威廉斯与文学表征的“对位阅读”——以《乡村与城市》对意识形态的解构为例

Raymond Williams and His Contrapuntal Reading of Literary Representations

作为两种重要的人类生存生活空间,"乡村"和"城市"及其所承载的生活是文学表征的经典主题。一方面,由于代表着自然的生活,被描绘得美轮美奂的乡村往往被文人墨客寄托了无限情思;另一方面,由于其变动不居、世俗乃至腐化,在文学作品中,城市经常被描绘为污浊不堪而遭人鄙薄。然而,在"乡村"和"城市"及其各自所代表的生活方式被认为理所当然时,这些文学表征背后所藏匿的意识形态也就往往被忽略。在《乡村与城市》中,著名批评家雷蒙·威廉斯对文学作品中的城乡意象、城乡关系、各自的变迁以及全球化时代的城乡结构等主题进行了深入考察,从而揭示出这些文学呈现不过是各种精致的剥削和压迫关系的表达和不断翻新,虚假的城乡形象及二元关系在不断粉饰剥削的现实和人们的深重苦难。晚近"乡村"和"城市"的疏离,威廉斯指出资本主义制度才是罪魁祸首。在本文看来,威廉斯对有关"乡村"和"城市"的文学惯例的建构性的论述,这实质上和萨伊德所论述的"对位阅读"有异曲同工之妙。以威廉斯的批评方法为中心,本文不仅试图对这一方法在解读和揭示文学表征的意识形态内涵和政治功能的独特有效性进行研究,同时还对其在当下的重要理论意义进行了论述。

As two of the most fundamental spaces for inhabitation, ＂the country＂ and ＂the city＂, together with the life dramas with them as the background, are central themes of literary representation. Writers tend to celebrate the country because of its as- sociation with the peaceful pastoral life ; on the other hand, the city, which stands for a secular and depraved way of life, be- comes a sinister place in numerous literary works. People have taken these associations in literary representations for granted, for- getting that they are actually ideological constructions. In The Country and the City, Raymond Williams reads such spatial repre- sentations in literary works contrapuntally by restoring their historical situations and reveals that they are simply exquisite ways to screen cruel exploitation and repression in real life. Consequently these false representations of the country and the city as well as their relationships with each other tend to prevent the people from seeing the reality of exploitation and the miseries of people. Ac- cording to him, capitalism is the real cause of the recent alienation between the country and the city. Based on Williams＇ convic- tion about the constructedness of the conventions of representing the country and the city in literary works, this paper undertakes to investigate Williams＇ methodology in revealing the ideological and political functions of these spatial representations.