《猫的摇篮》之后现代悖论分析
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摘要
库尔特·冯尼格特(1922-2007)是美国当代文学史上最重要的后现代主义小说家之一。《猫的摇篮》(1963)是他的成名之作,其代表作《五号屠场》(1969)更奠定了他在美国文坛的地位,使他成为黑色幽默的代表作家之一。在冯尼格特长达半个世纪的创作生涯中,他共创作出了14部小说,2本短篇小说集和3卷非小说作品。冯尼格特对人类的命运和前途有着浓厚的忧患意识。他采用科幻小说形式来打破时间和空间对思维的约束,用黑色幽默的手法将荒诞与现实结合,不遗余力地批判和揭露现实社会的种种弊端,警示人类可能面临的种种危机。他那犀利的语言、深邃的思想、大胆的实验性和熟练的后现代写作技巧使他“既是不断变化、难以琢磨的后现代作家,又是将命运与公众利益紧密联系的现实主义者,这种充满矛盾的双重身份促使其创作出一系列风格迥异、各有特色的作品”(罗小云1)。冯尼格特的矛盾性也充分表现在《猫的摇篮》这部作品上。彼得·里德称该部小说是冯尼格特第一部真正意义上的后现代小说,是一部展现后现代社会状况的启示录。它通过后现代的游戏、反讽、黑色幽默、戏仿等手法揭示人类社会里的种种悖论,从而折射出后现代社会的荒诞性以及冯尼格特对人类命运的思考。
本文从后现代的角度详细探讨冯尼格特在语调使用、人物刻画和主题表达等三方面中悖论的运用、体现及其效果,由此展现冯尼格特在后现代的语境下写作技巧的大胆实验性、写作风格的独特性、强烈的人道主义责任感和对未来人类社会的担忧。
本文由引言、正文和结语三部分组成。引言部分综合评述了国内外对冯尼格特作品的研究,尤其是对《猫的摇篮》的研究,解释了本文对悖论的理解,同时引出论题,并简要介绍各章的主要内容。第一章着重论述语调的悖论。黑色幽默使冯尼格特的语言犀利尖刻而又诙谐幽默。他玩文字游戏,前言与后语矛盾,造成语意的不确定性,又大量运用反讽,温和的语调又包含深刻的痛楚,因而其后现代的游戏性不言而喻。第二章详述人物的悖论。冯尼格特笔下没有绝对的英雄,也没有完全的恶棍。故事叙述者约纳既是一位理智敏锐的旁观者,也是个易被欲望和名利驱使的凡间小人物;科学家霍尼克尔博士既是纯真无邪的老小孩,又是毫无道德底线的邪恶武器发明家;博克农既扮演宗教圣人的角色安抚贫穷人们痛苦的灵魂,又与独裁政府勾结血腥杀害信徒;霍尼克尔博士的三个儿女既是离群索居的怪人,又对美和爱无限向往。每个人物的矛盾性更凸显后现代社会的扭曲与无奈。第三章展示主题的悖论。冯尼格特对各种既有的社会体制都殊无好感。他对滥用科技带来毁灭性的影响和宗教的欺骗性质充满了焦虑。独裁的政府、邪恶的科研中心和疯狂的宗教崇拜都是他大力鞭鞑的对象。但是,从另一方面,冯尼格特又在小说中虚构他理想中的乌托邦,承认科学带来的文明进步和宗教起到的道德教化作用。对现实的不满使他看向未来,在否定的同时又期许着未来。结语总结全文,重申悖论的作用,贯穿全文,刻画人物,深化主题,展现冯尼格特的艺术创造力和其强烈的人道主义责任感。
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) is one of the most important postmodernist writers in the contemporary American literature history. Cat’s Cradle (1963) gains him fame as a serious writer, and his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five (1969) makes him a prestigious representative black humorist. During his nearly fifty years’writing career, he has by far produced fourteen novels, two collections of short stories and three volumes of non-fictional writings. Deeply concerned with human fate, Vonnegut takes to the form of science fiction to write freely without being confined to time and space. Black humor allows him to combine absurdity with reality in his criticism of the problematic society and his warning of possible crisis confronting human race. His keen language, insightful thoughts, bold experiment and profound postmodern writing techniques turn him into both a complicated postmodernist writer and a realist who attach his fate closely to that of the masses. The contradictory dual identities within him stimulate him to produce works of varied styles (Luo Xiaoyun 1). The paradox within Vonnegut is obvious in one of his best works—Cat’s Cradle, which Peter. J. Reed claims as Vonnegut’s first postmodern novel. As an apocalypse of the postmodern society, this book reveals various paradoxes and absurdity of people and the society, and Vonnegut’s concern with human fate via postmodern games, irony, black humor and many other postmodern techniques.
