美国犹太裔作家索尔·贝娄创作中期的五部小说（《奥吉•马奇历险记》、《雨王亨德森》、《赫索格》、《赛姆勒先生的行星》和《洪堡的礼物》）既体现了其创作思想和艺术成就，又具有鲜明的超验主义色彩。这五部小说所传达出的超验主义思想及其在形式层面的展现手法，表明贝娄在创作时受到了传统超验主义思想的影响，但由于历史语境的差异性，贝娄在创作中对统超验主义思想进行了扬弃。研究贝娄小说中的超验主义思想主题有助于探究传统超验主义思想在后现代时期的嬗变及其文学展现方式。

本文以文学社会学为理论路径，以贝娄的非小说（包括访谈、评论性文章、传记等）为佐证，从作品主题、文类、人物形象等方面，探究贝娄小说的主题和叙事形式背后的文艺思想，并阐明现实主义和浪漫主义在贝娄创作中的指导意义。论文分为五章，分别从浪漫的自我、重返大自然、知识分子的精神诉求、道德想象和艺术救赎五个方面，集中探讨贯穿贝娄小说的主导主题——精神追求和道德旨归，并从历史语境的差异性角度辨析贝娄小说中的伦理道德维度，揭示贝娄的文学济世情怀。

第一章分析《奥吉·马奇历险记》中奥吉在物理空间和精神维度上的流浪。奥吉四处流浪以保持其独立自主之人格和美好纯真的本性、探寻生活的意义和避免被实利主义者异化。奥吉的流浪承载着贝娄对个体价值和生命意义的探索和思考。奥吉“逃离-回归-逃离”的人生轨迹表明，贝娄既希望保持其独特性，又渴望回归社会的矛盾思想。第二章探究《雨王亨德森》中亨德森的精神探索。贝娄将成长小说嵌入浪漫传奇，借用古代神话中的“追寻”模式，表征物质世界对精神世界的摧残，主人公对精神生活的探索及其精神形变。亨德森的精神成长表明，回归社会、造福人类是实现自我的必要条件。第三章侧重分析《赫索格》中追求独立思考、自主之人格的知识分子形象，揭示出贝娄主张价值中庸的思想。贝娄通过赫索格这一人物形象的塑造表明：知识分子对个体价值的关切与社会对个人生活的强调之间的矛盾性，赫索格最终认识到甜蜜家园对个人的重要性凸显了文学叙事的诗性正义。第四章解析《赛姆勒先生的行星》中贝娄对后现代社会道德危机的想象与重构道德的乌托邦思想。该小说中的动物、圆等意象和空间叙事隐喻现代人爱的缺失和人格的分裂，展现私人领域与公共领域、个人与社会、个性解放与道德价值之间的矛盾性，以及个人与环境的相互影响。赛姆勒的内心独白揭示出贝娄从家庭伦理和社会伦理两个层面对现代社会的道德批判及其重构社会道德的乌托邦思想。第五章侧重于分析《洪堡的礼物》中的重要观点：灵魂不死与艺术救赎。小说中“两个世界”的多个层次、主人公西特林对灵魂的信念及其对亲情友情的珍视，揭示出西特林对精神世界的追求和对传统伦理道德的坚守。洪堡和西特林最终用爱的礼物——文学作品——自我救赎，承续了贝娄小说一以贯之的道德主题。

论文结论指出:贝娄继承了爱默生思想的核心要点，视精神追求为救世之道，用文学形式展现启蒙时期的哲学思想，努力言说现代人的精神需求。同时，贝娄继承了十九世纪的浪漫主义和现实主义传统，其小说呈现出浪漫的、传奇式的想象和乌托邦色彩。虽然贝娄的小说兼具现实主义和浪漫主义特色，但是贝娄对社会的批判，对乌托邦式美好愿景构建及其道德济世的情怀不可否认。

The dissertation concentrates on transcendentalism in Saul Bellow’s novels. Thefive novels ((The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Mr. Sammler’s Planet and Humboldt’s Gift) )in the middle period of Bellow’s literarycreation not only represent his literary aesthetic ideas and artistic achievement, but also are transcendental. Transcendental ideas and the ways in which they are revealedin the five novels indicate that Bellow was influenced by the traditional Americantranscendentalism. However, Bellow developed the traditional Americantranscendentalism because of the differences in the historical context. Studyingthetranscendentalism in Bellow’s novels is conducive to exploring the development andthe literary representation methods of the traditional American transcendentalisminthe postmodern period.

