西格丽德_温塞特的_伊达_伊丽莎白_一位母亲的情节剧_英文_

© 1994-2009 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. All rights reserved. http://www.cnki.net Sigr id UndsetÄs Ida E lisabeth—a maternal melodrama? C h ris tine Hamm Abstract: This article focuses on motherhood as a burning issue in Sigrid UndsetÄs novel Ida E lis2 abeth (1932) , and contains a reading of the text on the background of the socio2political debate on gender issues which dom inated Norway at that time. This novel of Undset has earlier been at2 tacked as an aesthetically weak text, in part because it is characterized by melodramatic elements of p lot. Making use of theories developed by Julia Kristeva and Stanley Cavell, I will argue that Undset consciously uses these elements in order to show how a woman not simp ly is, but rather becomes a mother. Undset brings out the difficulties of women in the 1930 s to make them selves known to others, since they feel that they lack words with which they could describe their experi2 ence asmothers. U sing melodrama, Undsetmanages to let the reader experience a motherÄs devel2 opment, and especially, the reader can share in the p rotagonistÄs journey to a position from which she can define her own maternal standards. W hile earlier readers have seen the text mostly as conveying a Catholic message, I interp ret the p rotagonistÄs development as following a fem inist path to freedom. Key words: Undset　Ida E lisabeth　motherhood　melodrama　gender issues Author: Chr istine Hamm is associate p rofessor in the Department for Scandinavian studies at the University of Bergen. She has published a book M edlidenhet og m elodram a; Am alie S kram s rom aner om ekteskap (2006) , which is a study of Amalie SkramÄs novels of marriage, and several articles on modern literature, with a special emphasis on gender issues. Her current p roject focu2 ses on motherhood in Sigrid UndsetÄs later works. Email: christine. hamm@ nor. uib. no 标题 :西格丽德 ·温塞特的《伊达 ·伊丽莎白 》———一位母亲的情节剧 ? 内容提要 :本文通过文本阅读结合当时挪威对性别问题的争论的社会政治背景 ,探讨西格丽 德 ·温塞特的《伊达 ·伊丽莎白 》中的母亲身分主题。这部小说最初因其情节剧式的成分 , 在小说美学层面遭到许多批评。本文使用朱丽亚 ·克里斯蒂瓦和斯坦利 ·卡维尔的理论 , 分析得出温塞特是有意将这些情节成分放在一起 ,以表达妇女并不简单是母亲 ,而是如何真 正成为母亲。温塞特首先摆出 20世纪 30年代妇女的窘境 ,因为她们缺乏话语表述做母亲 的经历。通过运用情节剧 ,温塞特试图让读者体验母亲的经历 ,特别是让读者能分享主人公 如何确立自己真正母亲地位的历程。笔者认为主人公的发展是追求女性自由的历程。 关键词 :温塞特 　《伊达 ·伊丽莎白 》　母亲身分 　情节剧 　性别问题 作者简介 :克里斯丁 ·汉姆是挪威卑尔根大学斯堪的纳维亚语言文学系副教授 ,主要研究现 代主义文学特别是女性文学。她目前研究重点是西格丽德 ·温塞特晚期作品中的母性问 题。 © 1994-2009 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. All rights reserved. http://www.cnki.net UndsetÄs Concern for M otherhood 　 Towards the end of Sigrid UndsetÄs novel Ida E lisabeth ( 1932 ) , the p rotagonist, a single mother of two children, reflects how happy she is that she did not remarry, although she had been close just a few months earlier: 　 　　　Remote and unsubstantial the memory recurred to her that not long ago she had been thinking much more of other things than of her children, a man had been much dearer to her than the two little ones—. It was a good thing I came to my senses, she thought—what if the boys had had need of me and I had not been there—? (424) ① 　 　 In the quotation, we encounter a woman who is obviously glad to know that she has put the hap2 p iness of her children before her own happ iness. Ida E lisabeth only vaguely remembers her feel2 ings for Tryggve, but she seem s to know for certain that it was for the best for her two sons that they did not get a new father. L iving with Tryggve would have taken away Ida E lisabethÄs attention from her sons, the text inform s us. 　 How shall modern readers respond to Ida E lisabethÄs decision? Until now, critics have believed that Undset with this novel wanted to rem ind women of their obligation to their children and their fam ily. A woman should sacrifice her own happ iness for that of others. ② Seen in this light, Unds2 etÄs text comes very close to a traditional maternal melodrama, such as Ellen WoodÄs East L ynne (1861) , where the p rotagonist suffers because she loves her children. But does an eventual affili2 ation with melodrama necessarily turn UndsetÄs Ida E lisabeth into a reactionary work of literature? O r could one understand the novel as a textwhich takes up the modern p roblematic of single moth2 ers who have to decide if they should or even could marry again? 　Most modern readers of the text have followed in the footstep s of Per Thomas Andersen. In his article on the novel from 1981, he claim s thatUndsetÄs novel is structured by a conflict between e2 rotic love and maternal love, and thatmaternal love clearly is p referred by Undset. He argues that Ida E lisabeth needs to be seen as a“contemporary Norwegian nun”, as someone who transfers catholic maternal thinking into a modern secularized reality. ③ This reading of the novel is, of course, influenced by the fact that Undset had converted to Catholicism in 1924, only four years before she was awarded with the Nobel Prize of literature for the medieval novels about Kristin Lavransdatter and O lav Audunss«n. Just before she published Ida E lisabeth , Undset published a hagiographical text about Angela Merici, the founder of the order of the holy U rsula. ④ A s Elisa2 beth Solbakken has pointed out, there are clearly common interests between UndsetÄs fiction and her hagiographical work of the 1920 s and 1930 s, and she concludes: “Her hagiographical work p rovides some help in the interp retation of the late contemporary novels, especially Ida E lisabeth” ( Solbakken 125). 　 