菲尔丁的《弃儿汤姆·琼斯传》:喜剧性散文史诗面纱后的政治隐喻

The political allegory under the comic appearance in Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones,A Foundling

《弃儿汤姆·琼斯传》在“喜剧性散文史诗”的理论框架下,展现了广阔的18世纪英国乔治时代的社会景象。小说的情节发展无不充满了喜剧气氛和喜剧效果。菲尔丁以精湛的幽默讽刺艺术在笑声中勾勒出一幅幅善与恶斗争的图画。然而,若从小说中包含的历史叙事及其政治隐喻来考察,就会发现《弃儿汤姆·琼斯传》喜剧性散文史诗的面纱后具有严肃的政治色彩和鲜明的历史指涉。它艺术地再现了英国自1688年“光荣革命”后詹姆士党人复辟斯图亚特王朝的叛乱以及由此给英国的政治生活带来的恐慌和危机,充分发挥出文学书写并介入历史时空的独特透视与重构功能。

Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling displays a panoramic view of British society in Georgian era in accordance with his theory of comic epic in prose. The plot bristles with comic effects and comic atmosphere, in which struggles between virtues and vices are presented. But when viewed from the matter of history and political allegory, the novel is rich in its historical references and contains in essence a very serious political allegory under the comic appearance. In an artistic way the novel reveals Jacobite rebellion and its effects of terror and crisis on British political life since the Glorious Revolution in 1688. In his use of the political events throughout the novel, Fielding underlines the function of literature in its rewriting and reshaping of history.