敏感的启蒙——《林地居民》中的文化对话

The Enlightenment of Sensitivity——the Cultural Dialogue in The Woodlanders

在《林地居民》中,哈代围绕感受力的话题,让作为整体生活方式的林地居民文化与追求个体完美的阿诺德式文化之间展开了一场对话。个体文化敏感于自己的心灵,却可能因自我中心而忽视他人的利益;共同生活中的林地文化古老自然,敏感于他人的利益,但是在适者生存的竞争中,不得不归于消灭。然而,小说叙事以宏大的视野和对痛苦的敏感,将所有生命联系在一起,并试图构建两种文化之间的连接。

With The Woodlanders,Thomas Hardy imagines a cultural dialogue with MathewArnold regarding the idea of sensitivity. On the one hand,there is the Arnoldian culture that seeks individual perfection,which may be sensitive to one＇s own mind yet mindless of others; on the other hand,there is the group culture of woodlanders as a whole way of life,ancient,natural and sensitive to others,not rawat all,but doomed in a Darwinian world. Instead of making a simple choice,the novel tries to establish a connection between the two cultures by a grand vision and a sharp sensitivity to human sufferings,thus shedding light on the interrelatedness of all lives on the planet.