从叙事视角的切换看麦卡锡《上帝之子》中的道德取向问题
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摘要
关于麦卡锡《上帝之子》的解读,学界主要争议的焦点在于该作品中对暴力的过度呈现是否体现了一种道德价值取向的缺失,而这个问题归根到底便是巴勒德这个人物形象到底值不值得同情,或者值得几分同情的问题。以故事中叙事视角的不断转换为切入点,本文认为麦卡锡并不希望读者对巴勒德以及他的社群进行居高临下式的批判,同时也不希望读者站在某个高度去同情巴勒德这个社会弃儿。麦卡锡引领读者去见证并经历事件过程,通过移情作用的同感共鸣去填补人物内心的空白,并从巴勒德身上看到很多以前看不到,或者不愿意去看的人性的种种可能性,从而主动去建构与巴勒德的联系。
Existing scholarship on McCarthy's Child of God focuses on the issue of ethical reference in the novel. This issue can be boiled down to our sympathy to Ballard or the lack of it, or the amount of sympathy that he deserves. Based on the interpretation of the shifting narrative perspectives in the novel, I argue that McCarthy does not want his readers to castigate Ballard or his county folks, or to sympathize with Ballard. McCarthy propels his readers to witness and experience the events with Ballard, so that they might be able to empathize with Ballard. McCarthy makes it necessary for his readers to fill in the empty void in Ballard's inner world, thereby makes Ballard's and the local community's invisible side visible. In this way,McCarthy challenges his readers to construct their own connections with Ballard and to explore the possibilities of humanity.
Existing scholarship on McCarthy's Child of God focuses on the issue of ethical reference in the novel. This issue can be boiled down to our sympathy to Ballard or the lack of it, or the amount of sympathy that he deserves. Based on the interpretation of the shifting narrative perspectives in the novel, I argue that McCarthy does not want his readers to castigate Ballard or his county folks, or to sympathize with Ballard. McCarthy propels his readers to witness and experience the events with Ballard, so that they might be able to empathize with Ballard. McCarthy makes it necessary for his readers to fill in the empty void in Ballard's inner world, thereby makes Ballard's and the local community's invisible side visible. In this way,McCarthy challenges his readers to construct their own connections with Ballard and to explore the possibilities of humanity.
引文
Arnold, Edwin T.“Naming, Knowing and Nothingness:McCarthy’s Moral Parables.”Arnold and Luce 45-69.
Arnold, Edwin T, and Dianne C. Luce. Introduction. Arnold and Luce 1-16.
Arnold, Edwin T, and Dianne C. Luce, eds. Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy. Jackson:UP of Mississippi,1999.
Bartlett, Andrew.“From Voyeurism to Archaeology:Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.” The Southern Literary Journal 24.1(1991):3-15.
Bell, Vereen M. The Achievement of Cormac McCarthy. Baton Rouge:Louisiana State UP, 1988.
—.“The Ambiguous Nihilism of Cormac McCarthy.” The Southern Literary Journal 15.2(1983):31-41.
Blair, Alexandra.“‘The Wanted Stared Back’:Biopolitics, Genre, and Sympathy in Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.” The Southern Literary Journal 47.2(2015):89-106.
Cooper, Lydia R. No More Heroes:Narrative Perspective and Morality in Cormac McCarthy. Baton Rouge:Louisiana State UP, 2011.
Grammer, John M.“A Thing against Which Time Will Not Prevail:Pastoral and History in Cormac McCarthy’s South.” Arnold and Luce 29-44.
Luce, Dianne C. Reading the World:Cormac McCarthy’s Tennessee Period. Columbia:U of South Carolina P,2009.
McCarthy, Cormac. Child of God. 1973. New York:Vintage, 1993.
Nash, Woods.“Serving a Severe God:The Subversive Theology of Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.”Appalachian Journal 42.1/2(Fall 2014/Winter 2015):64-81.
Ragan, David Paul.“Values and Structure in The Orchard Keeper.” Arnold and Luce 17-27.
Woodward, Richard B.“Cormac McCarthy’s Venomous Fiction.” New York Times Magazine 19 April 1992:28-31.
Yang, Yi.“Segregation and Exclusion:A Politics of Fear in Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.”Critique:Studies in Contemporary Fiction 58.5(2017):538-47.
Arnold, Edwin T, and Dianne C. Luce. Introduction. Arnold and Luce 1-16.
Arnold, Edwin T, and Dianne C. Luce, eds. Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy. Jackson:UP of Mississippi,1999.
Bartlett, Andrew.“From Voyeurism to Archaeology:Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.” The Southern Literary Journal 24.1(1991):3-15.
Bell, Vereen M. The Achievement of Cormac McCarthy. Baton Rouge:Louisiana State UP, 1988.
—.“The Ambiguous Nihilism of Cormac McCarthy.” The Southern Literary Journal 15.2(1983):31-41.
Blair, Alexandra.“‘The Wanted Stared Back’:Biopolitics, Genre, and Sympathy in Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.” The Southern Literary Journal 47.2(2015):89-106.
Cooper, Lydia R. No More Heroes:Narrative Perspective and Morality in Cormac McCarthy. Baton Rouge:Louisiana State UP, 2011.
Grammer, John M.“A Thing against Which Time Will Not Prevail:Pastoral and History in Cormac McCarthy’s South.” Arnold and Luce 29-44.
Luce, Dianne C. Reading the World:Cormac McCarthy’s Tennessee Period. Columbia:U of South Carolina P,2009.
McCarthy, Cormac. Child of God. 1973. New York:Vintage, 1993.
Nash, Woods.“Serving a Severe God:The Subversive Theology of Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.”Appalachian Journal 42.1/2(Fall 2014/Winter 2015):64-81.
Ragan, David Paul.“Values and Structure in The Orchard Keeper.” Arnold and Luce 17-27.
Woodward, Richard B.“Cormac McCarthy’s Venomous Fiction.” New York Times Magazine 19 April 1992:28-31.
Yang, Yi.“Segregation and Exclusion:A Politics of Fear in Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.”Critique:Studies in Contemporary Fiction 58.5(2017):538-47.