad in One Pirate (18 14) is a typical example of this kind of hero. In Byron's works, the purity, beauty and freedom of the sea are also opposed to the so-called civilized society and become the spiritual home of "Byronic heroes":
In the deep blue sea, the water splashed happily.
Our hearts are free, our thoughts are unrestricted,
……
We live a hard life. In the storm,
From work to rest, all kinds of days are fun. ④
Russian poet Pushkin further shaped the free character of the sea in his later masterpiece To the Sea (1824). He called the sea "the element of freedom" and used such words as "willful passion", "willfulness", "uncontrollable surge" and "stubbornness"? Hui tease? School? ⒀⑿ r color pro uses feedback ⒂ Xin α ⑸ Love the core? Dirty? Looking forward to crossing the road? Are you in danger? Lying? Yan Jing loves Nalang? Leave ammonia? у male? Bonded? Do you like this bag? How about the nursery part? Hey? Promise? What is the value of Angping? ⑤。
Compared with Conrad, Melville, Jack London and others, Byron and Pushkin described the sea in a romantic way. This aesthetic attitude was continued in another kind of marine civilization-marine fairy tales in the19th century. The mystery, wonder and magnificence of the sea are the reasons why fairy tale writers love the sea. Andersen (1805-1875), a Danish writer far away in northern Europe, enriched the beauty of the other side of the sea with his fairy tale "The Daughter of the Sea". The soul of the sea has become a beautiful, kind, warm and quiet girl. She destroyed her natural body for love and endured pain all day long, but the obstacle of communication doomed her tragic ending. This is a sad beauty. The English writer Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) wrote a fairy tale masterpiece The Water Child. Compared with the indifferent land world, the sea is a warm and ideal world, where Tom, the little hero, completes his human nature shaping. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian writer Carlo Crotti (1826-1890) is also a fairy tale about the cultivation of children's character. Through the influence of kindness and emotion, as well as punishment and enlightenment, Pi Nuo learned self-discipline in free will and temptation. In Pinocchio, the sea is just a place of adventure. It was not until Peter Pan (1904) written by British writer james m. barrie at the beginning of this century that the ocean surpassed its position as a background, or was no longer just used to satisfy children's curiosity. The characters and themes of the works are closely related to the ocean. Peter Pan is a child of the sea. He is endowed with the spirit of the sea, willful, lively, intelligent and aggressive. The author's creative purpose is contrary to that of water children. It is not an exhortation, just for entertainment, or it has a unique exhortation meaning: let children keep their nature and enjoy childhood happiness as much as possible.
In the marine literature works in the second half of the19th century, the aesthetic characteristics of the ocean are quite different from those of early romantic poems and fairy tales. This is true of both secular novels and serious novels.
The magic and danger of the sea and the adventure of life at sea also make the sea an ideal background for popular literature. Marine popular literature generally has the modes of exploration, treasure hunting (including treasure hunting and searching for people) and vagrancy, which is the marine version of romance and tramp novels in the history of western literature. Before Robinson Crusoe started the trend of adventure literature, the French writer Verne's Mysterious Island (1874) added a mystery and some suspense to the Robinson-style story, and the adventurers changed from individuals to groups. Jules verne's Captain Grant's Children (1868) looks for his father, and the English writer Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883) looks for treasure. Verne's Two Wan Li under the Sea is a sci-fi marine popular novel. Captain Nemo in the book is a Don Quixote figure at sea, drifting to the bottom of the sea for national hatred. The plot structure of this work is in the same strain as the tramp novel. Ocean popular novels further show human confidence in understanding and controlling the ocean, and show the tenacity and courage of human will.
In the serious marine novels of19th century, the sea often presents a ferocious face. In The Nigger on the Narcissus by British writer Joseph Conrad (1898), the sea is moody, oppressive, indifferent and hostile to human beings. However, Conrad loved the ocean. When he was young, he was attracted by the ocean and came to Marseille from distant Poland, where he began his eight-year sailing career. Later, he became a captain. After giving up his sailing career for health reasons, he wrote a series of sailing novels. In Conrad's view, the sea is a special and isolated society and a laboratory of psychology and human nature. It removes all unnecessary clutter, leaving only tyranny to compete with virtue and will. The moral belief and quality of human beings are facing a ruthless test here, and the hypocrisy and affectation of safe and stable land and civilized society will be stripped before the test of life and death. This is the same as Hemingway's love for hunting wild animals, deep sea fishing, boxing ring and bullring. In The Nigger on Narcissus, sailors' faith in loyalty, unity, adversity and * * * is seriously challenged by diseases, hurricanes and death threats during ocean voyage. Later, Lord Jim (1900) showed Jim's mental journey with the violent sea and dangerous coastal tribes as the background. After Jim abandoned the ship with other sailors in a shipwreck and fled for his life, he tried to pursue himself and prove himself. Finally, he took the initiative to apologize for misjudging the integrity of Baardsen tribal thieves. Facing the fierce sea, Conrad and his characters stood the test, confirmed their existence and realized their own strength. In the later published Youth (1902), he wrote about the heroism of a group of young sailors fighting the sea and their youthful vitality and perseverance. They love the ocean as much as the author, because it can "give you a chance to realize your own strength". The spiritual tone of Conrad's marine novels, like other marine literature works in the19th century, is optimistic. In this respect, Melville's Moby Dick is almost an exception.
