约翰·厄普代克《福特执政时期回忆录》中主体性的衰落

Declaration of Word-count
I declare that word count meets the regulations for the M. A. Degree that the thesis should consist of 18,000 English words or Chinese characters as minimum exclusive of footnotes, tables, appendixes, reference (bibliography), photographs and diagrams.
Word-count: [23,249]
Name: Lu Jing
Signature:
Date: April 19, 2017
Acknowledgements
Upon the fulfillment of this thesis, I want to express my sincere thanks to many people. First and foremost, I would like to show my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Mao Gang, my supervisor, for his constant encouragement and patient guidance. Without his consistent and thoughtful instruction, I could not be familiar with all the stages of writing thesis and my thesis could not have reached its present form.
Moreover, I give special thanks to the professors and teachers in English Department who have instructed and helped me a lot in the past three years, especially Professor Yuan Honggeng, Professor Shi Yanling, Professor Yang Shihu, Professor Gao Hongxia, and Professor Jiang Hongxia, who lead me into the world of literature and broaden my horizons with their rich fund of knowledge.
Last but not least, my many thanks would go to my beloved family for their generous support and their great confidence in me these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help all the time.
Lu Jing
April 19, 2017
contents
Abstract (in English) (i)
Abstract (in Chinese) (ii)
Introduction (1)
Chapter One John Updike and Memories of the Ford Administration (4)
1.1 John Updike and His Major Works (4)
1.2 Memories of the Ford Administration and Criticism It Has So Far Received (9)
1.3 The Crisis of Subjectivity and the Somatic Turn in Postmodern Studies on Subjectivity. 13 Chapter Two Dissolution of Subjectivity in Clayton's Mental Construction (18)
2.1 Clayton's Self-consciousness Situated Within Language and Social Discourse (18)
2.1.1 Writing as a Way of Constructing Clayton's Identity (19)
2.1.2 Clayton's Endeavor to Recover a Sense of Self through Historical Investment (22)
2.1.3 Clayton's Resistance to Deconstructionism as a Way of Assuring His Rationality24
2.2 Failure of Clayton's Efforts to Articulate an Authentic Sense of Self (26)
2.2.1 Clayton's Function as the Effect of His Writing (27)
2.2.2 Clayton's Inability to Establish His Subjectivity Through Historical Recollections
(30)
2.2.3 Clayton's Being Assimilated by Deconstructionism (34)
Chapter Three Obliteration of Subjectivity in Clayton's Physical Encounters (38)
3.1. Clayton's Shift to Somatic Concern in Finding His Identity (38)
3.1.1 Clayton Indulgence in Sexual Adventures (40)
3.1.2 Clayton's Fascination for Female Bodies (43)
3.2 The Deconstruction of Subjectivity in Clayton's Physical Observation (45)
3.2.1. Clayton's Sexual Identity Captured by Power (45)
3.2.2 Obliteration of Unified Subjectivity through Clayton's Deconstruction of Body .. 48 Conclusion (51)
Notes (53)
Bibliography (56)
Abstract
John Updike is a prestigious American writer whose works are under unfailing study among the reviewers and critics. Yet Memories of Ford Administration, one of Updike's novels, is a relatively mild-received novel published in 1992. In this novel, the narrator, named Clayton, alternates his two narratives concerning the history of Buchanan and Ford era, endeavoring to establish a sense of self both in his intellectual investment and in his personal life.
The thesis works on the dissolution of Clayton's subjectivity through studying the mixed conditions of Clayton. Relying heavily on Foucault's theories on Subjectivity, the present author attempts to deconstruct the alleged conception on man's subjectivity, and the argument of fall of subjectivity is carried out from two traditionally rival facets: mind and body. While Clayton makes efforts to establish his identity through writing, recollecting of history, and remaining resistant to the newly developed intellectual currents, his assured self fails to be constructed because he has become the function of his writing in postmodern context, and his retrieving of the past only demonstrates that he is the prey to the network of social discourses. Seemingly, he is assimilated by deconstructionism because there is a constant necessity for accepting and mastering new theories and knowledge in his academic practices.
The frustrated narrator resorts to physical domain where his quest for sensual pleasures is largely highlighted by his fascination with female bodies. Undoubtedly, Clayton's pursuit for an authentic sense of self is doomed to fail because he is used in every sexual adventures as the projection of desire for power and his obsessive interest in depicting female bodies displays that the traditionally authoritative role played by male protagonist in sexual praxis is dissolved in postmodern landscape, and thus Clayton does not succeed in constructing his subjectivity in his physical life. Keywords: Memories of Ford Administration; subjectivity; dissolution
摘要
约翰·厄普代克是一位身负盛名的美国作家，他的作品受到评论界的广泛关注。

