《喧哗与躁动》中班吉叙述时间的转换探究

Time-switching in Benjy's Monologues

文章从语言学的角度分析福克纳小说《喧哗与躁动》中智障青年班吉(Ben jy)的思维风格。由于不能像常人一样思考问题,班吉的叙述缺乏条理性,叙述时间的跳跃和反复让读者费解。通过系统的语言分析,笔者发现班吉叙述时间的转换与他对事物的熟悉感息息相关;另外,相似的感官刺激也导致班吉分不清时间的前后顺序,经常把带给他相同感受的几个事件不分先后地融合在一起叙述,从而造成了读者阅读的困难。但是班吉这种独特的叙述方式符合其思维风格,是作者人物塑造的亮点之一。

This essay attempts to investigate the peculiarity of Benjy＇ s mind style in William Faulkner＇ s novel The Sound and the Fury through an analysis of the underlying time switching pattern in the character＇ s monologues. The tempral transitions in Benjy＇s narration make reading difficult. However, Benjy＇s mental problems and cognitie limitations are projected via systematic linguistic and textual patterns. The mechanical identification of place and sen sation accounts for the accessibility of his peculiar mind style. It is shown that the basis of Benjy＇ s idiosyncratic ordering of experience is confined to his mechanical identification of place and sensation.