关于修辞性叙事学的辩论:挑战、修正、捍卫及互补

Debating Rhetorical Narratology:Challenges,Defenses,and Complementary Relations

修辞性叙事学是最为重要的后经典叙事学流派之一。美国《文体》期刊2018年春夏季合刊专门就这一流派展开了辩论,由该流派的权威詹姆斯·费伦撰写目标论文,多位来自不同国家和不同流派的学者对其进行回应,从不同的角度探讨和挑战费伦的观点,费伦则在该合刊的最后加以回应,捍卫修辞立场、说明相关问题。这场辩论涉及修辞性叙事学的基本模式和基本立场。通过评论这次学术观点的集中交锋,指出和纠正有关偏误,我们可以更好地了解修辞性叙事学的本质特征,以及不同模式、不同流派之间的互补关系。

Rhetorical Narratology is one of the most important postclassical narratological approaches.The American journal Style organized a debate in 2018 on this approach in a special issue,with a target essay by the leader of this approach,James Phelan,25 responses by other scholars that discuss or challenge the rhetorical approach,and Phelan’s rejoinders to the responses.The debate focuses on the basic models,attributes,and stance of rhetorical narratology.Through commenting on the concentrated clash among different perspectives and approaches,pointing out various partial or misunderstandings involved,this essay aims at presenting a clearer picture of some essential features of the rhetorical approach,as well as complementary relations among different models and approaches.