然而，发表于1992年的作品《福特执政时期回忆录》却反响平平。

在这部作品中，小说的叙述者克莱顿将布坎南总统时期和福特总统时期两段不同时期的历史交替书写，试图通过他的智性活动和个人生活中的追求来确立自己的身份。

本论文在研究了克莱顿的境遇之后得出了其主体性已然衰落的结论。

依据福柯的主体性理论，本文作者试图解构主体性，并从从传统的对立的身、心两个方面对此进行论证。

当克莱顿企图通过书写，重述历史和对新兴思潮保持抵制来确立自己的身份时，他所宣称的确定的自我并未成功构建。

原因在于在后现代语境中，作者成为其写作的功能；他还原过去的过程中发现个体被历史话语系统所捕获。

同理，他最后不得不被解构主义所同化，因为在他的学术活动中他需要不断接受并掌握新的理论知识。

失意的克莱顿转向了身体领域，转而追求感官的享受，在其中他强调了他对女性身体的痴迷。

毫无疑问的是，克莱顿在此领域中期望获得真正的自我也注定失败。

因为在他每一段的性体验中，他都被当做权力欲望投射的对象。

他对描述女性身体的强烈的兴趣揭示了男人在性关系中所扮演的传统的权威的角色已经被解构，因此克莱顿的主体性在身体领域也未成功构建。

关键词：《福特执政时期回忆录》；主体性；消逝
Introduction
John Updike (1932-2009), one of the versatile writers of America, is well received as a productive writer, essayist, poet, literary critic, and a contributor. The editor of John Updike Review James Schiff observes in 2011 that with fictions that count more than three dozen volumes, eight verses, ten nonfiction production, a play and a memoir, Updike provides us with "an immerse trove of elegant, playful, and intensively serious writings that are waiting to be read, reread, discussed and debated."1 Relatively speaking, the study on Updike's oeuvres mainly focuses on his master works, such as Rabbit series, Updike's Trilogy (A Month of Sundays; Roger's Version; S.) leaving spaces for further interpretation on his less famous works. The underestimated novel Memories of the Ford Administration, which was published in 1992, is usually regarded as a less important opus of Updike.
In short, Memories of the Ford Administration (hereafter referred to as MFA) is a personal collection of Alfred Clayton's life during the presidency of Gerald Ford. Clayton, the narrator of the novel, is a history professor at Wayward Junior College who is asked by Retrospect, a historical journal, to contribute on his impression on Ford administration. Interestingly, Clayton intentionally juxtaposes his manuscript on James Buchanan, the fifteenth American President, with his narrative on memories of Ford years together, which is mostly inundated by the confession of his sexual encounters and his fascination on women's bodies. Hence, in the alternating narratives, Buchanan's ups and downs and Clayton's losses and gains in his life during Ford years are closely interwoven together.
MFA is a relatively mild-received opus, which is categorized as one of the minor works of Updike. Some reviewers discuss its familiar features that are marked as Updikean style, such as accuracy in language, somewhat pornography in plot and a typical character who is stuck in a mixed condition, while the present author endeavors to interpret the novel with a detailed study on the protagonist in a postmodern context, aiming at deconstructing the universally accepted recognition on
narrator is keen on constructing an authentic sense of self through writing, rewriting history and other practices on historical investigations and rejection to the intellectual currents in Ford era. The belief in his rationality and intelligence is called into question when Clayton becomes the function of his writing and is captured in the network of power and knowledge. The dispirited protagonist resorts to flesh pleasures, insisting that sexual stimulation is a way of establishing his identity, and undoubtedly he is confronted with a frustrated feeling as a modern man, owning to the fact that he is being used in every affair and the traditional role played by the male in sexual practices is fundamentally altered. That finding composes the conclusion of the thesis: the dissolution of man's subjectivity in a postmodern society. The present author will unfold her argument based on two opposed aspects: the mental domain and the physical domain, as Clayton firstly attempts to seek a sense of self-consciousness through intellectual fulfillment, and secondly turns to sensual pleasures when his academic efforts end in vain. Echoing with Foucault's declaration of the death of man, Clayton is found as a typical modern man inscribed by the grid of social discourse and power.
Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis consists of three chapters.
Chapter One sets forth to explore the background information, covering a much detailed introduction of John Updike and MFA, as well as an elaborated literature review of MFA. Meanwhile, the crisis of subjectivity under postmodern condition and a somatic shift in the course of dealing with the crisis of man's identity are discussed in this chapter.
