《菩提树》:伊朗现代历史进程中的双重“物崇拜”隐喻

The Banyan: The Dual Metaphor of “Material Worship” in the Process of Modern History in Iran

在伊朗作家阿赫玛德·马赫穆德的长篇小说《菩提树》(2000年)中,菩提树崇拜作为一种"物崇拜",隐喻了伊朗在现代历史进程中出现的宗教狂热和全盘西化两种极端情况。小说描述了宗教狂热使宗教从个人内心的信仰转变为外在的"物崇拜",揭示了宗教狂热背后实际上是政治权力的角逐。同时,全盘西化带来的物质主义"物崇拜"犹如菩提树的疯狂生长,成为掌控伊朗社会的新殖民手段。小说展示了由物质欲望建筑起来的"菩提树城"背后实际上是社会伦理道德的完全崩溃。像伊朗这样的东方文明古国,在传统与现代之间,如何既现代化又不西方化,如何既保持传统宗教文化的生命力,又不陷入宗教狂热,这的确是一道十分复杂的命题。小说表现出作家对伊朗现实政治和人类命运的深度关怀与观照。

In the novel,The Banyan(2000),written by Iranian writer Ahmad Mahmud,the banyan is considered as a kind of"material worship",which is a metaphor of the two extreme cases in the process of modern history in Iran-the religious fanaticism and the wholesale Westernization.The novel describes that the religious fanaticism has converted the religion from an internal belief to an external"material worship",which reveals that behind the religious fanaticism is the fierce angling of political powers.Meanwhile,the material worship brought by the wholesale Westernization is like the wild growth of the banyan tree,which becomes the new colonial tactic to control the Iranian society.The novel demonstrates that what happens behind the"Banyan City"built by material desires actually is the complete collapse of social ethics and morality.For an ancient civilization in the East like Iran,it is indeed a complicated challenge to figure out how to strike a balance between tradition and modernity,how to achieve modernization without succumbing to Westernization,and how to maintain the vitality of traditional religious culture without a slip into religious fanaticism.The novel shows the author’s deep concern for and perspective on the current politics in Iran and the destiny of humanity.