This thesis aims at analyzing Vonnegut’s dexterous employment of paradox in the perspectives of tone, character and theme, thus displaying Vonnegut’s unique writing style and audacious experimentation in writing techniques, and revealing his strong sense of responsibility and deep concerns over human race.
The thesis is divided into three parts. The introductory part includes major literature reviews on Vonnegut and his works, especially on Cat’s Cradle, a brief explanation of paradox in the context of postmodern society, and a brief introduction of the major chapters in the thesis.
Chapter One deals with paradox in tone. As a black humorist, Vonnegut’s language is both sharp and funny. His wise use of verbal play, ambiguity, indeterminacy and irony help create a unique tone that is mild and indifferent on one hand, fierce and painful on the other hand.
Chapter Two illustrates paradox in characterization. As is known, neither great heroes nor sheer villains are displayed in Vonnegut’s works. The narrator Jonah is both a wise observer and a fallen soul driven by his desire for beauty and power. Dr. Felix Hoenniker is as innocent as a child, yet evil enough as to know nothing about sin and morality. Bokonon plays the role of religious saint to comfort people on one hand, and then conspires to fool and kill them on the other hand. Dr. Hoenikker’s three kids are all physically or mentally deformed persons in a way, but they are also in pursuit of art, music and science. The paradox in character best illustrates the paradox that underlies the absurdity of postmodern society.
Chapter Three discusses paradox in theme. Vonnegut resents institutions in all forms, yet he attempts to build a utopia on the fictional island. While ruthlessly whipping governmental dictatorship, immoral scientific research and religious deceit that are responsible for the deconstruction of the world, Vonnegut takes a positive stand to culture evolution brought about by scientific development and prefers the moral aspect of religion. Though deeply disappointed by reality, Vonnegut does not deny it all; instead, he looks into its better sides and into its future as a better world.
The conclusion sums up the whole thesis, restating the employment of paradox and its effect in Cat’s Cradle, and calling for further studies on Vonnegut and the text.
本文从后现代的角度详细探讨冯尼格特在语调使用、人物刻画和主题表达等三方面中悖论的运用、体现及其效果,由此展现冯尼格特在后现代的语境下写作技巧的大胆实验性、写作风格的独特性、强烈的人道主义责任感和对未来人类社会的担忧。
本文由引言、正文和结语三部分组成。引言部分综合评述了国内外对冯尼格特作品的研究,尤其是对《猫的摇篮》的研究,解释了本文对悖论的理解,同时引出论题,并简要介绍各章的主要内容。第一章着重论述语调的悖论。黑色幽默使冯尼格特的语言犀利尖刻而又诙谐幽默。他玩文字游戏,前言与后语矛盾,造成语意的不确定性,又大量运用反讽,温和的语调又包含深刻的痛楚,因而其后现代的游戏性不言而喻。第二章详述人物的悖论。冯尼格特笔下没有绝对的英雄,也没有完全的恶棍。故事叙述者约纳既是一位理智敏锐的旁观者,也是个易被欲望和名利驱使的凡间小人物;科学家霍尼克尔博士既是纯真无邪的老小孩,又是毫无道德底线的邪恶武器发明家;博克农既扮演宗教圣人的角色安抚贫穷人们痛苦的灵魂,又与独裁政府勾结血腥杀害信徒;霍尼克尔博士的三个儿女既是离群索居的怪人,又对美和爱无限向往。每个人物的矛盾性更凸显后现代社会的扭曲与无奈。第三章展示主题的悖论。冯尼格特对各种既有的社会体制都殊无好感。他对滥用科技带来毁灭性的影响和宗教的欺骗性质充满了焦虑。独裁的政府、邪恶的科研中心和疯狂的宗教崇拜都是他大力鞭鞑的对象。但是,从另一方面,冯尼格特又在小说中虚构他理想中的乌托邦,承认科学带来的文明进步和宗教起到的道德教化作用。对现实的不满使他看向未来,在否定的同时又期许着未来。结语总结全文,重申悖论的作用,贯穿全文,刻画人物,深化主题,展现冯尼格特的艺术创造力和其强烈的人道主义责任感。
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) is one of the most important postmodernist writers in the contemporary American literature history. Cat’s Cradle (1963) gains him fame as a serious writer, and his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five (1969) makes him a prestigious representative black humorist. During his nearly fifty years’writing career, he has by far produced fourteen novels, two collections of short stories and three volumes of non-fictional writings. Deeply concerned with human fate, Vonnegut takes to the form of science fiction to write freely without being confined to time and space. Black humor allows him to combine absurdity with reality in his criticism of the problematic society and his warning of possible crisis confronting human race. His keen language, insightful thoughts, bold experiment and profound postmodern writing techniques turn him into both a complicated postmodernist writer and a realist who attach his fate closely to that of the masses. The contradictory dual identities within him stimulate him to produce works of varied styles (Luo Xiaoyun 1). The paradox within Vonnegut is obvious in one of his best works—Cat’s Cradle, which Peter. J. Reed claims as Vonnegut’s first postmodern novel. As an apocalypse of the postmodern society, this book reveals various paradoxes and absurdity of people and the society, and Vonnegut’s concern with human fate via postmodern games, irony, black humor and many other postmodern techniques.