Chapter Two focuses itself on the discussion of Cartesian subjectivity in Clayton's mental construction. It firstly displays Clayton's efforts to establish the centered position of his self-consciousness through his will to finish writing, his attempt to recover history and his resistance against deconstructionism. Through the elaboration on revealing the failures that confront Clayton, the present author, relying heavily on the theories of Foucault, proves the impossibility for Clayton to set his subjectivity with intellectual struggles. Clayton becomes the function of his writing, with the doomed failure in reanimating the Ford period and the life of the ignored Buchanan. Instead of a firm dissenter of deconstructionism, he is gradually
realizing his erotic desires and build a sense of authentic self. Thwarted by the intellectual investment, Clayton resorts to physical satisfaction and becomes a sensation-seeker. The present author explores Clayton's disordered condition, pointing out that Clayton's indulgence in corporeal enjoyment and his fascination with female bodies is in nature a move for self-recognition and identity construction. It turns out that the alleged rational and autonomous man also meets his waterloo in this private domain. Being in agreement with Foucault's discovery about man's condition in postmodern landscape, Clayton finds himself is only a prey to the system of social discourse and power.
Chapter One John Updike and Memories of the Ford Administration
Being praised as one of the most famed writers in American literature, John Updike leaves us with a repository which is not completely explored yet. Memories of Ford Administration (1992) is a relatively less concerned work of Updike, which alternatively narrates on two different periods in American history. Most reviewers show limited attention to this novel, conceiving it as one of the typical Updikean writing which echoes the themes of his earlier opuses like Rabbit series, while some notice Updike's postmodern concern in this novel, but unfortunately there is not many further studies in this respect.
In postmodern theories, man's centered position in the universe which is ensured by his rationality suffers great crisis because in postmodern landscape man becomes the construction of some acquired factors such as symbolic system, culture and power and so on. Postmodern studies on man's subjectivity focus on deconstructing the authoritative role played by man in interpreting the universe and man's life, and thus man's confidence in his mind and intelligence is greatly undermined. Meanwhile, man's frustration in mental pursuit results in his interest in the body, which has been neglected for a long time. The body which dominates the basic differences among different people becomes the center of the study on man's nature. In a word, what the postmodernist attempts to do is to depreciate the priority of the mind and to appreciate the significance of the body, leading to the fall of the subjectivity.
1.1 John Updike and His Major Works
Born on March, 18, 1932, in Reading, Pennsylvania, John Updike was the only child in his family and he inherited his mother's ambition for writing and the life in the small town of Shillington haunted in most of his novels, especially the most famous Rabbit series. When enrolled by Harvard with the full scholarship, he was engaged in contributing to the Harvard Lampoon, and that experience gained him the
Drawing and Fine Art, and that was why some literary critics later emphasizes the painting elements in some of Updike's works2. Before he made his mind to be a professional writer, he has earned his living as a regular contributor to The New Yorker for two years. Then he moved to Ipswich, Massachusetts, where he spared no effort to write a large number of opuses that cover a wide range of genres. He was an industrious writer who fulfilled his strict schedule of writing at least a piece of work each year.
On the whole, John Updike enjoys a high reputation and holds a great deal of labels such as novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic, contributor to magazines, winner of various prizes (the Pulitzer, The National Book Award, The American Book Award, The National Book Critics Circle Award) and so on. He is one of the most significant, prolific and one of the most award-winning writers in the second half of the 20th century in America. In his works including the Rabbit series, the Henry Bech series, Maples stories and so on, Updike endeavors to be the prestigious, remote, insuperable chronicler of the life of the suburban American middle class. His first novel The Poorhouse Fair (1959) is enrolled in the list of New York Times bestseller in the year of its publication and is praised by the critics for the poetic language and delicate construction, which consequently wins the applause of the readers. Although the success of The Poorhouse Fair brings fame for Updike that he is very likely a promising writer, it is the appearance of Rabbit, Run (1960) that earns Updike a