“黑色维纳斯”的伦理选择——文学伦理学批评视域下的帕克斯戏剧《维纳斯》

外国文学研究 ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (1): 92-103.

“黑色维纳斯”的伦理选择——文学伦理学批评视域下的帕克斯戏剧《维纳斯》

王卓

发布日期:2021-03-05
作者简介:王卓,山东师范大学外国语学院、外国文学与文化研究中心教授,主要从事现当代美国文学研究。
基金资助:
国家社科基金重大招标项目“美国非裔文学史翻译与研究”（13&ZD127）

The Ethical Choices of “Sable Venus”: Reading Suzan-Lori Parks's Venus from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism

Wang Zhuo

Published:2021-03-05
About author:Wang Zhuo is a professor at the College of Foreign Language and the Research Center for Foreign Literature and Culture, Shandong Normal University (Jinan 250014, China). Her major research area is modern and contemporary American literature. Email: wangzhuo_69@sina.com
Supported by:
“The History of African American Literature: Translation and Study” (13&ZD127) sponsored by National Social Science Fund of China

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： 美国非裔戏剧家苏珊·帕克斯获得戏剧奥比奖的剧作《维纳斯》是一部饱受争议的作品。之所以如此是因为有研究者认为帕克斯把历史上的黑人传奇女性，被称为“霍屯督维纳斯”的萨拉·巴特曼塑造成了白人殖民者的“同谋”而不是“牺牲品”，并由此引发了谁有权利讲述黑人女性的历史以及如何讲述等更为深层次的问题。从文学伦理学批评的视域审视《维纳斯》和这场激烈的论辩，学界一直关注的帕克斯的戏剧考古、维多利亚时代黑人女性面临的独特的伦理困境、巴特曼的生存伦理等问题均呈现出全新的历史和现实意义。在文学伦理学批评视域下，帕克斯塑造“同谋者”巴特曼的过程恰恰是一次赋予这位“黑色维纳斯”人的尊严和权利的伦理书写过程，并在这样的书写中使得“黑色维纳斯”获得救赎和重生。

关键词: 苏珊·帕克斯, 《维纳斯》, "霍屯督维纳斯", 文学伦理学批评, 伦理选择

Abstract: African American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks's Venus, an Obie Award winner, is a highly controversial play. The reason is that some scholars accused Parks of portraying the legendary black woman, Saartjie Baartman, the so called “the Venus Hottentot”, as an “accomplice”, rather than a “victim,” of White colonizers. What ensues from this accusation is a reconsideration of some more profound issues as who has the right to tell the history of black women and how to tell it properly. A close look into Venus and this heated controversy from the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism will reveal that a series of issues that the academia has been following with keen interest all along, such as Parks's theatrical archaeology, the ethical dilemma that black women had to face during the Victorian Era, Baartman's survival ethics, etc., will take on brand new historical and realistic implications. From the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism, Parks's characterization of Baartman as an “accomplice” is exactly an ethical writing process, in which this “Sable Venus” is not only endowed with human dignity and right, but also enabled to redeem and resurrect herself.

Key words: Parks, Venus, the Venus Hottentot, Ethical Literary Criticism, ethical choice

王卓. “黑色维纳斯”的伦理选择——文学伦理学批评视域下的帕克斯戏剧《维纳斯》[J]. 外国文学研究, 2021, 43(1): 92-103.

Wang Zhuo. The Ethical Choices of “Sable Venus”: Reading Suzan-Lori Parks's Venus from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2021, 43(1): 92-103.

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