《蓝鸟咖啡馆》对仿真世界的批判

Criticism of the World of Simulation in The Bluebird Café

狄更斯改写小说《蓝鸟咖啡馆》向读者呈现了科波菲尔镇的三副面孔:它的原貌、如今的断壁残垣以及它的复制品——科波菲尔历史博物馆村。在旅游业驱动下,博物馆村犹如一个仿真世界,还原了小镇的风貌,这是将小镇的"历史"商品化的产物。作者通过对这一仿真世界的描述,意在揭示其对历史的模糊和虚化以及它对塔斯马尼亚土著文化的破坏,体现出作者对该仿真世界的批判。在博物馆村,游客认为这就是真实的科波菲尔镇,因为它先于小镇的原貌,也比现今荒无人烟的科波菲尔镇更加真实;拟象成为真实,从而掩盖了小镇的历史。另外,为了建造博物馆村,整个特厄瓦尔因地区被夷为平地,这种商业化行为对塔斯马尼亚土著文化造成极大破坏。科波菲尔破败的现状就是土著历史逐渐绝迹的缩影。

The novel The Bluebird Caf佴,regarded as a rewriting of Dickens,presents readers with three different Copperfields:the original town,its current dilapidated counterpart and the replica鄄Historic Museum Village of Copperfield.The Museum Village,driven by tourism industry,is constructed as a simulation of its original.It restores the town’s original appearance and is a product of the commodification of the town’s history.The author’s presentation of a commercialized Museum Village as a world of simulation reveals her critique of its falsification of authentic history and its devastation of Tasmanian culture.In this Museum Village,tourists are convinced that this is the real Copperfield in that it precedes the original town and is more real than the current ghost town.Therefore,simulacra become the real and the town’s authentic history is concealed.Meanwhile,the whole Treevallyn has to be removed to make way for its construction.Behind the commercialization is the disappearance of the Aborigines and their unique culture.The desolate situation of the current Copperfield is epitome of the extinction of Tasmanian history.