当代国际坡研究的“视觉维度”——兼评《坡与视觉艺术》(2014)

On the “Visual Dimension” of Contemporary Edgar Allan Poe Studies:The Case of Poe and the Visual Arts(2014)

本文以2015年初"坡研究协会"在纽约市召开的"第四届国际埃德加·爱伦·坡学术大会"为引子,以会议期间引起广泛关注的芭芭拉·坎特卢珀的新著《坡与视觉艺术》为讨论平台,对当代国际爱伦·坡研究中初现端倪的"视觉维度"进行探讨,一方面旨在说明西方视觉艺术与坡的文学作品之间存在着美学性对话,另一方面凸出揭示坡的视觉认知策略与"视觉失真"这一在坎特卢珀看来极为重要的光学现象之间所发生的诗学关联。在此基础上,本文试图对坡的视觉"实施手法"与坡的文学创作哲学加以融合,同时在阐释层面上观照坡的视觉认知图式如何影响着以苏珊·桑塔格和斯蒂芬·贝斯特等为代表的现代"表层阅读"文化。

Opening with a discussion of Barbara Cantalupo＇s recent monograph Poe and the Visual Arts, which attracted much attention at the Poe Studies Association＇s Fourth International Edgar Allan Poe Conference held in New York City in 2015, this article critically reviews the burgeoning ＂visual dimension＂ in contemporary intemational Poe studies, aiming on the one hand to reveal the aesthetic dialogue between Western visual arts and Poe＇s literary products, and on the other to expound the poetic association between Poe＇s visual cognitive pattern and what Cantalupo sees as the immensely significant optical phenomenon of ＂anamorphosis＂. This article also attempts to integrate Poe＇s visual ＂modus operandi＂ and his philosophy of composition, and analyze from the hermeneutical perspective how Poe＇s visual cognition bears upon the modem culture of ＂surface reading＂ as represented by Susan Sontag and Stephen Best.