论文总字数：40099字

摘 要

《无辜者》是伊恩·麦克尤恩在1990年出版的长篇小说，讲述了英国电子工程师伦纳德在德国的经历。二战后，伦纳德被派往德国参与英美合作的情报工程。在与同事的交往中，在与德国女友玛丽亚的共同生活中，在与情敌的较量中，伦纳德逐渐走向成熟，获得了更高层次的自我认知。自出版以来，小说就受到较多关注。诸多批评家从死亡观、历史观和伦理学等角度来解读麦克尤恩的作品。本文以法国著名犹太哲学家伊曼纽尔·列维纳斯的“他者伦理学”为依托，对《无辜者》进行解读，分析小说里与“他者”交往对伦纳德产生的影响，揭示小说中体现的伦理意识。

除了引言和结语，本文分三章论述。第一章从情人关系的角度出发，指出在与玛利亚的交往中，伦纳德逐步认识到对于“他者”的伦理责任，这对于伦纳德的主体性形成起了重要作用。第二章从同事关系的角度来分析，指出葛拉斯的帮助促使伦纳德变成一名能够洞察世事的老练军人。在伦纳德的从军生涯中，葛拉斯的包容和认同对他的成长起着不可替代的作用。第三章从情敌关系的角度来分析。情敌奥托改变了伦纳德的一生，使他成为一个心态复杂的人。一方面，他在处理奥托尸体过程中表现出的残忍暴露出非理性的一面；另一方面，他对玛利亚的保护、替玛利亚承担一切以及年老之后又回去找玛利亚再续前缘也显示出一定的伦理责任与担当。在结论部分，论文指出：伦纳德的经历揭示了社会交往中承担伦理责任的重要性。

关键词：伊恩·麦克尤恩；《无辜者》；列维纳斯；他者伦理学

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements i

English Abstract ii

Chinese Abstract iii

Introduction 1

Chapter One Leonard’s Emotional Maturity in his Interaction with Maria 5

1.1 Leonard as a Dominating and Aggressive Lover 5

1.2 Leonard as a Respectful and Passionate Lover 6

Chapter Two Leonard’s Mental Maturity in his Interaction with Glass 8

2.1 Leonard as an Inexperienced and Innocent solider 8

2.2 Leonard as a Competent Military Man 9

Chapter Three Leonard’s Initiation into Adulthood in his Encounter with Otto 12

3.1 Leonard as an Irrational and Brutal Murderer 12

3.2 Leonard as a Responsible Grown-up 14

Conclusion 16

Work Cited 17

Introduction

Ian McEwan and The Innocent

Ian Russell McEwan(1948-), one of the best-known writers in Britain in the 20th century, is also recognized as an English screenwriter. The Cement Garden(1978) and The Comfort of Strangers(1891) symbolize the beginning of his career. In 2001, his novel, Atonement, which was lately brought to the screen, received considerable acclaim and raised critics’ interests in the novel. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and was evaluated as the best novel of 2002 by Time magazine.

Lots of Ian McEwan’s works have won the reward for the diversification of the subject matter and style of narration. His works lay much emphasis on human nature and include different kinds of themes, such as violence, murder, death, cold war, science, and technology, etc. And that has brought him the nickname “Ian Macabre”. Today, McEwan is recognized as one of the senior figures of the British literary establishment and the unique charm and artistic value in his works are valuable (Wang 101).

The Innocent, first published in 1990, is also a prizewinning novel. It tells about a young Englishman Leonard Marnham who works with Bob Glass as secret agents in Berlin. Due to coincidence, Leonard has an intimate conversation with Maria Eckdorf, a thirty-year old attractive single German woman. Then Leonard dates with Maria and gets along well with her. He realizes that he loves Maria day by day. However, after the engagement, their happy life is hindered by Maria’s former husband Otto, who is a lazy beggar with poor education. Having suffered from domestic violence by Otto, Maria has no patience for his rudeness. One day Maria and Leonard come home, they find that Otto hides in the garderobe. They are very angry at Otto’s behavior and manners. Then fights flare up. During the fight, Otto is killed by the iron feet which happen to crash down. Due to the heart-pounding fear, Leonard dismembers Otto’s body and decides to throw it because he doesn’t want to be put into jail. Then he takes the body to the workplace. In order to avoid punishment and get rid of the dead body permanently, Leonard sells the tapping secret of the tunnel to the Russians and therefore brings an end to the joint military cooperation between the American CIA and British MI6. After Lenard goes back to U.K, Maria marries Glass and goes to America. Leonard and Maria miss each other and that is a life-long regret. Through the interactions with others in Berilin, Leonard has changed from an innocent big boy to a mature man.

