走出牢笼之后——从《耶稣的童年》看库切小说的创作轨迹

在《耶稣的童年》中,库切通过对“乌有之邦”诺维拉的构建,探讨了人类在摆脱历史创伤之后,如何从历史的记忆中汲取有益的养分、发现普世规则和善意之外的个体生命的愉悦,从而建设某种新生活这一重要问题,这标志着库切小说创作一个新阶段的到来。为了揭示这一被以往评论忽视的主题,本文挖掘了“历史”一词在《耶稣的童年》中被赋予的全新内涵,考察了库切在焦点人物西蒙的意识和其他人物声音之间形成的对话和碰撞,最后分析了大卫这一“逃生艺术家”形象,试图说明这个特立独行的孩子象征的,并非耶稣式的救世主,而是某种“挣脱锁链”的希望。

In viewof previous receptions of Coetzee’s The Childhood of Jesus,this paper contends that Coetzee in this latest work tries to break free of the bondage imposed by history and undertakes a constructive exploration for an ethical newlife. There this paper investigates the newsignificance endowed upon the term "history " in the novel,analyzes the dialogic exchanges between Simon the focalizer and other characters,aiming to reveal Coetzee’s rhetorical design to use humanistic values to question the barren life pattern of Novilla while simultaneously reflecting on the validity of such values by the presence of other voices,and finally this paper discusses the image of David as "the escape artist"which symbolizes a hope of "escaping the chains".