national wide attention and the appreciation of the oeuvre is constantly combating with the criticism of its treatment of sex. David Boroff's defense of it as a "notable triumph of intelligence and compassion"3 is counterweighted by the accusing reviewer of America who is startled by Updike's "frank portrayal of sex."4 As the first controversial sequel of Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux(1971) gets mostly appreciative reception and critics like John Heidenry argue that the novel belongs to the list of the most readable novel that comes in recent years in American literature and he thinks highly of Updike by listing him in "one of only three first-rate prose writers that his country has."5
Before Rabbit Is Rich (1981) comes out, the publication of several other oeuvres （A Month of Sundays (1975), Marry Me: A Romance. (1976), Couples: A Short Story. (1976) and The Coup (1978)) further helps to promote the reputation of the influential
theories start to affect the reading and conceiving of Updike's writings. Mazzeno W. Laurence observes in his book Becoming Updike: Critical Reception, 1958-2010 that according to Robert Detweiler, A Month of Sundays owns great debt from Lacan when Detweiler suggests that "this novel, and subsequent ones in the Updike canon, may have been influenced, albeit unconsciously, by the theorists like Roland Barthes, whom Updike read in 1975."6 The publication of Rabbit Is Rich(1981) is undoubtedly a success in commerce and in critical domain for it not only occupies the top position in the list of bestsellers, but also wins Updike the American Book Award in 1981, the National Book Award in 1982, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1982. Balancing the echoing compliment, there are some voices of negative assessment which belongs to different campaigns. Howard Davies resolutely blames Updike and his vivid depiction of sex and his remarks actually remind readers of the danger of writing if it is filled with overwhelming description of the taboo subject. 7
The last sequel named Rabbit At Rest (1990) comes after the renowned works such as Bech Is Back (1982), Roger's Version (1986) and S (1988) and it has been successful and been recognized as "one of the few modern novels in English that one can set beside the work of Dickens, George Eliot and Joyce"8 by reviewer Jonathan Raban. Stepping into the new century, Updike integrates the new theories and current events into his writings and In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996), Toward the End of Time(1997), Gertrude and Claudius (2000) and Terrorist (2006) belong to this period. As usual, they are exposed to the both sides of the criticisms.
In brief, Rabbit series, which record the life of the middle-class everyman Harry Angstrom "Rabbit" over the course of several decades, from young adulthood to death, are unquestionably a splendid account of American society during the periods when a series of historical events take place, such as the Vietnam War, cold war, Apollo Moon-landing Project, energy crisis and so on. Updike pays attention to the concerns, desires and troubles of the average Americans and his work has aroused a large amount of critical attention. He is widely regarded as one of the finest American novelists of his time and his literary outputs have been universally approved that they stand for the major voice in American community. On one hand, the publication of the Rabbit series helps Updike make a name on the national scene and on the other hand, he is accused of his preoccupation with the delineation of sex and adultery adventures prevailing in the life of middle class.
Besides, Updike's serial novels are concluded as Bech series, Buchanan books,
and trilogy of The Scarlet letter which are impressive and deserve further study. Reviewers are greatly interested in Updike's writings and interpretations of his works spring like mushrooms that come out immediately after the publication of every opus. Some critics keep an intense eye on Updike and become experts in the field. James Plath, one of frequent interviewers of Updike, is fully aware of Updike's significance in American literature and he designates Updike as a "prestigious, remote, Olympian, insuperable chronicler of the suburban American middle class and its neuroses."9 Another scholar George Hunt explores Updike's writing style and the artistic features in his book John Updike and Three Great Secret Things: Sex, Religion, and Art. Hunt believes that Updike's goal to "transcribe middleness" and "present the mixed conditions"10 of human beings is realized by his employment of some tactics such as metaphor, analogy and wit. Seemingly, Frederick Crews, after careful reading of Updike's novels, concludes that the essentially echoing theme of these opuses remains "Christian-existential: a fear (bordering on phobia) of eternal nonbeing; an attempt to reconcile both spiritual and erotic striving with awareness of the implacable heartlessness of the natural world; and a resultant struggle to believe in the grace of personal salvation."11 In a word, the principal themes in Updike's works are religion, sex, and America, which are always interweaving with each other.
