论当代英国奇幻小说中的铁路系统与乡村想象

Railway System and Rural Imagination in Contemporary British Fantasy Novels

英国铁路系统作为一种社会文化符号,蕴含了多重阐释话语。在C.S.刘易斯、尼尔·盖曼与J. K.罗琳等创作的当代英国奇幻小说中,被“魔法化”的铁路系统符号成为奇幻叙事结构的“传送门”,铁路系统由城市与乡村的空间联结被置换为现代城市文明到前现代乡村文明之间的时间联结。本文从铁路系统符号的文化意义阐释着手,揭示了当代英国奇幻文学乡村想象从乌托邦到异托邦的变形过程。“现实”—“奇幻”之间的铁路旅行/传送象征了逆城市化的文化回归,其中负载了历史悠久的乡村浪漫化想象和作家差异化的想象意图,反映了乡村想象中现代性霸权和反思的双重话语。

As a sociocultural sign, the British railway system contains multiple connotations. In contemporary British fantasy novels written by C.S. Lewis, Neil Gaiman and J.K. Rowling, the “enchanted” railway system, serving as “portals” in the narrative structure, has been turned from a spatial connection between the city and the country to a temporal connection between modern urban civilization and pre-modern rural civilization. By interpreting the cultural significance of the railway system, this article reveals the transformation of rural imagination from utopia to heterotopia in contemporary British fantasy literature. The rail travel involves a transferring from “reality” to “fantasy,” symbolizing a cultural regression of counter-urbanization, which is loaded with a long history of rural romanticization and the authors’ differentiated intentions, reflecting the dual discourses of hegemonic modernity and reflection in rural imagination.