田园理想与美国乡村文学

Pastoralism and American Rural Literature

脱胎于欧洲的美国田园理想移植到新大陆后呈现出不同的特征,它摆脱了欧洲田园理想对田园生活的乌托邦式想象,呈现出世俗和功利性的一面,即对工业文明的接受和物质生活的追求。这种既崇尚田园生活又不排斥现代“艺术”的美式田园理想具有内在的悖论性和深刻的矛盾性特征。作为积淀在民族想象中的文化传统,美国田园理想深刻影响了美国乡村文学。它打破了美国乡村文学主题陈旧、形式落后的惯有认知,赋予美国乡村文学既崇尚田园传统又不拒绝现代性的双重特质,促成了农业社会向工业社会转型时期美国乡村文学的繁荣,但其悖论性在一定程度上又暗示了美国乡村文学的悲剧性结局。

American pastoralism originated from ancient Europe,but assumed different characteristics when transplanted to the new continent.It shook the shatter of Utopian imagination of European idyllic ideal on pastoral life and presented secular and utilitarian side,namely,the acceptance of industrial civilization and pursuit of material life.This sort of deeply paradoxical American pastoralism both advocates the idyllic ideal and embraces the modern“art”,thus having profound ambivalence.As a cultural tradition accumulated in the national imagination,American pastoralism has deeply influenced American rural literature.It breaks the inertia cast on American rural literature for its outdated theme and backward form,endowing it with the dialectical characteristics of adhering to idyllic ideals and readiness for modernity,which also heralds the tragic fate of American rural literature in some degree.