库切《耻》中的替罪羊及其功能

On Scapegoat in Coetzee’s Disgrace and Its Functions

1999年库切发表了《耻》(1)(Disgrce),这部小说在为他赢得布克奖、英联邦作家奖等各项荣誉外,也引来了巨大的争议。有人认为,库切作为南非白人作家,是在为白人立言,这部作品仍用一种刻板的印象看待解放后的非洲和非洲人,把非洲人判定为不道德、野蛮、暴力,不尊重私有财产,无法通过教育被改善。②但也有论者从中看到了不同的信息。

Coetzee’s Disgrace has brought him both many praises and controversy.The novel describes the living conditions of whites and blacks in post-apartheid South Africa,extending his reflections on colonial history.This paper engages in a cultural and textual analysis of the phenomenon of the scapegoat in the novel,to reveal its metaphoric functions and salvific implications.The paper argues that Disgrace uses the cultural prototype of the scapegoat to refer to the historical fact of widespread trauma suffered by South Africans,and that the suffering of dogs and sheep in the novel signifies the fate of its characters.The formation of the scapegoat implies the oppression of others’power,and its passive image highlights the existence of both collective and individual violence.At the same time,Coetzee also uncovers the redemptive function of the scapegoat,but this redemption is no longer to redeem others,as in the original cultural prototype,but is selfredemption.Through the attitudes of Lurie and Lucy towards trauma,the novel indicates that only by actively shouldering individual hardship and responsibility,and learning to be patient and receptive,can one escape the harm of history dominated by power.