Literature Review on The Innocent

Critics take the following aspects when it comes to the research of The Innocent. In some cases, war and cultural conflict are mainly discussed in the novel. In the article “Back in the Cold War, When Innocence Was Sin”, Michiko Kakutani analyzes the novel from the perspective of the history of World War II. He believes that the Cold War leads to Leonard’s ending in the novel (39). And most of the scenes and fights are metaphors of the broader conflict in the world. Moreover, in “The Exploration of Political Conflicts and Personal Relationships in Ian McEwan’s The Innocent”, Rosli Talif argues that The Innocent provides an example of the ways in which fiction represents political conflicts permeating personal and intimate relationships. She points out such conflicts may result in a sense of mistrust and intrigue among both people and nations(35).

Social interactions and ethical vision have been good research perspectives. In Social Interactions and Morality Issues in Ian McEwan’s The Innocent, Mihaela Rus analyzes The Innocent through the lens of symbolic interactionism and social identity theories, the patterns of social interactions and several morality issues. She points out that Ian McEwan “boldly exposes and explores the weaknesses and faults of a society he grows to know under more and more aspects”(19). She tries to analyze those characters through different kinds of social interactions and their morality.

On top of this, John Carely argues that The Innocent is “a boy’s adventure” . He thinks that McEwan rescues the form from its traditional rigmaroles. He points out that the novel is mainly about Leonard’s work in Berlin and what he does to help Americans on a secret project (Carely 232). The life of Leonard is an adventure and he learns how to manage intelligence tasks and deal with various kinds of people. In Berlin Affair: A Thriller, George Stade analyzes Leonard’s feeling line in the novel (231). His love and helplessness lead to the murder finally. And the love story turns to the thriller.

The elements of war and violence quickly gain popularity among Chinese readers in the 1990s. In the essay “A Psychoanalytical Reading of Violence in The Innocent” published in 2015, Luo Yuan analyzes the exploration in the cruelty of human nature, military violence and the ideology in the Cold War(34). She points out that the Cold War has negative effects on the formation of personality and intending development of individuals.

Ian McEwan is also known for his stories of psychological maturity. He has focused much on the inner world of emotional changes of the ordinary people. In the essay “Ian McEwan’s Fictions in the Crisis Past and Contemporary”, Hu Huiyong points out that most scholars focus on the ethical predicament, intertextuality and psychoanalysis. He regards morality as one factor among others, and he thinks that it needs to be understood dispassionately (43). Guo Xianjin argues that his novels present unique ethical connotations (73). And the ethical vision embodied in McEwan’s fiction is probably the key to understanding his position in contemporary British fiction (Shen 35). The Innocent touches upon the ethical issues and looks at human nature in the Cold War period in an interesting way.

Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the Other

Emmanuel Levinas was a French philosopher. He studied philosophy, psychology and sociology in Strasbourg in 1924 at first. Then in 1928, he went to Freiburg, where he learned phenomenology from Edmund Husserl and attended Martin Heidegger’s seminar. Under Heidegger and Husserl’s guidance, he learned wildly from their strong points and drew them into his own philosophy. As a Jew, Levinas was kept in jail and witnessed the death. In 1933, Heidegger turned into a Nazi sympathizer which caused the breaking of the relationship between him and Levinas. Nazism’s ideology is characterized by the concept of Self, which holds total power and responsibility, and determines everything. Having survived in the holocaust in World War II, Levinas shifted his focus onto violence in human society.

Levinas believes that human society needs unconditional respect and ethical responsibility between the Self and the Other, which is different from the previous ethics. Levinasian ethics, according to Critchley, “is simply this calling into question of myself--of my spontaneity, of my jouissance, of my freedom” (21). Responsibility for the other doesn’t simply equals thought or idea of the self. Levinas believes that justice and peace in human society are only possible when ethical responsibility to the other is shouldered by everyone. In Alterity and Transcendence, Levinas points out that “the responsibility for the other is not reducible to a thought going back to an idea given in the past to the ‘I think’ and rediscovered by it” (Levinas 32). As Critchley argues, “Levinas’s one big thing is expressed in his thesis that ethics is first philosophy, where ethics is understood as a relation of infinite responsibility to the other person”(6).

Ethical vision is a significant approach in interpreting McEwan’s. In the novel, Leonard as the leading character grows up during the process of meeting the others. Levinas thinks that “in speaking or calling or listening to the other”, people are usually not “reflecting upon the Other”(Critchley 43). Levinas believes that the ethical responsibility for the other is deep in the heart of the self. That means, in interaction, when the self responds to the other, the self takes infinite ethical responsibility for the other instead of repression and violence. By referring to Levinas’ concept of ethical responsibility, this thesis will give a detailed analysis of Leonard’s change and maturity in McEwan’s novel The Innocent.

