从逃避、追寻到幻灭
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摘要
《兔子归来》是约翰·厄普代克的代表作“兔子四部曲”中的第二部。其主人公“兔子”凭着本能的直觉,感知到其生存状态的平庸、无趣和不自由。为此他迷惘、困惑。在《兔子跑吧》一书中,年轻体旺的他不断地出逃和追寻,逃避社会网络所赋予的各种责任。但所有的逃避都没有解决他心中的困惑,而所有的追寻亦没有找到他所想要的答案。十年以后,到《兔子归来》时,他已是精力有所衰退,情绪中有些沮丧与悲哀,但他依然无时不感觉到某些矛盾冲突的无处不在,本性使他亦无法停止对一些事物—他自己也不清楚的事物—的追寻,但最终还是以失败而告终,他依然徘徊在逃避与追寻之间。
     矛盾和冲突为什么会存在?并且它的存在为什么带有一种不可调和性?兔子直到他“休息”时也没弄清其缘由。不少评论文章曾从存在主义的角度对此进行分析和探究。本文尝试参考著名加拿大传播学者马歇尔·麦克卢汉的媒介理论对兔子所感知到的各种矛盾和其追寻的最终命运从宏观上加以分析。麦克卢汉媒介理论的重要论点“媒介即讯息”认为传播媒介(Technology)极大地影响着,甚至决定着,社会组织的形态(Culture)和人们交往的形式(Pattern),新的传播媒介的出现可以打破旧的垄断权,新旧传播媒介的矛盾便引起新旧社会组织形态之间的冲突。同时根据麦氏媒介理论对媒介本质的观点“媒介是人体的延伸”对兔子个人和周围“现代人”对社会所持的思维方式的差异进行阐释:兔子长期接触的印刷媒介形成了他独特的线性的、因果关系的独特推理方式来组织视觉经验,而无法立体地、复合地认识客观事物并进行思考,这种组织经验和思考方式的差异亦造成他个人(Individual)与他所处的电子传播媒介社会(Society)之间的不协调,这种思维方式的不协调注定其矛盾冲突的不可调和性。
     作者认为厄普代克在进行小说创作时受到麦克卢汉媒介理论宏观研究的影响,但同时他亦保留了自己在媒介—受众—社会之间关系方面的微观思考。通过小说中人物个体的个人背景和心理特征,表现了他对麦氏所宣扬的“地球村”、“所有社会成员和谐相处的部落关系的复归”必然性的保留意见。
     本文的研究方法是以《兔子归来》小说中故事发展的顺序为线索,依次对各章节段落进行分析阐述。
The novel Rabbit Redux is the second one of John Updike's literary masterpiece, the Rabbit quartet. Rabbit the hero is a runner, as well as a quester. He runs and quests through his whole life. He tries to run away from the sterility of life, the established order and the mechanized society. All his efforts eventually result in failure: he runs, but retreats again, he quests, but "quests" in a circle. Various conflicts nevertheless exist in Rabbit's life. He wonders till his death why these conflicts exist and are characterized by the inevitability. Lots of critics have examined this problem and analyzed Rabbit the character in terms of existentialism.
    This thesis tries to make a new attempt at analyzing the conflict met by the character and its doomed failure of his pursuit with the theory of Marshall McLuhan, the famous Canadian scholar on mass media. McLuhan claims that "the medium is the message", that is, the communication technology shapes the current social culture and each medium has a bias which influences the way people communicate. The appearance of the new technology would bring about the confrontation with the old one, which leads to the conflict between different social cultures. In addition, McLuhan's theory on the nature of media "the extensions of man" also provides this analysis the theoretical basis. Different media create a very particular way of organizing the custom and belief about the world. As a technology of communication, the printing press Rabbit has worked for for ten years helps him to create a culture characterized by linear thought and sequential perception, which is very different from that of multidimensional perspectives based on electrical technology. The differences between different cultures and perceptions cause the conflict between Rabbit the individual and society.
    The author believes that Updike's creation is to some degree influenced by McLuhan' s Media Theory, but Updike also keeps his own thoughts on the relation between technology and culture, and in his writings, the possibility of McLuhan's "the global village" and "retrialization" seems fragile.
引文
1. J. Mitchell Morse, HdR. Winter, 1966-67, p.682
    2. James A. Schiff, Updike Ignored: The Contemporary Independent Critic in American Literature. Vol.67, September 1995, p.531
    3. Arthur Mizener, Behind the Dazzle Is a Knowing Eye in The New York Times Book Review. 18 March 1962, p. 1
    4. See Michiko Kakutani's 1981 interview from www.nytimes.com/books/lifetimes/updike. html
    5. J.A.Ward, John Updike's Fiction in Critique. Vol. 5,1962, p.27
    6. David McCullough, Eyes on Books in Book of the Month Club News. July 1974, p.7
    7. Granville Hicks. SR. March 17,1962, p.21
    8. Henry Raymont's interview on July 27,1971 from www. nytimes. com/books/lifetimes / updike.html
    9. Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. New York: Bantam, 1967, p. 26
    10. Charles Mcgrath's interview on Nov. 19,2000 from www.nytimes.com/books/lifetimes/ updike.html
    11. James Plath, ed., Jackson, John Updike: 20 Books and Still Counting in Conversations with John Updike. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1994, p. 106
    12. John Updike, Self-consciousness. New York: Knopf, 1989, p.45
    13. John Updike, Self-consciousness. New York: Knopf, 1989, p.48
    14. Galloway, David, The Absurd Hero in American Fiction. Texas: The University of Texas press, 1981
    15. Jackson, John Updike Says a Novelist's Job Is...Like Peeping in Conversations with John Updike. Mississippi: The University Press of Mississippi, 1994, pp.168,170
    16. I Have Preened, I Have Lived on www. nytimes.com/books/updike-selfconsciousness.html
    17. J.A.Ward, Critique. Spring-Summer, 1962, p.29
    18. James Plath, ed., Jackson, John Updike: 20 Books and Still Counting in Conversations
    
