论曼斯菲尔德叙事风格的形成

Tracing the Formation of the Narrative Style of the Short Stories by Katherine Mansfield

作为英国短篇小说领域的创新者之一,曼斯菲尔德的短篇小说呈现出与传统短篇小说极不相同的叙事风格,经其革新后的英国短篇小说面目一新,自此开始广受世人瞩目。但曼斯菲尔德短篇小说叙事风格的形成绝非一日之功,而是经过漫长的求索求变过程。本文将其创作分为前期、转型期、后期三个创作阶段,撷取三个阶段中代表不同风格的三篇作品进行比较,以探知曼斯菲尔德的求变过程和最终风格的形成。

As one of the important innovators in the field of short stories in English literature, Katherine Mansfield＇ s short stories demonstrate a peculiar style entirely different from those shown by traditional short stories. Influenced by her innovated writing style, English short stories began to assume a new look, displaying a new style of narration, which possesses the dramatic difference from the traditional style of short stories. From then on, English short stories began to attract the world. However, the narrative style of Katherine Mansfield＇ s short stories was by means shaped overnight ; its formation came about only after long years of painful exploration and innovation. This paper first divides the process of her creative writing into three different stages ——the initial stage, the transformation stage and the later one. Then, the writer of this paper selects three representative stories from the three stages representing different styles and makes a comparative study so as to probe into the process of the formation of her final narrative style.