论两次世界大战之间英国女性小说家笔下的聚会——以《达洛维夫人》与《追爱》为例

Parties in Writings of British Female Novelists during the Interwar Age: Taking Mrs. Dalloway and The Pursuit of Love as Focus of Study

《达洛维夫人》与《追爱》代表了20世纪英国女性小说家对英国文学传统中聚会主题的继承与反叛。它们表明,随着英国社会生活和阶级结构在两次世界大战之间的变动与重组,聚会不再扎根和局限于稳固的上层阶级,而是包容和混杂了不同的阶级话语。这使聚会中的女性处在一种极为尴尬的状况,既受到本阶层内部性别等级的压制与压迫,又面对着来自不同阶层的"挑唆"与挑战。与此同时,私人空间与公共空间之间的分离也愈加明显。这主要是指,女性寄寓于家庭聚会中的情感诉求和浪漫情调与由男权话语主导的社会生活中的麻木状态和功利主义之间的冲突日渐激化。于是,聚会活动对于女性来说便具有了双重意义:同时成为抗争和退缩的场地。

Mrs. Dalloway and The Pursuit of Love respectively embody howBritish female novelists in the 20 th Century both inherited and rebelled against their literary ancestors on representing the motif of parties. They demonstrate that,due to changes of British social life and the restructuring of social classes in the 20 th Century,parties are no longer restricted within a stable upper class,but embrace and blend with multiple class discourses. Therefore,women in parties are situated in an awkward position,on the one hand,they are oppressed in the gender grading system within their own class; on the other hand,they are 'instigated'as well as challenged by people from other classes. Meanwhile,the demarcation between private and public space becomes clearer than before. To be specific,women's desire for personal communication and the pursuit of romantic spirit through parties go against the prevailing of male discourse dominated callousness and utilitarianism in the social life. Thereby,as to women,parties develop double meanings,namely,they are the space both for fight and withdrawing.