From Brain Text to the Final Draft: On Ibsen’s Ethical Choices in Pillars of Society

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2018, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (5): 48-58.

• Ethical Literary Criticism • Previous Articles Next Articles

From Brain Text to the Final Draft: On Ibsen’s Ethical Choices in Pillars of Society

Su Hui, Xiong Hui

Online:2018-10-25 Published:2022-05-24
About author:Su Hui is professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Central China Normal University (Wuhan 430079, China),specializing in European & American literature and Ethical Literature Criticism. Email: suhuichina@163.com; Xiong Hui is a Ph. D. candidate at Central China Normal University and also lecturer at Foreign Languages College, Jiangxi Normal University. Her interests in scholarship include British-American literature and Ethical Literary Criticism. Email: elainexiong0116@sina.com
Supported by:
“A Study of Ethical Narratives in Eastern and Western Drama Classics” (SK02072018-0324) sponsored by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

Abstract

Abstract: The paper reads the four drafts of Henrik Ibsen’s play Pillars of Society as his “brain texts” (a key term of Ethical Literary Criticism). Through discussing the revisions in each draft, the paper investigates Ibsen’s ethical choices in “decoding” his brain text into written text. The dynamic interconnection between ethical choice and brain text is also embodied in characters’ development, such as Kasten Bernick’s inner conflict between his rational will and irrational will. The purpose of this paper is to sort out Ibsen’s ethical concerns in each revision, including the relationship between the individual and the society, the concept of the public, and the status of women in the relationship between men and women.

Key words: Henrik Ibsen, Pillars of Society, Brain Text, ethical choice

Su Hui, Xiong Hui. From Brain Text to the Final Draft: On Ibsen’s Ethical Choices in Pillars of Society[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2018, 40(5): 48-58.

References

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From Brain Text to the Final Draft: On Ibsen’s Ethical Choices in Pillars of Society

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