关注老年父母的精神世界——读张翎的《空巢》和《陪读爹娘》

Attention to the Spiritual World of Elderly Parents——The Study of Empty Nest and Companion Parents of Children's Study

随着中国老龄化社会结构的日益加重和华人移民海外数量的不断增加,国内空巢老人和海外年迈的陪读父母已经成为两个备受关注的老年群体。加拿大华人新移民女作家张翎先后创作了《空巢》和《陪读爹娘》这两部对这两大特殊的华人老年群体进行关注的中篇小说,用细腻的笔端叙述平凡琐碎的生活故事,从而深入挖掘老年父母们的精神世界和内心情感。文章对当今社会"子女怎样让父母安享晚年"和"父母们该如何安度晚年"这两个严肃的话题提出了警醒和思考,具有重要的社会价值和现实意义。

Along with the aging society of China and growing number of overseas Chinese immigrants, empty nest elderly and elderly companion parents have become two huge new groups of elder people. Zhang Ling, one of the Chinese Canadian new immigrant writers, has created novels such as Empty Nest and Companion Parents of Children＇s Study, intending to pay attention to these realities. They deeply explore the elderly parents＇inner feelings by trivial or ordinary life stories as well as delicate writing, which hold great sense through alerting us to think about the serious topics of ＂ How should Chinese parents spend their twilight years＂ and ＂ How should children take care of their parents＇ spiritual world＂. Therefore, the ideas of these two novels have great social value and important practical significance.