试论门罗小说的辩证女性观

The Dialectical View of Gender in Alice Munro's Fiction

加拿大作家艾丽斯·门罗的小说创作始终围绕着女性主题,但是字里行间流露出的女性观察与思维与同时代加拿大女性文学所传递的政治信息有很大不同。不论是在西方女权主义盛行的20世纪六七十年代,还是在女性权益得到普遍认可的21世纪初期,门罗始终拒绝直白地勾勒社会和家庭中的男权主导和妇女权益等问题。她更愿意真实而细腻地记录女主人公自然而复杂的心智成长历程,更愿意传递一种充满哲理的辩证女性观。从女权主义入手,考察女性权益诉求在门罗小说中的具体体现,可以使我们观察到门罗持有的有别于传统女性主义的女性观。这种独特的女性观穿越男女性别引起的政治和文化冲突,探索女性人物在新旧观念的博弈中,遵从自己心灵的呼唤,通过辩证思维完善自己的认知能力,从而做出最符合实际的(而不是最符合某个主义的)人生抉择。

Canadian author Alice Munro＇s fiction focuses on women; however, the discourse on gender is quite different from the usual political message conveyed by women＇s literature of her time. From the 1960s and 1970s when the Western feminist movement was the rage of the day to the early 21 st century when women＇s rights are widely recognized, Munro has consistently refused to deal crudely in her fiction with male domination and women＇s rights in family and society. She prefers to record truthfully and nicely the natural and complex maturing process of her female protagonists, producing a dialectical view of gender along the way. Using gender theory to analyze the actual rendition of women trying to be vocal about their rights may help us see Munro＇s distinct view of gender that departs from the traditional feminist stance. This unique viewpoint of gender transcends the political and cultural conflicts caused by gender difference; it examines how female characters follow their hearts＇ desire, how they through dialectical thinking keep improving their cognitive power and raising their consciousness, so that they may make vital decisions which are most appropriate from their own perspective rather than from the perspective of certain ideology.