此前空白的空间——麦尔维尔南太平洋绘图中的真实与叙述形式

Spaces that Before Were Blank——Truth and Narrative Form in Melville's South Seas Cartography

麦尔维尔在太平洋不同海域的经历对其文学创作产生了极大影响,促使他实现从个人叙事到宏大叙事的转变。麦尔维尔需要一种新形式以实现"讲述真实"的目标,而这成为他对世界系统进行文学绘图的基础。他的绘图焦虑迫使他探索地图上的空白空间,在那些他"真实地方"的版图外区域寻求真实,并试图找到一种表征形式,以使自己成为"讲述真实的伟大艺术"的大师。太平洋为麦尔维尔提供了一个地理空间,可以揭示"综合性真实",包括政治的、科学的、美学的世界,并展现了他在统一形式与内容上的努力。他对空白空间、真实地方和文学表征的兴趣,既开启了他关于世界系统中权力关系的哲学思考,也开创了《白鲸》独特的文学形式。

In this essay, Robert T. Tally Jr. looks at how Melville＇s experiences in the varies zones of the Pacific Ocean affected his writing, particularly in his transition from the personal narrative form in early works like Typee and Omoo to the more unclassifiably vast, literary narrative of Moby-Dick. Tally argues that Melville required a new form in order to achieve his truth-telling goals, and this became the basis for his literary cartography of the world system. His cartographic anxiety forces Melville to explore the blank spaces of the map, seeking the truth in those extraterritorial zones that he would dub ＂true places,＂and trying to find a representational form that would allow him to realize his dream to become a master of ＂the great Art of Telling the Truth.＂ Tally asserts that, for Melville, the Pacific provided the geographical space in which the truth—a comprehensive truth that would encompass political, scientific, and the aesthetic worlds—could be revealed; Melville＇s experiences in the Pacific prompt both his understanding of the world and his craft of representing it. Melville＇s South Seas cartography registers his struggle to unite form and content. His fascination with blank spaces, true places, and representation opens up both the philosophical mediation on power in the world system, specifically with respect to the Pacific, and the originality of literary form visible in Moby-Dick.