共同体的美学再现——米勒《小说中的共同体》简评
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摘要
伦理关注贯穿了米勒的文学批评生涯,他诸多精彩的文本分析都蕴含着深刻的伦理动机。对米勒来说,文学的修辞性阅读绝不是阅读的根本目标,文学研究的伦理责任才是文学行为的目的所在。《小说中的共同体》就是这样一部饱含着伦理诉求的批评实例。论著聚焦六部现实主义、现代主义和后现代主义小说,米勒希望通过阅读这些作品并分析它们对共同体的再现,读者能够以不同对方式看待自己的共同体,并因此改变自己的行为。本文结合米勒另一部以共同体为主题的论著《共同体的燃烧》,评析了米勒的共同体理论及其对所涉文学作品中对共同体的美学再现的思考。
J. Hillis Miller's career of literary criticism is characterized by his ethical concerns, which is demonstrated in his numerous and wonderful textual analysis. Rhetorical analysis itself is not the fundamental objective of literary reading, for Miller, the ethical responsibility is. Communities in Fiction is a book written out of deeply rooted ethical concerns. Miller focuses on six novels of realism, modernism and postmodernism and hopes to arouse in the readers a consciousness to look differently at the communities they belong to and change their behavior after reading his analysis of the representation of communities in these texts. Juxtaposing another book of Miller, The Conflagration of Communities, this paper analyzes Miller's theory on communities as well as his thoughts on the aesthetical representation of communities in the works involved.
J. Hillis Miller's career of literary criticism is characterized by his ethical concerns, which is demonstrated in his numerous and wonderful textual analysis. Rhetorical analysis itself is not the fundamental objective of literary reading, for Miller, the ethical responsibility is. Communities in Fiction is a book written out of deeply rooted ethical concerns. Miller focuses on six novels of realism, modernism and postmodernism and hopes to arouse in the readers a consciousness to look differently at the communities they belong to and change their behavior after reading his analysis of the representation of communities in these texts. Juxtaposing another book of Miller, The Conflagration of Communities, this paper analyzes Miller's theory on communities as well as his thoughts on the aesthetical representation of communities in the works involved.
引文
Benjamin,Walter.Origin and German Tragic Drama.Trans.John Osborne.London:Verso,1977.
Elford,Jana Smith.“Review of Communities in Fiction by J.Hillis Miller.”Ariel:A Review of International English Literature 2(2017):167-70.
Fish,Stanley.Is There a Text in This Class?The Authority of Interpretative Communities.Cambridge:Harvard UP,1990.
Kurnick,David.“Review of Communities in Fiction.”Victoria Studies 59.1(2016):127-29.
Miller,J.Hillis.Communities in Fiction.New York:Fordham UP,2015.
-.The Conflagration of Community:Fiction Before and After Auschwitz.Chicago:U of Chicago P,2011.
Leitch,Vincent B.,ed.The Norton Anthology of Literary Criticism.New York:Norton,2001.
Wolfreys,Julian.The J.Hillis Miller Reader.Stanford:Stanford UP,2005.
陈丹丹、顾明栋:《睿智博识的“海外无知者”--希利斯·米勒的〈中国演讲集〉述评》,载《外国文学》2017年第3期,第167-75页。[Chen,Dandan,and Gu Mingdong.“An Erudite Innocent from Abroad:A Critical Review of J.Hillis Miller’s Lectures in China.”Foreign Literature 3(2017):167-75.]
威廉斯:《关键词:文化与社会的词汇》,刘建基译。北京:三联书店,2005。[Williams,Raymond.Keywords:A Vocabulary of Culture and Society.Trans.Liu Jianji.Beijing:SDX Joint,2005.]
殷企平《:西方文论关键词:共同体》,载《外国文学》2016年第2期,第70-79页。[Yin,Qiping.“Community:A Keyword in Critical Theory.”Foreign Literature 2(2016):70-79.]
a南京大学出版社2016年出版了此书的中文译本,译者国荣的译名为《萌在他乡--米勒中国演讲集》。相信国荣眼中的米勒先生是“萌萌”的,毕竟,他们是朋友(米勒先生告诉笔者的)。这个带有自嘲意味的书名是米勒自拟的,难免不令人想起马克·吐温的《傻子出国记》,当然两书的主旨完全不同。米勒这个书名,绝对没有吐温笔下的嘲讽之意,而是一种真正的自谦。2015年7月25、26日笔者在米勒的家乡缅因州的鹿岛采访他时,他亲口告诉笔者,他对中国学者和读者充满了敬意,而自己不懂汉语,是很大的遗憾。陈丹丹、顾明栋的书评中将此书译为《天真的海外来客--米勒中国演讲集》,笔者赞同两位的译法。论及米勒与中国学术界的关系,芝加哥大学洪熙源(Haun Saussy)将其称为“作为客人的批评家”,陈丹丹、顾明栋则称其为“良师益友”(critic as mentor)。
Elford,Jana Smith.“Review of Communities in Fiction by J.Hillis Miller.”Ariel:A Review of International English Literature 2(2017):167-70.
Fish,Stanley.Is There a Text in This Class?The Authority of Interpretative Communities.Cambridge:Harvard UP,1990.
Kurnick,David.“Review of Communities in Fiction.”Victoria Studies 59.1(2016):127-29.
Miller,J.Hillis.Communities in Fiction.New York:Fordham UP,2015.
-.The Conflagration of Community:Fiction Before and After Auschwitz.Chicago:U of Chicago P,2011.
Leitch,Vincent B.,ed.The Norton Anthology of Literary Criticism.New York:Norton,2001.
Wolfreys,Julian.The J.Hillis Miller Reader.Stanford:Stanford UP,2005.
陈丹丹、顾明栋:《睿智博识的“海外无知者”--希利斯·米勒的〈中国演讲集〉述评》,载《外国文学》2017年第3期,第167-75页。[Chen,Dandan,and Gu Mingdong.“An Erudite Innocent from Abroad:A Critical Review of J.Hillis Miller’s Lectures in China.”Foreign Literature 3(2017):167-75.]
威廉斯:《关键词:文化与社会的词汇》,刘建基译。北京:三联书店,2005。[Williams,Raymond.Keywords:A Vocabulary of Culture and Society.Trans.Liu Jianji.Beijing:SDX Joint,2005.]
殷企平《:西方文论关键词:共同体》,载《外国文学》2016年第2期,第70-79页。[Yin,Qiping.“Community:A Keyword in Critical Theory.”Foreign Literature 2(2016):70-79.]
a南京大学出版社2016年出版了此书的中文译本,译者国荣的译名为《萌在他乡--米勒中国演讲集》。相信国荣眼中的米勒先生是“萌萌”的,毕竟,他们是朋友(米勒先生告诉笔者的)。这个带有自嘲意味的书名是米勒自拟的,难免不令人想起马克·吐温的《傻子出国记》,当然两书的主旨完全不同。米勒这个书名,绝对没有吐温笔下的嘲讽之意,而是一种真正的自谦。2015年7月25、26日笔者在米勒的家乡缅因州的鹿岛采访他时,他亲口告诉笔者,他对中国学者和读者充满了敬意,而自己不懂汉语,是很大的遗憾。陈丹丹、顾明栋的书评中将此书译为《天真的海外来客--米勒中国演讲集》,笔者赞同两位的译法。论及米勒与中国学术界的关系,芝加哥大学洪熙源(Haun Saussy)将其称为“作为客人的批评家”,陈丹丹、顾明栋则称其为“良师益友”(critic as mentor)。