塔楼与故乡的村庄——小说《更多的人死于心碎》中的意象解读

Electronic Tower and the Village of Hometown——On Some Images in More Die of Heartbreak

索尔·贝娄的小说具有很丰富的文化内涵,这在很大程度上得益于贝娄在小说中创造的生动的意象。小说《更多的人死于心碎》中一个反复出现的中心意象——电子塔楼等高层建筑象征了工业文明对人类所具有的毁灭性的力量,而小说主人公贝恩故乡的村庄和村庄里"母亲的厨房"、桑树等意象则代表了传统文明和人文精神对人类的滋养和健康的力量。这两组意象之间的鲜明对照表现了两种不同价值观的激烈冲突。"故乡的村庄"是都市人灵魂的故乡的隐喻。主人公贝恩则是小说作者的代言人,在一个消费主义盛行的现代化工业社会的精神废墟里,他扮演了一个"麦田里的守望者"的角色。对这部小说中意象的解读有助于理解小说所具有的深刻的文化意蕴。

Saul Bellow＇s novels have rich cultural connotation which is represented through the vivid images created in the novels. The recurring central images of the electric tower and some other tall buildings in the novel More Die of Heartbreak symbolize the devastating power of the industrial civilization, materialism, and pragmatism. The village of Benn＇s hometown with ＂the kitchen of his mother＂, the mulberry, and the polar region are the representations of the traditional civilization, humanistic spirit, and its moral value. The sharp contrast between these two groups of images represented by the electric tower and the village respectively suggests that there are intense conflicts between two kinds of morality. The country village is a metaphor for the spiritual homeland of human beings. The protagonist Benn who plays the role of＂the catcher in the rye＂ is the spokesman of the author himself. The study of the images in this novel will promote the understanding of the rich cultural connotation of Saul Bellow＇s novels.