麦卡锡的《天下骏马》对特纳“边疆论”的挑战与消解

外国文学研究 ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 128-141.

麦卡锡的《天下骏马》对特纳“边疆论”的挑战与消解

孙胜忠

出版日期:2021-12-25 发布日期:2022-01-03
作者简介:孙胜忠,上海外国语大学英语学院教授,主要从事英美文学和西方文论研究。

The Challenge and Deconstruction of Turner's “Frontier Thesis” in McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses

Sun Shengzhong

Online:2021-12-25 Published:2022-01-03
About author:Sun Shengzhong is a professor at the School of English Studies, Shanghai International Studies University (Shanghai 200083, China), specializing in English and American literature and Western literary theory. Email: sszhong@shisu.edu.cn

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： 特纳在《美国历史上边疆的重要性》中称边疆这片“自由土地”具有消除阶级和文化差异、造就个人主义英雄和捏塑独特美利坚民族性格的功能,从而奠定了美国旧西部史的基础,边疆从此成为美国人心中的梦幻之地,直至半个世纪之后史密斯的《处女地》称之为神话和象征。20世纪六十至八十年代崛起的新西部史不断挑战边疆神话,还原其种族主义和暴力征服的真相。麦卡锡的《天下骏马》与新西部史暗合,借助边疆神话和西部小说传统,讲述主人公南下墨西哥寻觅个人自由及其牛仔梦碎的故事。麦卡锡笔下的科尔不是自由土地上的个人主义英雄,而是陌生世界中异化的单体“木偶”,《天下骏马》不只是边境小说,麦卡锡通过时空挪移旨在挑战特纳的“自由土地”、个人自决等观念,进而消解边疆神话,以便立足当下、反思过去、面向未来。

关键词: 麦卡锡, 《天下骏马》, 特纳, “边疆论”, 边疆神话

Abstract: Turner claims in The Significance of the Frontier in American History (1893) that the frontier, as “an area of free land,” erases the distinctions of classes and social status and creates individualistic heroes and the unique national character of America, thus establishing the foundation of the history of Old West and turning the frontier into a land of fantasy for Americans. Half a century later, Smith renders the frontier as a myth and a symbol in his Virgin Land. Since its emergence in the early 1980s, the New Western History has constantly challenged the myth of the West and tried to disclose the truth of racialism and violent conquer during the Westward Expansion. In a way that echoes with the call from the New Western History, McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, which draws on the myth of the frontier and the mode of the Western novel, tells a story of a young man who travels southward to Mexico but fails to accomplish his individual freedom or his cowboy dream. The protagonist Cole is not an individualistic hero on the free land, but an alienated single puppet in a strange world. All the Pretty Horses is not just a border novel. By shifting both the temporal and spatial boundaries, McCarthy challenges Turner's ideas about “free land” and self-determination for the purpose of further deconstructing the myth of the frontier and urging the reader to face the present, reflect on the past, and look into the future.

Key words: McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, Turner, “Frontier Thesis”, the myth of the frontier

孙胜忠. 麦卡锡的《天下骏马》对特纳“边疆论”的挑战与消解[J]. 外国文学研究, 2021, 43(6): 128-141.

Sun Shengzhong. The Challenge and Deconstruction of Turner's “Frontier Thesis” in McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2021, 43(6): 128-141.

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