以虚构“接近真相”——《赎罪》中的叙述聚焦与小说家的伦理责任

外国文学研究 ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (1): 104-116.

以虚构“接近真相”——《赎罪》中的叙述聚焦与小说家的伦理责任

陈佳怡

发布日期:2021-03-05
作者简介:陈佳怡,上海交通大学外国语学院博士生,主要从事叙事学和英美文学研究。
基金资助:
国家社科基金重大项目“当代西方叙事学前沿理论的翻译与研究”（17ZDA281）

A Fictional Way “towards the Truth”: Focalization and the Novelist's Ethical Responsibility in Atonement

Chen Jiayi

Published:2021-03-05
About author:Chen Jiayi is a PhD candidate at the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai 200240, China). Her research areas include narratology and contemporary English and American literature. Email: chenjiayi255@sjtu.edu.cn
Supported by:
“Frontiers of Contemporary Western Narratology: Translation and Research” sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China (17ZDA281)

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： 在小说《赎罪》中,麦克尤恩对历史小说这一文类进行了创造性的吸纳和改造,通过元小说结尾上演了一场介乎掩盖和揭示之间的拉锯战,由此引发了学界围绕虚构和真实、小说和历史等话题所展开的热烈讨论。虽然也有学者关注小说创作伦理的话题,但小说家布里奥尼和历史学家之间的对话这一细节却鲜有人问津,而这一对话恰好揭示了麦克尤恩之于小说家伦理责任的期待。鉴于此对话,布里奥尼书写两个文学事件时所采用的叙述聚焦及其蕴含的伦理寓意,凸显了文学写作的独特性。通过在自己的小说中镶嵌另一位小说家的书稿以及来自历史学家的修改反馈,麦克尤恩意在强调小说家的主要职责在于揭示人类社会的伦理道德真相,而非还原历史现场的真实细节。

关键词: 麦克尤恩, 《赎罪》, 小说与历史, 叙述聚焦, 伦理责任

Abstract: In his Atonement, Ian McEwan not only adopts and innovates the genre of historical novel, but also sets up a metafictional ending to stage a tug-of-war between concealment and revelation, thus touching off a heated debate within the academia over such binary oppositions as fiction vs. fact and story vs. history. Although a few scholars touched upon the ethics of novel writing in their studies, the scene where Briony, the novelist, strikes up a “dialogue” with a historian has seldom, if ever, attracted any attention. This dialogue, however, actually discloses the ethical responsibility that McEwan expects the novelist to fulfill. In light of this dialogue, the way Briony orchestrates focalization in representing two literary events and the ethical implication beneath this strategy serve to highlight the singularity of literary writing. By embedding a novelist's manuscript as well as a historian's feedback for its revision in his novel, McEwan intends to stress that a novelist's primary duty is to lay bare the moral truth of human life, rather than restore the true details of certain historical scenes.

Key words: McEwan, Atonement, novel and history, focalization, ethical responsibility

陈佳怡. 以虚构“接近真相”——《赎罪》中的叙述聚焦与小说家的伦理责任[J]. 外国文学研究, 2021, 43(1): 104-116.

Chen Jiayi. A Fictional Way “towards the Truth”: Focalization and the Novelist's Ethical Responsibility in Atonement[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2021, 43(1): 104-116.

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