《黑暗深处》的“展示”与“告诉”

Showing and Telling in The Heart of Darkness

"展示"与"告诉"是小说叙事的两种基本形式,根据作家的创作意图交替出现,搭配使用,形成不同的创作效果。康拉德的著名小说《黑暗深处》在表征主人公库尔茨的野蛮、凶残、贪婪方面,兼用"展示"与"告诉"两种方式,抨击殖民主义的罪恶,表现出作家强烈的正义感;在表征库尔茨的"文明"和"伟大"方面,却故意使用"告诉"的单一叙事,丧失说服力,帝国神话被悄然解构,表现出康拉德高超的叙事策略和思想深度。

Showing and telling are two basic forms of fictive narration,and are applied cooperatively so as to create different artistic effects. In presenting the barbarity,brutality and avarice of its protagonist Kurtz,The Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, makes use of both showing and telling so as to expose the evil of colonialism and shows the strong sense of justice of its author. However, largely telling is used in presenting the ＂civilized＂ and ＂great＂ aspect of Kurtz,thus losing convincing power,secretly deconstructing the imperialist myth ,and showing Conrad＇s great narrative strategy and thinking power.