拉什迪《午夜之子》中的历史观刍议

Salman Rushdie’s Views of History as Revealed in Midnight’s Children

印裔英国作家萨尔曼·拉什迪在其名著《午夜之子》中,透过主人公萨里姆·西奈的个人成长史与印度独立后社会发展史的相互交织,审视了历史对个人、家庭与民族身份认同的意义。在拉什迪看来,历史意义是含混的,这是记忆不可靠性、人类自身视角局限性以及历史叙述者的动机共同促成的。但拉什迪同时认为,历史反思依旧是我们构建身份认同并指导当下与未来行为的重要参照,这暗含他对印度教“业报轮回”伦理观的反思与对西方线性历史观的解构。

In Midnight’s Children,the contemporary Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie examines the significance of history in the aspect of constructing the identity of individual,family and nation through the interweaving of Saleem Sinai’s personal growth and the development of post-independence India.In Rushdie’s view,historical meaning is ambiguous,which is jointly contributed by the unreliability of memory,the limitation of human’s own perspective and the motivation of history narrators.However,Rushdie maintains that historical reflection is still an important reference for us to build identity and guide our current and future behaviors,which implies Rushdie’s reflection on Hindu“the principle of Karma”ethics and his intention to deconstruct western linear historical view.