民族与自我——惠特曼的双重身份建构

Nationality and Individuality——Double Construction of Identity in Whitman’s Works

惠特曼笔下的美国与现实中的美国之间存在不小的背离,学界多以他的理想主义作为解释,而背后的动因是什么,鲜有研究。本文以意识形态的功利性为切入点,借助精神分析的内投射理论,力图揭示这种背离背后复杂的建构机制。主张其建构一个美好民族身份的真正动机在于通过内投射的机制,实现自我建构:通过将美国渲染成为一个民主、平等、团结友爱的国度,将自己定义为美国的典型一份子,惠特曼完成了对自我的塑造——一个伟大的、建构中的、实践着维系着国家未来的兄弟之爱的民主个体。

There are remarkable contradictions between Whitman’s America and the true America, many experts and scholars explain these contradictions from the view of Whitman’s idealism,but few researches discuss about the motivation behind it. This thesis tries to probe into the complicated mechanism of construction behind the contradictions through the special perspective — the utilitarianism of ideology,along with the employment of introjection,a theory of psychology. It claims that Whitman’s real motivation of constructing a great national identity is the realization of his selfconstruction through introjection: Whitman constructs a great image for America — a democratic and free country with absolutely equality and fraternity and all of the people in different colors living in harmony,and he,Whitman,is part of this great nation,and then he completes the construction of his person identity — a great democratic individual,who is carrying out the fraternity that will influence the future of the country.