亨利·詹姆斯《金碗》中的真实观

Henry James’s Theory of the Real in The Golden Bowl

亨利·詹姆斯后期创作对"真实"的模糊性处理令人难以捉摸。他用隐喻的语言模糊了"真实"与"虚构"的边界,在充满隐喻的意识世界中捕捉对真实的感知经验,其最后一部小说《金碗》尤为如此。对读者来说,女主人公玛吉的丈夫与继母之间的私情是公开的秘密,但小说没有直接道明这一事实,玛吉是否得知真相令人莫衷一是。玛吉是否获知"真相"又如何把握并提升对"真实"的认知?本文认为玛吉从对真相的"无知"到"感知"的自觉转变,再从"感知"到"认知"的自为提升是理解詹姆斯小说真实观的关键。玛吉苏醒后的自我意识以及自觉行动为认知科学提供了一个文学注脚。

Henry James’s ambiguous presentation of reality in his later novels is found to be elusive,as his metaphorical language blurs the boundary between reality and fiction.This feature is especially noticeable in his last novel The Golden Bowl.The unethical relationship between the husband and stepmother of the female protagonist Maggie is an open secret to readers,but is not explicitly presented in the novel.Whether Maggie knows the truth is also an obscure question to know.This paper attempts to discover whether and how Maggie may know the reality.The paper argues that Maggie transforms from being ignorant of reality to sensitive to the latent truth,then obtains her cognition of reality,and finally makes use of such insight to realize her wishes.This attempt is aimed to shed light on Henry James’s fiction theory of reality.