论伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔小说《露丝》的伦理艺术

On the Art of Ethics in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth

学界常将建立在情感和理解基础之上的"同情"视为伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔减轻苦难、改良社会的主要手段,但在小说《露丝》中,情感和理解反而引发了各种灾难:情感让人失去自我,理解则催生利己之心。《露丝》实际上宣扬了一种既能消除利己之心,又能确保自我意识在场的责任伦理观。这种伦理观同样体现在小说形式中。盖斯凯尔一方面借助元小说策略阻止读者对小说人物产生"同情"或无意识认同,另一方面积极鼓励读者参与到为他人命运负责的伦理实践中去。盖斯凯尔本人同样坚持为小说人物的命运负责。然而,由于两种不同的理解方式,这一伦理态度引发了读者和作者的认知冲突。

The very'sympathy',based on attachment and understanding,is often regarded as the main means for Elizabeth Gaskell to alleviate suffering and to reform society.However,it is not the case with Ruth where attachment causes the loss of self-consciousness while understanding sparks selfishness.In fact,Ruth promotes the ethics of responsibility,which helps to guard against selfishness and to guarantee the presence of self-consciousness.This ethical view is also reflected in the form of fiction.On the one hand,Gaskell uses the self-referential metafictional strategies to prevent the reader from sympathizing with or unconsciously indentifying with the characters,and on the other hand actively encourages readers to participate in the ethical practice of being responsible for the fate of others.Gaskell himself insists on being responsible for the fate of the characters.Nevertheless,the two mutually exclusive ways of understanding result in the ethical conflict between the reader and the author.