从《简·爱》看维多利亚时代"健康的身体"

Jane Eyre and "the Healthy Body" in the Victorian Era

维多利亚时代主导的中产阶级基于医学科学塑造了一种"规范"--"健康的身体"。在后启蒙时代,构建和推行"规范"最直观有效的工具是视觉,其最主要的作用场域是"驯顺的肉体"。"健康的身体"在生理上表现为强健的、运动员式的体格;在道德上内在认同基督教美德以及"自助"、自持的绅士理想。对这一身体的想象服务于现代化、城市化和工业化的维多利亚社会。而偏离、挑战"规范"的身体则遭遇"病理化"、他者化和女性化。其结果是,主导阶级架空了贵族基于血统的身体,弱化其在文化上的权威,凸显了盎格鲁-撒克逊民族的优越性,巩固了中产阶级的社会理想。以夏洛蒂·勃朗特的成名作《简·爱》为例可以考察,身体如何受到规约,折射出维多利亚人对"健康""病态""正常""反常"等概念的观照和体认。

In the Victorian era,the dominant middle class,with the help of medical science,tried to construct a normative body that is"healthy."This process was made possible by visual cultures and its target,"docile bodies.""The healthy body"was physically muscular and athletic and boasted of its moral impeccability and gentlemanly ideal.In the highly competitive urban and industrial Victorian society,this body was the best fit,which weakened the cultural domination of the aristocracy,highlighted the level of civilization of the British Empire and strengthened the middle-class social ideal.In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre,the body can be marked with visual signs and signifiers.Through observing and reading these visual messages,the Victorians were able to form their perception of the body that is"healthy,""pathological,""normal"or"abnormal."