Thecultureofalcoholandthetranslationofalcoholcommercials酒文化与酒广告翻译.pdf

The Culture of Alcohol and the Translation of Alcohol Commercials 酒文化与酒广告翻译Foreign Languages College Jiangxi Normal University March 2012 - - i - The culture of alcohol and the translation of alcohol commercials Abstract：Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most unique American writers. He is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. His horror short stories venture even beyond human s reason, exploring the vague cross-border field of life and death, dream and reality, conscious and insane. The Black Cat is one of the most classic horror novels which also reveal the dark side of the human being in psychology. The author of this thesis proposes that there exits subconscious evil in human beings. Therefore, the thesis aims to analysis the hero s personalities in The Black Cat according to Freud s psychoanalysis, which will help us understand Poe s other works and his artistic thoughts easily. Key words：Edgar Allan Poe; Freud s psychoanalysis; The Black Cat- - ii - 以弗洛伊德精神分析理论分析黑猫中的叙述者摘要： 埃德加爱伦坡是美国作家中最独特的一位，以悬疑、惊悚小说最负盛名。他的恐怖故事极力挑战理性的界限，探索生命与死亡、梦境与现实、清醒与癫狂的晦暗不明的交界地带。 黑猫是这些恐怖小说中最为经典的一部作品，它同时也揭露了人类精神层次的黑暗面。本论文的作者认为人性中有种罪恶的潜意识。所以，本论文旨在通过弗洛伊德的精神分析理论来分析黑猫中主人公的性格，从而帮助我们更容易地理解坡的其他作品和他的创作理念。关键词： 埃德加爱伦坡 ; 弗洛伊德的精神分析 ; 黑猫- - iii - ContentsChapter 1 Introduction. 1Chapter 2 Psychoanalysis . 32.1 Overview . 32.2 The Structural Model of Personality. 4Chapter 3 A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of The Black Cat . 53.1 Ego of the Narrator. 53.2 Id of the Narrator . 63.3 Superego of the Narrator . 7Chapter 4 Conclusion . 9Bibliography . 10 Acknowledgements . 11 - - 1 - Chapter 1 Introduction Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in January 1809, and died in Baltimore, Maryland, in October 1849, Edgar Allan Poe lived only forty years in this world, but his name brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as “The Tell -Tale Heart” , “The Raven”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. This versatile writers oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, and he made his living as America s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poes reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry. Poes short stories are abounded with bloody violence, murder and even supernatural events. And the places where the stories occur are usually dreary and gloomy castles, bleak cellars or churches, and thrilling grave yards. All these are the recurrent and indispensable elements in establishing Poes prevalent terror, which is strong enough to shake readers interior feelings. Among these stories, Poe can not stop interpreting his “death wish”. “Death” has become one of his constant themes, especially the death of a beautiful woman, and he made assertions in his famous article “The Philosophy of Composition” that this is “the most poetical topic in theworld ”. Such stories as “Ligeia ”“Morella ” and “Berenice ” are good examples. And personal tragedy was another recurring theme throughout Poes life. In his early childhood, his father deserted the family and later his beloved mother died. He was adopted by a wealthy tobacco family but seldom had a good time with them. It is his miserable life experience and his pessimistic temperament that led Poe to be obsessed with his “death fantasia” and dark romanticism. It is not difficult to find that Poe has an astonishingly strong and meanwhile twisted and weird power of imagination which is quite bewildering, and this is one of the reasons that he isdrawn much attention. Allan Poe himself is also one of the most controversial figures in the American literary history. Although his contributions to the literature have been widely acknowledged at present, he was misunderstood at his time because of his wired character. For example, his literary executor - - 2 - Rufus Griswold spared no pains, after Allan Poe s death, to sully his reputationhe painted Poe as a Bohemian, depraved, and demonic, a villain with no virtue at all. Professor Chang also mentioned that Poe s own work did at times seem to corroborate the view of Griswolds and many others that his was an evil genius and thus the legend steadily building up about Poe placed the man in a very unfavorable light; therefore Emerson dismissed him in three words “the jingle man ”and Mark Twain declared his prose to be unreadable. Henry James made the ruthless statement that “an enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive stage of reflection” . And Whitman, who was the only famous literary figure presented at Poe Memorial Ceremony in Baltimore in 1875,had a mixed feeling about Poe: he did admit Poes genius, but it was“its narrow range and unhealthy lurid quality ”that most impressed him. However, needless to say, the majority of critics today, in America as well as in the world, have recognized the real, unique importance of Poe as a great writer of fiction, a poet of the first rank, and a critic of acumen and insight. His works are read the world over with appreciation and understanding. Edgar Allan Poes works didn t bring him fame and fortunate before he died. Since the 20thcentury, with the irrationalism philosophy and Fraud s psychoanalysis rising and developing, Allan Poe and his works have been wildly accepted. Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id, ego, and super-ego. Id represents human being s basic desire, impulse and vitality for living. It is the subconsciousness part of human being s spiritual activities. The super-ego is the moral component of the psyche, which takes into account no special circumstances in which the morally right thing may not be right for a given situation. The rational ego attempts to exact a balance between the impractical hedonism of the id and the equally impractical moralism of the super-ego; it is the part of the psyche that is usually reflected most directly in a persons actions. When overburdened or threatened by its tasks, it may employ defense mechanisms including denial, repression, and displacement. There are always conflicts between Id and super-ego. If a person keeps balance between both of them, he will be a mental healthy man. If not, he will become anoia. Apparently, the hero in the Black Cat was a twisted-mind person after experiencing a series of spirit change including impulse, crime, guilt and fear. In this thesis, the author analyzes the hero s personalities in The Black Cat- - 3 - according to Freud s psychoanalysis, which will help us understand Poe s other works and his artistic thoughts easily. Chapter 2 Psychoanalysis This chapter consists of two parts, mainly dealing with the theories of psychoanalysis. The first part is a brief introduction to Freudian psychological theories, aimed to present a panoramic view of the school. The second part gives an account of one major theory of psychoanalysisthe structural model of personalities. Serving as an interpreting vehicle for the criticism to be conducted, the theroy