《我在大中央车站坐下哭泣》——一部被忽略的加拿大先锋小说

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept:An Overlooked Canadian Avant-Garde Novel

作为一部先锋小说,加拿大作家伊丽莎白·斯马特的《我在大中央车站坐下哭泣》长期以来未能引起评论界的足够重视,主要原因在于学界普遍关注作品的自传性而忽略了其先锋性及深层意义。实际上,若将小说置于加拿大彼时的文学发展语境中进行考量,便可发现,在借鉴欧美先锋思潮、探索诗化小说形式以及宣泄女性内心情感等方面,这部先锋作品在语言、形式和内容上体现出一种实验性、开拓性、超前性和革命性,为20世纪六七十年代加拿大先锋小说的涌现做了铺垫,对繁荣时期的加拿大文学产生了积极影响。

The Canadian writer Elizabeth Smart’s avant-garde novel By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept has long failed to garner due attention from literary critics.One of the major reasons is that the autobiographical aspects of the novel overshadow its avant-garde nature and profound themes.In fact,placed in the context of Canadian literature at its time,the novel is outstanding for its embracement of European and American avant-garde movements,exploration of the style of poetic fiction,and catharsis of female’s inner feelings.The novel boasts experimental,pioneering,futuristic and revolutionary features in form and content.It is a forerunner for the many more avant-garde novels to appear in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s,making an influential contribution to Canadian literature in its prosperous era.