Why do American novels begin with Mark Twain?

William faulkner called Mark Twain "the first real American writer, and we all inherited him". The United States became independent on 1776. Its history is only over 230 years. The beginning of literature can only be realized when the society is stable and the economy takes off slightly. After all, literature is an aesthetic spiritual life, and people should eat first. Mark Twain is the first famous writer in American history, and he also created a unique satirical literature in America. His success promoted the prosperity of American literature in later generations.

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The Historical Fate of Mark Twain

In America, it seems that there are two Mark Twain, one is Mark Twain in the eyes of readers and the other is Mark Twain in the eyes of critics. In the reader's view, Mark Twain is humorous, witty, humorous, exaggerated as hell, but quite real, sometimes with some thorns; His American flavor is full, and men, women and children like to read it. Things are complicated for critics. What kind of writer is Mark Twain? Harmless comedian or social satirist? So optimistic in the early days, why so pessimistic later? Is he a genius who gives full play to his creativity, or a mediocre person who plays with the wind? Does he love America or hate America? ..... These issues related to his overall evaluation have not stopped arguing for nearly a hundred years, and they are a major research topic, which is called "Mark Twain Problem" in America.

In 1960s, Mark Twain appeared as an expert in telling jokes in American literature. In general review articles or literary yearbooks, he is always classified as "funny writer", "humorist" and "funny sketch author", and his specialty is "providing harmless entertainment for most people".

The most violent attack on Mark Twain was after the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This work was first published in the UK (1884), and then selected into the American Century magazine (1885). In order to "protect the reader's interest", the editor deleted a lot of "rude words" and "low-level descriptions". Even though epidemic prevention measures were taken, elegant readers protested that Century magazine, which is famous for its exquisite writing, published such vulgar things. However, Mark Twain did not seem to hear such criticism, and he was not afraid of being labeled as "the main representative of destroying English style". When The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in the United States, he didn't change a word.

The Traveler of Kansas announced: "This book is condemned for its vulgarity and roughness" because "the era of vulgar humor is over" and "exaggerated humor will not last long because readers are becoming more and more elegant. The humor of the future must be pure and faithful. "

Alcott, the author of Little Women (1868- 1869), suggested Mark Twain: "If Mr. Clemens can't find anything good, then it's best not to write for us simple-minded boys and girls."

Why is it a masterpiece of America19th century and received such a cold reception at that time?

Mark Twain is a western writer, and all his creative materials were obtained in the west. Rough, open and humorous artistic features are also western. But at that time, the cultural center of the United States was in the East, and the fate of western writers was in the hands of eastern critics. Oriental critics sometimes appreciate western humorous works, but that's out of curiosity and recreation. They don't think it's serious literary creation. In their eyes, there is no difference between a humorist and a comedian. His specialty is gag, which is incomparable with Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes and others at that time. Their literary taste spread to America in an era called Victoria. At that time, rude Americans made a fortune at once, and had to seek some codes of conduct to cover up their rudeness and take some fashionable men and women as examples. Books must tell people what decency is, as writers do. "(1) this is basically the so-called sven tradition. How can a gentleman critic with a gentle tradition approve of taking vagrants and slaves as the main characters? How can infidelity, feud and fighting become literary themes? What is the literary language of swearing, swearing and swearing? Oriental critics can appreciate Mark Twain's humorous ability, but they don't admit that he has any serious creative purpose.

The turning point appeared in the late 1980s. At that time, Mark Twain had published four important works, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi River (1883), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Americans in King Arthur's Court (1889). Through creative practice, he gradually realized the role of humor and knew how to defend himself in theory. He pointed out that "the humorist, though relaxed, has a serious purpose"-"mocking hypocrisy and exposing disguise", and that the humorist is "the natural enemy of princes and nobles, privileged people and all deceptive things, and a natural friend of human rights and freedom". (2) Some outstanding critics and writers of Mark Twain, such as C.H. Weber, Brett Hart and Di Wei howells, have been recognized for a long time, and their original opinions are increasingly accepted by most people, especially W·d· Howells. As an influential critic, he pointed out that Mark Twain is different from ordinary humorists because "jokes contain serious meanings, which is the expression he adopted after repeatedly thinking about the absurdity of politics and society". 19 10 year, that is, the year when Mark Twain died, howells gave Mark Twain the highest evaluation at that time in his book My Mark Twain:

Emerson, Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes-I know all these people, and I also know other wise men, poets, prophets, critics and humorous writers; They are similar to each other, like other literati; But Clemens is unique and unattainable. He is Lincoln in our literature.

