存在主义视角解读奥丽芙·基特里奇的自由选择

An Existentialist Perspective on Free Choice of Olive Kitteridge

美国作家伊丽莎白·斯特鲁特的小说《奥丽芙·基特里奇》以独特的创作手法、平淡质朴的笔触,通过13篇看似独立却互相关联的短篇小说勾勒了美国缅因州克劳斯比小镇居民的人生百态,其中对贯穿全文的同名女主人公奥丽芙·基特里奇的一生的描述跨越三十多年。她渴望爱与被爱,在不断失去的人生路上,面对生与死做出抉择,最终回归并拥抱生活。奥丽芙的人生救赎体现了萨特的存在主义哲学中的自由选择命题,她通过持续、发展地选择最终回归自己的本质。

Elizabeth Strout′s novel Olive Kitteridge outlines all types of lives in American Maine through 13 seemingly independent passages with unique creative techniques and plain brushstrokes.The description of the life of the cognominal heroine,Olive Kitteridge,spans more than 30 years.She longs for love and being loved,making choices between life and death when close relatives continue to pass away,and finally returning to and embracing life.Olive′s redemption embodies the most important proposition of free choice in Sartre′s existential philosophy.She finally acquires her essence through making continuous and developmental choice.