On Nathaniel Hawthorne＇s Cultural-Political Views in Light of the Psychological Descriptions in The House of the Seven Gables

The House of the Seven Gables （1981）, Hawthorne＇s second romance, is his another masterpiece after The Scarlet Letter （1956）. The achievement of its themes and narrative skills has been greatly complimented by readers, especially its descriptions and analyses of the characters＇ psychological activities and their personalities. The notorious Salem Witch Trials of Hawthorne＇s family has a great effect on Hawthorne＇s formation of his views about the good and evil, the sin and penalty, and the psychological descriptive style in his works. In The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne takes this family history as the original writing background. Through exploring modem people＇s spiritual essence, using history as narrative original, Hawthorne＇s theme illustrates the past＇s influence on the present. By exploring the changes of the characters＇ psychologies and values, especially those of Holgrave, the narrator proposes a conception of general love to eradicate the actual contradictions. Hawthorne actually provides an alternative way--a nonpolitical solution to the national problems, which demonstrates not only his artistic pursuit but also his culturally political view in his writing. This paper consists of five parts.

Sounds of Urban Life: Fan Chengda’s New Exploration of Sound Description in Poetry

The existing research of literature on sound description in classical Chinese poetry has predominantly centered around Tang poetry and its lyrical aesthetics,with a particular focus on recurring typified images such as“the call of the cuckoo,”“the howl of the ape,”“the toll of the bell,”and“the pitter-patter of the night rain.”The research paradigm has been somewhat one-dimensional.This paper examines the poems of Fan Chengda,a poet from the Southern Song Dynasty,to showcase the new exploration that Song poetry has made in sound description.Fan’s poetry,characterized by its realistic portrayal of everyday life,offers rich descriptions of the“sounds of urban life”—An imagery closely intertwined with the urban forms and commercial culture of the Song Dynasty.Through detailed narratives,Fan reinforces the emotional connotations and symbolic meaning of this imagery.Departing from the traditional focus on artistic conception prevalent in classical Chinese poetry,Fan’s work highlights the depiction of reality and affinity for everyday life.By presenting real-world sounds in a distorted manner,drawing on the psychological construct of“dreams,”Fan carries forward the artistic expression pioneered by the Northern Song poet Huang Tingjian.Moving beyond the lyrical aesthetics of Tang poetry marked by the“fusion of emotion and the natural setting,”Fan explores a novel approach,articulating his inner world through the medium of sound,showcasing the distinctive artistic qualities of Song poetry.

Articulating Consciousness:Brentano and Husserl on Descriptive Analysis

The paper aims at reconstructing the conception of descriptive analysis shared by Brentano and the early Husserl.According to this shared conception,the descriptive analysis consists in the articulation of the multi-layered part-whole structure of consciousness.Focusing on the problem of intentional reference,the paper shows how they make different distinctions among parts of consciousness to carry out the descriptive analyses thus defined.Further,it shows how such a difference is closely connected to the two philosophers'views on the nature of intentional reference.