围城与焦虑——文化资本视角下的《纯真年代》

Siege and Anxiety——Cultural Capital in The Age of Innocence

伊迪丝·沃顿的代表作《纯真年代》使用大篇幅描写19世纪晚期传统纽约上流社会生活的图景,在故事的结尾却转向展示工业化转型后的美国社会。若运用皮埃尔·布迪厄的文化资本理论,沃顿对纽约上流社会的细致描写可以看成是文化资本的具象化符号,小说也就能解读为老纽约视角下的美国社会转型记录。从布迪厄文化资本的三种形态来看,即具身化的价值观、客体化的物质财富和制度化的风俗规范,小说都呈现出老纽约在美国城市化和社会转型时期的矛盾与焦虑。面对新兴资本的不断冲击,老纽约只能在社交领域构筑起一面强调其独特性的文化资本围墙以掩饰逐渐失去话语权的焦虑。

Edith Wharton’s representative work The Age of Innocence presents a panorama picture of the old New York’s upper-class in the late 19th century,but presents a industrial-transformed society in the ending part.When Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital is applied,these detailed descriptions can be seen as figurative symbols of cultural capital.The novel can also be seen as a historic book that records American society’s transformation from the old New York’s perspective.In terms of Bourdieu’s three forms of cultural capital,namely embodied values,objectified material wealth and institutionalized customary norms,the novel reveals the contradictions and anxieties of the old New York during the period of urbanization and social modernization in America.Facing with continuous strikes from the new capital,the old money can only build a cultural capital wall to emphasize their distinction and conceal the anxiety of losing power.