试论《法国中尉的女人》中的存在主义向度

On the Existentialist Dimension Permeated in The French Lieutenant’s Woman,

存在主义文学主要关注的是人的生存状态,它肯定人的存在先于本质这一存在主义首要原则,表现人在绝望、荒谬的境遇之中的精神自由和自由选择。英国约翰.福尔斯的著名小说《法国中尉的女人》,历来被当作后现代小说的典范来进行解读,然而小说处处都渗透着浓郁的存在主义精神自由和自由选择的色彩。本文以小说中显现出来的存在主义向度为切入点,对作品进行了细读、分析,得出了以下结论:小说表现了存在主义哲学的基本理念,即:包括人在内的世间万物原本没有什么意义,而一旦人对事物采取了行动,事物便获得了意义。而这一理念的体现和载体就是小说中的女主人公萨拉。

Existentialist literature is chiefly concerned with the condition of human existence. It confirms the primary principle of existence before essence＇ and illustrates man＇ s spiritual freedom and free choice in the situation of despair and absurdity. The French Lieutenant＇s Woman, written by John Fowles, a wellknown contemporary English writer, used to be read as an example of post-modernist novel, but in fact iris immersed with an intensive coloring of existentialism. This paper, then, focuses on the existentialist dimension permeated in the novel, makes a close study of the novel and draws the conclusion that the novel exemplifies the principal idea of existentialism, i.e. everything in the world including man is originally endowed with no meaning but they acquire meaning once action is taken upon them,which is mostly implied and carried in the heroine of the novel, Sara Woodruff.