Abstract:
Jack London (1876-1916) was a very popular author in America during the late 1890s. The Call of the Wild is considered as London’s greatest literary achievement and a classic of American literature, which helps London achieve his international fame. Naturalism was first proposed and formulated by French novelist Emile Zola, and it was introduced to America by American novelist Frank Norris. Moreover, Jack London is generally regarded as a naturalistic writer. The Call of the Wild is a representative of his naturalistic work. This novel shows London’s naturalistic view that life is the most primitive kind of struggle for survival. To live and prosper, one has to adjust himself to the hostile environment in which all the moral standards are meaningless. This paper deals with the description of naturalism in The Call of the Wild from two aspects. The first is Darwin’s theory of “the fittest survival”. Buck is London’s most explicit portrayal of the “beast”, and the primary symbol he uses for the purpose of showing the relationship between strength and struggle. Therefore, this part analyzes the naturalistic views from Buck’s experience and Buck’s instinct. Then, this paper also discusses the naturalistic views in The Call of the Wild through the hereditary determinism advocated by Zola in the hope of seeking a broader understanding to naturalistic literature in general.
Key words: Jack London; The Call of the Wild; Naturalism; fittest survival; hereditary determinism
摘要：
杰克•伦敦(1876-1916)是19世纪90年代一位非常受欢迎的美国作家。《野性的呼唤》是杰克•伦敦最伟大的文学成就以及美国文坛上的经典，同时也为他获得了国际上的名誉。自然主义最早由法国小说家左拉提出,并且由美国小说家弗兰克•诺里斯介绍到美国。杰克•伦敦被公认为一名自然主义作家。而《野性的呼唤》正是其自然主义著作的代表。这部著作反映了伦敦的自然主义观点:人生是最原始的求生斗争。甚至为了生存和发展，人类只得摈弃所有的道德标准以使自己适应这个恶劣的社会环境。本文研讨了自然主义在《野性的呼唤》中的表现。这一表现主要分为两个部分。首先为达尔文的“适者生存”。小说中巴克是伦敦笔下关于“野兽”的最明确的写照，英语论文网站，英语论文范文，也是用于表现自然主义中力量与奋斗之间联系的最直接的象征物。所以这一部分从巴克的经验和本能这两个角度略论了“适者生存”这一自然主义观点。此外，本文还从左拉倡导的“遗传决定论”的自然主义观点进行了讨论，以期读者能够更好地理解文学著作中自然主义的应用。
关键词：杰克•伦敦；《野性的呼唤》；自然主义；适者生存；遗传决定论
1 Introduction
Jack London (1876-1916) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and dramatist. He was also a popular naturalist. The Call of the Wild is his most famous and widely read novel that shows London’s naturalistic view. It was published in 1903. At that time, the industry developed quickly and naturalism came to America. Both of them affected his writing deeply. Jack London put his experiences into his life and his story so as to tell people how to struggle for survival.
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