抵抗终结:论厄德里克《守夜人》中族裔历史与传统的文学重建

Reconstructing Ethnic History and Tradition in Erdrich’s The Night Watchman

当代美国作家路易斯·厄德里克发表的《守夜人》以上世纪50年代美国国会的终结法案为历史背景,以真实人物为原型、以历史为线索,在重现印第安保留地齐佩瓦人为家园、土地和生存等权利不断抗争的同时,彰显本土裔文化和传统。本文通过梳理终结法案与族裔历史传统在文学再现上的隐喻意义,分析作家如何通过文学创作重构族裔历史和文化,借由历史在文学中的特征以文学的自适性彰显和强化族裔记忆与历史,通过文学重建来对抗法案的政治终结意图。

In her 2020 novel The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich re-presents the historical Termination Bill with its effects on American Indian tribes, and recaptures the native people’s unyielding fight for their land, home, cultural survival, and inalienable rights. The present essay attempts to explore both the formative power of literature on ethnic traditions, and Erdrich’s construction of her impressive history. Erdrich’s integration of the fictional and the real reveals the invisible heritage embedded in people’s cultural memory. Erdrich’s writing infuses life and vigor into dynamic ethnic history.