“最亲密的话”——论艾丽丝·门罗《亲爱的生活》中隐秘的羞耻感

“The Closest Words”:On Concealed Shame in Alice Munro’s Dear Life

羞耻感是一种驳杂、深刻的情感,在艾丽丝·门罗的小说集《亲爱的生活》中,羞耻感作为情感层面的核心之一被反复呈现,同时又在门罗包容矛盾与冲突的对话式文学想象中不断被超越并延伸至各个层面。本文选取性别、消费、伦理与存在四种视角,来探析羞耻感在门罗小说叙事中独特的美学价值。羞耻感作为人生来便具有的情感,其发生过程实际上是转回自我的心理过程,它启发个体的自我明辨,呼唤伦理主体的道德重构,激荡人们灵魂深处对真实自我的追寻,这便是门罗创作的“隐秘之美”。

Shame is one kind of complex and profound emotion.In Alice Munro’s Dear Life,shame is repeatedly presented as the core component of the work’s emotional level.With Munro’s dialogic imagination featuring contradictions and conflicts,shame also transcends the limitations of emotion and extends to other levels.This paper chooses four heterogeneous perspectives,including gender,consumption,ethics,and existence,to explore the specific aesthetic values of shame in Munro’s stories.The process of shame,as a born emotion,is actually the psychological process of turning back to the self.It inspires individual self-discernment,calls for the moral reconstruction of ethical subjects,and stimulates people’s souls to search for their true selves.