《安德鲁的大脑》中的三重对话与后现代性

Three Dialogic Levels and Postmodernity in Andrew's Brain

在美国作家E.L.多克托罗的小说《安德鲁的大脑》中,人物之间的对话行为构成了主要叙事线。评论界大多采用心理分析视角,将对话理解为主人公安德鲁治愈创伤的手段,而忽视了其哲学和美学内涵。如果将小说置于巴赫金对话理论框架之下,会发现它存在着三个层面的对话,分别是“人物间的对话”、“文学文本间的对话”和“文学与媒介文化的对话”。多克托罗通过“对话”来实现越界,构建出一部与“9·11”官方叙事相对抗的“反叙事”,体现了反主体、反本质和去中心化等后现代主义基本命题,同时也表达了他对个体普遍生存状态、他者声音和差异性知识的关注。

The dialogical behavior between characters constitutes the main narrative line in Andrew's Brain,a novel by American writer E.L.Doctorow.Most critics have perceived the use of dialogue in the novel from the psychoanalytical perspective,as the way to cure the trauma of Andrew the protagonist,while ignoring its philosophical and aesthetic connotations.Making use of Bakhtin's dialogism,we can find three dialogic levels in the novel,namely"the dialogue between characters,""the dialogue between literary texts"and"the dialogue between literature and media culture"Doctorow,using dialogic methods to transgress boundaries,constructs an"anti-narrative"in contrast to the official narratives of"9/11",which reflects the typical postmodern suspicion of subjectivity and essentialism,and a bent for decentralization.The anti-narrative conveys Doctorow's concern for the universal condition of being,the voice of the Other and alternative knowledge.