美国南方文学怪诞特征研究
摘要
十六世纪，“怪诞”一词被引入文学创作中，成为一个常见的指代某种艺术形式、创作手法和艺术效果的术语,尤其在美国南方作家的作品中，“怪诞”的特征更加明显。我们不论翻看那一位南方作家的作品，都能毫不例外的发现扭曲、畸形的人物和怪诞的故事情节及创作手法，究竟这一南方文学中共有的特征从何而来呢？
首先，这一特征的形成有着其独有的历史和社会成因。
美国内战前,南方主要以单一的农业经济为基础,蓄奴制度根深蒂固。南部的绝大多数白人秉承盎克鲁·撒克逊血统，南方各州在1880年大选以来一致拥护民主党。美国内战后，种族偏见、残留的农垦主义、对外来者的厌恶和怀疑、保守的福音派新教主义的统治以及政治和社会问题上的狭隘区域倾向等笼罩着整个社会。到了20世纪20、30年代,南方涌现了一批杰出的作家,他们熟悉自己的故乡,而且能客观地用20世纪的精神来看待它,南方人因其独特的社会历史经历,在思想、道德、伦理以及生活方式方面形成自己独特的文化沉淀，同时，美国南方独特的社会历史经历为作家们提供了用之不竭的创作源泉。南方作家力图用自己的笔重新描绘战前、内战时期以至当代南方的社会、历史、思想发展的脉络。他们的作品从不同的侧面反映了南方社会的发展过程,具有很高的文学价值和社会功效。
作家们对于南北战争以前的蓄奴制社会又怨恨又谴责,一方面诅咒他们的祖先胡作非为,犯下了罪恶,使儿孙们一个个变成畸形的怪物;另一方面对北方资本主义势力的入侵深恶痛绝,对那些爆发户的讽刺和鞭挞入木三分。这种复杂的心态体现在作品中，就形成了“怪诞”这一南方文学中最具特点的一个特征。南方的作家似乎把描写“怪人”、“怪事”作为自己写作的目的,在作品中频频出现荒唐与怪异的事情,这些怪人生活在“怪诞”的社会里,做出常人难以理解的事情来。南方的作家是把这些不同的怪人作为社会痛苦的集中承担者来描写的。这些人连同塑造他们的作家本身共同体验着生活带给他们的痛苦,他们“把爱情消耗在一个驼背人、一块岩石、一棵树、一片云彩上,最后在巨大的精神痛苦中结束了。”
以怪诞为显著特征的美国南方文学亦可追溯到19世纪的美国著名作家埃德加·爱伦·坡(Edgar Allan Poe) 和霍桑。作为是美国短篇小说的创始人和文学心理批评的奠基人，坡一直独立于主流文学之外，被认为是最伟大的恐怖小说家之一。他的作品秉承了哥特式小说的传统，并开始把恐怖小说心理化。霍桑笔下的人物也在威廉?福克纳的作品中还魂。
哥特（Goth）一词最初来自于条顿民族中哥特部落的名称，到了18世纪后期，哥特一词又成了一种新的小说体裁的名称，其代表人物有：贺拉斯·瓦尔浦尔（Horace Walpole），安·拉德克利夫（Ann Radcliffe）哥特小说不仅作为一种小说体裁在英国无可争辩地确定了自己的地位，而且还深刻影响到其它一些国家，特别是德国和美国的文学创作。
尽管哥特小说在英国产生和繁荣，但19世纪20年代以后，哥特小说发展的中心似乎移到了美国。哥特小说能在美国迅速繁荣、持续发展有着深刻的历史、文化和文学根源。美国第一位有影响的作家查尔斯·B·布朗（Charles B. Brown）在18世纪末推出的几部作品都是阴森恐怖并且充满血腥的小说。由此可见，美国小说一开始就具有了明显的哥特色彩。到了20世纪，哥特小说在美国更为繁荣。特别是在美国南方，哥特传统成了南方文学成就不可分割的重要组成部分
在美国“南方文艺复兴”运动中出现的作家福克纳,其作品被人视为“文化精神病态的产物”,于是“怪诞”使他独树一帜,也使他声名不凡。福克纳深受艾伦坡和霍桑的影响，他的代表作有《喧哗与骚动》、 《八月之光》、《押沙龙，押沙龙》等等享誉世界的约克纳帕塔法世系小说。福克纳的怪诞并非孤立的文学现象, 其形成与整个西方现代文学的兴起与发展密切相关。
福克纳的怪诞的另一渊源是文学传统,特别是美国浪漫主义文学传统。不少评论家都注意到福克纳与霍桑的相似,而兼有南方人和现代派远祖身份的浪漫作家艾德加·艾伦·坡更是福克纳这样的作家的精神近亲。
本文特别提到南方黑人作家。他们把哥特手法作为谴责和批判奴隶制和种族主义的强有力的方式。莱特的著名小说《土生子》（Native Son，1940）是第一部具有全国影响的黑人小说。她的代表作《宝贝儿》（Beloved，1987）也许是福克纳的《押沙龙，押沙龙！》之后最出色的南方小说。
文学作品是反映时代的一面镜子，当人们对于某些罪恶视而不见，习以为常，甚至以恶为善时，文学家们会用特殊的武器来使读者觉醒。只要有使人堕落或者践踏人性的罪恶存在，文学作品中的怪诞力量就会继续发展。
In the 16th century, the word “grotesquery” was introduced into literature, becoming a term that refers to a certain art form, writing methods, and art effect. Especially in the southern writer’s works, the feature of the” grotesquery “grew more evident. Besides William Faulkner who was a great master of southern literature, the woman writer Flannery O’Connor was the very representative.