This thesis aims at analyzing Vonnegut’s dexterous employment of paradox in the perspectives of tone, character and theme, thus displaying Vonnegut’s unique writing style and audacious experimentation in writing techniques, and revealing his strong sense of responsibility and deep concerns over human race.
The thesis is divided into three parts. The introductory part includes major literature reviews on Vonnegut and his works, especially on Cat’s Cradle, a brief explanation of paradox in the context of postmodern society, and a brief introduction of the major chapters in the thesis.
Chapter One deals with paradox in tone. As a black humorist, Vonnegut’s language is both sharp and funny. His wise use of verbal play, ambiguity, indeterminacy and irony help create a unique tone that is mild and indifferent on one hand, fierce and painful on the other hand.
Chapter Two illustrates paradox in characterization. As is known, neither great heroes nor sheer villains are displayed in Vonnegut’s works. The narrator Jonah is both a wise observer and a fallen soul driven by his desire for beauty and power. Dr. Felix Hoenniker is as innocent as a child, yet evil enough as to know nothing about sin and morality. Bokonon plays the role of religious saint to comfort people on one hand, and then conspires to fool and kill them on the other hand. Dr. Hoenikker’s three kids are all physically or mentally deformed persons in a way, but they are also in pursuit of art, music and science. The paradox in character best illustrates the paradox that underlies the absurdity of postmodern society.
Chapter Three discusses paradox in theme. Vonnegut resents institutions in all forms, yet he attempts to build a utopia on the fictional island. While ruthlessly whipping governmental dictatorship, immoral scientific research and religious deceit that are responsible for the deconstruction of the world, Vonnegut takes a positive stand to culture evolution brought about by scientific development and prefers the moral aspect of religion. Though deeply disappointed by reality, Vonnegut does not deny it all; instead, he looks into its better sides and into its future as a better world.
The conclusion sums up the whole thesis, restating the employment of paradox and its effect in Cat’s Cradle, and calling for further studies on Vonnegut and the text.
引文
Allen, William Rodney, ed. Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988.
Angus, Ian, and Sut Jhally, eds. Cultural Politics in Contemporary America. New York: Routledge, 1989.
Baird, James.“Jeffers, Vonnegut, and Pynchon: Their Philosophies and Fates.”Jeffers Studies 4.1 (2000): 17-28.
Bradbury, Malcolm. The Modern American Novel. Trans. Wang Jin-hua. Taiyuan: Beiyue Art Press, 1992.
Brake, Mark, and Neil Hook. Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2007.
Davis, Todd F.“Apocalyptic Grumbling: Postmodern Humanism in the World of Kurt Vonnegut.”At Millennium’s End: New Essays on the Works of Kurt Vonnegut. Ed. Kevin A. Boon. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001.
---. Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade, or, How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism. New York: SUNY Press, 2006.
Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time: The Apocalyptic Temper in the American Novel of the Nuclear Age. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1990.
Dickstein, Morris. Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties. New York: Basic Books, 1977.
Elkins, Charles L.“Kurt Vonnegut Jr.”Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Everett Franklin Bleiler. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982.
