暴力并非总是甜蜜:论特里·伊格尔顿的悲剧观

Tragedy is not Always Sweet--Terry Eagleton's Tragic Vision

与其老师雷蒙·威廉斯一样,特里·伊格尔顿尤其关注悲剧这一重要社会和艺术问题。他先后发表《甜蜜的暴力——悲剧的观念》和《悲剧》两本专著,对西方主流悲剧观念提出严厉批评。自菲利普·锡德尼于16世纪发表《为诗辩护》以来,欧美主流评论家大多强调悲剧人物面临苦难和死亡时所表现出的大无畏精神,即悲剧的崇高感。伊格尔顿对西方悲剧艺术史进行了全面而细致的考察,并从历代保守派理论家对悲剧的负面反应中得出相反结论,即暴力并不总是甜蜜。

Following his teacher Raymond Williams,Terry Eagleton has always concemed himself with tragedy as an important social and aesthetic issue.Within a span of 17 years,he published two monographs on this topic:Sweet Violence--The Idea of the Tragic(2003)and Tragedy(2020)where he raises scathing criticism of the mainstream of tragic theories.Since the publication of The Defense of Poesy by Philip Sidney in the 16th century,most theorists in the West have tended to emphasize courage and bravery exhibited by the tragic protagonist when he or she faces adversity,the so-called tragic sublimity.After a comprehensive survey of the history of tragic art as well as negative responses to tragedy from conservative theorists in the past,Terry Eagleton draws a contrary conclusion,that is,violence is not always sweet.