Just as Mark Twain met with Cervantes, Moliere and other comedy masters in heaven, bad news came from mankind. 1920, a critic named Van Vic Brooks dissected Mark Twain by psychoanalysis, and published a monograph that completely denied Mark Twain-The Severe Test of Mark Twain. He thinks that Mark Twain is a born artist, but he has the weakness of yielding to the environment. He failed to stand the test under the strong pressure of Calvinism, the temptation of money and the literary interest of the upper class in the East, and finally failed.

Brooks divided Mark Twain's life into three stages. Childhood was spent in a family that lacked warmth. He suffered from sleepwalking when he was young, which shows that he has two egos, two tendencies and two wishes: on the one hand, he wants to express his personality, and on the other hand, he obeys his mother. Standing in front of his father's coffin, he promised his mother that he would "be a good boy" in the future, which proved that he obeyed his social environment where Calvinism was forbidden. The living environment outside his home is equally bad: Hannibal Town is located in the newly developed midwest, which is a "cultural desert" and "the seeds of genius are bound to die". In the second stage, the four-year pilot life on the Mississippi River was the most harmonious time for him to have a relationship with society: he earned money and his family was satisfied; I have the opportunity to develop my talents, so the first few chapters of Life on the Mississippi River are very poetic. But when he arrived in the west, he was surrounded by the social atmosphere of speculation and wealth, and once again gave up the pursuit of art and leaned his head on the dream of finding a mine to get rich. So how did he become a writer? Brooks said: "His subconscious wish is to be an artist, but this is an industry that displays personality, and displaying personality is a sin and a shame to society in his mother's view. Both his mother and society require him to be a businessman, and it is impossible for him to mobilize the necessary energy to meet this requirement. American writers often encounter this dilemma in their lives! We have seen that this dilemma eventually led to Mark Twain becoming a humorist. " According to Brooks' understanding, Mark Twain became a humorist because he wanted to find a rich vein, which is an example of his betrayal of his artistic genius again.

The third stage is after marrying Olivia Langdon in the east. Brooks thinks that the rich lady has a narrow life circle, and only her parents follow her advice. In order to win her favor, Mark Twain had to please her social circle at the same time, and the elegant and vulgar society accepted this "uneducated" western humorist, not because he took a fancy to his talent, but because his talent could make money. Olivia didn't realize that her husband was a genius at all, but she always censored Mark Twain's works with her mediocre literary taste. She actually thinks The Prince and the Poor Child is much higher than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! Mark Twain had to sacrifice his genius to produce a novel that catered to the public interest and made a lot of money. Brooks said with regret that "Mark Twain actually found a second mother"! Another person who had a great influence on him was howells, editor-in-chief of Atlantic Monthly, a famous critic and writer in China. Mark Twain regarded him as a "priest who repents his sins", howells regarded his criticism as the golden rule, while howells advocated describing "the gentle side of life" and "trying to avoid subjects that make himself and readers miserable". "Sven tradition" means "transforming Mark Twain through howells".

Here, Brooks once again used his "dual personality theory": Mark Twain's "unconscious self" instinctively rebelled against howells's artistic viewpoint, and he cursed Jane Austen to vent his dissatisfaction with howells, because the latter praised Jane Austen as a "model of realistic literature". But Mark Twain's weakness is dominant, and he is willing to put himself in the subordinate position of Howells.

Brooks believes that Mark Twain strangled the artistic self under the transformation of "the second mother" and "the confessor". In his later years, he was annoyed and cursed life repeatedly. He "condemned the failed life, which just shows his own failure." This is Brooks' final diagnosis:

Mark Twain is a wounded soul and a victim of setbacks. Just like countless cases provided by psychoanalysts, this alone is enough to explain his regrets in his later years. He was hindered, divided, and even violated his own nature; Therefore, all the poets and artists in him have shrunk into cynics, and the whole person has become mentally weak.

The severe test of Mark Twain caused great repercussions after its publication. There are those who are against it and those who are in favor of it.

Brooks' analysis undoubtedly has serious defects. The most obvious is the methodological error. He didn't make a comprehensive investigation of all Mark Twain's materials, and drew conclusions in order of priority. It is that he first has a set of concepts and then chooses materials that are beneficial to him. Secondly, he mainly relied on Mark Twain's a 1 Bert Bigelow Pie-Biography, which was published earlier and some materials were unreliable. For example, Mark Twain stood in front of his father's coffin and assured his mother of this legend. At the same time, the author's denial of western humor also exposed his aristocratic prejudice. He opposed this literary form to the traditional form, indicating that he himself has not got rid of the influence of "gentle tradition".

