论《白鲸》的民族形象与帝国意识形态的同构

On Moby Dick:The Isostructural Building of National Image and Imperial Ideology

1919年麦尔维尔的《白鲸》开启了其经典化的历程,在之后将近一百年的时间里,小说不仅被批评界广泛接受,而且小说中的人物形象包括白鲸的形象早已渗透进美国大众文化、商业领域和社会生活之中,该小说已成为美国民族文化记忆和美国身份认同的来源之一。作为经典名作,国内外对《白鲸》的解读与阐释已经十分丰富,从宗教的、象征的、生态批评的视角的解读到人物形象和主题的分析,各种评论见仁见智,甚至结论完全相反。本文试图立足19世纪小说产生的历史和文化语境,分析麦尔维尔在貌似传奇与宗教寓言的海洋叙事中对新兴的美国民族形象和民族性格的刻画,揭示隐匿在民族形象书写背后的帝国意识形态及其与美国民族性格的同构。

Moby Dick has been widely accepted by the critical circles since the Melville Revival in 1919. Up to now,both the images of the characters and the whale in the novel have found their way into the American daily life,popular culture and business world. Though the novel has been interpreted from various perspectives such as religion,symbol and ecocriticism,there are still possibilities for further understanding.Setting the novel in the specific historical and culturl context of the 19th century,the paper explores Melville's isostructural building of the national image and the imperial ideology in the narrative of sea adventures.