Elliott, Emory, ed. Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Evans, Ron.“Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Overview.”Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers. Ed. Laura Standley Berger. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.
Giannone, Richard. Vonnegut: A Preface to his Novels. Port Washington, NY/ London: Kennikat Press, 1977.
Goldsmith, David H. Kurt Vonnegut, Fantasist of Fire and Ice. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1972.
Grossman, Edward.“Vonnegut & His Audience.”Contemporary Literary Criticism. Eds. Carolyn Riley and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson. Vol. 5, 1976, 40-46.
Group, Robert. Qtd. in William R. Vincent’s“Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. 1922-”. Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 92. Eds. Scot Peacock, Mark W. Scott and Katherine Wilson. Detroit /San Francisco /London /Boston /Woodbridge, CT: Gale Group, Inc., 2001.
Harris, Charles B. Contemporary American Novelists of the Absurd. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1972.
Hassan, Ihab. The Postmodern Turn: Essays in Postmodern Theory and Culture. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 1987.
Hoffmann, Gerhard. From Modernism to Postmodernism: Concepts and Strategies of Postmodern American Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005.
Huckabay, Keith.“Black Humor and Theater of the Absurd: Ontological Insecurity Confronted.”The Cimarron Review 20 (1972): 20-32.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernsim: History, Theory, Fiction. New York /London: Routledge, 1988.
Klinkowitz, Jerome. Keeping Literary Company: Working with Writers since the Sixties. New York: SUNY Press, 1998.
---.“Review.”Modern Philology 78.1 (1980): 111-113.
---. The Vonnegut Effect. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.
Marvin, Thomas F. Kurt Vonnegut: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.
Mayo, Clark. Kurt Vonnegut: The Gospel from Outer Space. San Bernardino, CA: The Borgo Press, 1977.
McDougal, Stephen. Rev. of Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Apr. 2008.
Meeter, Glenn.“Vonnegut’s Formal and Moral Otherworldliness:‘Cat’s Cradle’and ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’,”The Vonnegut Statement. Eds. Jerome Klinkowitz and John L. Somer. New York: Delacourte Press / Seymour Lawrence, 1973.
Mustazza, Leonard. Forever Pursuing Genesis: The Myth of Eden in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Noise, David A.“Kurt Vonnegut Saw Humanism as a Way to Build a Better World.”Humanist 67.4 (2007): 22.
Reed, Peter J. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. New York: Warner, 1972.
---. The Short Fiction of Kurt Vonnegut. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Reed, Peter J., and Marc Leeds. The Vonnegut Chronicles: Interviews and Essays. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Schatt, Stanley.“The Whale and the Cross: Vonnegut’s Jonah and Christ Figures.”Southwest Review 56.1 (1971): 29-42.
Scholes, Robert.“Book Review.”The New York Book Review. New York: The New York Times Company, 1969.
---.“Mithridates, He Died Old: Black Humor and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.”Hollins Critic 3.4 (1966): 1.
Shear, Walter. The Feeling of Being: Sensibility in Postwar American Fiction. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.
Southern, Terry.“After the Bomb, Dad Came up with Ice.”Rev. of Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. New York Times 2 Jun. 1963: 28.
Tally, Robert T. Jr.“A Postmodern Iconography: Vonnegut and the Great American Novel.”Diss. Texas State University, 2008.
Uphaus, Robert W.“Review: Expected Meaning in Vonnegut’s Dead-End Fiction.”Novel: A Forum on Fiction 8.2 (1975): 164-174.
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Cat’s Cradle. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1983. ---. Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons. New York: Delacorte, 1974.
Westbrook, Perry D.“Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Overview.”Contemporary Novelists. Ed. Susan Windisch Brown. New York: St. James Press, 1996.
罗小云.《拼贴未来的文学—美国后现代作家冯尼格特研究》.重庆:重庆出版社, 2006.
Angus, Ian, and Sut Jhally, eds. Cultural Politics in Contemporary America. New York: Routledge, 1989.
Baird, James.“Jeffers, Vonnegut, and Pynchon: Their Philosophies and Fates.”Jeffers Studies 4.1 (2000): 17-28.
Bradbury, Malcolm. The Modern American Novel. Trans. Wang Jin-hua. Taiyuan: Beiyue Art Press, 1992.
Brake, Mark, and Neil Hook. Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2007.