The discussion of religion can be found in almost every fictions of Updike and his religious meditation remains an interesting subject in the study of his works. Rachael C. Burchard points out that the heroes under Updike's pen are a group of lonely people questing for salvation through religion and sex.12 Under such constantly changing conditions, the traditionally accepted faith and values have been challenged relentlessly, and writers including Updike start to doubt the automatic authority of religion. Chinese scholars Han Jiuquan and Jin Hanshen study Updike's religious view and the religious themes repeated in his novel, coming to a conclusion that the doubt on the traditionally authorized God, the fear for death and obsession on sex, and the quest for a new alien God consist the fundamental motifs of Updike's religious observation.13 When the urgently desired salvation in religion confronts disillusionment, Updikean protagonists resort to the new faith: sex, just as they seek consolation in corporeal enjoyments, in order to fight against the terror of nothingness.
Sex in Updike's work is noted for its ubiquity and he is harshly accused owing to his flagrant disregard for the taboos in sex. His readers are impressed by his portrayal
of the sight, taste and texture of women's bodies and the Updikean narrator is often a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant who is captured by his erotic desires and the guilty of abandoning his family. However, his intention of such direct efforts is not pornographic because his ultimate purpose is to tell the truth of sex.Updike re-stresses that the treatment of sex should be as detailed as possible, either in general discussion or in literary writing because it is pivotal to keep it real "in its social and psychological connections" and "take coitus out of the closet and off the altar and put it on the continuum of human behavior... to give them their size". This owns to the truth that "in the macrocosm of the individual consciousness, sexual events are huge but not all-eclipsing."14George Hunt maintains that Updike tends to take sex as something meaningful by stating "erotic love becomes a symbol, a kind of code for all the nebulous, perishable sensations which we persist in thinking as living."15 Sex is taken by Updike as an important part in constituting human identities, as well as the whole society.
In the same way, Updike depicts America with a feeling of nostalgia, reverence, celebrating America's dynamic diversity. Updike's novels about America always contain references to political events of the time. In this sense, they are artifacts of their historical eras, showing how political leaders shape and define their times. The life of ordinary citizens takes place before this wider background. Updike picturesquely records the contradictory conditions of the modern Americans who are in a crucial status: they are on the way of pursuing free life and independent and self-disciplined ego, while they are confronted by a series of embarrassment and frustrations. Those protagonists and details in their private life are composed in such a full depiction with some true historical happenings embedded into the daily life of the protagonists that readers can easily get the impression of the social and historical background described in the novels. The picture of living conditions of different individuals and the changes of time are presented verisimilarly. Updike is confident about his vivid and delicate writing style with factual accuracy and he confirms that his fiction "about the daily doings of ordinary people has more history in it than history books".16 That is the same reason why some reviewers call Updike as a loyal chronicler of the American society.
It is generally admitted that Updike is a man of letters, whose talent not only shows in writing novels, but also in other genres and fields. He produces eight of verses which are gathered in Collected poems1953-1993 (1993) and ten of non-fiction,
which are mainly collections of essays. Interestingly, some critics show concern about Updike's comprehension of literary criticism. Schiff once attempts to arouse public attention to literary criticism made by Updike and he defines that Updike is an independent critic who used to be ignored and dwarfed by his brilliance in literary writings.17
