索爾‧貝屢小說擺盪的人研究

A STUDY OF SAUL BELLOW'S DANGLING MAN

擺盪的人，貝屢的第一部小說，是描述男主角約瑟夫(Joseph)在孤立與疏離生活中尋求新生的故事。背景是芝加哥城。在故事中，男主角一直在追求免於空虛的自由。
約瑟夫準備接受徵召入伍，既不能當兵，又不能就業，兩頭懸空。這段期間，無所事事，可謂自由到了極點。然而，這種無法處理的自由卻使他失去了生活的重心，深深的陷入孤立疏離的狀態之中。就這樣，他的心情越來越壞了，不但與親友鄰居漸趨疏遠，而且與外界無法相處和諧。忍無可忍，他終於要求立刻被徵召入伍，以便結束他那無可奈何的苦悶生活。其實，他的問題是出於自身內在心理的不平衡，並不全是由於那混亂的外在世界。
書中暗示，人只有努力去接受生活環境，認同別人，以愛待人，並以單純生活為目標才是求得解脫和追求新生的不二法門。要改變生活，應先改變自己。

Dangling Man， Saul Bellow's first novel， is a story about Joseph， an alienated hero， in quest of a rebirth. The setting is in the city of Chicago. In the novel， he is engaged in a quest for freedom from a state of emptiness of the mind.During the time when he is waiting for a military draft， Joseph confronts a state of emptiness of the mind. Turing introspective， he becomes a self-centered man， very critical of his friends and his family. Finally， he becomes very much detached from the outside world. His problems， however， is a sort of mental inequilibrium.The book suggests that what might save him is the knowledge of common humanity and that a change of life does not lie so much in a change of the outside world as in a change of the heart and mind.