Davis, Todd F.“Apocalyptic Grumbling: Postmodern Humanism in the World of Kurt Vonnegut.”At Millennium’s End: New Essays on the Works of Kurt Vonnegut. Ed. Kevin A. Boon. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001.
---. Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade, or, How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism. New York: SUNY Press, 2006.
Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time: The Apocalyptic Temper in the American Novel of the Nuclear Age. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1990.
Dickstein, Morris. Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties. New York: Basic Books, 1977.
Elkins, Charles L.“Kurt Vonnegut Jr.”Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Everett Franklin Bleiler. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982.
Elliott, Emory, ed. Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Evans, Ron.“Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Overview.”Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers. Ed. Laura Standley Berger. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.
Giannone, Richard. Vonnegut: A Preface to his Novels. Port Washington, NY/ London: Kennikat Press, 1977.
Goldsmith, David H. Kurt Vonnegut, Fantasist of Fire and Ice. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1972.
Grossman, Edward.“Vonnegut & His Audience.”Contemporary Literary Criticism. Eds. Carolyn Riley and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson. Vol. 5, 1976, 40-46.
Group, Robert. Qtd. in William R. Vincent’s“Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. 1922-”. Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 92. Eds. Scot Peacock, Mark W. Scott and Katherine Wilson. Detroit /San Francisco /London /Boston /Woodbridge, CT: Gale Group, Inc., 2001.
Harris, Charles B. Contemporary American Novelists of the Absurd. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1972.
Hassan, Ihab. The Postmodern Turn: Essays in Postmodern Theory and Culture. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 1987.
Hoffmann, Gerhard. From Modernism to Postmodernism: Concepts and Strategies of Postmodern American Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005.
Huckabay, Keith.“Black Humor and Theater of the Absurd: Ontological Insecurity Confronted.”The Cimarron Review 20 (1972): 20-32.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernsim: History, Theory, Fiction. New York /London: Routledge, 1988.
Klinkowitz, Jerome. Keeping Literary Company: Working with Writers since the Sixties. New York: SUNY Press, 1998.
---.“Review.”Modern Philology 78.1 (1980): 111-113.
---. The Vonnegut Effect. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.
Marvin, Thomas F. Kurt Vonnegut: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.
Mayo, Clark. Kurt Vonnegut: The Gospel from Outer Space. San Bernardino, CA: The Borgo Press, 1977.
McDougal, Stephen. Rev. of Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Apr. 2008
Meeter, Glenn.“Vonnegut’s Formal and Moral Otherworldliness:‘Cat’s Cradle’and ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’,”The Vonnegut Statement. Eds. Jerome Klinkowitz and John L. Somer. New York: Delacourte Press / Seymour Lawrence, 1973.
Mustazza, Leonard. Forever Pursuing Genesis: The Myth of Eden in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Noise, David A.“Kurt Vonnegut Saw Humanism as a Way to Build a Better World.”Humanist 67.4 (2007): 22.
Reed, Peter J. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. New York: Warner, 1972.
---. The Short Fiction of Kurt Vonnegut. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Reed, Peter J., and Marc Leeds. The Vonnegut Chronicles: Interviews and Essays. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Schatt, Stanley.“The Whale and the Cross: Vonnegut’s Jonah and Christ Figures.”Southwest Review 56.1 (1971): 29-42.
Scholes, Robert.“Book Review.”The New York Book Review. New York: The New York Times Company, 1969.
---.“Mithridates, He Died Old: Black Humor and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.”Hollins Critic 3.4 (1966): 1.
Shear, Walter. The Feeling of Being: Sensibility in Postwar American Fiction. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.
Southern, Terry.“After the Bomb, Dad Came up with Ice.”Rev. of Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. New York Times 2 Jun. 1963: 28.
Tally, Robert T. Jr.“A Postmodern Iconography: Vonnegut and the Great American Novel.”Diss. Texas State University, 2008
Uphaus, Robert W.“Review: Expected Meaning in Vonnegut’s Dead-End Fiction.”Novel: A Forum on Fiction 8.2 (1975): 164-174.
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Cat’s Cradle. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1983. ---. Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons. New York: Delacorte, 1974.
Westbrook, Perry D.“Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Overview.”Contemporary Novelists. Ed. Susan Windisch Brown. New York: St. James Press, 1996
罗小云.《拼贴未来的文学—美国后现代作家冯尼格特研究》.重庆:重庆出版社, 2006.