However, The Severe Test of Mark Twain is still an important work in the history of Mark Twain's criticism. Brooks' question is real. Some of Mark Twain's works are of low quality, which is obviously created in a hurry to make money. This cannot be said to have nothing to do with American business society; He did have pessimism and regret in his later period, especially in what is life? And Mysterious Stranger. These problems are serious and unavoidable. Moreover, as an independent and far-sighted critic, Brooks has always had a serious purpose. His original intention was to break the shackles of Puritanism on American literature and resist the corrosion of literature and art by commercialized society. He called for the creation of a new culture. Therefore, malcolm cowley said, the critical atmosphere has changed since Brooks. ④

Unfortunately, when Brooks chose Mark Twain as the target, he lost his due persuasiveness because of his ignorance of western culture and his little knowledge of psychoanalysis.

Brooks' view is naturally opposed by many people. The most fierce critic is bernat Divato, whose "Mark Twain's America" (1932) is a representative work defending Mark Twain.

Divato's main points are as follows: First, it is western culture that created Mark Twain, not the other way around. Second, after Mark Twain arrived in the East, he did not sell himself to the gentry.

Divato himself comes from the west and is an expert in studying western culture. He believes that the west is not a desert, and black, Indian and white pioneers and immigrants from all over the world have their own cultural traditions. In their pioneering activities, they formed a western culture different from the East. Many folk stories and legends have been artistically processed by storytellers, journalists and writers, and have the characteristics of rough, open and humorous. Mark Twain grew up in this cultural background, and developed and created this cultural background with his outstanding talent, becoming an outstanding western writer. The broad vision and poetic texture in his works are also inseparable from the development of large forests, rivers and grasslands in barren areas. Divato pointed out that there are also bad aspects in the West, such as murder, gambling, feud, fighting and so on, which also appear in Mark Twain's works. Therefore, Mark Twain represents the entire southwest civilization and the overall image of the United States.

"Mark Twain's America" also believes that the modifications made by Mrs. Mark Twain and howells to Mark Twain's works are mainly to delete rude words, idioms and expressions that may offend people, which not only does not involve the main content, but helps Mark Twain to remove some low-level things from western humor. It is impossible to "transform Mark Twain". How can you "sell your genius"? Divato's general conclusion is:

Among the writers of Mark Twain's time, no one could touch so many aspects of American life as he did. He is broad-minded, content with the status quo, tireless and wants to find out everything. Some people say that his humor didn't touch the disadvantages of that era. The fact is, after our research, we found that the shortcomings of his time were rarely ridiculed, satirized and ridiculed by him. He commented on all the disgraceful things of the government, including bribery, corruption and bribery, and took people's justice for granted. Some people say that he surrendered to the social behemoth, but it was he who came up with the critical term "Gilded Age" to attack the corrupt America. In the broad scope of his creation, he did not uncover a social scar. ⑤

After the publication of Mark Twain's America, Mark Twain's critics were obviously divided into two factions. The reason why Divato didn't fully convince Brooks School is that Divato either failed to deal with many important problems (such as the imbalance of artistic quality of Mark Twain's works) or played down these problems (such as pessimism in the later period). These unavoidable questions are still related to the overall evaluation of Mark Twain. A lot of information about Mark Twain has not yet come out, which makes it impossible to end the differences between the two factions. As Divato said, "Without the publication of these materials, all criticisms of Mark Twain are inconclusive."

The debate between Brooks and Divato is also reflected in the American left-wing literary critics in the 1930s. In The Liberation of American Literature (1932), V.F. Calverton refuted Brooks' theory of "failure" and thought that Mark Twain's "A Fool's Travel Abroad" (1869) was "the first American work" because "the democratic ideas in it were not only manifested in politics, but also in politics. According to Calverton's analysis, "living in his time, the workers' movement in the United States and even the United States was controlled by the philosophy of the petty bourgeoisie rather than the proletariat, and the most advanced position he could take could only be the position of the petty bourgeoisie. For people like Twain, this is usually a revolutionary position. " G Hicks, the editor-in-chief of New Volkswagen, who is also a left-wing critic, agrees with Brooks that Mark Twain "may become a great social novelist" if he "does not give in to the pressure of tradition", but now he is only "a writer for entertainment". Edgar lee masters was more demanding, criticizing Mark Twain for taking class struggle as the background, not as the theme.

After decades of discussion, although differences still exist, we tend to agree on the following four issues.