    with John Updike. Mississippi: The University Press of Mississippi, 1994, p. 106.
    19. Charles Thomas Samuels, The Art of Fiction XL3: John Updike in Paris Review, Vol. 12, Winter 1968, p.91
    20. See Jane Howard's Interview on Nov. 4,1966, p.74
    21. John Updike, Picked-up Pieces. New York: Knopf, 1975, p.35
    22. Henry Raymont's interview on July 27,1971 from www.nytimes.com
    23. Hunt, George W., S. J., John Updike and the three great secret things: Sex, Religion and Art. Michigan: Eerdmans, 1980, p.167
    24. Hunt, George W., S. J., John Updike and the three great secret things: Sex, Religion and Art. Michigan: Eerdmans, 1980, p. 167
    25. John Updike, Rabbit Redux. New York: Random House, 1972, p.1
    26. Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. New York: Bantam, 1967,
    27. Carey, James W. Harold Adams Innis and Marshall McLuhan in Raymond Rosenthal ed., McLuhan: Pro & Con. New York: Penguin, 1968
    28. Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. New York: Bantam, 1967
    29. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extension of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964,
    30. Carey, James W, Harold Adams Innis and Marshall McLuhan in Raymond Rosenthal ed., McLuhan: Pro & Con. New York: Penguin, 1968
    31. Harley Parker, Counterblast. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1972, p. 116
    32. Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. New York: Bantam, 1967, p.26
    33. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extension of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, p.311
    34. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extension of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, p.358
    35. Playboy interview: Marshall McLuhan in playboy. March, 1969
    36. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extension of Man. New York:
    
    McGraw-Hill, 1964, p.213
    37. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extension of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, p.311
    38. I have preened, I have lived on www. nytimes.com/books/updike-selfconsciousness.html
    39. Carey, James W, Harold Adams Innis and Marshall McLuhan in Raymond Rosenthal ed., McLuhan: Pro & Con. New York: Penguin, 1968, p.284
    40. Mervyn Rothsten, The Origin of The Universe, Time And John Updike on www.nvtimes. com
    41. John Updike, Rabbit, Run. London: Deutsch, 1961, p.33
    42. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extension of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964,
    43. Harley Parker, Counterblast. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1972, p. 116
    44. John Updike, Picked-up Pieces. New York: Knopf, 1975, p.92
    
    
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