悬疑案中的战争揭秘——《迦太基》的叙事策略探析
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摘要
《迦太基》是美国当代作家欧茨(Joyce Carol Oates,1939—)2014年的新作。在表层框架上,作者利用读者对悬疑小说这一文类的阅读期待,采用悬疑线性叙事情节讲述女主人公克蕾茜德(Cressida)深夜突然失踪和七年后的回归以及整个家庭因之发生的变化;表层叙事背后则是借用失踪案嫌疑人金凯德(Kincaid)在案件中的自首、受审和监禁,嵌入其在伊拉克战争中的所见、所闻和所历。本文分析作品叙事策略,指出欧茨采用悬疑小说这一文类的目的在于吸引读者进入所预设的战争故事空间。小说中的后现代写作手法如多元叙述声音、时空错序则使得战争叙事情节断裂,需要读者如同阅读悬疑小说一样不断回读、拼凑并还原出战争真相,这种对战争故事中的悬疑情节及碎片化的处理更能唤起读者对9.11后美国政府开展的系列反恐战争的记忆、质疑和反思。
Carthage( 2014) is a newly released novel by contemporary American writer Joyce Carol Oates. The author takes advantage of readers' expectation of mystery,i. e. readers would get highly involved in reasoning,uncovering and demystifying what happens in the story,and chronologically tells Cressida,the heroine's sudden missing at midnight,return after 7 years and changes happened in the whole family. In fact,with Kincaid,the suspect's confession,trials and imprisonment inserted in the missing-return mystery,Kincaid's experience in Iraq is foregrounded and revealed. By analyzing its narrative strategies,this essay concludes that Oates adopts the genre of mystery to guide the readers into the predesigned Iraqi war story,and the postmodern writing strategies like multiple-narrative voices,disordering of time and space hinder and break up the plot of war story,which demands the reader to re-read,collage and disclose the underneath fact of Iraqi war. The mysterious plot and fragmentary narration of the war story can forcefully arouse the readers' memory,doubt and reflection upon the American government's anti-terrorism wars after 9. 11.
Carthage( 2014) is a newly released novel by contemporary American writer Joyce Carol Oates. The author takes advantage of readers' expectation of mystery,i. e. readers would get highly involved in reasoning,uncovering and demystifying what happens in the story,and chronologically tells Cressida,the heroine's sudden missing at midnight,return after 7 years and changes happened in the whole family. In fact,with Kincaid,the suspect's confession,trials and imprisonment inserted in the missing-return mystery,Kincaid's experience in Iraq is foregrounded and revealed. By analyzing its narrative strategies,this essay concludes that Oates adopts the genre of mystery to guide the readers into the predesigned Iraqi war story,and the postmodern writing strategies like multiple-narrative voices,disordering of time and space hinder and break up the plot of war story,which demands the reader to re-read,collage and disclose the underneath fact of Iraqi war. The mysterious plot and fragmentary narration of the war story can forcefully arouse the readers' memory,doubt and reflection upon the American government's anti-terrorism wars after 9. 11.
引文
Bloom,Harold.1987.Modern Critical Views:Joyce Carol Oates[M].New York:Chelsea House.
Cohen,Ralph.1987.Do Postmodern Genres Exist?[J].Genre,Vol.20.(Fall-Winter 1987):241-258.
Creighton,Joanne V.1979.Joyce Carol Oates[M].Boston:Twayne Publishers.
Culler,Jonathan.1975.Towards a Theory of Non-Genre Literature[G]∥Raymond Federman.Surfiction.Chicago:the Swallow Press,255-262.
Culler,Jonathan.2002.Structuralist Poetics:Structuralism,Linguistics,and the Study of Literature[M].London and New York:Routledge.
Mudrick,Marvin.1972.Fiction and Truth[J].The Hudson Review.25(Spring).
Oates,Joyce Carol.2014.Carthage[M].NY:The Ontario Review,Inc.(文中未标明出处的引文页码均出自本书)
Oberbeck,S.K.1971.A Masterful Explorer in the Minefields of Emotion[J].Washington Post Book World(Sept.).
Parini,Jay.1989.My Writing Is Full of Lives I Might Have Led[G]∥Lee Milazzo.Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates.Jackson:University Press of Mississippi,152-160.