In Moby Dick, the huge sperm whale is an invincible evil force against human beings, and the sea that breeds Moby Dick (according to scholars' analysis, it symbolizes the whole nature) is also full of danger and contains great destructive power. Captain Ahab tried to resist and conquer the white whale, that is, to conquer the sea, but he was fatally approaching doom and eventually destroyed. The tragic color of this novel makes it a rare sad song in19th century marine literature. Nevertheless, Captain Ahab still has a tragic heroism, which represents the unyielding will of human beings to conquer the environment. At this point, Melville and Kant have something in common. The sublimity in tragedy still gives people emotional strength. Man Rides into the Sea (1903) by Irish symbolist playwright John Qin is a pessimistic marine literature work with typical end-of-century sentiment. In the play, the sea is so powerful that it devours everything. It took the lives of three generations of men in the Kalia family, and human beings were so incompetent and helpless in front of it. Knowing that the sea was dangerous, his brother's body had not been salvaged. In order to survive, Batri "had no time to delay" and immediately hit the road to catch the boat, and he drowned himself in the sea. There is great shock in the plain style of the script.
The development of marine literature also seems to have a certain relationship with the rise and fall of national strength. In the 20th century, the United States became the world's number one maritime power, and most of the masterpieces of marine literature in the 20th century were born in the United States. Jack London is a bloody man, and he also pursues masculinity in his creation. When he visited an American elementary school, he laughed at the literary works in the textbook for being unmanly. In his novel The Sea-Wolf (1904), he created the image of "superman at sea" in which "might is truth and cowardice is error". The sea wolf is rough, cruel, strong and generous. Obviously, he is the embodiment of the marine spirit understood by Jack London. Like the jungle, the ocean is a Darwinian world. There is no "ordinary law" here, and only the strong can survive. But applying the law of the jungle to human society will make it difficult for good people to accept it. Therefore, Jack London created a strong image with wildness and humanity in the later published White Teeth (1906). In Martin Eden (1909), he asked Martin Eden to receive the education of civilized society. Jack London intentionally or unintentionally set the sea against the two worlds on land. This tradition of marine literature may have begun with Charles Kingsley's The Water Boy. But in Water Children, the sea world is a beautified imaginary world. In the 20th century, the distance between signifier and signified of marine images in marine literature became smaller and smaller. Jack London wandered between the sea and the land. As a result, he lost the former and could not integrate into the latter, so he committed suicide with Martin. Later, O 'Neill and Hemingway surpassed this vagrancy.
O 'Neill loves the sea as much as Conrad. When he was young, he drifted at sea for six years under the influence of London and Conrad. O 'Neill conceived a series of autobiographical dramas at the beginning of his creation, and added a general title to them: the son of Mother Hai. "The son of marine mother" is O 'Neill's spiritual portrayal. In the play Beyond the Horizon (1920), he expressed his childhood yearning for the sea through Robert:
..... At that time, when I think of it, the distant sea is full of miracles ... It called me then, just as it calls me now. ⑦
Robert gave up sailing because of his love for Ruth, and then died of depression. O 'Neill has created a large number of marine dramas: Cardiff of China Eastern Airlines (19 16), The Way Home (19 17) and The Moon in the Caribbean (19/kloc). In the long night, he expressed his intoxication with the sea through Edmund's mouth:
..... There is a full moon in the sky, and the trade winds are blowing head-on ... The sea water is tumbling and splashing everywhere, and the mast on the head is sailing high, white in the moonlight. I was intoxicated by the beautiful scenery in front of me and the melodious rhythm of the sailboat, and I was delirious for a while. ..... I feel so free! My whole body and mind are dissolved in the sea, and I am integrated with white sails, splashing waves, beautiful scenery in front of me, sweet rhythm, sailboats and starry sky! ⑧
For O 'Neill, the sea is no longer a place to know his own strength, but his spiritual home, the belonging of his soul and the sustenance of his ideal. The sea is no longer just a symbolic aesthetic image and scenery in romantic poetry. O 'Neill found the meaning of poetry and life in the sea as a way of life and living environment. American critic Virginia Freud wrote: "In his view, the ocean presents a mysterious vastness. It was in the sea that he found a place for his aimless life and clearly saw the driving force behind the mysterious life he embodied in his plays. He indulged in the sea, which left an indelible image in his mind. "Some people think that human life originates from the ocean and will return to the ocean. O 'Neill has completed the return of the soul. This has become the main theme of marine literature in the twentieth century. This is also the return to the theme of 19' s early "pro-sea" after the theme of 19' s second half. In the novel Moon and Sixpence (19 19) based on Gauguin, the British writer Mao Mu also regards Tahiti, a Pacific island far from civilization, as the spiritual home of Strickland, the hero. Everything on the island is primitive and simple, beautiful and warm, which constantly inspires his artistic inspiration and contrasts with the vulgar, trivial, step-by-step and idle civilized world. However, unlike O 'Neill and Hemingway, the theme of Mao Mu's works is escape, while O 'Neill, Hemingway and their protagonists seek positive life experiences in the sea.
