《她》的两张皮——维多利亚冒险小说中“西方的没落”

Two Faces of She: The Decline of the West in Victorian Adventure Fiction

19世纪晚期,随着英国海外殖民活动进入高潮,非洲最终被吸纳进帝国的文化生产体系中,海外冒险小说中的"非洲主题"随之诞生。亨利·哈格德是维多利亚时代第一位以非洲为坐标进行冒险小说创作的作家,他也一向被贬为帝国意识形态的跟随者。实际上,哈格德对帝国态度极为复杂,以其经典之作《她》为例,小说设置了一种自我揭穿的叙事策略,表层丰富的殖民话语打造了一个强国形象,而底层的废墟书写却消解了帝国神话。文本自我解构的叙事指向了哈格德对于启蒙文明的质疑,这是与19世纪末"西方的没落"同构的反思,通过对启蒙文明内在结构性缺陷的批判,哈格德最终提出了一种极具个人化的存在哲学:"预谋自由"。

In the late 19 th century,with British overseas colonization at its climax,Africa was eventually absorbed into the imperial cultural production system,and the African theme in overseas adventure novels was born. Henry Haggard was the first Victorian writer to write adventure novels based on Africa. He has always been demoted as a follower of imperial ideology. In fact,Haggard's attitude to the Empire is quite complicated. This novel She sets up a self-debunking narrative strategy,and the abundant colonial discourse on the surface creates the image of a powerful nation,while the ruins of the ground floor have dispelled the myth of the Empire. By criticizing the inherent structural defects of the Enlightenment civilization,Haggard finally puts forward a personal philosophy of existence: premeditated freedom.