“王的孩子”:《黑暗在崛起》中的亚瑟王叙事与儿童形象

“King Arthur’s Child”:Arthurian Narrative and Children’s Images in The Dark is Rising

英国文学传统中亚瑟王故事的重现、续写或改写,已经成为现当代儿童幻想小说创作中最显著的现象之一。儿童文学作家苏珊·库珀的《黑暗在崛起》系列小说以其独特的方式呈现了亚瑟王叙事,通过勾勒英国现代社会的孩子与亚瑟王之间继承且超越的关系,塑造了一群具有正义之信、共情之力、亲情之爱和责任担当之感等品质的儿童人物,以期构筑战后英国理想的民族形象。作者将传统亚瑟王故事的元素与现代孩子的探险活动相融合,突显儿童主人公化被动为主动的教育成长经历。这样的文学实践不仅调和了文本中英国身份书写的矛盾性,而且使作品本身在以儿童文学形塑亚瑟王叙事传统的过程中确立了经典地位。

Revisiting,expanding,and adapting“King Arthur”has become a remarkable practice in British children’s fantasy.Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series contribute to the distinctive Arthurian narrative as the modern child characters are produced with the qualities of moral faith,empathy,loving and loyalty in relation to the Arthurian legacy,so as to construct the ideal national image of post-war Britain.Cooper’s reworking of traditional Arthurian elements attempts to offer the children’s adventurous quests as transformed from passive learning to active self-training.Such literary endeavors should render the works canonized in the tradition of how Arthurian adaptations have been created for children,and coordinate the British identity which has been assumed to be controversial as well.