In her portrait of Angela Merici Undset describes the establishment of an organization of women destined to help the poor and the sick. O riginally, the U rsulines were women staying in their homes; but they often took care of suffering girls who lacked education and fam ily support, and they became, as Solbakken writes, “substitute mothers to disadvantaged daughters”( Solbakken 125). Undset p rovocatively called Angela Merici a fem inist, because Merici pursued her interests at all cost, and because she p rovided the possibility for other women to do what they thought they had to do. But why would Undset need to write a novel about a modern woman if she just wanted to repeat her catholic message once more? W hile I am convinced that motherhood is the central subject of the novel, I do not think that the relationship between UndsetÄs interest in motherhood per se and her interest in Catholicism is as easily understood as one has thought it to be so far. In 01 外国文学研究　2007年第 5期 © 1994-2009 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. All rights reserved. http://www.cnki.net the following Iwill argue in favour of a more detailed and literary reading of Ida E lisabeth. More specifically, Iwant to comment on what has been diagnosed as melodramatic aspects of the text, aspects which unfortunately until now have not been further studied. ⑤ In my app roach I am in part influenced by theories of melodrama as worked out by Peter B rooks and Stanley Cavell, be2 cause I think that their concep ts of melodrama will enable me to open up UndsetÄs novel for a more rewarding discussion about the issue of motherhood. A s I see it, UndsetÄs text is constructed a2 round a p lot which shows in what way a woman not simp ly is, but rather becom es a mother; the development of the p rotagonist could even be interp reted as a fem inist journey to freedom, since it describes a womanÄs path to a position from which she can define her own maternal standards. ⑥ 　 Reading the novel with the focus on motherhood as a central issue, as opposed to motherhood as a Catholic value, that is absolutely given, not only means to challenge the Norwegian tradition of interp reting Ida E lisabeth , but also to challenge the recep tion of UndsetÄs later works in gener2 al. Novels that appeared after Kristin L avransda tter and O lav A udunss«n, such as TheW ild O rch id (1929) , The B urn ing B ush (1930) , Ida E lisabeth (1932) and The Faithfu l W ife (1936) , are generally taken to be aesthetically weaker texts, something that is connected to the thought that they were written with the intention of making readers act according to catholic ideals. ⑦ W illy Dahl, for instance, argues in 1965 that the Faithfu lW ife can be seen as a kind of catholic p ropa2 ganda text, and that the aesthetic value is questionable since Undset clearly writes with a specific purpose in m ind. ⑧ The novel seem s to tell modern readers that they should stay with their part2 ners, even if those partners betray them. W hile the faithful Natalie is taken to rep resent the ideal wife, Ida E lisabeth is taken to p romote the ideal of the self2sacrificing mother. 　 It seem s strange to me that Undset around 1930 should suddenly forget all about her artistic skills and her interest in gender issues. Ever since her debut in 1907, when she published the fictive diary novel F ru M a rta O u lie, Undset was concerned with the situation of women against the background of specific historical contexts, and it would seem rather strange that her artistic meth2 od should all of a sudden become p roblematic to her. ⑨ Maybe she realized that she would need different artistic means to diagnose the situation of women in 1930 compared to 1911, the time when her breakthrough novel Jenny appeared? Motherhood as an institution had changed drastical2 ly during the years between UndsetÄs debut and the 1930 s, both in Norway and in other European countries. W hen Ida E lisabeth appeared in 1932, motherhood had become a choice for Norwegian women, due to new laws regulating inheritance, divorce, and the econom ic relationship between husband and wife, and also because of changes in gender norm s. ⑩ A round the same time the ma2 ternal body had come into focus after scientists, towards the end of the 19 th century, had discov2 ered more and more about the different organs that were important for rep roduction. Some scien2 tists tried to see fem ininity in general as connected to a womanÄs rep roductive organs, and