《哥伦布后裔》中的历史改写与杂糅叙事

History Rewriting and Hybrid Narratives in Heirs of Columbus

在小说《哥伦布后裔》中,美国印第安作家维兹诺以调侃方式改写了＂美洲发现史＂。在他的笔下,被殖民者与殖民者之间的对立被刻意模糊了,传统历史叙事中＂伟大的＂探险家成为美洲土著人的后裔。同时,维兹诺消解了主流话语为印第安人臆造的＂悲剧受害者＂身份,重新建构印第安本土身份。在叙事层面上,维兹诺讲述现代印第安人的生存故事,并置历史人物传记、航海日志、印第安神话传说等多种元素,以独特的杂糅叙事消解西方历史话语的权威性,实现穿越话语边界、身份边界与叙事边界的写作意图。

In The Heirs of Columbus, American Indian author Gerald Vizenor rewrites the colonial history of Christopher Columbus＇ discovery of America in a ridiculing way. In this novel, Vizenor transforms Columbus from a ＂great＂ explorer in traditional historical narratives into an heir of Native Americans, blurring the binary opposition between the colonizer and the colonized. Meanwhile, Vizenor deconstructs Native Americans＇ identity of ＂ tragic victims＂ assigned by mainstream discourse, reconstructing an indigenous identity. As far as narrative strategy is concerned, Vizenor tells the survival stories of modern Indians by juxtaposing historical figures＇ biographies, travel logs, native myths, and other narratives. The hybrid narratives challenge theauthoritativeness of Western historical discourse and help achieve Vizenor＇s purposes of crossing the borders of discourse, identity and narrative.