文学伦理学批评视角下《嘉莉妹妹》城市身份研究

A Study of Urban Identity on Sister Carrie from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism

美国作家西奥多·德莱塞的《嘉莉妹妹》讲述了一段男女主人公城市中人生起伏的历程,细致展现了消费主义社会早期城市生活的原生态。通过伦理选择,女主人公嘉莉从乡村来到大都市追求梦想并实现身份逆转成为当红明星,而男主人公赫斯渥却从酒店经理沦落为街边乞讨者。嘉莉和赫斯渥身份转变的根本原因在于个体在斯芬克斯因子的影响下欲望与理性的失衡。同时嘉莉和赫斯渥不同的选择结果体现了个体的能动性和德莱塞的伦理智慧。

American author Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie tells a story of the ups and downs of the hero and heroine’s lives in the city and details the early stages of urban life in a consumerist society.Through ethical selection,the heroine Carrie comes from the countryside to the metropolis to pursue her dreams and achieve her reversal of identity to become a popular actress,while the hero Hurstwood falls from a hotel manager to a street beggar.The fundamental reason for the identity reversal of Carrie and Hurstwood lies in the imbalance between desire and rationality under the influence of the Sphinx Factor.At the same time,the results of the different choices of Carrie and Hurstwood reflect the individual subjective initiative and Dreiser’s ethical wisdom.