乔治·爱略特长篇小说叙事伦理研究——以《亚当·贝德》和《米德尔马契》为例

On Narrative Ethics in George Eliot’s Novels: A Study of Adam Bede and Middlemarch

作为维多利亚时期公认的道德大师,乔治·爱略特注重通过对叙事技巧的选择,使其作品更好地实现警世喻人的伦理诉求。以爱略特创作于不同时期的代表作《亚当·贝德》和《米德尔马契》为例,对其前后期创作中第三人称全知叙述的变迁进行叙事伦理视域下的对比解读可知,在爱略特隐藏于男性笔名之后的真实女性身份被公开后,她从前期不加掩饰的作者介入转变为后期采用互文等更为隐蔽的方式干涉叙事。通过借用男性的叙事权威,爱略特使小说的伦理主题最大限度得到读者和评论界的接受,令其创作的叙事形式与意在表达的伦理诉求得到了完美的契合。

George Eliot,a well-known moral master in Victorian times,attached great importance to the choice of narrative techniques in her works so as to make a better ethical appeal to the people. Comparing Adam Bede with Middlemarch,her representative works in earlier and later periods,we can notice a change in the third person omniscient narration from the perspective of narrative ethics. After her female identity hidden behind a male pen name was disclosed,her overt author interference became less direct as more application of intertext was used for ethical appeals. By borrowing male's narrative authority,a perfect accordance of narrative modes and ethical appeals,Eliot successfully enables the ethical themes of her novels to be well accepted by their contemporary readers and critics.