First, Mark Twain is a writer with American national characteristics. Almost everyone agrees with Professor V.L. Perrington: "He is a real American writer-born and raised in America, writing with his own thoughts, eyes and language. In him, I can't see anything in Europe, only the last fragment of feudal culture. He is a native, western and mainland American writer. "

Secondly, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, his masterpiece, is an American masterpiece, which is a great novel in terms of social content, ideological significance, artistic style and language skills, and always exudes a kind of "very fresh" and "youthful atmosphere". ⑦

Third, Mark Twain is a model of appealing to both refined and popular tastes. His works are enjoyed by readers of all ages and educational levels. This is because some of his excellent works have many levels, and they are expressed in humorous forms that are loved by the masses. His harmonious artistic style not only connects the channel between him and readers, but also enters the field of serious literature with rich artistic content.

(4) Mark Twain's language art is outstanding. He only went to primary school, and his language is a living language he learned from the masses. On the basis of folk language, he further created American literary language and created a generation of writing style.

After the forties, some scholars got rid of the dispute between the two factions and made various explorations on Mark Twain. The main achievement is the emergence of several excellent critical biographies and the discovery of the real version of The Mysterious Stranger. ⑧

If we can compare critics to painters, Mark Twain already has several portraits. Before the 1980 s, the first painting was a comedian, humorous and witty, which made the audience laugh. On the eve of his death, his portrait changed: dressed in white, with silver hair, leaning back in a chair with a pipe, solemn and kind, a great writer stole a little leisure after heavy creation. This painting has been hung for 20 years, and Brooks has also produced a third painting: a mediocre man obsessed with Nuo Nuo and weak-willed. The heroic spirit of genius seems faintly visible, but it is lost in the rich vulgar color of commercialization. Divato was not satisfied with this painting method, so he drew a fourth painting: the brilliant, rough and bold western character was vividly portrayed. So far, the portrait of Mark Twain has not been finalized, and American critics-painters are sketching out their own Mark Twain.

While American scholars were thinking in many ways, Soviet scholars painted a portrait of Mark Twain, a soldier who held high the banner of anti-feudalism, anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism before 1950s. This is a completely different painting method from American painting school. In the late 1950s, there was an argument between them.

This argument was caused by a signed article by Jan Pireznetsky in the Soviet literature newspaper. This article criticizes the Autobiography of Mark Twain (1958) written by American scholar Charles Neider, and holds that "American officials try to forget this great writer" and have to "erase the burning anger in Mark Twain's satirical works", which is a kind and simple-minded mocker. "The new autobiography is the inevitable product of this" literary beauty ". ⑨

Ned criticized Pieritz Nietzky's article. He thinks the difference lies in Mark Twain's basic ideas. He believes that "Mark Twain is of course a humorous writer", "a novelist" and "not a political critic"; However, the Soviets believed that "Mark Twain's primary significance lies in social and political comments, and his target of attack is mainly American society." Ned said that this statement "seems strange to most Americans." Mark Twain is a "native American writer" and "loves America".

This debate typically reflects two different criticism directions and methods. It is true that American scholars tend to ignore Mark Twain's political material. For example, Ned regarded Mark Twain's essays, essays and political comments as "boring news words". For another example, there are countless works about tom sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but few people have studied his Gilded Age (1873) and Around the Equator (1897). For his pessimistic philosophy in his later years, American scholars often discuss his psychological factors in isolation, but they are unwilling to conduct a comprehensive horizontal study on this issue in connection with his fierce political remarks in his later years. At this point, the Soviet criticism is undoubtedly correct.

But Soviet criticism seems to have gone to the other extreme. Under the guidance of literary criticism, that is, social criticism, they overemphasized Mark Twain's works that directly hit the social and political situation, and even could not tolerate others' aesthetic examination of him. Due to the rampant McCarthyism in the United States after World War II, it is absolutely necessary to highlight Mark Twain's works exposing the "Jin and Yuan Empire" and his anti-imperialist political comments, which is the manifestation of the multi-function of literary criticism. But first, we should not forget that he is a creator. Second, we should take an objective attitude towards his non-literary works. For example, when Mark Twain mocked the European monarchy, he could not help admiring the American monarchy and regime. He also actively put forward suggestions to improve the democratic election system in the United States, and personally participated in the election campaign. Admitting that he praised American democracy does not mean belittling his historical position. How can Marxists not respect the dialectical development of history? If Mark Twain is isolated from the "gilded age", he will be regarded as a god rather than a man. As for emphasizing only the favorable side of the critic to the readers and hiding the unfavorable side, I am afraid this is far from Marxism.

