《尚待商榷的爱情》的“怪异”三角恋叙事

The “Queer” Love Triangle Narrative in Talking It Over

《尚待商榷的爱情》中,朱利安·巴恩斯革新传统单一的情节叙事,在显性情节后设置了与之并行的叙事暗流,构成了该小说的隐性进程。在显性情节中,巴恩斯聚焦于吉莉安、斯图尔特以及奥利弗三人之间的异性恋叙事,并以巧合和反讽瓦解了传统婚姻制度。而在隐性进程中,作者通过互文性、边缘叙述声音和隐喻强调斯图尔特和奥利弗之间的男同性恋叙事,使得这一异性恋文本“怪异化”。小说中所表现的男同性恋意识,一方面,是巴恩斯对传统异性恋婚姻制度的挑战,打破了异性恋与同性恋之间的二元对立;另一方面,反映出作者对男同性恋的文学思考和人文关怀,并体现了作者去中心化,建构多元共存和接纳差异的后现代人文主义思想和文学创作观。

In Talking It Over, Julian Barnes innovates beyond the traditional single-plot narrative, setting behind the overt plot a hidden undercurrent that undergoes a covert progression. In the overt plot, Barnes focuses on a heterosexual narrative concerning Gillian, Stuart and Oliver, and deconstructs the traditional marriage system through irony and a series of coincidences;but in the covert progression, via intertextuality, marginalized narrative voice and metaphor, the author offers a homosexual narrative between Stuart and Oliver, rendering the heterosexual text “queer”. This article points out that the homosexual subjectivity presented in the novel, on one hand, is part of Barnes’ s challenge to traditional heterosexual marriage system and breaks down the binary opposition between heterosexuality and homosexuality;on the other hand, it reflects Barnes’ literary thinking and humanistic concerns with regards to homosexuality and embodies his postmodernist humanism and a literary creative vision characteristic of de-centralization, multiple coexistence and tolerance of differences.