“一个太美丽的世界”?——从《黑暗的心》看维多利亚时期的“分离领域”之说

“A World Too Beautiful”: Heart of Darkness Revisited

建立在性别分离基础之上的"分离领域"之说是维多利亚时期家庭观念最核心的内容之一,它也构成了学界阐释这个时期文学作品的重要理念框架。事实上,如果回到维多利亚时期的语境下,就会发现,无论在作家笔下还是在现实生活中,这种学说都充满了悖论。本文以《黑暗的心》为例,联系维多利亚时期具体的历史文化语境,从布迪厄的文化资本的角度和家庭空间的维度重新解读这部作品,并指出:从表面上看,小说刻画了两名远离公共领域的欧洲白人女性,实则借此批判了作为维多利亚时期英国价值体系根基的"分离领域"之说,体现了康拉德作为现代派先驱的深刻性。

In Heart of Darkness,Marlow's journey begins with a woman,his aunt,who helps him to secure a position in Africa,and ends in meeting another woman,the Intended. Though both characters are nameless,yet in terms of their place in the center of Europe as well as their intimate relationship with the male protagonists in the novel,they are more than the "house angels"as most studies have shown. By relocating the novel in the Victorian context,this paper aims to reveal that Marlow's narration,though seemingly obedient to the Victorian view of desired women,is actually moving beyond the boundary of gender:it tries to disrupt the Victorian dichotomy of "separate spheres "that is based on gender differences,which also reflects Joseph Conrad's profundity as a forerunner of modernism.