《姨妈的故事》:现代人的生存悲剧

The Aunt' s Story : A Tragedy of Human Existence in Modern Society

《姨妈的故事》并非如一些人所认为的属于现代喜剧,而是有其深刻的悲剧内涵。首先,怀特从个人与社会的对立出发,通过主人公希奥多拉对传统价值观念的质疑、挑战和拒绝,揭示了她对现实世界的认同危机。其次,希奥多拉寻求新的信念、寻求肯定真实自我的精神探索反而使她陷入了精神困境,反映了现代社会中个人生存的内在危机状况。最后,希奥多拉勇于面对社会现实对个性存在真实性的否定,选择了明知必败的抗争,以证明自己的合理存在,维护自身价值和个人尊严,最终演绎为现代社会中的生存悲剧,由此显示出怀特对现代人生悲剧的独特诠释。

The Aunt s Story, contrary to what some critics think, is not a modem comedy since it describes the life of an ordinary woman with a profound tragic significance. From the perspectives of the heroine' s crisis of identity with social reality, her spiritual plight in search for true ego, and an inherent crisis of human existence, Patrick White presents Theodora' s knowingly effort of a hopeless resistance a-gainst the denial of individuality from society for the sake of defending both individual value and human dignity which ultimately result in a tragedy of existence.