一个“经验读者”的死亡:爱玛·包法利之死

The Death of an “Empirical Reader”: Analysis of The Death of Emma Bovary

意大利文学家和符号学家安贝托·艾柯在《悠游小说林》中界定了"经验读者"和"模范读者"的区别。在他看来,"经验读者"经常将自己的情绪、现实生活带入文学作品中,而"模范读者"能保持较为清醒和客观的态度欣赏文学作品,是理想型的读者。比照福楼拜笔下的爱玛·包法利夫人,不难判断爱玛即是"经验读者"。爱玛在阅读小说文本时,模糊了文本和现实的界限,飞蛾扑火似的试图在现实中实践浪漫主义小说中的桥段,并一步步走向堕落,以自杀式的绝唱结束了自己的迷梦。

Umberto Eco, an Italian writer and semiotician, defines the difference between ＂empirical readers＂ and ＂model readers＂ in his work Swimming Novel Forest. In his view, empirical readers often put their emotions and real life into literature, whereas model readers, as ideal readers, are more sober and objective when appreciating literature. In this light, Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is an empirical reader, who blurs the difference between texts and reality, striving eagerly to act out the plot of romantic novels. However, she gradually degenerates and ends her dream by committing suicide.