论《瓦尔登湖》的经典化生成

On the Generation of Classic Walden

美国作家梭罗的代表作《瓦尔登湖》,被誉为西方经典,在美国及世界文学史上地位显赫。该书的经典化过程与美国19世纪末至20世纪初的历史文化语境直接相关。基于建构主义观念,霍顿米夫林出版社的商业营销策略、评论界的大力褒扬及文学史家的论争、时代风气的变化是推动《瓦尔登湖》经典化进程的三股主要力量。

Walden, a masterpiece of American writer Henry David Thoreau, is honored as one of the Western classics, enjoying a prominent position in the history of American literature and world literature. The process of canonization of this book is directly related with American historical and cultural context from late 19 th to early 20 th century. Based on the concept of constructivism, it can be found that there are three major forces promoting Walden to become one of the classics, i.e., the business marketing strategy of Houghton Mifflin, the great compliment of the critics and the debate of the literary historians, and the changes of social mores.