后“9·11”时期的家国焦虑——理查德·福特小说《大地之貌》中的恐惧景观

Home-State Anxiety in the Post-9/11 Era: The Landscape of Fear in Richard Ford’s The Lay of the Land

在当代美国作家理查德·福特小说《大地之貌》中,日常生活中的意外事件如报纸上的谋杀案、老建筑倒塌、餐厅外的恐怖袭击、枪击血案以及家庭分裂形成恐惧景观,引发大众对秩序崩溃的隐形担忧,折射出“9·11”灾难带来的精神创伤。福特并非从对立的角度探察“9·11”事故产生的根源,指责他者对美国的威胁迫害,而是从内部角度审视难以察觉的政治制度痼疾,在回溯2000年的政治语境中深刻揭露种族歧视、阶级分化、枪支管控等社会沉疴,解构历史、战争和政治话语的宏大叙事。这些反映出福特对后“9·11”时期内忧外患的国家安全形势和政治恐惧景观的焦虑。

In the novel The Lay of the Land by contemporary American writer Richard Ford,unexpected daily events,such as a murder reported in a newspaper,the collapse of an old building,terrorist attacks outside a restaurant,shooting rampages,and family breakups,form a horrific landscape,reflecting the public’s invisible concern about the collapse of order,which in turn reflects the psychological trauma caused by the 9/11 disaster.Ford does not explore the root cause of the 9/11 accident from the perspective of opposition or accuse others of threats to and persecution of the United States.Rather,he examines the imperceptible problems in the American political system from an internal perspective.By returning to the political context of 2000,Ford exposes social problems such as racial discrimination,class division,and gun control,and deconstructs the grand narratives of history,war,and politics.These reflect his anxiety over national security and the landscape of fear in political life in the post-9/11 period.