《终结的感觉》中的记忆与伦理选择

Memory and Ethical Choices in The Sense of the End

朱利安·巴恩斯的小说《终结的感觉》以“自传体记忆”这一形式展现出现实与记忆的冲突。主角托尼对回忆的追寻过程可以分为“现实—回忆—再审视”三个环节,他在各环节中做出了不同的伦理选择,这背后分别由自由意志、自然意志与理性意志所主导。最终托尼的理性意志抑制了部分自由意志与自然意志,但新的危机蕴含在托尼新的伦理身份之中。对托尼记忆危机的解读,凸显出理性意志主导伦理选择的必要性。

One of the most influential contemporary British writers,Julian Barnes'novel The Sense of the End,presents the conflict between reality and memory in the form of"autobiographical memories".Tony's quest for memory can be divided into three stages:"reality-memory-re-examination",in which he makes different ethical choices,dominated by free will,natural will and rational will respectively.In the end,Tony's rational will suppresses some of the free will and natural will,but a new crisis is embedded in Tony's new ethical identities.The reading of Tony's memory crisis highlights the need for the ethical choices to be dominated by the rational will.