为生活做减法,为思想做加法——从梭罗的四感中新探《瓦尔登湖》

Life Subtraction and Spiritual Addition——A New Perspective of Walden from Thoreau’s Four Senses

早在150多年前,亨利·大卫·梭罗作为美国著名作家、自然主义者、哲学家和先验论领导者,对物质主义下的社会现实极为不满,即人类拘禁在物质世界里追名逐利,忽略了人性神圣的一面。梭罗的代表作《瓦尔登湖》反映了其在这一方面的思考。它详细描述梭罗在瓦尔登湖边上的小屋中两年零两个月的生活经历,但《瓦尔登湖》仅以四季的更替描绘作者一年的生活。此书并非小说也非自传,而是结合二种派别来批判当代西方文化的消费主义和唯物主义以及其对自然的破坏。此书不仅批判当代社会还尝试了极具创造力的当代文化视角,种种迹象皆可从梭罗对瓦尔登湖的亲近和对自然的向往中体现出来。

More than 150 years ago, Henry David Thoreau, the famous American author, naturalist, philosopher and leading transcendentalist was dissatisfied with the social reality under materialism, in which people were so preoccupied with seeking fame and fortune that they might ignore the spirit in nature. Walden is such an exemplary work that mirrors the author’s meditation in this respect. It details Thoreau's sojourn in a cabin near Walden Pond for two years and two months, but Walden was written appearing to be just one year, with expressed seasonal divisions. The book is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but combines these genres with a social critique of contemporary Western culture's consumerist and materialist attitudes and the destruction of nature. The idea that the book is not simply a criticism of society, but also an attempt to engage creatively with the better aspects of contemporary culture is suggested both by Thoreau’s proximity to Walden Pond and by his admiration for nature.