No matter which southern writer’s works you read, you can find, with no exception, deformed character and absurd plot as well as strange writing methods. How come this common feature of the southern literature comes into being?
First, it resulted from the special history and social process in the south.
Before the Civil War, the sole agricultural economy was the foundation of the south economy, and slave system was deeply rooted there. The great majority of the white men in the south were the offspring of Anglo Saxon. After the 1880 election every southern state had been supporting the Democratic. The slave system had become the focus of conflict between the north and the south. Thus broke out the American Civil War, which brought nothing but effect to the southern society.
After the Civil War, racial prejudice, remained agriculture, abhorrence and doubt toward intruders, the governing of the conservative Puritanism and the tendency of the narrower of political and social problem. Until the 1920s and 1930s, a group of outstanding writers emerged in the south. They were familiar with their hometown, and could treat it objectively with the spirit of the 20th century. Because of their unique historical experience, the southern people formed their own cultural essence in ideas, morality, ethics and way of living. Meanwhile the unique social and historical experience of the south served as an inexhaustible resource of inspiration. The southern writers tried to describe again the development of the southern society history and ideas from before and after the Civil War to the modern time. Their works reflected the development of the southern society, having high literature value and a social effect.
The writers were resentful and critical of the slavery society existing before the Civil War. On one hand, they cursed their ancestors’ brutal deeds and their evil crimes which made their descendents deformed monsters. On the other hand, they detested the intruders of northern capitalism and satirized them thoroughly. The complex mind in the works became one of the special features of the southern literature. It seemed that the southern writers regarded the description of the absurd people and things as their writing purpose, because the absurd and strange things frequently appeared in their works and these strange people in the absurd society often did things that could never be understood. The writers just described these strange people as the undertaker of the great pain from the society. These people as well as their creators underwent the pain brought by their twisted life. They “exhaust love in a crookback man, a rock, a tree or a piece of cloud, and at last end it in great mental pain.”
The American southern literature characterized by grotesquery can also be traced back
to an American famous writer of 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathanial Hawthorn. Being the pioneer of short stories and the criticism of literature psychology, Poe was not in the main stream of literature. He was considered as one of the greatest horror fiction writer. His works followed the tradition of Goth novels, and it was he who began to add psychological description to it.
The word “Goth” first came from the Gothic tribe. At the late 18th century, it became a new novel style. Its representatives are: Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliff. Goth novel not only established its position in Britain as a novel style, but also influenced other counties deeply, especially Germany and America.
