消费文化下的欲望之殇:从《嘉莉妹妹》看美国的道德生态

The Sadness of Desire under Consumer Culture:The Moral Ecology of the United States from Sister Carrie

西奥多·德莱塞的自然主义杰作《嘉莉妹妹》以高度写实的创作手法细致刻画了19世纪末20世纪初的美国社会。在从传统的农业社会向着现代化的工业社会转型过程中,美国传统的伦理道德也受到了消费文化的冲击。人们逐渐抛弃了勤劳节俭、禁欲自律的清教伦理,而在行动上任由欲望的支配,从而造成了现代美国社会深刻的道德生态危机。《嘉莉妹妹》中,陷入危机的人物以不同的人生轨迹昭示了同一个真理,即赤裸裸的欲望追求,无论其成功与否,最终带给人们的都是精神上的幻灭:失败者因绝望而自我终结,成功者因失望而迷失自我。

Sister Carrie,Theodore Dreiser’s naturalistic masterpiece,depicts American society at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in a highly realistic way.In the process of trans-formation from the traditional agricultural society to the modern industrial society,the traditional ethics and morals of the United States have also been impacted by the consumer culture.People gradually abandoned the Puritan ethics of industriousness,thrift,abstinence and self-discipline,and were dominated by desire in their actions,which caused a profound moral and ecological crisis in modern American society.In Sister Car-rie,the characters in crisis showed the same truth with different life tracks,that is,the naked desire pursuit.No matter whether it is successful or not,what will eventually bring people spiritual disillusionment:the los-ers will end themselves due to despair,the winners will lose themselves due to disappointment.