Thesis Structure

This thesis will be divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, Leonard’s interaction with Maria will be explored. Knowing about the existence of Maria’s ex-husband Otto, Leonard minds about her past, and he is not happy that he could not own her totally. Jealousy is the main reason for the conflict between Leonard and Otto, which drives Leonard torturing Maria in their sex life. But he gradually learns to respect Maria’s ideas and cares much about her inner world due to his deep love. The second chapter will mainly concentrate on Leonard’s interaction with his colleague Bob Glass. At first, as an inexperienced untried young soldier, Leonard works under the guidance of Glass. And he learns how to gather intelligence and how to deal with the other people in East Berlin. In his interaction with Glass, he learns how to share responsibilities and becomes mentally mature. The last chapter will focus on the battle between Leonard and Otto. Otto is killed by the iron feet, then Leonard dismembers Otto’s body brutally. Frightened that he might be put into the jail, he decides to throw away Otto’s body. Out of his love for Maria, he chooses to do it by himself. The ethical responsibility for Maria becomes the driving force for his fearful adventure on the street, at the station and in the tunnel. After the textual analysis, the thesis comes to the conclusion that it’s significant for individuals to take ethical responsibility for the other in social interaction.

Chapter One

Leonard’s Emotional Maturity in his Interaction with Maria

Leonard’s interaction with his lover helps him become emotionally mature. The specific depictions of action remind readers of violence in the life. However, no matter what mistakes Leonard has made, some details show his care and respect. Encountering the other has great effects on Leonard’s character.

1.1 Leonard as a Dominating and Aggressive Lover

Before Leonard starts his work officially, his colleague Glass takes him to a nightclub, where he encounters Maria. Leonard finds her “perfect and sweetly”(36). Their love develops in Maria’s house where “love attention that was too good to be looked at, to perfect for him”(58). Leonard enjoys life but he is possessive and requires much on sex without communication. Sexual violence is hidden in Leonard’s inside and he is always in self-illusion:

She was thrashing beneath him, he thought he heard her called out ‘No!’, she was shaking her head from side to side, she had her eyes closed against the inescapable reality. (78)

Through McEwan’s vivid depiction of different kinds of words and deeds, we could infer that Maria feels frightened and the scene reminds her of the day in April ten years ago. A Russian soldier raped a woman in her fifties in Maria’s presence. In World War II, Germany was a defeated nation while Britain was the victorious nation. Leonard is an Englishman while Maria is a German. He wants to be dominating and aggressive, just like the victor. In An Introduction, Colin Davis points out that desire is insatiable, and Levinas’s desire of the self does not mean to seek for the reestablishment, the self wants to own everything that does not belong to the self(Davis 46). And it fits Leonard’s mood. So he wants to torture Maria to enjoy as the sense of a winner.

He hooked his fingers by the catch of her skirt and pulled hard. There was no going back. She yelped, and said his name twice quickly. She held her skirt up with one hand and the other was half raised, palm outwards for protection. There were two black buttons on the floor. He took a fistful of material and jerked the skirt down. (80)

Resistance is met by acts of violence. Maria feels scared due to her former husband’s violence. She cannot forget the person who has injured her, and that person has already burrowed a hole in her soul. She loves Leonard, and her resistance shows her attitude. Through moaning and crying, Maria struggles to assert her own will.

Maria’s resistance proves the presence of Levinas’s Other. Gu Hongliang points out that modern western philosophers discuss a lot about non-appropriability and bondage, and the latter is the key aspect of Levinas’s philosophy(37). Leonard doesn’t show enough respect to Maria’s will and hurt her, this is what Emmanuel Levinas tries to subvert in his philosophy. He proposes that every person, regardless of the race, gender and class, has his/her unique feature. The unique feature requires the self to show respect to the other when encountering the other. In the beginning stage of their relationship, Leonard obviously has not learned how to respect Maria.

1.2 Leonard as a Respectful and Passionate Lover

Excessive love has made Leonard lose his mind and he seems not very clear about what he does to Maria. In fact, his heart belongs to her, and he wants to live a harmonious life with her. After exerting violence, Leonard misses Maria a lot, and he rethinks what stupid thing he has done to his lover. When he meets Maria, he is flustered:

Too many half sentences were crowding before him. He had been handed a gift he could easily destroy in the unwrapping......He said her name again-the sound simply left his throat-and too a half-pace toward her (99).

