成长、筑居与身份认同——当代加勒比英语文学中的成长主题

On the Growing up Motif of Caribbean literature

在当代加勒比英语文学中,“成长”既是一种小说类型,也是一个普遍主题,贯穿于小说、诗歌、史诗等文本中。加勒比成长文学中的主角既有青春期的少男少女普遍具有的“成长的烦恼”,又有生活在殖民地或后殖民地社会中的青少年特殊的烦恼,即对自己的文化身份的困惑和烦恼。因此,对个体成长和命运的探索也成为对民族成长和群体命运的探索,个人的成长史往往成为民族的寓言。加勒比成长文学中父名和父亲形象的缺席显示了集体记忆的缺失,多面性的母亲形象则反映了被殖民者既想依附又想独立于殖民权力结构的复杂心态;而一系列筑居者形象的出现反映了当代加勒比作家普遍的自觉意识,即如何摆脱文化上的依附状态,塑造自己独立的人格,在没有本土传统的后殖民社会中,创造出属于自己的人生价值和文化身份。

As a type of fiction, novels about growing up originated and developed in modem Europe in close relation to the process of Western modernization and the wakening and developing of the modem Western subject consciousness. One of the characteristics of the growing up novels is its foresightness, which means active participation in molding a new reality and new subjectivity, instead of passive representation of reality. It is necessary to note that in contemporary Caribbean literature, “growing up” is both a type of novel and a general motif that exceeds the bounds of novel and permeates through texts of different genres such as fiction, poetry and epic. In most cases, the growing up motif in Caribbean literature is tightly linked with collective memory, cultural roots and ethnic identification. Unlike their European colleagues, most Caribbean authors are exiles from former colonies to former suzerains. Being brought up under the colonial education system and immigrating to Western metropolises, they fall into an identity crisis and keenly realize the loss of their childhood and cultural roots. Besides the “growing pains” general to all teenagers, the young protagonists of Caribbean literature have their particular pains and troubles with their cultural identity. To many Caribbean writers, the exploration of the growing up motif is a way of self identification and a solution to the enigma of their existence both as individuals and as ethnics. Therefore, the exploration of the fate of their individual growth becomes an exploration of the fate of their ethnic group, and their individual history becomes a national allegory. The absence of the father image and the intensified mother image in the Caribbean “growing up” literature are conspicuous. If the former shows the vacancy of cultural memory, then the latter may be interpreted as a mixed and puzzled attitude of Caribbean writers towards their former suzerains. The mother image has a dual aspect in Caribbean literature： she protects her children and controls them at the same time, just as suzerain empires did to their colonies. Finally, some favorite images as builders, architects and surveyors are frequently used by Caribbean writers to show their ambition to shake off the colonialist control, to build up an independent personality and to create values of their own, which echoes Martin Heidegger＇ s belief that man as an existent shoulders the threefold task to build, to create and to dedicate.