Although Goth novel was born and flourished in Britain, its center appeared to shift to America after 1820s. It is justifiable that the novel style c
首先，这一特征的形成有着其独有的历史和社会成因。
美国内战前,南方主要以单一的农业经济为基础,蓄奴制度根深蒂固。南部的绝大多数白人秉承盎克鲁·撒克逊血统，南方各州在1880年大选以来一致拥护民主党。美国内战后，种族偏见、残留的农垦主义、对外来者的厌恶和怀疑、保守的福音派新教主义的统治以及政治和社会问题上的狭隘区域倾向等笼罩着整个社会。到了20世纪20、30年代,南方涌现了一批杰出的作家,他们熟悉自己的故乡,而且能客观地用20世纪的精神来看待它,南方人因其独特的社会历史经历,在思想、道德、伦理以及生活方式方面形成自己独特的文化沉淀，同时，美国南方独特的社会历史经历为作家们提供了用之不竭的创作源泉。南方作家力图用自己的笔重新描绘战前、内战时期以至当代南方的社会、历史、思想发展的脉络。他们的作品从不同的侧面反映了南方社会的发展过程,具有很高的文学价值和社会功效。
作家们对于南北战争以前的蓄奴制社会又怨恨又谴责,一方面诅咒他们的祖先胡作非为,犯下了罪恶,使儿孙们一个个变成畸形的怪物;另一方面对北方资本主义势力的入侵深恶痛绝,对那些爆发户的讽刺和鞭挞入木三分。这种复杂的心态体现在作品中，就形成了“怪诞”这一南方文学中最具特点的一个特征。南方的作家似乎把描写“怪人”、“怪事”作为自己写作的目的,在作品中频频出现荒唐与怪异的事情,这些怪人生活在“怪诞”的社会里,做出常人难以理解的事情来。南方的作家是把这些不同的怪人作为社会痛苦的集中承担者来描写的。这些人连同塑造他们的作家本身共同体验着生活带给他们的痛苦,他们“把爱情消耗在一个驼背人、一块岩石、一棵树、一片云彩上,最后在巨大的精神痛苦中结束了。”
以怪诞为显著特征的美国南方文学亦可追溯到19世纪的美国著名作家埃德加·爱伦·坡(Edgar Allan Poe) 和霍桑。作为是美国短篇小说的创始人和文学心理批评的奠基人，坡一直独立于主流文学之外，被认为是最伟大的恐怖小说家之一。他的作品秉承了哥特式小说的传统，并开始把恐怖小说心理化。霍桑笔下的人物也在威廉?福克纳的作品中还魂。
哥特（Goth）一词最初来自于条顿民族中哥特部落的名称，到了18世纪后期，哥特一词又成了一种新的小说体裁的名称，其代表人物有：贺拉斯·瓦尔浦尔（Horace Walpole），安·拉德克利夫（Ann Radcliffe）哥特小说不仅作为一种小说体裁在英国无可争辩地确定了自己的地位，而且还深刻影响到其它一些国家，特别是德国和美国的文学创作。
尽管哥特小说在英国产生和繁荣，但19世纪20年代以后，哥特小说发展的中心似乎移到了美国。哥特小说能在美国迅速繁荣、持续发展有着深刻的历史、文化和文学根源。美国第一位有影响的作家查尔斯·B·布朗（Charles B. Brown）在18世纪末推出的几部作品都是阴森恐怖并且充满血腥的小说。由此可见，美国小说一开始就具有了明显的哥特色彩。到了20世纪，哥特小说在美国更为繁荣。特别是在美国南方，哥特传统成了南方文学成就不可分割的重要组成部分
在美国“南方文艺复兴”运动中出现的作家福克纳,其作品被人视为“文化精神病态的产物”,于是“怪诞”使他独树一帜,也使他声名不凡。福克纳深受艾伦坡和霍桑的影响，他的代表作有《喧哗与骚动》、 《八月之光》、《押沙龙，押沙龙》等等享誉世界的约克纳帕塔法世系小说。福克纳的怪诞并非孤立的文学现象, 其形成与整个西方现代文学的兴起与发展密切相关。
福克纳的怪诞的另一渊源是文学传统,特别是美国浪漫主义文学传统。不少评论家都注意到福克纳与霍桑的相似,而兼有南方人和现代派远祖身份的浪漫作家艾德加·艾伦·坡更是福克纳这样的作家的精神近亲。
本文特别提到南方黑人作家。他们把哥特手法作为谴责和批判奴隶制和种族主义的强有力的方式。莱特的著名小说《土生子》（Native Son，1940）是第一部具有全国影响的黑人小说。她的代表作《宝贝儿》（Beloved，1987）也许是福克纳的《押沙龙，押沙龙！》之后最出色的南方小说。
文学作品是反映时代的一面镜子，当人们对于某些罪恶视而不见，习以为常，甚至以恶为善时，文学家们会用特殊的武器来使读者觉醒。只要有使人堕落或者践踏人性的罪恶存在，文学作品中的怪诞力量就会继续发展。
In the 16th century, the word “grotesquery” was introduced into literature, becoming a term that refers to a certain art form, writing methods, and art effect. Especially in the southern writer’s works, the feature of the” grotesquery “grew more evident. Besides William Faulkner who was a great master of southern literature, the woman writer Flannery O’Connor was the very representative.
