流行文化与内战话语:《临终遇敌》中的老兵叙事

Popular Culture and Civil War Discourse: The Veteran's Narrative in A Late Encounter with the Enemy

奥康纳的短篇小说《临终遇敌》刻画了一个执意回避过去、只活在当下的狂妄老兵萨师,他自觉成为好莱坞商业包装而成的虚假将军身份的囚徒,被动充当顽固守旧的孙女萨莉攫取虚荣的道具,最后在一台可口可乐贩卖机旁凄惨离世。这个故事可以解读为奥康纳为南方人骄傲地虚饰过去的蠢行提供的解毒剂,这瓶解毒剂更适用于以好莱坞为代表的流行文化和以可口可乐为典型的消费文化所引发的南方现代病。

Abstract： O＇ Connor＇ s short story A Late Encounter with the Enemy depicts an arrogant veteran named Sash who seeks to a- void the past and live merely for the present. While he consciously becomes a prisoner of the false identity as a general deliber- ately faked by Hollywood, he passively serves as an instrument for his old-fashioned granddaughter Sally in her grabbing per- sonal vanity; in the end he dies lamentably besides a Coca-Cola machine. The story can be read as O＇ Connor＇ s antidote to the foolishness of the Southerners＇ prideful distortion of the past, an antidote more applicable to the modern Southern disease resulting from the popular culture represented by Hollywood and consumer culture with Coca-Cola as its epitome.