平均种族主义——《金甲虫》中爱伦·坡黑人形象建构的中庸之道

Average Racism: The Neutral Strategy of Allan Poe's Constructionof Black in The Gold-Bug

《金甲虫》虽属侦探冒险类小说,但爱伦·坡却巧妙地将黑人、种族与种族主义这一美国社会尖锐的问题融入小说创作中。为避免过分触及种族问题而陷入政治漩涡,坡在黑人形象建构时采取一种中庸之道,即一种既不触怒白人、又能被大多数黑人所接受的"平均种族主义"。坡不但继承塔克、西姆斯和库珀等作家固有的人物塑造手法,而且还不囿于传统黑人形象的模式化刻画,在方法上博采众长、推陈出新,睿智地运用黑人方言以匹配朱庇特的黑人身份。坡试图借助平等友爱、同甘共苦、和谐共处的主奴关系,唤起人们对南方蓄奴制体系中种族创伤和民族身份危机的警醒与反思。坡希冀在小说世界中,建构一个理想而又和谐的南方社会,体现出坡作为一个南方知识分子对社会问题的深刻关注和思考,也彰显了他内心深处潜隐难言的对蓄奴制的担忧以及对美国南方旧体制的眷恋和维护。

Despite The Gold-Bug’s detective and adventure fiction genre,the sharp racial issues in American society is creatively integrated by Allan Poe into his literary creation.To avoid the excessive writing on the issue of racism,which could drag him into the political vortex,Poe devises a neutral strategy to construct the black image—average racism,which is accepted by most of the black yet not irritating to the white.On the one hand,Poe inherits the traditional image-constructing strategy from Tucker,Simms and Cooper;on the other hand,Poe doesn’t confine himself within the stereotypical method to depict the black image.Meanwhile,Poe’s masterful use of black language matches Jupiter’s black identity.Poe,through depicting the equal,cooperative and harmonious relationship between the master and the servant,attempts to raise the awareness and the reflection of racial trauma and ethnic identity crisis incurred by slavery in the South.As a southern intellectual,Poe’s aspiration for creating an idealistic and harmonious South in his story reflects his deep concern and reflection on the social issues,and demonstrates his underlying worries of the slavery as well as his attachment and defense of the old South.