《猜火车》与苏格兰底层民众自由的焦虑

Scottish Underclass and Freedom with Anxiety in Trainspotting

苏格兰小说家欧文·韦尔什的经典之作《猜火车》以后现代叙事风格书写了当代苏格兰底层年轻人的生存困境,表现出他们的个人自由主义姿态及民族认同感的缺失。本文利用齐格蒙·鲍曼关于后现代消费社会自由问题的论述,结合撒切尔时代政策对苏格兰的影响,从《猜火车》中人物的边缘化语境、共同体意识、游戏的态度等与自由的焦虑相关的层面,探析韦尔什对苏格兰平民阶层生存焦虑和认同难题的呈现。韦尔什以叙述的形式手段表征了苏格兰底层人物生活的不确定性和边缘性,他对苏格兰底层人物在没有安全的自由状态中的焦虑书写,深刻地反映了后现代社会中苏格兰人复杂的民族心态。

Irvine Welsh＇s Trainspotting,with its postmodern way of portrayal of the plight of the contemporary Scottish underclass,reveals their manners of individualism and sense of a lost national community.This essay,in terms of Zygmunt Bauman＇s argument about freedom in the postmodern society of consumerism,together with a view to the influences of Thatcher government＇s policies on Scotland,explores Welsh＇s representation of anxiety and identification of the underclass from such perspectives as the characters＇ marginalized context,their sense of community,and their playful attitude related to freedom with anxiety.It points out that Welsh shows the uncertainty and marginalization of the underclass by narrative approaches,and that his presentation of the anxiety caused by freedom without security profoundly reveals the Scottish＇s complicated national psyche in a postmodern society.