论《六月庆典》中的种族越界与伦理质询

Racial Passing and Ethical Inquiry in Juneteenth

作为美国非裔文学传统中的一个重要母题,种族越界通过关注跨越种族界限的黑白混血儿的前途与命运,展现作家对于种族问题的政治文化立场。拉尔夫·埃利森在《六月庆典》中通过关注与探讨混血儿布里斯所面对的伦理困境,对美国社会白人主导的主流伦理秩序的劣根性提出了质询,并对少数族裔的主体性重构进行了文化反思。他不仅驳斥了以“融入”为导向的早期非裔文学的文化立场,更对自然主义抗议文学的政治激进观进行了纠偏。透过种族越界这一文化建构的伦理问题,埃利森解构了泛民族主义所秉持的文化趋同性,并传达了对于美国民主和多元文化的深层思考,即融合主义文化观。

As a significant theme in African American literature,racial passing demonstrates writers’political and cultural positions on racial issues by concentrating on the future and destiny of the mulattoes who cross racial boundaries.Focusing on and discussing the ethical dilemmas faced by the mixed-race Bliss in Juneteenth,Ralph Ellison questions the inferiority of the mainstream ethical order dominated by white people in American society,and expresses his cultural reflection on minorities’reconstruction of subjectivity.He not only refutes the cultural position of the early African-American literature oriented by“assimilation”,but also corrects the political radicalism held by naturalistic protest literature.Through racial passing,an ethical issue constructed by culture,Ellison deconstructs the cultural convergence upheld by pan-nationalism,and conveys his deep thinking on American democracy and multiculturalism,namely,the cultural thought of integration.