抵制现代性——论《我的安东妮亚》中的时间美学  

Resistance Against Modernity:Time Aesthetics in My Antonia

作　　者：许燕[1] XU Yan

机构地区：[1]中南大学外国语学院

出　　处：《国外文学》2023年第4期127-135,共9页Foreign Literatures

基　　金：湖南省社会科学成果评审会课题“美国文学经典中的植物书写研究”(项目编号:XSP2023WXZ004)的阶段性成果。

摘　　要：美国边疆小说家薇拉·凯瑟的代表作《我的安东妮亚》一直备受关注,其空间维度上的研究较为丰富,而时间维度上的关注较少。因此,本文从时间切入,以小说写作年代的时间观念为参照,追问小说中表面上远离现实的时间背后的文化反思与批判。通过研究得出结论:小说的时间至少从三个层面对美国当时的现代时间观念进行了反思。首先,与强调效率与速度的现代时间意识不同,小说中物理计时系统缺失,与自然律动相一致的自然时间成为叙事的主要时间线索;其次,小说多种形式的反复循环,隐喻性地表达作者的循环时间观,凸显了历史的永恒价值;第三,小说打破了传统的人物聚焦式叙事结构,用并置的时间叙事展示了一个多元共生的美国边疆,以此反思现代社会时间体系中的标准化倾向。总而言之,凯瑟在小说中所展示的时间美学实际上是对现代性的反思,巧妙地运用时间策略抵制强劲的现代性。A number of insightful articles have dealt with the spatial connotations in My Antonia, the masterpiece of Willa Cather, but less attention is given to its dimension of time. The present paper is an endeavor to explore the temporal characteristics in the novel by comparing the time perception in the novel with that in the age of its writing, contending that time in the novel which seems to be far away from reality is in fact a cultural reflection on and critique of the modern concept of time. It argues that the novel is critical of the modern concept of time in America on at least three levels. First, the natural time, which is consistent with the natural rhythm, becomes the main temporal narrative clue of the novel, whereas the clock-time and calendar-time in the modern sense, which emphasize efficiency and speed, are obscured. Secondly, the recurrent cycles of various forms in the novel metaphorically express the author's view of cyclic time, highlighting the eternal value of history. Thirdly, the novel breaks the traditional character-focused linear narrative structure, and uses the juxtaposed time narrative to show a picture of the pluralistic and symbiotic American frontier so as to reflect on the tendency of standardization in the modern social time system. In short, the time aesthetics that Cather displays in the novel is actually her reflection on modernity and her resistence against the overwhelming modernity.

关 键 词：《我的安东妮亚》 时间美学 现代性 美国边疆小说 

分 类 号：I712.074[文学—其他各国文学]