探寻隐藏的冰山——语用学视角解读《白象似的群山》

Seeking the Hidden Iceberg——An Interpretation of Hills Like White Elephant from Pragmatic Perspective

海明威的著名短篇《白象似的群山》便是一个最具代表性的例子。全文不到两千个单词,几乎由对话编织而成,没有太多描写,但通过男女主人公对话展现了他们的心理、性格和冲突,给读者留下了想象空间,从而使之具有永久的艺术魅力。本文试从语用学角度,应用会话含义、合作原则、礼貌原则等相关语用学理论解读主要人物对话,来透视人物心理,探寻主人公之间的冰山,发掘小说的深刻内涵。

Ernest Hemingway is the great master in literary world. As Ezra Pound said the whole art of writing was concision. It means in the fewest and clearest words. Ernest Hemingway＇s Hills like White Elephants is such a representative example. With no more than two thousand words, the whole novel consists of conversation. In this short story, there are few descriptions of characters, scenery and psychology which leave more space for readers to imagine. This paper attempts to interpret the understated feeling of the story with the help of pragmatics including conversational implication, the cooperative principles and politeness principle. It tries to have a better picture of their inner world and intentions as are implied in their utterances. And ultimately, gain a better understanding of the two personalities.