1.2 Memories of the Ford Administration and Criticism It Has So Far Received
Memories of the Ford Administration is definitely a two-level writing in which two narratives go on alternatively. When the narrator Alfred Clayton is asked to contribute to a symposium on Ford administration, he deliberately integrates his memories of Ford years with the details of a book he has been working on for several years. Therefore, the novel contains two paralleling historical narratives between 1970s and the period roughly from 1820 to 1865. Clayton's retrospective narrative of his personal impressions in 1970s is alternated with his effort to retrieve the life of Buchanan. Meanwhile, the narrator's academic research suffers some distractions when faced with overabundant background information. In the end of his recalling, Clayton finds that he has really forgotten the Ford administration, just as he can never really exhume the reality of James Buchanan and his time exactly.
Clayton 's traditionally shaped ideology on history and on the assurance of man's capacity in reasonable thinking is greatly shocked by the newly developed theories, especially doctrines of deconstructionism that is preached by his rival in love, Brent Mueller. Gradually Clayton realizes that he cannot hold his position as a traditional historian, while he is colonized and assimilated by the academic language and thoughts of deconstructionism. At first, Clayton is hostile to deconstructionism, believing that it is an academic school which deconstructs everything they face. In essence, his resistance to deconstructionism provides an opportunity that shows his ability as an independently thinking individual and a man bearing the spirits of sensible criticalness. Yet, in the process of his narrative, Clayton is unconsciously influenced by the tenet of deconstructionism and involuntarily puts it into application in his life and writing.
Besides the mental activities, Clayton interestingly intertwines his academic
investment with confession of his sexual adventures and especially his fascination with women's bodies. At the outset of his narrative, Clayton moves out of his house, leaving his wife and children behind, for he develops an affair with Genevieve Mueller, the wife of one of his colleges. Clayton, who intends to show his determination to be intimate to his mistress and to pursue a further development in their relationship, is tortured by the feeling of guilty at his children and disloyalty to his wife Norma. Although Clayton names his mistress The Perfect Wife and keeps the promise of their marriage as a forthcoming fact, he keeps sexual contacts with other women he encounters, with one of them being the last straw that cause an end to his affair with Genevieve. Clayton indulges himself in flesh pleasures provided by different females and especially by the fascinated bodies of those women. Ultimately Clayton has to admit his failure both in mental and physical hunting when he reflects his motivation for writing on Buchanan and for starting an affair with Genevieve.
It is not the first time for Updike to take James Buchanan, who shares the same birth state with the writer, as the object of his writing. In 1974, Updike composed a play titled Buchanan Dying, which was mildly received. Maybe the rewriting of Buchanan displays the firm goal of Updike who determines to bring the overlooked president on the stage again. Updike's obsession on Buchanan is confessed in his interviews when he admits that he naturally tends to notice the "overlooked". That is the reason why he takes interests in Gerald Ford. Buchanan and Ford share the same position among the American Presidents, belonging to the list of the most "overlookable".18
Concerning the theme of the novel, Updike acknowledges that there is a feeling of loss and nostalgia permeating among the texts. The frustrated sense of the narrator Clayton comes from the failure in his intellectual and emotional searches. Updike suggests, in the position of Clayton, that "neither history nor memory can really bring back the past".19The answer to the memories of Ford administration proves to go nowhere, and the man who attempts to offer the answer fails to find himself in the same way.
The publication of MFA arouses fewer interests compared to other famous works of Updike and hence the study of it remains limited and undeveloped. Charles Johnson observes from the psychoanalytic perspective that the novel shares the typical features of Updike and is "an exploration of a modern American terrain of desire, guilt and moral ambiguity that he has made distinctly his own."20Galen。