《尼克男孩》的历史书写及政治隐喻

The Historical Narrative and its Political Implications in The Nickel Boys

《尼克男孩》是2020年美国普利策文学奖获奖作品。作者科尔森·怀特黑德以吉姆·克劳时期美国南方佛罗里达州的尼克学校作为叙事焦点,将历史事件推入想象的空间,运用戏仿、哥特元素等还原其奴隶制政治的本质。同时,作者借吉姆·克劳政治隐喻当代美国政治格局,批判了当下动荡分裂的社会现实。小说主人公黑色“美国梦”的实现也对当下“白人至上主义”政治气候形成反讽,内嵌着作者对当代政治话语和权力运作的诘问。

The Nickel Boys is the 2020 Pulizer-winning work of fiction.The author Colson Whitehead focuses the narrative on the Nickel Academy in Florida,an American southern state,in the period of Jim Crow,weaving the historical events into the imaginary space,with parody and Gothic elements employed to expose the nature of slavery politics.In addition,Whitehead uses Jim Crow politics to metaphorize contemporary American government and criticize the turbulence and division of the current social reality.The realization of the black American Dream of the fiction’s protagonist constitutes a satire on the political climate permeated with White Supremacy,embedded in which is the author’s challenge to the contemporary political discourse and power manipulation.