钟表与父权帝国规训——《达洛卫夫人》的物质文化解读

Clock,patriarchal empire and discipline:A cultural materialist reading of Mrs.Dalloway

当前关于《达洛卫夫人》的相关研究已点明外在客观的钟表时间和人物内心的主观时间之间的张力,但未将钟表这一意象历史化、语境化。实际上,小说通过“哈利街之钟”“家之钟”和“大本钟”这三个具体的物象,阐明钟表所内蕴的平稳观念和理性主义内涵,彰显其在英国构建父权政治和帝国身份实践中的关键作用,反思批判理性主义、父权制和帝国主义话语之间的亲和关系及其背后的规训力量。在物质文化批评的视角下,本文将结合一战后英国社会的医学、父权及帝国话语和实践,勾勒钟表在特定历史语境中的社会生命,挖掘其背后的理性-父权-帝国政治。

Current criticism on Virginia Woolf s Mrs.Dalloway has illustrated the tension between the external objective time announced by the clock and the subjective time experienced by characters.However,the symbol of clock has not been investigated historically or contextually.In fact,through the clock on the Harley street,the clock at home and Big Ben,Mrs.Dalloway shows how clock becomes the material vehicle of rationalism and the“sense of proportion”;how it plays a vital role in the construction of Britain s patriarchal and imperial politics.The novel not only reflects on the affinity among rationalism,imperialism and patriarchy,but also exposes and repudiates the disciplinary power behind this system.From the perspective of cultural materialism,this paper digs the literary details in connection with the medical,patriarchal and imperial discourses in the post-war Britain,aiming to examine the social life of clock at this historical stage and expose the rationality-empire-patriarchy system behind it.