they used this as an argument against fem inists’demand for equality. λϖ Some fem inists used the fact that women give birth to children while men do not as part of an argument in support of the idea that women were better human beings than men. λω Motherhood was thus closely linked to burning questions of gender differences during the 1930 s. The scientific and cultural focus on motherhood was in many countries reflected by a focus on the subject in the aesthetic field: the Norwegian po2 et HalldisMoren Vesaas took up motherhood as a theme in her writing, while Hollywood2movies such as B londe V enus ( 1932) and S tella D allas ( 1937) likewise focused on the importance of motherhood, addressing especially the female movie audience. A t the same time, Nazi2Germany integrated motherhood into a reactionary political ideology, while the experience of World W ar I had shown that mothers were capable of all kinds of work when their husbands were away doing battle. Motherhood had become an important subject of debate, and thus, Ida E lisabeth is symp2 11Christine Hamm: Sigrid UndsetÄs Ida E lisabeth—a maternal melodrama? © 1994-2009 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. All rights reserved. http://www.cnki.net tomatic. 　W hile motherhood gained special attention in the 1930 s, it had been an important theme for Undset from the very beginning of her career. Nevertheless, it is not too much to claim that she became more and more interested in the top ic towards the end of her life. In her early texts moth2 erhood is something to be longed for, something that cannot be realised. UndsetÄs first p rotago2 nist, Marta Oulie, has four children, but accuses herself of being a bad mother, since she is so absorbed by her narcissistic self2accusations. In fact, the relationship with her children is mostly seen as a mere result of the relationship with her husband, and it is first after the death of O tto that her children become of some importance to Marta. JennyÄs illegitimate child, on the other hand, has to die, something which contributes to JennyÄs loss of self2esteem, and brings on the decision to take her own life. In these early texts, motherhood is described as something that is not really possible for women at the beginning of the 20 th century. 　 UndsetÄs most exp licit and lengthy comments on motherhood can be found in her equally fa2 mous and harshly criticized series of articles published under the title A w om anÄs poin t of view. λξ In the polem ic article“Confusion of concep ts”(“Begrep sforvirring”) from 1919, she attacks one of the early Norwegian fem inists, KattiAnkerM«ller. AnkerM«ller was especially concerned with securing womenÄs rights to decide about abortion and p revention or to get financial aid during p reg2 nancy and after giving birth. Her critique of this left wing activist soon gained Undset the label of reactionary and conservative writer, since it seemed as if she wrote in defence of old2fashioned fam ily norm s. Her arguments in the article are not as easy to grasp as criticswould like to think. λψ W hat Undset reacts to is not the exp licit political concern of AnkerM«ller, but what she saw as a dangerous blurring of concep ts in Anker M«llerÄs political text“WomenÄs birth2giving politics” (“Kvindernes f«dselspolitikk”, 1919). In her article, Undset points out that it is m isleading to sp lit a comp lex phenomenon such as the one of motherhood into econom ical, physical, social and p sychic aspects, as Anker M«ller had done. Undset advises readers to be careful when com ing across a combination of concep ts taken out of various contexts, such as concep ts describing politi2 cal issues combined with those that describe the intimate relationship between a man and a woman. Undset seem s to see motherhood as an ideological p roduct constructed over time and as a result of a combination of both biological, p sychic and social facts, and she clearly understands that it would be difficult to change the mechanism s at work in just a coup le of years. 　 A main part of UndsetÄs argument is based on her idea that women differ, and therefore, one should not try to find solutions which are supposed to fit them all. For instance, she p roposes that one should not demand that all women become mothers, since not all women are going to be good mothers. Instead of listening to AnkerM«llerÄs p roposals for econom ic reform s, such as payment for the work mothers do at home, or listening to peop le of science who found out about rep roduc2 tion with a m icroscope, rather, one should go to literature to get a p icture of what really went on in modern womenÄs lives. In her fiction, she shows why she doubts the success of the new gender roles as they were being formed in her time. Jenny is a successful woman artist, but nevertheless longs for a fam ily life and a baby, and in the end, she breaks down because of an inner conflict of ideals. Society makes it possible for Jenny to live out