≪イニシエーション物語≫という用語 : その意味のあいまいさと問題点
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Recently it seems that the term 'story of initiation' is in fashion among scholars and critics of American literature. However, the meaning attached to this term is so varied that it is likely to confuse the reader than clarify for him the nature of the work in question. The anthropological archetype of the initiation has a clear-cut definition: it is one of the rites of passage, in which the initiate undergoes a series of excruciating ordeals, passing from ignorance and immaturity to social and spiritual adulthood. After 'dying' as a child, he is reborn as an adult, and is accepted as a full-fledged member of his social group. The initiation in this archetypal sense, however, has almost disappeared from th modern world. Ray B. West Jr. defines the story of initiation as one that 'portrays the progress of a character from innocence to knowledge'. 'Knowledge' here means 'a knowledge and recognition of evil'. It is no more than a glimpse of adult reality. Whether the hero has achieved maturity or not is not questioned at all. Many short stories are labelled 'stories of initiation' on this level of understanding, but it seems to the present writer that the experience of the hero in these stories lacks the essential elements of true initiation, that is, a sudden transformation and the attainment of full maturity. The opposite extreme is found in the definition by Ihab Hassan. Too faithful to the archetype, he thinks that initiation must lead to a viable mode of life in the world, and finally to social confirmation. As a result he finds most heroes in American literature to be failures neurotics who have failed to participate fully in the world. This view also appears irrelevant and unacceptable when one considers the great changes that have taken place in the modern world. The harmony between the world and the individual has been lost, and the one is in opposition to the other. In order to attain self-realisation, a man must sometimes rebel against, or estrange himself from, the world. It follows, therefore, that 'initiation' in modern literature implies a resolution to get away from the world.
- 1985-01-20
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