温德姆·刘易斯的“敌人”形象及其文化意义

Wyndham Lewis's“Enemy”Persona and Its Cultural Significance

作为英国本土催生的唯一现代派运动"漩涡主义"的创立者,温德姆·刘易斯在英美现代主义文艺发展史上地位特殊,影响深远。但他在一战后的文艺创作和批评实践中,却与主流现代主义分道扬镳,成为其"敌人"。这一突变发人深思,引人入胜。本文拟梳理上世纪二三十年代刘易斯以"敌人"公众形象对当时主流现代主义作家作品进行无情批判的过程,特别是他与"斯泰因阵营"和"布鲁姆斯伯里小圈子"的恩怨,并从性格剖析、内外因结合说以及艺术家的使命这三个维度来探因这一"敌人"现象。这一现象业已积淀为一个文化符号,从中可以理解刘易斯研究何以会在20世纪末以来东山再起,也可以窥见现代主义文学的纷繁复杂性。

As a founder of vorticism, Britain＇s only local modernist movement, Wyndham Lewis, who held a unique position and had far-reaching influences in Anglo- American literary modernism, nevertheless broke away with modernism and became its ＂enemy＂ in his post-war literary practices. Such a drastic change is thought-provoking and worth exploring. The present paper begins with a detailed description of Lewis＇s relentless criticism of the mainstream modernist writers and their works, especially of his feud with the ＂Stein quarter＂ and the ＂Bloomsbury coterie＂, using his public persona of ＂Enemy.＂ The paper then explores the three dimensions of this persona, i.e., Lewis＇s personality, his WWI trench experiences, and his safeguarding of an artist＇s mission in order to account for this self-appointed ＂Enemy＂ stance. With this image becoming a cultural icon, one may understand, for one thing, why appeared the revival of Lewis Studies from the late 20th century onward, and for another, the complexity of modernist literature.