从孩童的世界到世界的孩童——陀思妥耶夫斯基后期创作中的孩童问题

From Children's World to Children in the World:Problem of Children in Dostoevsky's Late Works

儿童形象的引入对揭示陀思妥耶夫斯基创作思想起着重要作用。传统的评论大多将儿童视为单纯美好的形象,认为陀氏笔下孩童的苦难是'无辜受难'。笔者从细读文本中发现,作家后期创作中,特别是在《卡拉马佐夫兄弟》中,孩童形象是复杂的,同时具有正面和负面特点,即孩童性,其双重性带有人性的普遍特征。孩童问题不仅是社会问题,更是人性问题。孩童性的提出是基于作家对基督教原罪论的认同,与圣经中对孩童的描述相吻合,即孩童身上不仅有天国的品质,也有盲目地倾向罪恶的特点。孩童构成的群体凸显了成人世界的特征,美好品质和良好动机也因原罪的掺入而造成悲剧。盲目愚顽既是儿童也是成人苦难的深层原因,走出悲剧的出路在于以宽恕和爱战胜仇恨和审判。同时,孩童的单纯美好见证了人被造的高贵。这样,孩童形象得到极大延展,突显了作家笔下的救赎主题:所有人都如同迷失的孩童,困惑而需要救赎,而人身上的神性特征是人获救的希望。

Children images play an important part in Dostoevsky＇ s works. Traditionally it is held that children are pure and innocent and that in Dostoevsky＇ s works, children＇ s suffering is ＂suf- fering of the innocents. ＂ A detailed reading reveals that in Dostoevsky＇ s later works, especially in The Brothers Karamazov, children images are complex in that they possess both the positive and negative charateristics. The problem of children is not so much a social problem as the problem of human nature. The writer＇ s approach to this problem reflects his affirmative understanding of o- riginal sin propensity in Christianity. Children are imbued to do evil. The group of children hi with both the quality of holiness and the random ghlights certain characteristics of adults, but the corrosion of good qualities and motives by original sin results in tragedy. Randomness and perver- sity are the causes of both children＇ s and adults＇ tragedy on a deeper level. The way out is to conquer hatred and judgment by forgiveness and love. Also, children＇ s innocence and purity wit- ness the nobility of the created man. Children images have thus obtained great extension and en- hance the theme of redemption： Just like the lost children, all the people feel perplexed and need redemption, and the divinity in man is the very hope for salvation.