《项狄传》与18世纪英国小说传统

Tristram Shandy and the Tradition of the Eighteenth Century English Novel

斯特恩虽然在小说的模式及写作技巧上进行了实验性的尝试,他的游戏姿态也使《项狄传》似乎同18世纪英国的主流小说格格不入,甚至具有意识流小说和后现代主义小说的一些特点,但作为一部18世纪的小说,《项狄传》总体而言并没有超越那个时代。其叙事策略并不像表面上看来那样背离主流小说,它的现实主义创作基调和道德关怀也都表现出其与传统之间的密切联系。

The uniqueness of Tristram Shandy lies in the author＇s experiment with its form and writing methods as well as in its playful tone. The novel even shows some characteristics of stream of consciousness and post-modernism. But on the whole, it does not go beyond the tradition of the 18th century English novel： its narrative strategy is not so different from that of the mainstream novels of the time as it seems, and its realism and moral concerns indicate a strong tie with the tradition.