XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）文献综述
Literature Review Nihilism, coming from the Latin word nihil, or nothing, can be understood in several different levels, such as political nihilism, ethical nihilism, and existential nihilism. What is commonly used and understood of nihilism today is the sense of existential nihilism, which argues that life is meaningless, without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Under such circumstances, existence itself, like actions, sufferings and feelings, is senseless and empty. Suicide is sometimes encouraged. Nihilism is first used by Friedrich H. Jacobi to negatively characterize transcendental idealism. Then Ivan Turgenev popularized it in his novel Fathers and Sons to describe the crude scientism espoused by his character Bazarov who preaches a creed of total negation. Friedrich Nietzsche is most frequently associated with nihilism. He perceives that there is no objective order or structure in the world except what we give it. He wrote in his Will to Power that “the highest values devalue themselves. The aim is lacking and why finds no answer”. Convinced of Nietzsche’s analysis, Oswald Spengler studied several cultures and confirmed that patterns of nihilism were indeed a conspicuous feature of collapsing civilizations. Existential Nihilism thinks that all the things around us is nihilistic except what we can perceive with our sensual organs, that is what we experienced is the real and exists. Existential nihilism has been part of the Western Intellectual tradition from the beginning. Nihilism has also been reflected the literary works. Based on this theory and his notion and understandings of the world, Hemingway wrote many stories that create a series of nada heroes. A Clean, Well-lighted Place is his prime work concerning nihilism. Earnest Hemingway has long been regarded as one of the greatest writers in twentieth century. He is a master of short stories, to which he has contributed a lot and he was awarded Nobel Prize for his contribution to the creation of modern fiction. He insisted on writing with the “true staff”, which is things and people he knows. Some of his early works established him as one of the world famous writers. And his writings, language and style have a
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great influence on those of his age and those of the following years. Many writers and researchers have done a great deal of studies on both Hemingway and his works. Some papers and books are about Hemingway’s life experience, such his childhood, youth, middle age, his experience in wars and his father’s suicide. Hemingway himself has also written about his feelings and understandings about wars, human life and the world. His war experiences had a lifelong influence on him and war was his main theme of his writings. Henry Louis Gates believes that Hemingway’s style was fundamentally shaped “in reaction to (his) experience of world war”. The Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls are all about wars, in which Hemingway made clear about his anti-war ideas. His works painted the image and revealed the spiritual desolation of the after-war generation, the “Lost Generation”. Mao Jianfang, a professor in Zhejiang University, had a study about nihilism in A Clean, Well-lighted Place. He analyzed the interior world of the characters, especially the old man in the story. He believes that the old man is alone and lonely. Living in a chaotic world, the deaf old man realized his life was meaningless and tried t escape from the great nothingness in life. The author Mao thinks that in an economic-broken society, one needs a clean and well lighted place to place his soul. People in that decade found it hard to hold on to a belief after the claim of the death of God. Hemingway regarded loneliness and nothingness as the tragedy of modern world. He believes that in a world full of nada light and order are the keys to establish man’s dignity, which is the courage to live and to fight against the terrible spiritual crisis. Others study Hemingway’s Iceberg Technique in writing this story. Hemingway once said in his work Death in the Afternoon that “If a writer of prose knows enough about what his works is about, he may omit things that will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action”. In the story, Hemingway mainly described the three characters: the old man and the two waiters. The story mainly vii
unfolds by the conversations between the two waiters. Hemingway used simple and condensed words to indicate his sharp observations and contemplations on the meaning of life and intrinsic value of living. Some researches focus on the use of contrast and symbolism in the story. The café, the light and the darkness in the street, the two waiters and the old man, all contrast with each other and have symbolic meanings of themselves. All the methods and techniques serve the theme of the story: nada. This thesis will analyze nihilism from the three main characters’ life experiences and their understandings of themselves and attitudes towards life. In the chaotic society, the three characters have different experiences in their lives. Thus, they hold different views towards nada. The younger waiter is young and na?ve and he has a superficial understanding of the world and himself. He can’t realize that he lives in the great nada. The old man has gone through an eventful life and he knows about all human joys and sorrows. He knows he lives in nada, but he has no means to reconcile himself to it. So he first kills himself and then kills time in the café to escape from nada. The older waiter has some experience and relates the old man as his future. He deeply understands nada and fights against it bravely. He sort of speaks Hemingway’s attitude towards nada, or hardships and frustrations in life. Through the three characters, to explore Hemingway’s ideas of nihilism and his attitude towards it.
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本科生毕业论文
题目：
分析海明威《一个干净明亮的地方》中的虚无主义
作者姓名： XXX 指导教师： XXX 所在学院： XXX学院 专业（系）： XXXX
班级（届）： XXXX届
完成日期 XXXX 年 5 月 8 日
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Analysis of Nihilism in A Clean, Well-lighted Place by
Earnest Hemingway
BY XXX XXXX, Tutor
A Thesis Submitted to Department of English
Language and Literature in Partial
Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of B.A. in English
At XXXX University
May 8th, XXXX
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