《安德森维尔》中“非常”事件的历史书写与隐性政治

Historical Writing of “Disputed” Event and Implicit Politics in Andersonville

《安德森维尔》是当代美国作家麦金利·坎特以美国司法史上著名的审判案为背景创作的小说。小说与官方历史叙事并置,解构审判卷宗和美国北方主流媒体报道形成的权力话语,并以美学形式审视案件的犯罪主体、行为动机和战俘营内的司法公正,揭露法律卷宗叙事的修辞性,批判悲剧背后隐藏的政治经济利益争夺、军事力量抗衡和意识形态博弈的冷酷无情,表达作者对美国内战历史语境下众多小人物求生挣扎的同情。这是小说家坎特隐性的政治介入,也是他对历史洪流下普通人生命价值的重构。

Andersonville, a novel by contemporary American writer Mackinlay Kantor, is based on the famous Andersonville trial case in American judicial history. The fictional narrative is juxtaposed against the official historical narrative, thus deconstructing the discourse formed by trial files and mainstream media reports in the American North. More importantly, the novel examines, on an aesthetic level, the criminal subjects, their behavior, their motivation and the judicial justice in Andersonville Camp, exposing the rhetorical nature of the legal dossier. It criticizes the struggle over vested political and economic interests, the confrontation among military powers and the ideological game behind the tragedy. The novel suggests Kantor’s political concerns and his intention to recover the value of ordinary lives from the historical shadows of the American Civil War.