英美海洋小说的起源与流变

On the Origin and Evolution of British and American Maritime Fiction

海洋小说是西方叙事文学中的一个独特类别,海洋以其广袤、诡谲和充满危机的环境为海洋文学作品提供了沃土。海洋小说起源于荷马史诗《奥德赛》,而英国的第一部海洋小说当属《鲁滨逊漂流记》。在几个世纪的发展中,英美海洋小说中涌现了笛福、康拉德、库柏、梅尔维尔等一批文学巨匠,他们的小说反映了殖民扩张的兴衰以及人与自然抗争的壮丽画卷,然而在描述奇异的海洋冒险经历的背后,海洋小说更关注人物复杂的内心世界。

Maritime fiction is a unique category in the western narrative literature.With its vast,deceitful and crisis-ridden environment,the ocean is fertile to nourish maritime literature.Maritime fiction originated from Homer’s epic Odyssey,and the first English sea novel is Robinson Crusoe.Defoe,Conrad,Cooper,Melville and other literary giants dealing with British and American Maritime novels came into existence during several centuries.Their novels reveal the ups and downs of colonial expansion and the magnificent pictures of man’s campaign against nature.However,these novels focus more on complicated inner worlds of the characters hidden behind romantic sea adventures.