城市牧歌——论《就说是睡着了》中的城市空间

Urban Pastoral ——On the Urban Space in Call It Sleep

《就说是睡着了》细致地描绘了城市的街道、家宅、地下室和街头的人群,并在种种微观的物理空间形象中浓缩人物的心理活动,多维度、多层次地展现了20世纪初期纽约的物理空间和人群景观。罗思借助城市空间叙事,批判性地思考了自身在城市中的投影和现代美国城市中移民的艰难处境。他怀着一种梭罗式的乡村情结,呼唤人们回归和谐稳定的乡村田园。

Call h Sleep meticulously portrays a multi - dimensional and multi - level display of the physical space and the crowd of New York in the early 20th century by presenting a panoramic view of urban streets, tenement, cellar and crowd in the streets. Roth ＇ s narrative of urban space helps him to contemplate critically his own projection in the city as well as the plight of migrants in the modem city of United States. With a Thoreauvian pastoral complex, he calls for the return to the harmonious and stable country. Call It Sleep can thus be viewed as an urban pastoral, which shows that people have to seek refuge in idyllic thought in the face of the heterogeneity in urban space.