Leonard has mixed feelings at the sight of Maria. He has realized his mistake but dare not talk to Maria. He is nervous, excited, and also feels regretful. He wants to tell her how regretful he feels and wants to forget about it. He wishes that the previous violence against Maria had never happened. Hesitation reveals his depression and desire for reconciliation.

I ruined everything. I’ve been desperate since you went.......I didn’t know how you would ever be able to forgive me. I was ashamed of approaching you in the street. I love you very much, I’ve been thinking about you all the time. I’ll understand if you can’t forgive me. It was a horrible and stupid thing (99).

It is a hard struggle for Leonard to apologize to Maria. The encounter reminds him of ethical responsibility for his lover. Later Leonard returns to England and he realizes how much he wants to live with Maria. So he decides to marry Maria. According to Levinas, the self should serve for the other and put the other first(46). Thomas Long Eugene, the author of Self and Other: Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion, argues that individuals should “become aware of an infinite responsibility for the other person and beyond this of justice for-all-others or for society as a whole”(Eugene 9). As an individual with his own personality and identity, Leonard realizes his infinite ethical responsibility for his lover. He reflects on his rude behaviors and figures out what to do next, that is, he decides to avoid hurting the feeling of the other, which is a symbol of emotional maturity.

Saying and said is also an excellent part of Levinas’s philosophical elaboration. In the essay On Levinas’ Philosophical Language, Zhang Weiwei and Dai Jiabao point out that “by the division of the Saying and the Said”, Levinas believes that “Ontology exists in the Said”(297). He thinks that language is not from the consciousness and not subordinate to Ontology but Ethics. Leonard is “Saying”, and what he says to Maria is “Said”-the other. Through Leonard’s Saying, it reveals the importance of ethical responsibility and respect to the other.

Chapter Two

Leonard’s Mental Maturity in his Interaction with Glass

Leonard and his America superior Bob Glass both engage in the Operation Gold organized by the Anglo-American alliance to intercept Soviet transmissions in the tunnels. Leonard is inexperienced, naive and innocent while Glass is sophisticated and independent. In the unfamiliar city, Glass guides Leonard to adapt to life and society in Berlin.

2.1 Leonard as an Inexperienced and Innocent solider

is real and George Black is a real double agent. Martin points out that, during the period of the Cold War, states and governments tend to use force and violence in the peacetime and violate international law (59-60). Operation Gold is an example of such policy. As Mandelbaum notes, “When Britain could no longer provide global governance, the United States stepped in to replace it”. Childs also points out that, after the war, Britain showed up as an innocent and outdated role in the international order (76). After World War II, America has been the unrivaled superpower of the world. To Leonard, as an individual, the relative decline of the strength of Britain has the n^[1]egative influence on his sense of security and confidence. The relationship between him and Glass also symbolizes Anglo-American relations.

In connection to the issue of the protagonist’s maturation process, in an interview given in 1990, Ian McEwan said that Leonard is “ a worrying instance of a man who makes no use of history” (McGrath¹). As an inexperienced young man, Leonard is not good at his work at first. He is not as confident as the fictional English young male characters who go abroad in the story books. In his phone call to Glass, Leonard seems unconfident and weak:

He knew he wanted to sound. Relaxed, purposeful......Leonard’s manner collapsed into the English dither he had wanted to avoid in conservation with an American.......The line went dead while Leonard was repeating the address in his friendliest voice(3-4).

Leonard feels overwhelmed and finds himself in something of an identity crisis. So he tries to assure himself to relax and wants to become purposeful in front of an American. He is nervous about calling his superior. From this depiction, we could infer that difficulties in Leonard’s work and life. As a soft-hearted neophyte, Leonard is not a qualified agent. Glass uses his style to guide Leonard:

I want you to get into a whole new state of mind on this. Anything you’re about to do, pause and think of the consequences. This is a war, Leonard, and you’re a soldier in it(40).

Glass is an experienced soldier, composed and steady. He keeps vigilant watch and can get information from other people’s daily chatting everywhere. The sophisticated system of security cuts off Leonard’s normal communication with other colleagues. Confused about his new surroundings, he does his job mechanically Although Glass’s manner is usually not polite, in fact, he teaches Leonard how to be a real soldier to serve for the alliance.

In the novel, Leonard feels the burden of being the audience. He reports his progress to Glass and asks whether he could have time in the evening for himself. Glass refuses him and tells him “your job here is to do what you’re told”(42). And so for a week, Leonard does nothing but follows Glass’s instructions. Glass wants Leonard to obey his orders and he gives him the hint that “he can fire him” (42).

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