No matter which southern writer’s works you read, you can find, with no exception, deformed character and absurd plot as well as strange writing methods. How come this common feature of the southern literature comes into being?
First, it resulted from the special history and social process in the south.
Before the Civil War, the sole agricultural economy was the foundation of the south economy, and slave system was deeply rooted there. The great majority of the white men in the south were the offspring of Anglo Saxon. After the 1880 election every southern state had been supporting the Democratic. The slave system had become the focus of conflict between the north and the south. Thus broke out the American Civil War, which brought nothing but effect to the southern society.
After the Civil War, racial prejudice, remained agriculture, abhorrence and doubt toward intruders, the governing of the conservative Puritanism and the tendency of the narrower of political and social problem. Until the 1920s and 1930s, a group of outstanding writers emerged in the south. They were familiar with their hometown, and could treat it objectively with the spirit of the 20th century. Because of their unique historical experience, the southern people formed their own cultural essence in ideas, morality, ethics and way of living. Meanwhile the unique social and historical experience of the south served as an inexhaustible resource of inspiration. The southern writers tried to describe again the development of the southern society history and ideas from before and after the Civil War to the modern time. Their works reflected the development of the southern society, having high literature value and a social effect.
The writers were resentful and critical of the slavery society existing before the Civil War. On one hand, they cursed their ancestors’ brutal deeds and their evil crimes which made their descendents deformed monsters. On the other hand, they detested the intruders of northern capitalism and satirized them thoroughly. The complex mind in the works became one of the special features of the southern literature. It seemed that the southern writers regarded the description of the absurd people and things as their writing purpose, because the absurd and strange things frequently appeared in their works and these strange people in the absurd society often did things that could never be understood. The writers just described these strange people as the undertaker of the great pain from the society. These people as well as their creators underwent the pain brought by their twisted life. They “exhaust love in a crookback man, a rock, a tree or a piece of cloud, and at last end it in great mental pain.”
The American southern literature characterized by grotesquery can also be traced back
to an American famous writer of 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathanial Hawthorn. Being the pioneer of short stories and the criticism of literature psychology, Poe was not in the main stream of literature. He was considered as one of the greatest horror fiction writer. His works followed the tradition of Goth novels, and it was he who began to add psychological description to it.
The word “Goth” first came from the Gothic tribe. At the late 18th century, it became a new novel style. Its representatives are: Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliff. Goth novel not only established its position in Britain as a novel style, but also influenced other counties deeply, especially Germany and America.
Although Goth novel was born and flourished in Britain, its center appeared to shift to America after 1820s. It is justifiable that the novel style c
引文
[1] 伊哈布?哈桑编著，路凡译， 《当代美国文学》，山东人民出版社，1982年，第78 页
[2] Elizabeth Kerr, Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner’s Little Postage Stamp of Native soil, Fordham University Press, 1976, p. 169
[3] Allen Tate, Essays of Four Decades, Swallow Press,1968, p.588
[4] Clement Eaton, The Mind of the Old South, [Baton Rouge] Louisiana State University Press,1964, p.241
[5] W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South, New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books, 1941,pp.31-32
[6] Marcus Cunliffe, The Literature of the United States,4th edition, Viking Press, 1986, p.356
[7] W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South, New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books., 1941, pp.89,64
[8] 、[9] Allen Tate, Essays of Four Decades, Swallow Press,1968, pp.592,589,592
[10] Elizabeth Kerr, Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner’s Little Postage Stamp of Native soil, Fordham University Press,1976, p. 175