her sexuality, but she cannotmake it part of the image she has of herself as a human being, and after the death of her child, she has no re2 sources left to solve the inner conflict that is the consequence of her relationship s, with different men. In contrast, Kristin Lavransdatter, the p rotagonist of UndsetÄs most accomp lished medieval work, is granted more influence over her life than the women of UndsetÄs contemporary novels. Both Kristin and Ingunn ( the female p rotagonist in O lav A udunss«n) are women who live at a time that is characterized by a discourse about motherhood that differs strongly from the modern one. 21 外国文学研究　2007年第 5期 © 1994-2009 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. All rights reserved. http://www.cnki.net For instance, Kristin has no choice of deciding whether or not to have children, but the fact that she is a mother gives her an important role in society. A t the same time, her motherhood makes it difficult for Kristin to be everything to Erlend, the man she loves. Motherhood creates p roblem s for the love between them , butwhile it is an important top ic in the novel, it cannot be seen as the main p lot. It is with the novel Ida E lisabeth that Undset p laces the question of motherhood at the centre of her analysis of the contemporary condition of women. W ith this novel, Undset shows how extremely comp licated the issue of motherhood had become for women at the beginning of the 1930 s, and she makes use of melodrama in order to give literary exp ression to this comp lexity. I will now take a closer look at the text, in order to exp lain my claim s. 　 Ida E lisabe th or; W ha t is a M other? 　 The opening scene of the novel p resents Ida Elisabeth as she is leaving a hosp ital in O slo, where her son Carl has successfully been operated on. Together with the recovering child, she travels back to her husband Frithjof and her daughter SÊlvi, who have stayed in their little home town, on a Fjord. On board the boat Ida Elisabeth reflects about her m iserable marriage to Frithjof B raatÊ. They had been driven into a love2affair while they were still going to school, out of the feeling that they both were outsiders. Ida ElisabethÄs father had lost his position and become an al2 coholic, while FrithjofÄs parents could not work enough to feed their many children, and they de2 pended heavily on friends in order to survive. W hen her father found out about her affair with Frithjof, Ida Elisabeth was sent away from home, and she started to work in O slo. There, she a2 gain met Frithjof, and since she was lonely, and since she wanted to show the world and herself that she had really been in love with Frithjof, she married him when he asked her. But Frithjof, who had been a talented musician in his youth, turned out to be unable to work, and when Ida E2 lisabeth became p regnant, she realized that she had to make a living not only for herself, but also for her husband and the child in her belly. W ith the help of the townÄs doctor, she started a little shop. 　 During the following years the reader learns about Ida ElisabethÄs struggle to sustain her fam i2 ly. Her main inner conflict is between her feeling responsible for Frithjof and her fam ily in law on the one side, and on the other, of being annoyed with their irritating way of depending on her. W hen she loses SÊlvi in a traffic accident, which she sees in part as p rovoked by Frithjof, she has to accep t the fact that her husband will never be a real partner for her. They cannot communicate about what happened to their daughter. It comes therefore almost as a relief when she finds out that Frithjof in addition, is being unfaithful. Ida Elisabeth finally manages to leave him and her home town. She finds a new life in Eastern Norway, where she raises her two sons by herself. Tryggve, the man she meets there, and to whom she after a while becomes engaged, is the direct opposite of Frithjof. W e understand that Ida Elisabeth could be happy if only her sons would get along with her new fiancé. Tryggve, who reveals after a while that he is governed by socio2Dar2 winist ideas, is guided by reason as Frithjof was by emotions, and he has little patience with Ida ElisabethÄs often daydream ing sons. W hen Frithjof turns up again in the nearby asylum because he is afflicted with tuberculosis, Ida Elisabeth accompanies her sons to meet their father. After Frith2 jofÄs death, she takes care of her former fam ily in law as well, although she knows that this means having to give up her fiancéand her new happ iness. 　 The interp retation of the p lot of the novel as describing the development of a woman who fol2 lows her religious destiny has been especially connected to the opening chap ter, which is taken to contain one of the keys to the reading of the whole text. On the boat, Ida Elisabeth has to share her cabin with two young catholic girls who are on their way back from England. Ida Elisabeth 31Christine Hamm: Sigrid UndsetÄs