走向沉寂——《死亡之匣》中的熵化人生

外国文学研究 ›› 2017, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 85-94.

走向沉寂——《死亡之匣》中的熵化人生

任晓晋, 张莉

出版日期:2017-12-25 发布日期:2022-06-15
作者简介:任晓晋,武汉大学外国语言文学学院英文系教授,主要研究方向为美国小说与文化;张莉,武汉大学外国语言文学学院英文系博士生,主要研究方向为美国小说与文化。
基金资助:
中央高校基本科研业务费专项资金资助项目“苏珊·桑塔格‘沉寂'思想研究”（2014102010201）

Stepping into Silence: An Analysis of the Entropic Life in Death Kit

Ren Xiaojin, Zhang Li

Online:2017-12-25 Published:2022-06-15
About author:Ren Xiaojin is professor at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University (Wuhan 430072, China), mainly engaged in the study of American novels and culture. Email: rxj316@whu.edu.cn; Zhang Li is Ph. D. candidate at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University(Wuhan 430072, China), mainly engaged in the study of American novels and culture. Email: zl6258@163.com
Supported by:
“A Critical Study of Susan Sontag's ‘Silence'” (2014102010201), sponsored by The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： 本文以“熵”这个描述封闭系统中有效能量不断转化为无效能量、有序状态不断趋向于混乱的热力学第二定律,分析桑塔格的小说《死亡之匣》中主人公迪迪的生命历程,解读其中反映出来的六十年代美国人“一切都垮掉”的熵化人生。外部生存环境的高熵状态迫使迪迪退入封闭的内心世界,高度熵化的信息增加了迪迪封闭的心理系统中的不确定感。迪迪意识到自己心理的高熵状态,通过毁灭他者和毁灭自我的方式来获得生存的确定感,重建信仰,却因意识活动的激增和恶化最终加速了心理熵化过程,从而走向沉寂——走向精神的消亡、身体的衰竭,走向亦死亦生、无声无息的疑似生存状态。桑塔格笔下的生活方方面面的熵化状态,正是美国六十年代的生存图景,她对于迪迪走向沉寂的熵化人生的展示因而具有了启示录式的意义。

关键词: 苏珊·桑塔格, 《死亡之匣》, 熵化人生, 沉寂

Abstract: In Death Kit, through the presentation of Diddy's life journey, Susan Sontag gives a picture of the highly entropic life led by American people in 1960s. As a representative of modern people, the protagonist Diddy is firstly terrified by his highly entropic environment and steps back into his inner space of self-consciousness. Then due to highly entropic information, the sense of uncertainty in his isolated state of mind is greatly increased. Having been aware of his highly entropic mentality, Diddy attempts to reacquire his sense of certainty by means of changing his way of perception and pattern of behavior. His efforts, presented as the events of murder and suicide, rather than bring back faith to him, cause the exacerbation of his self-consciousness and finally lead him to silence, which means the death of his spirit, the exhaustion of his body, and the controversial state of being of this dead-alive American. The entropic phenomena in all aspects described by Sontag unroll a real picture of 1960s' American life. Her display of Diddy's entropic life thus has an apocalyptic sense.

Key words: Susan Sonag, Death Kit, entropic life, silence

任晓晋, 张莉. 走向沉寂——《死亡之匣》中的熵化人生[J]. 外国文学研究, 2017, 39(6): 85-94.

Ren Xiaojin, Zhang Li. Stepping into Silence: An Analysis of the Entropic Life in Death Kit[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2017, 39(6): 85-94.

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