城市边缘的守望:马拉默德的犹太店主情结

The Watchman on the Edge of the City:Malamud's Complex about Jewish Shopkeeper

马拉默德塑造了诸多经典的犹太店主形象,他们大多为生计所迫挣扎在城市边缘。他的犹太店主情结源自他父亲身为杂货店的店主,也是为了在超级市场冲击传统零售业、犹太人饱受欺凌的时代坚守犹太精神,进而使小人物的英雄主义情怀得以回归。通过归纳四部小说中的犹太店主在城市边缘语境和城市转型背景下的身份建构、商业文化表征和英雄叙事模式,可以领略他们对犹太大屠杀历史事件的身体经历、情感联结的深刻记忆以及不敢触碰又无法逃避的矛盾心理。

Malamud created many classic images of Jewish shopkeepers,most of whom were struggling on the edge of the city for the sake of livelihood.His complex about Jewish shopkeeper was rooted in his father’s experience as a grocer,in his desire to preserve the Jewish spirit at a time when supermarkets were disrupting traditional retail and Jews were constantly victims of bullying,and in his attempt to restore the heroism of the little man.By examining the Jewish shopkeepers identity construction in four of his novels,within the context of their marginal status in the city and the city transformation,the characteristics of commercial culture,and heroic narrative mode,we can get a glimpse of their personal experience of Jewish Holocaust,their deep and emotional memories of the event,and the ambivalent feelings that they dare not confront on the one hand but cannot avoid altogether on the other.