从俗还是坚守?——从尤金·威特拉看社会转型视野下知识分子的两难处境

To Be Worldly or Steadfast:The Intellectual Dilemma During the Social Transition Period as Experienced by Eugene Witla

《天才》是西奥多·德莱塞的一部自传性小说,其背景恰逢20世纪初的美国正由传统社会向现代社会过渡。在这部小说中,德莱塞深刻而真实地描绘了社会转型视野下知识分子面临的两难处境——从俗还是坚守?一方面,他向我们展示了小说主人公尤金追求世俗生活的必然性与多样性;另一方面又凸显了尤金作为一个知识分子在自我定位与坚守过程中的努力。

Theodore Dreiser's autobiographical novel Genius had its setting in the early 20th century,when the U.S.society went through the transition from the traditional to the modern.In the novel,Dreiser portrayed a dilemma facing the intelligentsia during the social transition: to be worldly,or stick to the intellectual identity.On the one hand,Dreiser showed us Eugene the protagonist's inevitable pursuit of worldly life;on the other hand,he highlighted his efforts to orient himself and hold fast to his intellectual identity.