论桑塔格《恩主》中的不可靠叙述

On the Unreliable Narration in Sontag's The Benefactor

美国作家苏珊·桑塔格的处女作《恩主》充斥着大量荒诞不经的梦境叙述,学界也倾向于以此为切入点,从审美的角度对作品进行解读,并形成一种"反对阐释"的定见。然而,以修辞叙事理论为基础的分析发现,作品中的叙述者并不非常可靠,文本中存在两类不可靠性。其中,契约型不可靠性支持了审美的解读,读者因此很容易掉进阐释的陷阱。而疏远型不可靠性则构成了对叙述者的反讽,揭示了"恩主"的真面目。对不可靠叙述的分析有助于读者体味作品复杂而丰富的主题意义:作品既表达了追求形式美学的诉求,同时又对陷入形式极端、视审美为自我救赎唯一出路的行为进行暗讽与否定。

In The Benefactor, Susan Sontag’ s debut novel, dreams account for a large proportion of the overall narrative and thus the novel has been interpreted mostly from aesthetic perspectives as a text “ against interpretation”. However, a thorough analysis based on the rhetorical theory of narrative arrives at a conclusion that the narrator of The Benefactor is notvery reliable and two types of unreliability can be found in its narrative. Of the two types, the bonding unreliability supportsan aesthetic interpretation hence renders the surface narrative seductive enough for readers to fall into an interpretative trap.Yet, the estranging unreliability creates an irony towards the narrator himself and thus makes readers aware of the true nature of the “benefactor”. A close examination of the unreliable narrative enables readers to understand better the complexand rich thematic significance of the novel, through which Sontag conveys not only her appeal for aesthetic autonomy, butalso her satire on those who seek extreme states of subjectivity and regard aesthetics as the only means of self-redemption.