罗马的隐喻:原罪与狂欢——谈《牧神雕像》与霍桑的国家意识形态批评

The Marble Faun as a Critique on American National Ideology

《牧神雕像》在西方历史的宏阔语境中反思19世纪上半叶美国的主导价值观念,是对主流意识形态的批评和暗中消解。霍桑以牧神的堕落为主线,隐喻19世纪上半叶的精神病症;又以黄金时代的神话为参照,返观进步论主导下的美国状况。在确认原罪说的同时,作家以罗马为隐喻,通过游记描写将历史空间化,借此消解进步论所依赖的线性历史框架,质疑进步论指引下美国资本主义以及国家历史走向。在对意识形态进行消解的同时,表达了融合异教文化遗产以修正时代病症的文化理想。

In The Marble Faun,probably his most ambitious work,Nathaniel Hawthorne questions and challenges American national ideology of the first half of the 19^(th) century by having Donatello,a faun-like character,reenact the mythic fall of man from innocence into the world of sin while resituating American history in the bigger picture of western civilization.If Donatello's story functions as a heuristic framework for the author to reflect on the sad transformation of modern man,the Golden Age myth he evokes in the novel is intended as a diagnostic tool for the problems of his country which is caught up in dreams of progress and national greatness.Hawthorne's conservatism is most evident when he spatializes time and history with his seemingly digressive description of the eternal city of Rome,which,as a central metaphor,nulli- fies linear time and represents history as a heap of ruins.While thus interrogating the dominant ideologies of the country,Hawthorne also looks back on the cultural legacy of ancient Greek and Roman world and suggests that a healthier alternative is to incorporate laughter and the carnivalesque into a culture committed to progress,wealth and power.