Rieder,John.2007.Life Writing and Science Fiction:Constructing Identities and Constructing Genres[J].Biography,30.1.(Winter 2007):v-xvii.
(1)小说原文为DIDN’T LOVE ME ENOUGH,为大写字母,此处用黑体字代替。
(1)原文为大写:JESUS!WHAT THEY’D DONE.此处用黑体字代替。
(2)“逆行性遗忘”是患者不能对过去发生的事情进行回忆。
(3)“9.11”后的美国系列反恐战争是近十余年来文学家们热衷的题材,如凯文·鲍尔斯(Kevin Powers)的《黄鸟》(The Yellow Birds,2012)、本·方丹(Ben Fountain)的《比利·林恩的漫长中场行走》(Billy Lynn’s Long Half Time Walk,2012)以及2014年菲尔·克莱(Phil Klay)短篇小说集《重新部署》(Deployment)都将伊拉克战争作为题材在小说中进行了正面、直接的描述。
(1)原文为大写:KILL THEM ALL AND LET GOD SORT THEMOUT,此处用黑体字代替。
(2)迦太基源于腓尼基语,意为“新的城市”。迦太基现坐落于非洲北海岸(今突尼斯境内),与罗马隔海相望。历史上,迦太基曾与罗马发生过三次布匿战争(Punic Wars)。两次布匿战争后,迦太基已大伤元气并甘愿俯首称臣。但罗马为了斩草除根,于公元前149-146年发起第三次布匿战争。这次战争虽历时三年之久,其残暴程度却为之首---罗马先发制人的攻击将迦太基夷为平地,迦居民则被地毯式入户搜索后赶尽杀绝。
Cohen,Ralph.1987.Do Postmodern Genres Exist?[J].Genre,Vol.20.(Fall-Winter 1987):241-258.
Creighton,Joanne V.1979.Joyce Carol Oates[M].Boston:Twayne Publishers.
Culler,Jonathan.1975.Towards a Theory of Non-Genre Literature[G]∥Raymond Federman.Surfiction.Chicago:the Swallow Press,255-262.
Culler,Jonathan.2002.Structuralist Poetics:Structuralism,Linguistics,and the Study of Literature[M].London and New York:Routledge.
Mudrick,Marvin.1972.Fiction and Truth[J].The Hudson Review.25(Spring).
Oates,Joyce Carol.2014.Carthage[M].NY:The Ontario Review,Inc.(文中未标明出处的引文页码均出自本书)
Oberbeck,S.K.1971.A Masterful Explorer in the Minefields of Emotion[J].Washington Post Book World(Sept.).
Parini,Jay.1989.My Writing Is Full of Lives I Might Have Led[G]∥Lee Milazzo.Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates.Jackson:University Press of Mississippi,152-160.
Rieder,John.2007.Life Writing and Science Fiction:Constructing Identities and Constructing Genres[J].Biography,30.1.(Winter 2007):v-xvii.
(1)小说原文为DIDN’T LOVE ME ENOUGH,为大写字母,此处用黑体字代替。
(1)原文为大写:JESUS!WHAT THEY’D DONE.此处用黑体字代替。
(2)“逆行性遗忘”是患者不能对过去发生的事情进行回忆。
(3)“9.11”后的美国系列反恐战争是近十余年来文学家们热衷的题材,如凯文·鲍尔斯(Kevin Powers)的《黄鸟》(The Yellow Birds,2012)、本·方丹(Ben Fountain)的《比利·林恩的漫长中场行走》(Billy Lynn’s Long Half Time Walk,2012)以及2014年菲尔·克莱(Phil Klay)短篇小说集《重新部署》(Deployment)都将伊拉克战争作为题材在小说中进行了正面、直接的描述。
(1)原文为大写:KILL THEM ALL AND LET GOD SORT THEMOUT,此处用黑体字代替。
(2)迦太基源于腓尼基语,意为“新的城市”。迦太基现坐落于非洲北海岸(今突尼斯境内),与罗马隔海相望。历史上,迦太基曾与罗马发生过三次布匿战争(Punic Wars)。两次布匿战争后,迦太基已大伤元气并甘愿俯首称臣。但罗马为了斩草除根,于公元前149-146年发起第三次布匿战争。这次战争虽历时三年之久,其残暴程度却为之首---罗马先发制人的攻击将迦太基夷为平地,迦居民则被地毯式入户搜索后赶尽杀绝。