《圣徒》系列小说的问世、流行和落幕——历史的叙事和出版

The Publication,Popularity and Ending of The Saint Series——Historical Narrative and Publication

英国作家莱斯利·查特里斯(Leslie Charteris)所著《圣徒》(The Saint)系列悬疑侦探小说,运用历史叙事的手法,选择了四个不同历史时期同一主人公在四个作品中的活动轨迹和心理成长;分析表明主人公的塑造方式同时代背景、主流文学理论、作者写作风格以及读者接受等因素紧密联系;《圣徒》系列小说五十五年的出版和发展是二十世纪人类社会发展的一个缩影,也是作者在主流文论和读者接受和评论的基础上逐渐铸造起来的独特写作风格的历程。

The Saint series, written by the British novelist Leslie Charteris, narrate the heroic deeds of the protagonist, Simon Templar, in fighting against the social evils through composing techniques characterized by light humor, sophisticated settings, and drama and tic topsy-turvy plots. Utilizing the method of historical narratives, the same protagonist in four works published in different historical era is analyzed in terms of his life trajectory and psychical growth. The paper demonstrates that the creation of a literary character is closely associated with a plethora of factors including the historical background, mainstream literary criticism, the writer＇s composing style, and readers＂ acceptance. The publication and popularity of the series have epitomized human activities in a typical capitalist society in the 20 century, yet they have also faithfully recorded and represented the novelist＇s pilgrimage of forging his unique composing style.