新兴创伤理论视角下小说《反美阴谋》的分析 Analysis of the Novel The Plot Against America from the Perspective of New Trauma Theory开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

philip roth, being a “living legend of literature” of america, is one of the most influential jewish american writers. scholars overseas began to read and study roth’s works from about 1960, while chinese critics first realized the value of his novels in as late as 1990s. philip roth was regarded as a genius of american literature in 1950s. ironically, his works were highly recognized by american critics but were criticized by jewish committee at the beginning. as more people began to read his novels, roth was gradually understood and accepted by many americans. at the same time, scholars began to regard roth as a writer for american people rather than a jewish writer. american pastoral and the human stain are two of the most studied works by domestic scholars. other works such as i married a communist, the humbling and the plot against america receive little attention. in china, early scholars regard roth as a rebel of jewish literature due to his preference of using post-modern techniques, thus many researches have been done to particularly study his techniques. many scholars in china are not able to read original editions so they have to turn to chinese versions. however, some critics rely so much on translation that they misunderstand roth’s works. many roth’s novels have not been translated yet. consequently they have less chance to be studied than those with chinese version. the plot against america is one of those less popular novels.

traditional trauma theory mainly originates from freud’s traumatic psychological theory according to which trauma is created by invisible experiences. traditionally, scholars tend to explain trauma in literary works from the psychological perspective, thus traumatic characters are regarded as “patients” encountering tragic incidents, which will possibly create many limits when analyzing the character. michelle balaev’s new trauma theory claims that trauma comes from visible factors. in addition, the hero’s character, family and cultural background determine how serious he will be harmed and how fast he will be healed. with the help of new trauma theory, the author of this paper tries to analyze the novel the plot against america and figure out how roth as a jewish writer depicts the jewish people’s trauma. according to new trauma theory, natural landscapes, geographical position and mystical images play significant roles in showing trauma. therefore, the author will choose several examples to illustrate respectively and make further explanation. among those factors, balaev claims, geographical position is the most important one, so the author will focus on the ghetto where the hero’s family lives.

finally, the author will probe into several events of this novel and analyze potential themes. the plot against america is not only about the potential trauma of jewish people, but also the trauma of human beings who have undergone so many wars. it shows roth’s attitude towards hegemonism and power politics. in order to show roth’s concern about the contemporary world and the meaning of this work, the author will explain the practical significance of reviewing trauma based on new trauma theory.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

Michelle Balaev’s new trauma theory shows that character, family background, cultural background, geographical position will determine not only the degree of trauma but also the speed in which a person is able to recover. Balaev also points out the significance of natural landscapes, geographical position, and mystical images in a traumatic work. By posing different examples and making explanation, the author will illustrate the appropriateness of applying new trauma theory. New trauma theory not only explains how writers create trauma in American novels, but also emphasizes the practical significance of reconsidering trauma. In this novel, Roth depicts an alternate fate of American Jews. In narrow sense, the trauma in this novel is not real—it’s fabled. In broad sense, Roth creates the trauma based on Jewish sufferings in the recent 100 years—it’s understandable. Roth doesn’t want to merely show the trauma of Jewish people, but to review the trauma of Jew and transform trauma into positive energy. Thus one of the key problems the author tries to solve is to analyze how Roth reconsiders the trauma in the novel and what he wants to express through this novel. The aim of this paper is to analyze a novel with a relatively new theory, thus find a new way of appreciating traumatic novels.

3. 研究计划与安排

before 20th january : settlement of the title

before 20th march: submission of the outline

before 25th may : submission of the first draft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1]balaev， m.thenatureoftraumainamericannovels [m]. evanston， illinois: northernuniversitypress，2012.

[2]balaev， m. contemporary approaches in literary trauma theory [m]. london: palgrave macmillan uk， 2014.

[3]brühwiler，c.f. a reluctant public intellectual: philip roth in the german-speaking media [j] philip roth studies， 2014， 10(1):77-90.