美国阿富汗战争小说《警戒》中的战争框架与可堪哀悼的生命

Frames of War and Grievable Life in the American Afghan War Novel The Watch

《警戒》以美国阿富汗战争为背景,书写战争中不同等级的生命,区分战争框架内外可堪哀悼的生命和一文不值的生命。战争框架控制和操纵人们的感知,划定“我们”与“他们”的范围,促使人们区别对待框架内外的生命。美军士兵珍视框架内同伴的生命,但视框架外的阿富汗人为生命不堪哀悼的“非人”。尽管美军士兵和阿富汗人保持不同的立场,但源于人性之善,他们都曾向对方表达善意。美军士兵试图抵制战争框架的收编,但战争的不确定性又让他们时刻保持警戒。作者罗伊—巴塔查里亚借助《警戒》一书反思战争,主张平等地审视生命,寻求打破框架的路径。

The Watch is a novel about the American war in Afghanistan.The novel takes this war as the background of writing about different lives under war.Frames of war control and manipulate people’s perception,differentiate“we”from“they”,and urge people to treat lives inside and outside the frames differently.The American soldiers cherish the lives of their companions inside the frames,but they regard the Afghans outside the frames as“non-humans”who are not worthy of being mourned.Although American soldiers and the Afghans maintain different positions,they express goodwill towards each other out of the goodness of humanity.The American soldiers attempt to resist the incorporation of frames of war,but the uncertainty of the war pushes them to keep alert at all times.Through his novel The Watch,Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya refects on the war,advocates treating lives equally,and seeks the path to break the frames.