意义失却的仿真时代:论狄第恩《顺其自然》中的虚空主题

The Meaningless Simulation Age: The Void in Didion’s Play It As It Lays

虚空是当代美国女作家狄第恩一贯关注的焦点,其小说《顺其自然》揭示了处于后现代仿真语境中个人被黑洞吞没的空无状态。本文借用鲍德里亚关于内爆以及历史终结的相关理论,提出《顺其自然》利用好莱坞和拉斯维加斯作为故事发生的背景强调了后现代社会的仿真性,而小说在时空方面的挤压回应了鲍德里亚关于历史终结的推论。小说最终揭示的是,在后现代社会,主体的存在只是一种幻像,永恒的虚空才是宿命的策略。

Joan Didion has focused on the theme of void. Her novel Play It As It Lays reveals nothingness experienced by individuals in the postmodern simulation context. With Jean Baudrillard＇ notions of implosion and of the end of history as the theoretical basis, this paper believes that the novel, by setting the story in Hollywood and Las Vegas, foregrounds the hyper-reality of postmodem society, and its special treatment of time and space corresponds to Baudrillard＇ supposition of the end of history. Thus this novel reveals that the subjective existence is illusory and eternal void is the fatal strategy.