亨利·詹姆斯的替代性男性气质构建——《使节》中的语象叙事和意识中心

Henry James’s Construction of Alternative Masculinity——Ekphrasis and Center of Consciousness in The Ambassadors

现代主义大师亨利·詹姆斯在《使节》中着力刻画了边缘男性人物兰伯特·斯特瑞塞在19世纪末美国男性气质危机背景下建构替代性男性气质的过程。通过使用语象叙事的手法和采取意识中心的叙事角度,詹姆斯完美呈现了斯特瑞塞建构的以捍卫道德和美为核心、类似于中世纪骑士精神的内驱型男性气质。一方面,詹姆斯选择此类主题进行创作既是源于他对时代症候的文化思考,也是他在现实压力下寻求自我救赎的必然选择;另一方面,他对意识中心叙事角度和语象叙事手法的选择体现了他的小说创作观,即主题和形式的有机统一。通过建构替代性男性气质,詹姆斯得以挑战19世纪末“自造男”男性气质的一元霸权,为建构男性气质的多元性作出了贡献。

In The Ambassadors,modernist master Henry James has conscientiously described Lambert Strether,who works out his alternative masculinity under the circumstance of masculinity crisis at the end of the 19th century in the U.S..With the application of ekphrasis and the choice of center of consciousness as narrative perspective,James represents the internally-driven masculinity Strether has constructed:it takes defense of virtues and beauty as the core,and bears resemblance to the chivalry of the Middle Ages.On one hand,James's choice of masculinity as a subject in his writing reflects his rumination of cultural symptoms as well as his personal wish for self-salvation under pressure;on the other hand,his selection of center of consciousness and ekphrasis displays his view on the composition of novels——the organic unity of subject and form.Above all,by the development of alternative masculinity,James has challenged the hegemony of"self-made man"masculinity and thus contributed to the multiplicity of masculinity.