麦克尤恩小说中的共情观

外国文学研究 ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (5): 114-123.

麦克尤恩小说中的共情观

郑杰

出版日期:2020-10-25 发布日期:2021-02-26
作者简介:郑杰,广东外语外贸大学副教授,研究方向为现当代戏剧和文学伦理学批评。

The Concept of Empathy in McEwan's Fiction

Zheng Jie

Online:2020-10-25 Published:2021-02-26
About author:Zheng Jie is an associate professor at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (Guangzhou 510420, China). Her research interests include modern and contemporary theatre studies and Ethical Literary Criticism. Email: zhengjie1997@hotmail.com

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： 相对于其早期作品中对人物扭曲内心世界的聚焦,麦克尤恩的中后期作品开始从科学、宗教、心理和文学的多重叙事中探讨伦理道德的本质问题。小说《黑犬》《爱无可忍》和《星期六》的共同主题看似是关于理性和感性、科学和情感之间的对话、冲突和竞争,实则是对共情的本质、目的、限度和途径的思考,而这一思考显然在9/11事件后出现了新的转向和观点修正。重新考察麦克尤恩小说中的共情观,阐释共情的限度以及共情和善行之间的关系,由此得以理解麦克尤恩道德和情感观点的内在矛盾性;同时,在情感研究的观照下,可将其小说视为关于共情概念的文学脚注,为共情—利他的关系假设提供补充甚至修订。

关键词: 麦克尤恩, 共情, 伦理选择

Abstract: In contrast to the focus on characters' twisted inner world in his early works, Ian McEwan began to explore the nature of ethics and morals in the multiple narratives of science, religion, psychology, and literature in the works written during the middle and late stages of his writing career. The common theme in The Black Dogs, Enduring Love, and Saturday appears to be centered around the dialogue, conflict, and competition between rationality and sensibility, or science and emotion, but it is actually intended as a reflection on the nature, purpose, and approach of empathy, a reflection that has conspicuously taken on a new turn and a conceptual revision in the wake of the 9/11 incidents. A re-examination of the concept of empathy in McEwan's fiction may help us clarify the limits of empathy and the relation between empathy and kindness as well, thus developing an understanding of the immanent contradiction in McEwan's concepts of morality and emotion. In the meantime, based on an observation from the study of emotion, his fiction might be perceived as a literary footnote about the concept of empathy, offering some supplement and even revision for the hypothesis of the empathy-altruism connection.

Key words: Ian McEwan, empathy, ethical choice

郑杰. 麦克尤恩小说中的共情观[J]. 外国文学研究, 2020, 42(5): 114-123.

Zheng Jie. The Concept of Empathy in McEwan's Fiction[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(5): 114-123.

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