“想象的渴求”:《黑暗昭昭》中麦蒂的向善之旅

Matty's Progress to the Good in Darkness Visible and “the Hunger of Imagination”

以麦蒂作为理解《黑暗昭昭》中人类生活状态的切入点,需要首先拂去麦蒂身上的基督教迷彩,厘清麦蒂之善的内涵,探讨他的向善之旅所经历的几个阶段的寓意,并以此观照小说中的其他人物,找到作者设置麦蒂之善的用心。在麦蒂纠结于"我是谁""我是什么",试图从他人眼中观看自我的时候,始终无法在内心找到安宁;当麦蒂抛弃《圣经》言说,全心全意用自己的生活来回答"我有什么用"时,他通过践行境遇中的使命获得了实践的"内在利益",担负起对他人的责任,进入了列维纳斯所定义的一种超越境地,完成了自己的精神向善之旅。麦蒂负载了作者乌托邦式圣徒幻想,成为一种约翰逊所说的"想象的渴求"中的创造,其中蕴含着人类在相互隔阂状态下,在后现代漂浮的能指荒原中艰难建构自我所需要的慰藉。

If we brush off the biblical dust on Matty and examine more closely the good he has been seeking all through William Golding＇s Darkness Visible, we will un- derstand better his progress to the good and his relation with other characters in the novel. He cannot find any peace at heart when he tries to see himself from the other＇s perspec- tive, wondering all the time who he is and what he is. It is not until he throws his Bible away, gives up lingual communication and physical desires, and prepares to serve others wholeheartedly that he finally gains a kind of ＂internal good＂. Entering a state of ＂t-ran-scendence＂ as defined by Levinas, Matty becomes a kind of saint, a creation by Golding in what Johnson describes as ＂the hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life.＂ This character embodies a consolation necessary for isolated human beings who painstakingly construct some self-image in a wasteland of postmodern floating signifiers.