解读《印度之行》的性别政治

Interpreting the Gender Politics in A Passage to India

福斯特对待性别的独特态度和认识以及他对性别的艺术处理,是解开《印度之行》某些神秘现象的钥匙。在福斯特的眼里,英国和印度的关系变成了男人和女人的关系的比喻。性别的高下之分,和种族的优劣之别相互融合,巧妙地服务于小说作者的意识形态的抒发。但与此同时,《印度之行》的两性关系又具有强烈的去政治化意图,该作品在殖民时期和后殖民时期都同样引发人们的高度关注和热烈评论,原因正在于此。

E.M.Forster′s unique attitude toward and cognition of gender and his artistic presentation of the issue is a key to many of the mysteries of A Passage to India.In Forster′s eyes,the racial relationship between the English and the Indians is a metaphor of the sexual relationship between men and women.The hierarchical pattern in the sexual relationship,in accordance with the hierarchical pattern in the racial relationship,aptly serves the author′s purpose of ideological expression.Yet,at the same time,the novel reveals its intention to depoliticize the sexual relationship,which explains why it is equally attractive and stimulating both in the colonial age and in the post-colonial age.