[11] W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South, New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books, 1941, p. 134
[12] 李文俊编选，《福克纳评论集》，中国社会科学出版社，1980年，第39页
[13] Robert A Jelliffe, Faulkner at Nagano, 4th edition, Tokyo: Kenkyusha,1966, p.26
[14] Cleanth Brooks, William Faulkner:Toward Yoknapatawpha Country
and Beyond, Yale University Press, 1978, 51
[15] Monre Billington, The American South: A Brief History, Scribner’s Sons, 1971, p.304
[16] William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! Vintage Books, 1972, p.12
[17]黄梅，《怪诞——美国现代南方小说的一个重要特征》，外国文学研究集刊(第五辑)，中国社会出版社, 1982年，第247页
参 考 文 献
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2． 肖明翰 《威廉?福克纳研究》 外语教学与研究出版社 1999年1月
3． 杨岂深、龙文佩 《美国文学选读》 上海译文出版社 2000年4月
4．罗德·霍顿, 赫伯特?爱德华兹著，房炜、孟昭庆译 《美国文学思想背景》 人民文学出版社 1991年
5．秦小孟 《当代美国文学》 上海译文出版社 1982年
6．伊哈布?哈桑著，路凡译 《当代美国文学》 山东人民出版社 1982年
8．肖明翰 《英美小说中的哥特小说》 大岛网
9．李文俊编选 《福克纳评论集》 中国社会科学出版社 1980年
10. Robert E. Spiller 著，王常荣译，聂振雄校订 《美国文学的周期----历史评论专著》 上海外语教育出版社 1989年
11．李维屏 《英美现代主义文学概观》 上海外语教育出版社
1997年11月
12．黄梅，《怪诞——美国现代南方小说的一个重要特征》，外国文学研究集刊(第五辑)，中国社会出版社, 1982年
13．William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! Vintage Books, 1972
14．Cleanth Brooks, William Faulkner: Toward Yoknapatawpha Country and Beyond, Yale University Press, 1978
15．Robert A Jelliffe, Faulkner at Nagano, 4th edition, Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1966
16．Allen Tate, Essays of Four Decades, Swallow Press,1968
17． Elizabeth Kerr, Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner’s Little Postage Stamp of Native soil, Fordham University Press,1976
18．Clement Eaton, The Mind of the Old South, [Baton Rouge] Louisiana State University Press,1964
19．Marcus Cunliffe, The Literature of the United States,4th edition, Viking Press, 1986
20．W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South，New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books. 1941
[2] Elizabeth Kerr, Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner’s Little Postage Stamp of Native soil, Fordham University Press, 1976, p. 169
[3] Allen Tate, Essays of Four Decades, Swallow Press,1968, p.588
[4] Clement Eaton, The Mind of the Old South, [Baton Rouge] Louisiana State University Press,1964, p.241
[5] W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South, New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books, 1941,pp.31-32
[6] Marcus Cunliffe, The Literature of the United States,4th edition, Viking Press, 1986, p.356
[7] W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South, New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books., 1941, pp.89,64
[8] 、[9] Allen Tate, Essays of Four Decades, Swallow Press,1968, pp.592,589,592
[10] Elizabeth Kerr, Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner’s Little Postage Stamp of Native soil, Fordham University Press,1976, p. 175
[11] W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South, New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books, 1941, p. 134
[12] 李文俊编选，《福克纳评论集》，中国社会科学出版社，1980年，第39页
[13] Robert A Jelliffe, Faulkner at Nagano, 4th edition, Tokyo: Kenkyusha,1966, p.26
[14] Cleanth Brooks, William Faulkner:Toward Yoknapatawpha Country
and Beyond, Yale University Press, 1978, 51
[15] Monre Billington, The American South: A Brief History, Scribner’s Sons, 1971, p.304
[16] William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! Vintage Books, 1972, p.12
[17]黄梅，《怪诞——美国现代南方小说的一个重要特征》，外国文学研究集刊(第五辑)，中国社会出版社, 1982年，第247页
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8．肖明翰 《英美小说中的哥特小说》 大岛网
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10. Robert E. Spiller 著，王常荣译，聂振雄校订 《美国文学的周期----历史评论专著》 上海外语教育出版社 1989年
11．李维屏 《英美现代主义文学概观》 上海外语教育出版社
1997年11月
12．黄梅，《怪诞——美国现代南方小说的一个重要特征》，外国文学研究集刊(第五辑)，中国社会出版社, 1982年
13．William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! Vintage Books, 1972
14．Cleanth Brooks, William Faulkner: Toward Yoknapatawpha Country and Beyond, Yale University Press, 1978
15．Robert A Jelliffe, Faulkner at Nagano, 4th edition, Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1966
16．Allen Tate, Essays of Four Decades, Swallow Press,1968
17． Elizabeth Kerr, Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner’s Little Postage Stamp of Native soil, Fordham University Press,1976
18．Clement Eaton, The Mind of the Old South, [Baton Rouge] Louisiana State University Press,1964
19．Marcus Cunliffe, The Literature of the United States,4th edition, Viking Press, 1986
20．W.J.Cash, The Mind of the South，New York Alfred A. Knopf 1970.，Vintage Books. 1941