Our country had translated Mark Twain's works long before his death. Up to now, almost all his important works have been met with readers in China. In terms of research comments, we were influenced by the views of American and Soviet scholars before and after liberation. Before liberation, most of China's comments on Mark Twain took john macy's view. Macy is an American literary historian. He fully affirmed Mark Twain's achievements and refuted Brooks' point of view. Ceng Xubai and Zhao Jiabi, who introduced Mark Twain before liberation, both mentioned his views. Mao Dun recommended Brooks' The Severe Test of Mark Twain in the Novel Monthly, but he probably didn't read it, at least he wasn't influenced by it, because Mao Dun mainly praised Mark Twain's democratic thought. In the introduction of Eve's Diary, Lu Xun said that "he became a lifelong humorist" and later "clearly proved that he was the embrace of deep world-weariness thoughts", which sounded like Brooks. I wonder if Lu Xun has read relevant works, or is it out of artistic intuition?

For a long time after liberation, our comments on Mark Twain completely adopted the Soviet point of view. The literary theory of Soviet scholars is helpful for us to understand Mark Twain's critical exposure of American society, which American scholars lack. But at the same time, we also put an invisible rope on ourselves. The model of literary criticism = social criticism makes us fall into one-sided: the political satirical sketch Running for Governor is far more prestigious than his famous work "The Famous Jumping Frog in Gallivila County"; Long-term neglect of the exploration of artistic style makes it impossible for us to appreciate Mark Twain's humorous features as a whole, let alone make a comparative study between him and the comedy masters in the history of European literature. As for how to use Mark Twain's works directly as a political propaganda tool, our ability is not inferior to that of Big Brother.

A very important achievement in studying the Soviet Union is the so-called critical realism. Many articles call Mark Twain a "critical realist writer", which is the highest honor for him. But is this title suitable for Mark Twain? Mark Twain is famous for his exaggeration and sometimes absurdity, such as some early short stories, the middle American in King Arthur's Court and the later Captain Stormfield's Journey to Heaven. Is this writing a realistic creative method? Mark Twain also often writes characters in a romantic style. I don't deny that Mark Twain often used realistic writing and took a critical attitude towards reality. The problem is how to treat those unrealistic ingredients. Fortunately, realism is "infinitely broad" and has the widest mind. Whether you are absurd or romantic, it is a "reflection of reality" anyway, and you can unite and absorb them to join the team of realism. The word "critical realism" has a general and vague nature. According to the popularization formula of "critical realism-socialist realism", any writer who lives in19th century and has a certain critical attitude towards reality, but "has failed to find a way out for the proletariat" can put forward the sponge hat of "critical realism". Therefore, Mark Twain and Nikolai Nikolai Gogol, Flaubert and Turgenev, Balzac and Tolstoy are inseparable. Taking part in this event actually cancels the diversity of creative methods and artistic styles, which is not conducive to the appreciation and reference of classic writers, and is also not conducive to promoting the development of multi-form and multi-style creation in China.

Fortunately, since the late 1970s, the research on Mark Twain has made progress. Some comrades raised the question of "the real Mark Twain", some noticed his humorous form, and some studied the topic of Mark Twain and China in depth. I believe that in the near future, we can independently conceive the portrait of Mark Twain. However, we'd better not draw a unique "standard image". Pluralistic truth, the true Mark Twain exists in all kinds of painting methods.

Attachment: In addition to indicating the source, all the quotations in this paper are from the following works:

E. Hudson Lang: Handbook of Mark Twain (1957). P.S. Foner: Mark Twa-in: Social Critics (1958).

Regarding Mark Twain's situation in China, I have read Comrade Liu Haiming's master's thesis Mark Twain in China (1984).

This article is like Mark Twain painted by Ding Cong.

(1) Allen's The Legend of Mark Twain, translated by Zhang Yousong and Chen Wei, China Youth Publishing House, 1983.

(2)1888, he accepted the speech of Yale university master of arts.

(3) The quotations in The Severe Test of Mark Twain are all based on new york Meiliting Bookstore 1955 edition.

(4) See the preface to The Severe Test of Mark Twain, 1955.

⑤ See the book 1932, published by Ritter Brown Company in Boston, USA.

6. The author of American Mainstream Thoughts (three volumes, 1927- 1930).

All landowners in norman mailer, see Huck Finn lived to be a hundred years old (The New York Times Book Review 19841February 7).

⑧ Mysterious Stranger, formerly known as Chronicle of Little Satan, was edited and deleted by Paine. In the early 1960s, W.M. Gibson, a professor in Chicago, discovered and recognized the last manuscript entitled No.44, Mysterious Stranger published by Mark Twain 1969.

Pet-name ruby see Ned's Mark Twain and the Russians, new york Hill and Wang Publishing Company 1960.

Attending here only refers to the title of "critical realist writer".