摘要
保罗·奥斯特的小说《月宫》在地域上从纽约跨越至西部边疆,对美国历史上的荒野隐喻和城市文明进行了审视。本文旨在对这两种重要的空间形式(城市和边疆)进行考察,分析城市和边疆如何在小说中被表征及其背后的意旨。本文认为奥斯特在小说中借助"纽约"和"边疆"这两个地域转喻美国,小说中的纽约和西部都不再是纯粹的物理空间,而是美国文化构建的对象。奥斯特从边疆和城市想象入手,思考美国国家认同和民族神话的构建,揭示美国梦和美国神话的空泛性质。小说对城市和边疆意义的消解与奥斯特本人的空间体验不无关联,奥斯特认为,人只有摆脱地域的束缚,身处"无名之地"(no where),才能把握"此时此地"(now here),从而真正发现自我。
With its setting spanning from New York to the West,the novel Moon Palace serves as a re-examination of the wilderness and the city in American history. This essay attempts to examine how the two spatial forms——the city and the frontier——are represented in the novel. The essay argues that in the novel,New York and the frontier are metonymies for America and are imbued with cultural connotations. Through reimagining the frontier and the city,Auster reflects on the construction of American national identity and American myth,revealing to the reader that the so- called American Dream and American Myth are actually void of meaning. Auster's demystification of the city and the frontier has something to do with his own spatial experience. To him,man would grasp 'now here'only if he was in 'no where'.
出处
《外国语言文学》
2014年第3期197-205,216,共9页
Foreign Language and Literature Studies
基金
江苏省2014年度普通高校研究生科研创新计划项目的资助成果
