元小说、现实主义与现代主义小说传统

Metafiction,Realism and Modernism:A Paradigm Shift in Western Novel

元小说是西方20世纪后半叶一个不可忽视的文学现象,象征了一次发生在小说传统内部的范式转变。无论是从宏观还是微观的角度来看,元小说都与过往的虚构散文体叙事保持着一定的批判距离。这主要表现为它对文学中目的论的反思甚至戏谑。在宏观层面,对于现实主义和现代主义美学而言,主题和时间维度的矛盾通常在经验世界、道德或意识层面得以和解;而当代元小说,或将主题矛盾刻意前景化,或在频繁的语境置换中制造矛盾的阅读期待。在微观层面,对前者而言,意义的产生主要依赖于语言学意义上的近喻和隐喻原则;而后者则将意义消解为语言选择的过程。当然,元小说并非也不可能彻底否定叙事中的目的论;它仅仅是试图在各个具体层面与传统的小说叙事保持暧昧的距离。在一个符号日渐沦为功用消费的当下语境中,这种面对自身媒介"既参与又质疑"的态度显得尤为重要。

The paper aims at a comparative study on contemporary metafiction, realist and modernist novels. While in the latter two traditions textual conflicts are often resolved at the level of empirical world, morality or consciousness, they are intentionally foregrounded in metafiction. On the other hand, the kind of reading centering on interpretation, which is closely associated with realism and modernism, is deconstructed into processes of linguistic selection. This acute self-consciousness of form not only unleashes the tension of the novel, but also liberates reading to some extent.