In a special historical period, running away is an extravagant hope. The novella Forty-one (1926) written by Boris Lavrenyov, a contemporary Soviet writer in Mao Mu, has caused great controversy in China. In this work, the author unconsciously shows the ocean as a natural world, in contrast to the politicized land world. In The Storm of Passion and Moving Blue, the political shell and class consciousness of two young men and women from different class camps (Red Army and White Bandit Army) have disappeared, showing brilliant humanity. The sea sprouted and contained their rebellious love, but the call from the land made this romance of the sea come to an abrupt end and inevitably ended in tragedy. When the white lieutenant saw his boat running desperately, Maleutka raised his gun and shot, and the lieutenant became the fourth1enemy killed by her.
In The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Hemingway put his image of "tough guy" above the sea and created the image of "invincible hero" Santiago. The novel focuses on the tenacity of the old man's will and the "tough guy" character of maintaining dignity in the face of failure. In the novel, the old man Santiago has a close relationship with the sea: the old man always regards the sea as a woman, a woman who gives or doesn't want to give favors to others. If she did anything rash or naughty, it was because she couldn't control herself. The moon has an influence on her, just as it does on women. ⑩
The old man's fishing in the sea is not a hostile act, nor is he trying to win anything, but a manifestation of friendly relations. He chased the marlin for a day and a night. He envied it, liked it and lamented its death. He and it both have their own reasons and meanings in life. This relationship between man and the ocean is a new concept of marine literature in the twentieth century, and it will also become the marine spirit of mankind in the new century.
The relationship between human beings and the ocean has gone through the process from awe of the ocean (represented by ancient myths) to praise the ocean (represented by/kloc-ocean poems in the early 9th century), then to fight against the ocean, Le Hai (represented by/kloc-ocean novels in the 9th century) and explore the ocean (represented by ocean science fiction), and finally to get close to the ocean (represented by O 'Neill and Hemingway). From the fear of the sea to the battle against the sea and the sea of music, it shows human courage and confidence; From the fear of the ocean to the exploration of the ocean, it reveals the determination and ability of human beings to conquer the ocean; From fighting the sea to getting close to the sea, it embodies a brand-new world view of mankind. The ocean is bound to become a new living space for mankind, and "affinity" is our only choice to treat the living environment. In the next century, the theme of exploring the ocean will continue, and loving the sea will be the main theme of marine literature.
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(1) Selected Lyrics of Ancient Greece, translated by Shui, People's Literature Publishing House, 1988, pp. 93-94.
2 [Japanese] Crane sees and helps: "Byron Biography".
③ ⑤ Selected Lyrics of Pushkin (Part II), translated by Cha, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 1982.
④ Byron: Pirates, quoted from Selected Poems of Byron, translated by Cha, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1982, p. 159.
⑥ John Qin: The Man Riding into the Sea, translated by Guo Moruo. See Yuan Kejia's Selected Works of Foreign Modernism (Volume I, Part I), Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1980.
⑦ Beyond the Horizon. For the ridiculous translation, see Beyond the Horizon, Lijiang Publishing House, p. 12.
Eugene O 'Neill: It's a long night. Trans. Wang Yiqun. See Beyond the Horizon, Lijiang Publishing House, pages 548-549.
9 Virginia Freud: Eugene O 'Neill's Plays-A New Evaluation, translated by Chen, 1993, p. 1.
Attending Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea.