伟大与否:石黑一雄《长日留痕》中的英国绅士与英国性重构

Great or Not:The English Gentleman and Reconstruction of Englishness in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day

英国绅士是石黑一雄《长日留痕》中体现英国性的重要符号,但学界较少从绅士文化的角度探寻小说对英国性的重构。本文聚焦“伟大的绅士”达林顿勋爵,探寻“伟大”一词蕴含的张力。研究发现,依托于“博学”和“经验”的“世界学识”与骑士精神等道德品质凸显了勋爵的伟大,使其成为理想绅士的典范。然而“专业主义”冲击了绅士的业余精神,折射出绅士文化内部有关经验与智识、精英政治与大众民主、传统贵族与中产阶级之间的矛盾。《长日留痕》一方面认同绅士是道德的典范,是维系英国民族认同的重要符号;另一方面反思了英国性中的帝国性,指出绅士文化存在过分注重品性培育、支持帝国扩张等缺陷。

Gentleman is an important symbol in The Remains of the Day to convey Englishness.However,scholars seldom explore Kazuo Ishiguro’s reflection on Englishness by analyzing the gentlemanly values connotated in the novel.This paper focuses on Lord Darlington,the“great gentleman”in Steven’s eyes,and examines the tension of“greatness”.The knowledge of the world and moral qualities fortify the greatness of Lord Darlington,who is a model for citizens as an ideal gentleman.However,the professionalism demanded by the knowledge society puts the gentleman’s amateurism to the test.That exposes incongruities inside gentlemanly values,such as the contradiction between intelligence and experience,the confrontation between the mass and the minority,and the clash between the aristocracy and the middle class.On the one hand,the gentleman,as a symbol of typical Englishness,serves as a strong bond for British people to construct the nation as an imagined community.On the other hand,The Remains of the Day reconstructs Englishness by resisting imperialism and pointing out many defects in gentlemanly values,such as paying too much attention to external character and supporting imperial expansion.