大屠杀之后如何写诗——《伊丽莎白·科斯特洛》的创伤内核与表征悖论

How to Write Poetry after the Holocaust:The Traumatic Core and Representational Paradox in Elizabeth Costello

库切的《伊丽莎白·科斯特洛》自出版以来,女主角科斯特洛将人类屠杀动物类比为纳粹灭绝犹太人的耸动言论,引发了轩然大波。"大屠杀之后如何写诗"是库切在这部作品中观照后奥斯维辛时代文学出路与突围的一个不容忽视的思维支点,浸润了他对众生苦难、人性本质与文学书写的深刻省察。《动物的生命》和《邪恶的问题》这两个重要讲座通过展现科斯特洛置身于各种未定、矛盾情境中的感知崩溃与自我反诘,聚焦启蒙理性的宏大叙事,尤其是大屠杀特定历史语境所衍生的极端恐怖和绝对邪恶,在震荡人类想象和伦理阈限的过程中凸显后现代小说艺术的创伤内核与表征悖论。

J. M. Coetzee’s novel Elizabeth Costello has been a constant source of controversy for the titular protagonist’s provocative comparison between the Holocaust and the killing of animals. It is argued that the question of how to write poetry after the Holocaust can be deemed as the very underpinning of Coetzee’s engagement with artistic breakthroughs in Post-Auschwitz writings and is indicative of his profound insights into creaturely sufferings,the essence of humanity and the act of literature as showcased in this work. Throwing the eponymous figure into various conflicting scenarios charged with conceptual bankruptcy and self-doubt,the two lectures under discussion,"The Lives of Animals"and "The Problem of Evil",critique the astounding violence of the meta-narrative of Enlightenment rationality( the catastrophe of the Holocaust in particular).