《玻璃动物园》中“表演”的南方淑女

Performing Southern Belles in The Glass Menagerie

田纳西·威廉斯成名作《玻璃动物园》中母亲阿曼达和女儿劳拉属于典型的南方淑女,其言行举止很好地体现了南方淑女在建构过程中的表演性。但是,由于现代工业文明的入侵,美好的旧南方已不复存在,南方淑女曾经拥有的舞台也化为云烟,优雅的南方淑女失去了往日的观众,其"表演"出现悲剧性的断裂。她们却不愿轻易地退出历史,执意要在重新意指的过程中继续"表演",建构新的文化身份;只是现在她们的生活已成为一种艺术,她们本身也变成艺术品。威廉斯在思考南方淑女遭遇现代悲剧性命运的同时,也在探讨艺术与生活之间的关系。

In Tennessee Williams＇s The Glass Menagerie ,Amanda and Laura can be called classical South- ern belles. Their acts demonstrate the performativity in the construction of Southern belle. With the en- croachment of industrialization and modernity, the golden past of the Old South is never again and Southern belies ha^e lost their stage as well as the audience. Hence the tragic rupture of performance on the part of Southern belles. Unwilling to retreat from historical process, Southern belles seek to reconstruct their iden- tity by continuing their performance through resignification. Their life is being transformed into an art and they themselves are becoming works of art. While thinking about the modern tragedy of Southern belle, Williams explores the relationship between art and life.