《比利·巴思格特》中的自白叙事

外国文学研究 ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (3): 110-120.

《比利·巴思格特》中的自白叙事

朱云

出版日期:2020-06-25 发布日期:2021-02-28
作者简介:朱云,扬州大学外国语学院中外文学比较研究中心副教授,主要从事当代美国文学与叙事伦理学研究。
基金资助:
国家社科基金一般项目“E. L.多克托罗小说的叙事伦理研究”（17BWW047）

The Confessional Narrative in Billy Bathgate

Zhu Yun

Online:2020-06-25 Published:2021-02-28
About author:Zhu Yun is an associate professor at the School of Foreign Studies, Yangzhou University (Yangzhou 225009, China). Her research interests include contemporary American literature and narrative ethics. Email: Pauline_zy@163.com
Supported by:
“Narrative Ethics of E. L. Doctorow's Novels”(17BWW047) sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： E. L.多克托罗的《比利·巴思格特》是其“将‘犯罪―惊悚小说'这一次要文类提升至艺术殿堂的尝试”。小说通过成年比利的回忆性自述聚焦少年比利与舒尔兹黑帮接触的一年间的经历。比利的自述实则是一种犯罪叙事式的自白,其中充斥着黑帮的暴力与犯罪事件,但比利毫无作为至少是罪恶帮凶的自觉,其自白的动机或许包含对自我的审视与对自我身份构建的自省,却绝不是对罪责的忏悔或是寻求救赎;由之,其自白明显悬置了伦理评判,凸显了比利自愿与罪恶合谋的“现代好青年布朗”形象;比利自白中作为隐性叙事的舒尔兹的自白再现了美国黑帮内部的暴力与金钱、权力运作,这双重自白引领读者揭秘黑帮文化,彰显了作为“读者”的比利及小说读者在阅读犯罪叙事过程中的合谋关系。

关键词: E. L.多克托罗, 《比利·巴思格特》, 自白, 合谋, 犯罪叙事

Abstract: E.L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate is his “attempt to elevate crime-thriller subliterature into art.” The novel focuses on Billy's yearlong involvement, as a teenager, with the Schultz gangsters based on his retrospective narrtive as an adult. Billy's account of himself is, in effect, a kind of confession common in crime narrative, full of gang violence and criminal activities, but his inaction is at least a conscious act of criminal accomplice. Billy's confession might be motivated by self-scrutiny and self-reflection upon his self-identity, but it is by no means intended as his repentance for guilt or his plea for redemption. So, it seems that his confession has clearly suspended his ethical judgment and shows off his image as “a modern-day Young Goodman Brown,” who is willing to collude with evil voluntarily. The confession by Schultz, the hidden narrative within Billy's account, discloses the violence, money, and power play inside American gangs. Both confessions guide the readers through the secrets of the gang culture and reveal the complicity from not only Billy as a “reader”, but also the readers of the novel as they read through the crime narrative.

Key words: E. L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate, confession, complicity, crime narrative

朱云. 《比利·巴思格特》中的自白叙事[J]. 外国文学研究, 2020, 42(3): 110-120.

Zhu Yun. The Confessional Narrative in Billy Bathgate[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(3): 110-120.

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