约翰·福尔斯的《收藏家》与英国的“两种文化”之争

John Fowles's The Collector and The Two Cultures Controversy in Britain

在分别以斯诺和利维斯为代表的英国"两种文化"论争中,福尔斯反对斯诺偏袒科技的功利观点,支持利维斯的人文立场。他在小说《收藏家》中,通过男女主人公的不同价值取舍隐喻英国由来已久的科学与人文之争:一方面以无节制地追求物化消费满足的"收藏家"克雷戈形象,嘲讽斯诺笔下的"新人",对科技话语日渐扩张的趋势进行人文批判;与此同时,又借被收藏、被囚禁的米兰达始终秉持的"艺术生活"理念,对英国上层知识分子的贵族化、精英化生活姿态背后的阶级偏见和文化优越感进行道德反思。《收藏家》隐含的"两种文化"之争不仅有深远的历史背景,还指涉英国现实政治语境中的社会分层问题和不同阶层身份认同诉求的复杂性。

Regarding the controversy over the ＂two cultures＂ respectively represented by C. P. Snow and F. R. Leavis, Fowles strongly opposes Snow＇ s utilitarian view of science and technology while supporting Leavis＇ s hu- manistic position. By means of different selections of values made by the hero and heroine in the novel The Col- lector, he metaphorically expresses the long-standing debate between science and humanities in Britain. On the one hand, Ferdinand Clegg, a collector who indulges himself in the immoderate pursuit of material consumption, can be seen as an irony of the ＂new people＂ in Snow＇ s works, and thus the expanding tendency of scientific and technological discourse is criticized from a humanistic perspective. On the other hand, Miranda, who is collected and imprisoned by Clegg, sticks to living in an artistic way, which embodies the moral reflection on class preju- dice and cultural superiority behind the gentrified and elite life of the upper-class British intellectuals. The two cultures controversy implied in The Collector not only has a profound historical background but also refers to the complexity of social stratification and appeal for identity recognition of different classes in British realistic politi- cal context.