will be adopted and applied later to the analysis of the unreliable narrator in The Black Cat.2.1 Overview The theory of psychoanalysis initiated by Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian neurologist, is a set of creative ideas and was originally employed for the treatment of mentally-disordered patients. Coming at the turn of the 20th century, this theory provided a radically new approach to the analysis of human behaviors in the medical field. Resting on the convincing evidence obtained through many carefully recorded case studies, Freud claimed that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control. Based on years of fruitful research work, Freud finally established his own theoretic realm of psychoanalysis, resulting in a vehement revolution in the field of Psychology. The foundation of the theory mainly consists of the following three premises Freud has ever proposed:1)most of the individuals mental processes are unconscious;2)all human behavior is motivated ultimately by sexuality;3)many of our desires and memories are repressed because of the powerful social taboos attached to certain sexual impulses. In the two epoch-making works, The Interpretation of Dreams and A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Freuds original ideas and pioneering explorations are mostly embodied, each given a detailed explanation exhaustively. In the first work mentioned, Freud elucidates theory of the unconscious, the formation of dreams and 9 ways of interpreting them; in the second one, he improves theory of the libido, proposes stages of psychosexuality and explicates the specialized terminology such as Oedipus complex, Repression, Anxiety etc. Another significant work that deserves mention is The Ego and the Id, in which Freud gives an elaboration on the three components of personalitythe id, the ego and the superego as well as the interactive relationship - - 4 - among them.The innovative and daring work Freud has made offers a brand-new view to the understanding of human mind, which contributes to the establishment of a general belief that human behaviors of any kind, as a matter of fact, are not meaningless or random but meaningful and goal-oriented. In this sense, the psychoanalytic theory can be employed as an effective vehicle to understand human behaviors which are really informative and explainable. Apart from Freud, efforts are also made by such psychoanalysts as Anna Freud, Carl Jung and Marie Bonaparte, whose endeavor not only enriches the theory with new concepts and values, but also impels the development of the school of psychoanalysis. Because of its universal applicability, the theory goes beyond the medical field and is introduced into the literary world, exerting great influence on both the creations and interpretations of literary works. 2.2 The Structural Model of PersonalityOne of Freuds most influential findings is the three-layered structure of personality. From Freudian point of view, personality is composed of three elements which are known as id, ego and superego. These three parts, interacting with one another, work together and result in many complex human behaviors. The id, as the primary component of personality, is entirely unconscious, including the behaviors that are instinctive and primitive. Characterized by vitality and untamedness, the only aim of the id is to strive for instant satisfaction and gratification by following the Pleasure Principle, with the least regard for social conventions, legal ethics, or moral restraints. The ego, quite different from the id, operates on the basis of the Reality Principle, attempting to satisfy the ids desires inrealistic and socially appropriate ways. Developing out of the id s interaction with the external world, the ego ensures the impulse of the id can be expressed in an acceptable manner. The last component of personality is the superego, which is supposed to hold all the internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from society. The major function of the superego is to perfect and civilize human behaviors, suppressing all unacceptable urges of the id and struggling to make the latter act upon idealistic standards instead of realistic principles. In other words, it is responsible for“transmitting the constraints that culture exercises over the individual, and for imposing the necessary and ultimately excessive sacrifices of instinct demanded by civilization”.According to Freud, these aspects of personality often work together in bringing out a certain kind of human - - 5 - behavior. How one behaves is actually the result of the wrestling of the three. Therefore, a healthy personality entails a balance among the threethe id, the ego, and the superego. Chapter 3 A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of The Black Cat This chapter mainly gives an interpretation of the narrator in the Black Cat from Freudian psychoanalytic perspective. The Black Cat is one of Allen Poe s finest horror tales. Poe s horror tales, featured by the psychiatric traits and psychological significance, serve as a good source for the psychoanalysts to understand both Poe and his works. Traditionally, The Black Cat is taken as a classic horror story permeated with gothic elements such as superstition and murder, yet from Freudian perspective, it can be treated as a case study of a patient who is troubled with psychological problems. And this horror tale can be more vividly compared as a mind-disordered patient s confession to a psychology doctor. 3.1 Ego of the NarratorAt the beginning of the narrator s retrospect, he described what he was like at his young age. “ From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiar of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. ” (Poe, Tales 161) From above we can see the narrator was very kind and humane when he was young. This is ego of the narrator. The ego, according to Freud, operates on the basis of the Reality Principle, attempting to satisfy the ids desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. During this period, the narrator liked animals and he gained pleasure by feeding and caressing them. What s more, when the narrator got married early, he felt very happy because his wife also liked animals and had same nice characteristics like him. They raised animals together and the narrator formed firm friendship with a black cat Pluto, his favorite pet. “ I married early, and was happy to find my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, - - 6 - gold-fish, a fine dog, a small monkey, and a cat. ” (Poe, Tales 161) The narrator s ego enables him went on a happy and normal life in realistic and socially appropriate ways. 3.2 Id of the Narrator However, after he became addicted to alcohol, “ a disease ”what the narrator called, his disposition gradually changed and turned to a villain. He began to ill - treat his once loving pets and wife. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition.(Poe, Tales 162) He even harmed his favorite cat