福克纳《寓言》中的文本含混与伦理悖论  

Textual Ambiguity and Ethical Paradox in William Faulkner’s A Fable

作　　者：林斌 Lin Bin(Institute of Foreign Language and Literature Studies(IFLLS),Xiamen University,Xiamen 361005,China)

机构地区：[1]厦门大学外国语言文学研究所

出　　处：《外国文学研究》2023年第1期55-66,共12页Foreign Literature Studies

基　　金：厦门大学校长基金项目“美国现代派作家福克纳后期小说的翻译及研究”(0650-ZK1052)。

摘　　要：福克纳的重要后期代表作《寓言》(1954)被认为是其文学创作思想的集大成之作,福克纳本人曾宣称世人要花上五十年才能理解到它的价值所在,但其文本含混性表征却使国内外评论界始终不得其解。从文学伦理学批评的角度来看,这种含混性本身构成了一个伦理悖论,其根源在于作家自身伦理立场的不确定性。一方面,作品整体上的寓言性写作意图,连同穿插于其间的三段寓言叙述,勾勒出其相对稳定的伦理内核,即福克纳根植于南方传统价值的伦理参照系;另一方面,三位一体、两两对位的人物自身前后抵触、相互之间矛盾的伦理选择则折射出南方传统价值在现代性语境转换中遭遇的伦理困境,人物身份认同上看似难以捉摸的转换就在于其自身的伦理选择。由此可见,意义含混的背后是南方社会转型期的现代性多元价值体系,各种基于传统与现代性之间矛盾冲突的伦理选择混杂交织在一起,使得文本总体上呈现出一种模棱两可的含混性。A Fable(1954),an important representative work in the late stage of Willian Faulkner’s writing career,is believed to epitomize all of his key ideas on literary writing.Faulkner himself once claimed that it would take the world fifty years to understand its real significance.Yet its textual ambiguity has baffled critics both at home and abroad all along.Judging from the perspective of ethical literary criticism,the ambiguity itself constitutes an ethical paradox that is rooted in the uncertainty of the writer’s own ethical position.On one hand,the allegorical intent of the novel as a whole,together with the three allegorical narratives interspersed in between,delineates its relatively stable ethical core,that is,Faulkner’s ethical reference system originated from the traditional values of the American South;on the other hand,the self-contradictory and mutually exclusive ethical choices made by the main characters,who are portrayed as a trinity or in a contrapuntal relationship,reflect the ethical dilemma encountered by the traditional Southern values in the changing context of modernity,and the seemingly elusive transformation of their identity lies in their own ethical choices.Therefore,behind the ambiguity of meaning is the pluralistic value system of modernity during the transitional period of the Southern society,and various ethical choices based on the conflict between tradition and modernity are mixed and intertwined,thus generating a kind of paradoxical ambiguity prevalent within the text.

关 键 词：福克纳 《寓言》 含混性 伦理悖论 伦理选择 

分 类 号：I712.074[文学—其他各国文学]