《啊,拓荒者!》:现代性的乡土赞歌

O Pioneers!: A Local Paean of Modernity

作为美国地域文学的典范,《啊,拓荒者!》并非评论家通常所称的逃逸和背离现代性,相反,它精准地体现出现代性的历史进程。小说中,边疆拓荒是现代性的地域性效应,美国化则得益于现代性产生的流动性,是现代性的本土化效应,而现代女性主体的崛起补正了现代性历史以男性为中心的误区。小说通过表征现代性之于乡村地域和乡村人的认知产生的影响,表明乡村并非现代性的"他者",而是合理地对前现代进行"祛魅",表达了对现代性的接受和认同。

As an epitome of regional American literature, O Pioneers! is not an escape and devia-tion from modernity as generally claimed by critics. Contrarily, it precisely embodies the historical process of modernity. In the novel, the pioneer movement in the frontier is the regional effect of modernity, while Americanization, benefting from mobility entailed by modernity, is its localized effect and the emergence of modern female subject rectifes the mistake in the male-centered histo-ry of modernity. By exploring the infuences of modernity on the rural region and the countrymen’s cognizance, this novel proves that the rural region is not the “Other” of modernity. Instead, it ac-cepts and identifes with modernity by means of rational “disenchantment” of the pre-modern.