反思浪漫主义的创造:玛丽·雪莱《弗兰肯斯坦》的反科学叙事

Rethinking Romantic Creation:Anti-Science Narrative in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

《弗兰肯斯坦》创作于英国文学史上的浪漫主义时期,讲述了科学家维克托·弗兰肯斯坦“造人”的故事,被学界视为是一部审视科学与人关系的先驱之作。本文结合科学探索的内在规律以及以赛亚·伯林对浪漫主义的解读,从科学维度和浪漫主义维度对《弗兰肯斯坦》中的“创造”进行探究,认为小说虽看似讲述了“科学创造”的故事,但实则显示了“浪漫主义创造”的精神,体现了以普罗米修斯的故事为原型的个人主义神话。作为“反科学叙事”的先声,《弗兰肯斯坦》不仅折射了科学无序发展的影响,还重新审视了浪漫主义的价值,揭示了把创造视为个人行为的危险性,反思了创造者的社会责任。

Written in the era of English romanticism,Frankenstein,which tells a story of the scientist Victor Frankenstein’s creation of a monster,is regarded as a pioneering fiction that examines the relationship between science and human beings.Reflecting on the intrinsic principle of scientific exploration,this paper presents a critical study of Frankenstein’s creation from the perspective of science and Isaiah Berlin’s interpretation of romanticism.It argues that Frankenstein’s creation,though clothed as a scientific invention,is in essence spirited by romanticism,embodying the myth of individualism through the Promethean prototype.As the forerunner of“anti-science narrative”,Frankenstein not only shows a disaster brought by the disorderly science,but also revaluates romanticism by revealing the danger of treating creation as personal matter and by emphasizing the social responsibility of creators.