巴罗达太太:对话中的永恒艺术魅力——评凯特·肖邦的《一位正派的女人》

Mrs. Baroda :the Eternal Artistic Fascination in Dialogues——On Kate Chopin's A Respectable Woman

长期以来,对于凯特·肖邦的短篇小说《一位正派的女人》的解读都存在着截然相反的两种观点。本文试图从巴赫金的对话基点出发,用符号学的观点对此部作品进行分析,从而揭示出《一位正派的女人》的永恒艺术生命力——肖邦通过塑造巴罗达太太这样一个复杂的文学形象与读者进行对话;而由于作品的未确定性使得读者的阐释出现差距,从而又造成了读者之间的对话;巴罗达太太究竟"正派"与否已经不再是对话的焦点,这种意义的不确定性使她拥有了超越环境、时代的永恒艺术魅力。

Kate Chopin＇ s short story A Respectable Woman has long been explained in completely two different ways. Based on Bakhtin＇ s theory of dialogue, this article examines the eternal artistic vitality of A Respectable Woman from the semiotic perspective. By creating a complex literary character Mrs. Baroda, Kate Chopin tries to engage in dialogues with the readers. The readers＇ interpretations of the story vary because of the uncertainty of the open ending, which in turn leads to more dialogues between different readers. Thus the focus of these dialogues is no longer on whether Mrs. Baroda is a respectable woman, but on the heroine＇s eternal artistic fascination beyond environment and time, which is secured by the uncertain meaningfulness.