《塞维其传》:虚构中的真实人性

True Human Nature and Fictional Representation in the Life of Savage

《塞维其传》是英国著名作家塞缪尔.约翰逊早期的重要作品,一直为众多评论家和读者所喜爱和关注。论文运用文本细读,考察了《塞维其传》的传主理查德.塞维其的真实原型,具体解读了真实文本背后的虚构元素,比较了传主与虚构小说和浪漫传奇中主人公的相似之处,论证了叙述者的声音对于表现传记主题的影响,分析了约翰逊如何利用虚构和现实的融合来表现普遍的人性,更好地实现道德说教。全面地看,《塞维其传》中的虚构是为了更好地表现真实人性。

Samuel Johnson is the famous English writer of the eighteenth century and the Life of Savage is an important and representative work of his early life. Ever since its publication, this biography has been widely read and interpreted by the readers and critics of all ages. This paper analyzes the textual facts of the Life of Savage in detail, looks into the true prototype of biographical subject, Richard Savage, finds out some fictional elements that are merged into his real life story, reveals the similarities between this biographical subject and typical heroes of romance and fictional novels through proper comparison, testifies the influence of biographical narrator＇s voice on the thematic representation, and demonstrates how Johnson integrates facts and fictional elements into the truthful narration of Savage＇ s life experience and realizes his intention of teaching moral lesson through biographical writing. The whole investigation shows that fiction in the Life of Savage serves for a better representation of true human nature, the eternal and universal reality.