《一个文官的死》中的叙事反讽

Narrative Irony in“The Death of a Government Clerk”

契诃夫的短篇名作《一个文官的死》讲述了小官员切尔维亚科夫因一个喷嚏最终惊惧而死的离奇故事。叙述者的选择性全知视角和客观的叙述声音、元小说写作手法、积聚式情节结构,以及逆转空间功能这四种主要的叙事策略,不仅本身即具反讽潜能,而且与批判并反讽切尔维亚科夫的奴性和十九世纪末期俄国社会严苛的等级制度的主题完美结合,二者相得益彰。

Chekhov's short story“The Death of a Government Clerk”tells a bizarre story of a minor official,Ivan Tchervyakov,who dies of fear from a sneeze.The four main narrative strategies-the narrator’s selective omniscience and objective narrative voice,the metafictional writing techniques,the cumulative plot structure,and the reversal of spatial functions-not only have ironic potential in their own right,but also perfectly complement the theme of criticizing and satirizing Tchervyakov’s servility and the harsh hierarchy of late nineteenth-century Russian society.