清教伦理与消费文化的悖论——兼《嘉莉妹妹》主题研究

Paradox between Puritan Ethics and Consuming Culture—Together with the Research on the Theme of Sister Carrie

《嘉莉妹妹》是西奥多·德莱塞的代表作。作品以真切的现实主义为鲜明的特征,比较真实地揭露了二十世纪初人们狂热地追求美国之梦的悲剧事实。本文通过追溯悲剧的根源,揭示了驱使人们享乐与消费却最终幻灭的本能主题。德莱塞敢于突破陈规,独树一帜,但他还是无法完全摆脱传统清教伦理的束缚,与占统治地位的意识形态之间有着千丝万缕的依赖关系,对于新起的消费文化,在无形中标榜的同时又持一种矛盾态度。

Sister Carrie is the masterpiece of Theodore Dreiser, which takes true realism as its distinctive feature, reflects the tragic fact that people pursue American dream fanatically in the early 20th century. Through tracking back to the origin of the tragedy, this paper exposes the theme of instinct which drives people to enjoy and consume but disillusion finally. Although Dreiser is bold in breaking through the traditional ideas, develops his new style, he is unable to break away from the traditional ideology thoroughly, keeping a dependent relationship with traditional puritan ethics. He flaunts the new consumerism intangibly, meanwhile holding a contradictory attitude toward consuming culture.