The present study expounds transcendentalism themes revealed in the fivenovels in the middle period of Bellow’s literary creation from the analysis of themes, genres and the image of characters, and points out the guiding significance of realismand romanticism in Bellow’s literary creation, by applying the method in the sociology of literature and taking Bellow’s non-fiction including interviews, essays andbiographies as proofs. The study consists of five chapters, concentrating on the dominant themes in these novels — pursuing the spiritual life and the moral purport, fromtheaspects of the romantic self, return to nature, the image of intellectuals, moral imagination and artistic redemption，and expounding the ethical and moral dimensions inthese novels from the perspective of the differences of historical context to reveal Bellow’s ideas of redeeming the postmodern society with literary creation.

Chapter one focuses on the spiritual dimension of Augie’s wandering inTheAdventures of Augie March. He roves to maintain the independence of his personalityand his nature, pursue the simple rustic life, explore the meaning of life and avoidbeing alienated by the materialists. His wandering bears out Bellow’s explorationandthoughts of the value of the individual and the meaning of life. His life trajectoryof “escape-return-escape” demonstrates the contradiction of Bellow’s thoughts: he not only wants to maintain his uniqueness, but also is eager to return to society. Chapter two analyzes Henderson’s spiritual exploration in Henderson the Rain King. Bellowembeds initiation story into romance, and borrows the “search” mode of the ancient myth to represent destruction of the spiritual world, Henderson’s exploration of thespiritual life and his spiritual transformation. Henderson’s spiritual growth shows that return to society for the benefit of mankind is a necessary conditionfor self-realization. Chapter three illustrates the image of the intellectual pursuingindependent thinking and personality in Herzog. The image of Herzog shows thecontradiction between the intellectual’s concern about the value of the individual andsociety’s emphasis on the private life of the individual. Herzog’s final realizationof the importance of sweet home highlights the poetic justice of the literature. Chapter four resolves Bellow’s imagination of moral crisis in the postmodern society andhisUtopian thought of moral reconstruction in Mr. Sammler’s Planet. The animal images, circle images and space narrative in the novel indicate the loss of love and the split personality of people in the postmodern society, and present the paradox betweenthepublic sphere and the private sphere, the individual and society, individual emancipation and moral values, and the interaction between the individual andtheenvironment. Sammler’s interior monologue reveals Bellow’s critique of the modernsociety from family ethics and social ethics and his Utopian thought of reconstructingmorals with love. Chapter five concentrates on the ideas of immortality of the soul and artistic redemption in Humboldt’s Gift. Multiple layers of the “two worlds”described in the novel and Citrine’s belief in the immortality of the soul andhischerishing family and friendship reveal his spiritual pursuit and adherence tothetraditional ethics. Humboldt and Citrine’s self-redemption with the literary works theycollaborate continues the moral theme in all his novels.

The conclusion points out that Bellow inherited main ideas of Emerson, regardedthe spiritual pursuit as a way to redeem the postmodern society, presentedthephilosophical ideas in the enlightenment period in literary form, and spoke for thespiritual need of the modern people. Meanwhile, Bellow inherited romanticismandrealism in the 19th century, and his novels show the characteristics of romantic imagination, legend and utopia. Although Bellow’s novels have features of bothrealism and romanticism, there is no denying that Bellow criticizes the postmodernsociety, attempts to construct wonderful Utopian vision and has an intention to redeemthe world with morals.