关键词: 田纳西•威廉斯; 《夏日烟云》; 精神; 身体; 生存美学

Abstract:

Summer and Smoke is one of Tennessee Williams’s important plays. When this drama was published, many critics thought that it repeated the themes of The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire. In addition, they thought this drama lacked the passion and strength presented in A Streetcar Named Desire and it was not as touching as The Glass Menagerie. In 1952, its production and performance were very successful and since then it has drawn attention from the academic critics. The conflict between spirit and body is the lasting focus of Tennessee Williams’ theatrical creation. This conflict is described more delicately in Summer and Smoke. In this play, the playwright not only displays the intensification of the conflict but also highlights its resolution. The author of this paper takes the female protagonist Alma of the drama as the subject of study. From the perspective of Foucault’s idea of Aesthetics of Existence, the author explores how the Southern belle takes advantage of the self-knowledge to undergo the transformation from spiritual purity to body experience and achieves her self-construction. Alma goes through phases of spiritual pilgrimage and returning to the body experience guided by the notion of “self-enlightenment”. By combining spirit and body, Alma reaches the Aesthetics of Existence and achieves self-realization.

Keywords: Tennessee Williams; Summer and Smoke; spirit; body; Aesthetics of Existence