经典的沉浮——麦尔维尔在英美

Ups and Downs in Literary Canon:Herman Melville in Britain and America

赫尔曼·麦尔维尔是当今美国文坛公认的经典作家,但他的经典化之路却颇多坎坷:生前获得了短暂声名,随即被冷落和抛弃,直至诞辰一百周年重新回到人们的视野,才被确立经典作家的地位。在其长达一百七十多年的接受史中,无数研究者贡献了自己的真知灼见。时代社会的需要犹如涌动的浪潮,起到了巨大的推动作用。如今,麦尔维尔研究已然浩若烟海。本文将以学术史方法尽可能客观公正地勾勒其在英美的经典化轨迹。

Nowadays,Herman Melville is universally recognized as a canon in American literature,yet the path of canonization for him is quite rough.In his lifetime,he was briefly applauded,but then ignored and abandoned.It was not until the centennial of his birth which initiated the Melville Revival that Herman Melville came back to readers*attention again.After that,he was gradually elevated to the status of a literary canon.In the process of over 170 years’reception of Herman Melville,numerous researchers have contributed penetrating insights.Like surging tides,the needs of times and society have also played important roles.This essay tries to draw the outline of Melville's canonization in Britain and America objectively and fairly through a study of the history of Herman Melville studies.