中美非虚构绘本中的自然景观与意蕴表达——以《一条大河》和《大峡谷》为例

Natural Landscapes and Meaningful Expressions in Chinese and American Nonfiction Picture-Books:Taking A Great River and Grand Canyon as Examples

非虚构绘本在儿童文学中有重要地位,却未得到学界的重视。在界定“非虚构绘本”概念内涵、观察其发展动向的基础上,以中国作家于大武《一条大河》和美国华裔作家陈振盼《大峡谷》为中心,从内容择取、表现形式、艺术设计和意识形态等方面对照解析可知,它们通过描绘具有象征意义的自然景观,内化了对国家、历史和理想的热爱,成为事实、想象与文化的交汇处。当代非虚构绘本不再只是提供事实的工具,往往在“客观”的表象下注重人文元素,搭建国家民族共同体意识。在这些绘本中,历史事件、文化记忆、科学事实和想象力跨越图文界限进行互动,创生出具有强烈情感倾向的、多视角的复杂叙事。中国原创非虚构绘本除丰沛的文化情感之外,应该格外重视绘本叙事、语言、趣味性、设计形式等各种“术”层面的问题,努力提升非虚构绘本的形式魅力,从而使儿童更有效地接受其中的知识体系和深层意蕴。

Nonfiction picture-books have an important place in children’s literature,but have not received much attention from the academic community. On the basis of defining the concept of “nonfiction picture-book”and observing its development trend,this paper takes Chinese author Yu Dawu’s A Great River and American author Jason Chin’s Grand Canyon as the center,analyzes them in terms of content selection,expression,artistic design and ideology. By depicting natural landscapes with symbolic significance,they internalize the love of the country’s history and ideals,and become the intersection of fact,imagination and culture. Contemporary non-fiction picture-books are no longer just tools for providing facts,but often focus on the inclusion of humanistic elements under the appearance of “objectivity ”to build a sense of national community. In these books,historical events,cultural memories,scientific facts and imagination interact graphic-text boundaries to create complex,multi-perspective narratives with strong emotional tendencies. In addition to the richness of cultural emotions,original Chinese nonfiction picture-books should pay extra attention to various “art”aspects such as narrative,language,fun,and design forms,and strive to enhance the formal appeal of nonfiction picture-books so that children can receive the knowledge system and deeper meanings in them more effectively.